Cottage pie (2024)

FAQs

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.

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. It comes from the United Kingdom but was also popular in Ireland. The dish is now popular worldwide. A dish of cottage pie.

Cottage Pie – comfort food central! This English classic has a deeply savoury beef mince filling smothered in gravy topped with creamy mashed potato, baked until golden. One of the best cosy foods to make with ground beef!

This easy Cottage Pie recipe has a flavorful gravy with ground beef, ground sausage, and mixed vegetables topped with fluffy mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese.

Add the tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, stock cube, bay leaf and salt and pepper to the mince mixture. Fill the tomato tin with water and add that as well. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes to reduce. Add the peas at the last minute and mix through.

It's called cottage pie in the U.K. because they use beef and in Ireland since the shepherds tend sheep, it's shepherd's pie. 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.

I'd say either your mash or cottage pie sauce isn't thick enough. Do you add milk to your mashed potato? I've found that mash made with no milk added stays on top far better.

How long can you keep Cottage Pie in the fridge? Once you've put it out, ideally you should eat it within 4 hours. If you allow any left overs to cool, make sure to refrigerate in a container with a lid and chill. You can keep leftovers of Cottage Pie in the fridge for approximately 3 days or so.

Residual moisture from the potatoes will drip into the beef below as it cooks, and too much of it will cause the potatoes to eventually sink. Aside from ridding your potatoes of excess moisture before you mash them, it also helps to cool the beef down, BBC Good Food shares.

Flour power

A classic thickening method for a classic dish. A few tablespoons of flour, cooked-out so you can't taste it, turns a thin sauce into a velvety gravy of dreams.

What can I use instead of Worcestershire sauce in cottage pie? ›

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.

The only significant and steady difference between shepherd's pie and cottage pie is the type of meat used. Shepherd's pie traditionally features ground lamb; cottage pie recipes call for ground beef.

Traditional Cottage Pie Ingredients. A traditional British Cottage Pie recipe is made of meat, vegetables, and potatoes. But like many recipes for popular dishes enjoyed around the world, the ingredients depend on what you like and where you live.

The term cottage pie originated in England in the 18th Century to refer to a peasant food dish. It was a meal usually eaten by poorer people living in small cottages because the ingredients were affordable. Over time, it became more popular and was crowned cottage pie.

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.

Cottage Pie. While often used interchangeably, these two meat and potato casseroles do have subtle nuances. The primary difference between shepherd's pie and cottage pie is that shepherd's pie is traditionally made with ground lamb, while classic cottage pie is made with ground beef.

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.