Shepherd's pie
Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, or in its French version hachis Parmentier is a savoury dish of cooked minced meat topped with mashed potato and baked. The meat used may be either previously cooked or freshly minced. The usual meats are beef or lamb. The two English terms have been used interchangeably since they came into use in the late 18th and the 19th century, although some writers insist that a shepherd's pie should contain lamb or mutton, and a cottage pie, beef.
Alternative names | Cottage pie, hachis Parmentier |
---|---|
Type | Meat pie |
Place of origin | Britain or France |
Main ingredients | Mashed potato with ground meat |
Variations | Cumberland pie, Shepherdess pie |
History
Cottage pie
The term was in use by 1791.[1] Parson Woodforde mentions "Cottage-Pye" in his diary entry for 29 August 1791, and several times thereafter. He records that the meat was veal but he does not say what the topping was.[2] In 20th-century and later use it has widely, but not exclusively, been used for a dish of chopped or minced beef with a mashed potato topping.[3][n 1] The beef may be fresh or previously cooked;[3] the latter was at one time more usual. Well into the 20th century the absence of refrigeration made it expedient in many domestic kitchens to store cooked meat rather than raw. In the 1940s the chef Louis Diat recalled of his childhood days, "when housewives bought their Sunday meat they selected pieces large enough to make into leftover dishes for several days".[5] Modern recipes for cottage pie typically use fresh beef.[3]
Shepherd's pie
According to the American Merriam-Webster dictionary the first known use of the term was in 1854.[1] In British usage in the 1850s the term referred to a Scottish dish that contained a mutton and diced potato filling inside a pastry crust.[6] Neither shepherd's pie nor cottage pie was mentioned in the original edition of Mrs Beeton's Household Management in 1861.[7]
More recently "shepherd's pie" has generally been used for a potato-topped dish of minced lamb. According to the Oxford Companion to Food, "In keeping with the name, the meat should be mutton or lamb; and it is usually cooked meat left over from a roast".[3] As with beef, it was commonplace in the days before refrigeration to cook a Sunday joint to last in various guises throughout the week. Dorothy Hartley quotes an old verse, "Vicarage mutton", showing not only the uses to which the joint was put, but also the interchangeability of the terms "shepherd's" and "cottage" pie:
Hot on Sunday,
Cold on Monday,
Hashed on Tuesday,
Minced on Wednesday,
Curried Thursday,
Broth on Friday,
Cottage pie Saturday.[8]
Hachis Parmentier
The dish is named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, who popularised the potato in French cuisine in the late 18th century.[3] It is documented from the end of the 19th century.[n 2] It is usually made with chopped or minced lamb or beef; in either case it may be made with either fresh or left-over cooked meat. (The modern English term "hash" derives from the French "hachis", meaning food "finely chopped".)[11][n 3]
In some recipes a layer of sauté potatoes is put in the cooking dish before the meat filling and mashed potato topping are added.[13] A more elaborate version by Auguste Escoffier, named Hachis de boeuf à Parmentier, consists of baked potatoes, the contents of which are removed, mixed with freshly-cooked diced beef, returned to the potato shells. and covered with sauce lyonnaise.[14]
Variations
There are no universally agreed ingredients for any of the three dishes. The 24 recipes cited in the table show the varieties of titles and ingredients recommended by cooks and food writers from Australia, Britain, Canada, France and the US.
Cook/writer | Name of dish | Meat used | Fresh or left-over | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mary Berry | Cottage pie | Beef | Fresh | [15] |
Mère Biasin | Hachis Parmentier | Lamb | Left-over boiled[n 4] | [16] |
Paul Bocuse | Hachis Parmentier | Beef | Left-over boiled | [17] |
Robert Carrier | Cottage pie | Beef | Fresh | [18] |
Felicity Cloake | Cottage pie | Beef | Fresh, chopped, not minced | [19] |
Jean-Pierre Coffe | Hachis Parmentier | Beef | Left-over boiled, mixed with fresh calves' liver | [20] |
Elizabeth Craig | Shepherd's pie | Lamb | Left-over casseroled | [21] |
Jane Grigson | Shepherd's pie | Beef or lamb | Fresh | [22] |
Michel Guérard | Hachis Parmentier | Veal sweetbreads and duck gizzards | Fresh | [23] |
Mark Hix | Shepherd's pie | Beef and lamb | Fresh | [24] |
Graham Kerr | Cottage pie | Beef | Fresh | [25] |
Tom Kerridge | Cottage pie | Beef | Fresh | [26] |
Jean Paré | Hachis Parmentier | Beef | Fresh | [27] |
Henri-Paul Pellaprat | Hachis Parmentier | Beef | Left-over | [28] |
Gordon Ramsay | Shepherd's pie | Lamb | Fresh | [29] |
Jay Rayner | Cottage pie | Beef and pork | Fresh | [30] |
Gary Rhodes | Shepherd's pie | Lamb | Fresh | [31] |
Michel Roux, Jr.[n 5] | Hachis Parmentier | Lamb | Left-over roast | [32] |
Madame Saint-Ange | Hachis de bœuf au gratin | Beef | Left-over | [33] |
Joan Schwartz | Shepherd's pie | Lamb | Fresh | [34] |
Delia Smith | Cottage pie | Beef | Fresh | [35] |
Martha Stewart | Shepherd's pie | Beef | Fresh | [36] |
John Torode[n 6] | Cottage pie | Beef | Fresh | [37] |
Anne Willan | Hachis Parmentier | Beef | Fresh | [38] |
Similar dishes
Fillings for other pies with a mashed potato topping are numerous, and include artichoke hearts and red peppers;[39] black pudding;[40] chicken and spinach;[41] chorizo;[42] curried chicken;[43] duck;[44] rabbit;[45] salmon;[46] salt cod;[47] turkey and ham;[48] and flaked white fish with shrimps, in a white sauce.[49]
Other pies with non-pastry toppings include:
Name of dish | Place of origin | Description | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
Cumberland pie | England | Pies of this name exist in two versions: traditional Cumberland pies, still served in Cumbria, have a pastry case, but others have a lamb or beef or pork-sausage filling covered by mashed potato topped with cheese and breadcrumbs. | [50] |
Empadão | Portugal | Meat, often veal, stewed in a tomato-based gravy and layered several times between mashed potatoes. Poultry or fish is sometimes used instead of meat | [51] |
Escondidinho | Brazil | The name, indicating "hidden", describes the way sun-dried meat is covered with a layer of manioc purée. The dish often includes cheese and chicken; cod is sometimes used instead of beef. | [52] |
Pastel de carne | Uruguay | The filling is similar to that of a cottage pie, with the addition of sliced hard-boiled eggs. | [53] |
Pastel de papas | Argentina | Similar to cottage pie; may also contain peppers. | [54] |
Pastel tutup | Indonesia | Made with any of several meats, with vegetables such as carrots and green peas and boiled eggs, all topped with mashed potato. | [55] |
Pâté chinois | Canada | Also known in Canada as shepherd's pie, consisting of a bottom layer of beef, a middle layer of creamed sweetcorn, topped with mashed potato. | [56] |
Pióg an aoire | Ireland | The Irish for cottage pie. | [57] |
Shepherdess pie | Other | Also called shepherdless pie: a vegetarian version made without meat, or a vegan version made without meat and dairy. | [58] |
See also
- Antoine-Augustin Parmentier
- British cuisine
- English cuisine
- French cuisine
- Irish cuisine
- List of English dishes
- List of French dishes
- List of Irish dishes
- List of pies, tarts and flans
- List of potato dishes
- Moussaka
- Pâté aux pommes de terre
- Pâté chinois
- Welsh cuisine
Notes, references and sources
Notes
- Jane Grigson noted that to make the dish go further some recipes put in a bottom layer of potato before adding the meat and top layer.[4]
- The term appears in a French source in 1900 and an English one two years earlier.[9][10]
- In his Grand dictionnaire de cuisine (1873) Alexandre Dumas wrote, "When you have veal, beef, chicken, game or scraps of meat left over from dinner the night before, all you have to do is chop these left-overs neatly, and there are tools for that, until the whole forms a complete mixture."[12]
- In Mère Biasin's version, rather than a single layer of ragout and a single layer of potato, there would be several alternating layers of each, with a potato one on the top.[16]
- "For me, the best shepherd's pie is made with leftover roast lamb, either shoulder or leg. In fact, I remember my sister and myself holding back on a Sunday lunch in case there wasn't enough left to make the pie."[32]
- Torode comments, "The great cottage pie – whoever worked this one out was a genius".[37]
References
- "shepherd's pie". Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
- Woodforde (Vol III), p. 295 ; and (Vol V), pp. 335, 347, 371, 378, 389, 393 and 410
- Saberi, p. 717
- Grigson (1984), p. 70
- Diat, p. 83
- Dallas, pp. 255–256
- Beeton, index pp. viii–ix, xiii and xxx
- Hartley, p. 160
- Maurice Letulle, "Cure d'alimentation pour les tuberculeux à l'hôpital" (June 8, 1900), Bulletins et mémoires de la Société Médicale des Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris 1900, p. 712
- Ninet, Marguerite (April 1898). "Cookery Exhibits in Paris". The Epicure: A Journal of Taste. 5 (53): 194. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
- "hash". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- Dumas, p. 619
- Saulnier, p. 143
- Escoffier, p. 391
- Berry, p. 198
- Hayward, p. 126
- Bocuse, p. 53
- Carrier, p. 30
- Cloake, Felicity. "How to make perfect cottage pie" Archived 13 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 21 October 2010
- Coffe, p. 312
- Craig, p. 182
- Grigson (1992), pp. 140−141
- Guerard, pp. 108–109
- Hix, p. 165
- Kerr, p. 102
- Kerridge, p. 193
- Paré, p. 13
- Pellaprat, p. 374
- Ramsay, pp. 148^149
- Rayner, p. 49
- Rhodes, p. 115
- Roux, p. 146
- Saint-Ange, p. 374
- Schwartz, pp. 122–123
- Smith, p. 88
- Stewart, Martha. "Shepherd's pie" Archived 9 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Marthastewart.com. Retrieved 13 May 2022
- Torode, p. 100
- Willan (1993), p. 92
- Chovancova, p. 60
- Chovancova, p. 42
- Chovancova, p. 16
- Chovancova, p. 56
- Chovancova, p. 18
- Chovancova, p. 32
- Chovancova, p. 24
- Chovancova, p. 48
- Chovancova, p. 50
- "BBC - Food - Recipes : Turkey and ham pie". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
- Willan (2005), p. 46
- Orrey, p. 40; and Lemm, Elaine. "What is Cumberland Pie?" Archived 11 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Thespruceats. Retrieved 14 May 2022
- Scott-Aitken, p. 258; and "Empadão de Carne" Archived 10 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Receitas Culinárias. Retrieved 14 May 2022
- "Escondidinho recipe — Brazilian Wave". Brazilian Wave. 1 August 2012. Archived from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- "Pastel de carne" Archived 26 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Gastronomía. Retrieved 14 May 2022
- "Pastel de papas" Archived 21 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Recetas de Argentina. Retrieved 14 May 2022
- "Grandma Liem’s Pastel Tutup (Indonesian Cottage Pie) Recipe" Archived 16 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Cookpad. Retrieved 14 May 2022
- Marcotte, p. 72
- "cottage pie - Aistriúchán Gaeilge ar cottage pie (An Foclóir Nua Béarla-Gaeilge)". www.focloir.ie (in Ga). Archived from the original on 30 August 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- "10 Things you didnt know about Shepherds Pie - Jamie Oliver". jamieoliver.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
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- Coffe, Jean-Pierre (1993). Comme à la maison. Paris: Plon. ISBN 978-2-259-02578-2.
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