The Best Homemade Shepherd's Pie (Cottage Pie) Recipe Ever! » Salads for Lunch (2024)

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What is the difference between cottage pie and shepherd's pie? ›

The Difference Between Shepherd's Pie and Cottage Pie

Cottage pie uses minced lean ground beef as its base and beef broth as its gravy. Shepherd's pie, on the other hand, uses ground lamb, and the juices of the minced lamb become the gravy for this comfort food.

To stop the mash sinking into the filling, allow the meat to cool before topping with the mashed potato. Freeze in individual ovenproof dishes for an easy meal for one.

It will keep in the fridge for 4 days – assembled and ready to heat, or once cooked. You can also freeze Cottage Pie 100% perfectly. You can bake from frozen – though it does take around 1 hour (it's a formidable block of ice!!) or thaw then bake. Cooked leftovers also freeze well.

Shepherd's Pie Ingredients

Mashed Potatoes: Use starchy potatoes (like russet or Yukon Gold) for the best mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes are also made with butter, onion, and Cheddar cheese. Vegetables: This shepherd's pie includes carrots and onions. Flour: All-purpose flour will thicken the beef gravy.

The easiest way to thicken shepherd's pie filling is by sprinkling a few tablespoons of flour into the ground beef mixture as it cooks before adding it to the baking dish. The starch in the flour will absorb the extra liquid and create a thick gravy.

Seasoning sounds like your first problem.. add more salt and pepper to your filling and make sure your mash is also nicely seasoned. Add cheese to the mash, a mature cheddar perhaps. Add fresh thyme or bay leaf to your filling or even a splash more stock or wine, a spoon of smooth mustard or a skinless chopped tomato.

A good shepherd's – or indeed cottage – pie, needs a solid, but fluffy top: too much milk or butter, and you'll end up with a sloppy puree instead. Make sure you steam the potatoes dry before mashing, and season generously; I like Bareham and Hopkinson's nutmeg as well as the usual salt and pepper.

How do you keep shepherds pie from falling apart? The eggs in the mashed potatoes help keep the pie together. You should also make sure to spread the potatoes and press down a bit.

How do you keep shepherd's pie from falling apart? Make sure your casserole dish is the right size. You should also have firm mashed potatoes so it won't fall apart when you're serving. As you put the topping on, don't press too hard, using a gentle touch to smooth it out.

Reheating means cooking again, not just warming up. Always reheat food until it is piping hot all the way through i.e. above 75°C for at least 30 seconds. Food should only be reheated once.

Can I freeze homemade cottage pie? ›

Cooked cottage pies will also keep fresh for 5 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. When reheating cottage pies, preheat the oven to 160ºC / 320ºF then place your pie in the oven for 20-30 mins.

How do you know when the Cottage Pie is cooked? The mince will be thick and rich before assembling the pie. After cooking in the oven the mash on top will be golden and crispy. Once placed in the pre-heated oven (200 – 220°C) this will take around 25 minutes.

This traditional shepherd's pie recipe is made with a mixture of lamb and sirloin, lots of veggies, and a creamy, cheesy mashed potato topping ⁠— sure to delight everyone at the table! Nicole McLaughlin produces the educational and entertaining food series from Allrecipes; You Can Cook That.

No doubt, the English put out an excellent cottage pie, but in Ireland it used to be a delicacy since the Irish couldn't afford beef they repurposed any unused veggies and meat. And for special occasions, mutton was used as it was a cheaper option.

Most workers ate their meat, potatoes and corn separately but workers of mainly Asian origins, combined their rations to create shepherd's pie, a more communal dish. The French-Canadian railway workers liked this new concoction, adopted the dish, and called it “pâté chinois”, which loosely translates to Chinese pie.

Cottage pie or Shepherd's pie is a type of savory pie. It is made with minced meat, onions, vegetables, and gravy made from the meat juices and Worcestershire sauce, (often with Bovril added to enrich the gravy), with mashed potato on top.

This cottage pie made with savory ground beef, carrots, and onions is topped with fluffy mashed potato and Cheddar for a cheesy, comforting dinner the whole family will love. Serve with garden peas.

The terms shepherd's pie and cottage pie have been used interchangeably since they came into use in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, although some writers insist that a shepherd's pie should contain lamb or mutton, and a cottage pie, beef.

The term “cottage pie” predates “shepherd's” by nearly a century, but each was used synonymously with the other for a long time. The Chilean version of “pastel de papa”, a dish similar to shepherd's pie eaten in many parts of the world, also contains hard-boiled eggs, raisins and black olives.