Shepherd's Pie

I have been wanting to make shepards pie for a while now and I figured what better time than now. Ok, I lied it is actually cottage pie since it isn't lamb but just swap out the beef for lamb and you got shepard's.



A couple things missing from the picture but it is pretty much everything. Didn't come out looking the best but it tasted pretty damn good for version 1.0. It needs a little tweaking but its pretty close.




Yeah, I know the pictures suck but I was lazy.

Didn't get any pictures of it after some was scooped out because next thing I knew it was pretty much empty.

Looks great. My sister made it for dinner tonight as well.

May I suggest, as one who has made many a Shepherd's Pie, that after putting the meat in the dish, covering with potatoes, and heating for a while to ensure everything is at the right temp.... Flip the oven over to broil, and score the top of the potatoes with the prongs of a fork so that you have many parallel ridges. Place it under the broiler until the top starts to brown.

Yeah I agree with cranking up the oven to brown the top.

What kind of beer did you use? I like a good porter in there.

You know, I've never made it with beer. Always stuck to my mum's way of making it... Not sure I can mess with the tradition instilled in me; I can't even bring myself to add cheese to it!

Gremlyn1 said:

May I suggest, as one who has made many a Shepherd's Pie, that after putting the meat in the dish, covering with potatoes, and heating for a while to ensure everything is at the right temp.... Flip the oven over to broil, and score the top of the potatoes with the prongs of a fork so that you have many parallel ridges. Place it under the broiler until the top starts to brown.

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I thought about doing that but was in a hurry and everyone was bitching that they wanted to eat.

weirdboy said:

Yeah I agree with cranking up the oven to brown the top.

What kind of beer did you use? I like a good porter in there.

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It was an oatmeal stout. Its the only thing I had that wasn't on the hoppy side. I think anything really roasty would be good. It was roughly about half beer half stock.

dataz722 said:

I thought about doing that but was in a hurry and I was bitching that I wanted to eat.

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fixed.

Did you use instant mashed 'taters? I have found that the extra effort to make them fresh doesn't really help these types of recipes...

It only takes an extra 5-ish minutes to crisp the top, so worth it!

I've made a bastard version of Shepard's Pie with ground turkey before. Pretty decent. I still haven't made one the traditional way with lamb yet.

AZ_IPA said:

fixed.

Did you use instant mashed 'taters? I have found that the extra effort to make them fresh doesn't really help these types of recipes...

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No, I have only ever had one instant teters I thought were any good and they were "cheesy" kind. I didn't think that would go to well. Plus mashed taters are easy as hell to make and everything else was from scratch so there was no point not to. Hell, I even ground the meat myself.

MeatyPortion said:

I've made a bastard version of Shepard's Pie with ground turkey before. Pretty decent. I still haven't made one the traditional way with lamb yet.

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If it was just the wife and I then I would have gone with the lamb but we had my parents and sister over and apparently my sister would have thrown a fit and refused to eat if it was lamb. Plus that would have made it considerably more expensive.

dataz722 said:

No, I have only ever had one instant teters I thought were any good and they were "cheesy" kind. I didn't think that would go to well. Plus mashed taters are easy as hell to make and everything else was from scratch so there was no point not to. Hell, I even ground the meat myself.

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yet, you didn't spend the extra 5 minutes under the broiler?

AZ_IPA said:

yet, you didn't spend the extra 5 minutes under the broiler?

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Nobody asked you.

dataz722 said:

If it was just the wife and I then I would have gone with the lamb but we had my parents and sister over and apparently my sister would have thrown a fit and refused to eat if it was lamb. Plus that would have made it considerably more expensive.

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Yeah, that was pretty much why we didn't go that route: money. I do prefer the taste of lamb to turkey or beef however.

Here you go noobies!

Gravy Powder?

Sean said:

Gravy Powder?

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Straight from England...

Nice looking pie, I love cast Iron!

Yah I like doing a lamb beef mix. Sure its not authentic but it gives it a nice flavor.

dataz722 said:

I have been wanting to make shepards pie for a while now and I figured what better time than now. Ok, I lied it is actually cottage pie since it isn't lamb but just swap out the beef for lamb and you got shepard's.

Click to expand...

Shepherd's pie is a relatively recent term (1880s, if I recall correctly) and has, for most of that time, been used interchangeably with the older term cottage pie. The idea that shepherd's pie must be made with lamb is even more recent, and appears to be a result of folk etymology. ("Sheep are made of mutton, innit? So, like, shepherd's pie must have mutton in it.")

no mushy peas?
I am disapoint.