Cottage pie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cottage pie, is a traditional English dish made with minced meat covered with mashed potato and often topped with cheese. The dish is traditionally made with lamb meat; when this is the case the dish is known as Shepherd's pie, though the term Shepherd's pie is often used to mean a variety made with any kind of meat.
The meat used in the dish is traditionally beef or lamb though turkey is also often used today.
Traditionally, the meat is prepared by dicing or mincing, and frying with chopped onions, seasoning, and dripping (from the roast) or stock. Other ingredients can include garlic, chopped carrots, peas or other vegetables, mushrooms, herbs (such as rosemary and oregano), tomato purée, and wine. A quick version can be made using canned oxtail soup.
The meat is laid in a deep pie dish and covered with mashed potato, to which milk, butter or dripping may be added. For a decorative effect, the mashed potato can be piped onto the meat layer or a pattern made in the surface with a fork. The pie is then baked in the oven, making the top surface golden and crisp. Grated cheese can be sprinkled on top prior to baking.
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[edit] Origins
Cottage pie and shepherd's pie are traditional methods for using leftover roasted meat, either beef or mutton, with mashed potato as a convenient pie crust. In early recipes, the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top.[1][2]
The use of previously uncooked meat is a recent adaptation, suited to the techniques of commercial food processing companies.
Early cookery writers did not use the terms "cottage pie" and "shepherd's pie" and the terms did not appear in recipe books until the late part of the 19th century. From that time, the terms have been used interchangeably, although there is a popular tendency for "shepherd's pie" to be used when the meat is mutton or lamb.
The term "cottage pie" is known to have been in use by 1791 but it is not known to what type of dish it then referred.[3]
[edit] Variations
- Cottage pie is available in Australia as a variation of the Australian meat pie with a layer of mashed potato replacing the usual pastry crust. This variant is also known and labelled as a potato pie or, in New Zealand, a potato top pie.
- In North America a variation on shepherd's pie, sometimes called Chinese pie or cowboy pie, is made with a layer of ground beef, a layer of corn and a layer of mashed potatoes. French Canadians call this variant pâté chinois. Peas and carrots are commonly mixed with or used to replace corn. In the northeastern U.S., green beans are often used instead of corn, and frequently a layer of tomato sauce is added to the beef. In the midwestern U.S., ground beef with cream of mushroom soup and green beans are topped with mashed potatoes or hash browns and baked until brown and crisp.
- In France, a popular version of hachis Parmentier is the equivalent.
- A dish prepared in a similar fashion using fish instead of red meat is called fish pie or fisherman's pie.
- A vegetarian version in which the meat is substituted with beans, TVP, or mycoprotein products such as Quorn is known as shepherdess pie.
