Good veggie food is better than most meat food. It's just that it takes longer usually, or involves more ingredients. I'm not a veggie now, but used to be...
Your shepherd's pie recipe...
- Thread starter upsidedownwalrus
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Good veggie food is better than most meat food. It's just that it takes longer usually, or involves more ingredients. I'm not a veggie now, but used to be...
i like shepherds pie
Is it seen as the quintessential 'English dish' in the USA? They even mention it in deadwood one time...
Wiki reckons that the Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie distinction is a folk etymology...
Not convinced by Wiki there. Isn't a folk etymology more something nonsensical, usually derived from using more familiar syllables to approximate the original, more alien sounds. For example 'poule chat' (chicken cat) in French becomes the English 'Polecat'
Shepherd's pie seems far more logical than a linguistic misunderstanding. Shepherds look after sheep, so the pie's of lamb like.
Shepherd's pie seems far more logical than a linguistic misunderstanding. Shepherds look after sheep, so the pie's of lamb like.
DaRealSpoon
Do not try and bend the spoon...
What a great tip to get kids to eat their tea !! Except for the boobies like
Ennit, surly I'm not the only person that does this. Thats the most satisfying bit of the pie for me (bar eating it). Spreading the mash and making patterns or pictures with the fork
Next time it's pie day... pics methinks
In the old days cows did live in cottages. There would be half of the building for the human occupants and the other half for the cows, in an open plan system I suppose with a fence or something. In Devon such a building would have been called a shippen. It would be nice and warm for the farmer and his family if a little smelly.
CyberRose
أرفع الشفرات
Nobody likes a smart arse
no, i would say fish 'n chips or roast beef with mash are considered more quintessential english dishes over here
Mrs Miggins
Eternal
TitanSound
Mr Beardy Drummer
One thing I find adds a lot of flavour is frying the mince with an Oxo cube crumbled in just as the mince is starting to brown and a splash of Worcester sauce!!
fen_boy
Exits gracefully.
Roast potatoes surely, no one has a roast with mash as the main potato event. They might have a bit on the side, but they're wrong un's IMO.
subversplat
writer of wrongs
I usually have mash, roast and boiled on my occasion dinners.
Mrs Miggins
Eternal
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that! Mr Miggins is obsessed with roast and mashed with all roast dinners. Too much spud if you ask me. And too much bloody effort. His mother can do that - I ain't!
fen_boy
Exits gracefully.
Or alternatively he could cook a nice roast for you (with mash) if he's that bothered.
fen_boy
Exits gracefully.
You should have a baked potato instead of meat and potato soup instead of gravy too.
Epona
Radar 2006-2020, Sonic 2006-2022, Jakey 2007-2024
I prefer mine very basic, and IMO tomatoes are a definite no-no - they completely change the taste of the original traditional dish.
Mince, onions, carrots, a teaspoon of marmite and a little stock and thyme, with buttered mashed potato on top. I like a bit of cheddar grated on top of the potato.
Purists argue about whether the addition of carrots is a step too far!
Mince, onions, carrots, a teaspoon of marmite and a little stock and thyme, with buttered mashed potato on top. I like a bit of cheddar grated on top of the potato.
Purists argue about whether the addition of carrots is a step too far!
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
Shepherd's pie is one of only two dishes (spag bol being the other) where I use a meat substitute like veg protein or occasionally that quorn muck.
It can be just as good with lentils though. When I was a nipper veggie Shepherd's Pie with red lentils was called Red Dragon Pie. Probably my mate's mum got it from one of those early Sarah Brown Sainsburys veggie cookbooks.
It can be just as good with lentils though. When I was a nipper veggie Shepherd's Pie with red lentils was called Red Dragon Pie. Probably my mate's mum got it from one of those early Sarah Brown Sainsburys veggie cookbooks.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Making one right now, about to stick it in the oven... How do you make yours?
I made mashed potatoes with some feta, some cheddar and some houmous stirred in (tastes very nice according to Mrs RD)
Made the other bit with beef mince, can of tomatoes, some onion, garlic and ginger, some basil, some mixed herbs, and a little paprika.
The good thing about shepherd's pie is that there are a billion possible variants. It's a fundamentally simple dish which you can adapt to your own little preferred way.
That's not shepherd's pie. That's not even cottage pie. That's the b@stard son of cottage pie.
feta? hummus? cheddar? ginger? garlic? basil? tomatoes? paprika? mixed herbs?
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. What can I say? That's all so wrong.
Minced beef, onions, gravy sauce, mashed potatoes on top. Even adding carrots is a little bit risque. And so is adding a spoon of mustard to your mash and topping the cottage pie with mustard mash.
Epona
Radar 2006-2020, Sonic 2006-2022, Jakey 2007-2024
Ahhh thank you, some backup to my shepherds pie purist claims! I do go with the carrots personally, but they are certainly not a required ingredient. Anything more than mince, onion, and potato is pushing it - at least in terms of the original dish. If people are going to make something completely fucking different they should give it a different name.
The thing with the carrot is not so much adding something extra to the meal as padding out a limited amount of expensive meat with cheaper vegetables. Remember shepherds are not rich people. Every sheep that they mince up and put in the oven with mash on the top is a sheep that they cannot sell at the market. 
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Yes! Absolutely! Cheesy bloody tomato-y pies are wrong!
I do/don't go with carrots, I don't consider them as essential, but I, too, reckon the purist recipe is without but will add finely diced carrots to bulk it out and balance the potato topping, make it more 'interesting' if I have plenty of carrots to hand.
And yes, definitely, they should invent a new name if their recipe involves feta cheese and tomatoes ffs!
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
And I also think there's a bit of a 'can I be arsed?' factor.The thing with the carrot is not so much adding something extra to the meal as padding out a limited amount of expensive meat with cheaper vegetables. Remember shepherds are not rich people. Every sheep that they mince up and put in the oven with mash on the top is a sheep that they cannot sell at the market.
I mean, if you serve your shepherd's pie or cottage pie with green beans/peas and carrots, I guess you'll need to wash an extra pan, i.e. cottage or shepherd's pie requires oven dish, green beans or peas requires small pan; carrots require small pan. Unless you finely dice carrots and add to pie base, and you only need an oven dish and pan instead of an oven dish and two pans?
Are you trying to suggest that you don't serve up your Shephards Pie with a side salad comprising yellow vine tomatoes, rocket, asparagus tips, and pointed red peppers drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar.
