Easy Irish Cottage Pie Filling Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is shepherd's pie made of in Ireland? ›

I never shy away from the excuse to celebrate anything Irish. What's not to love about shepherd's pie? It's got ground beef, or lamb, with mushrooms, onion, corn, peas and carrots cooked in a delicious gravy sauce that's topped with a mashed potato crust that's baked in the oven. It's a meal-in-one.

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.

The easiest way to thicken shepherd's pie filling is by sprinkling a few tablespoons of flour into the ground beef mixture as it cooks before adding it to the baking dish. The starch in the flour will absorb the extra liquid and create a thick gravy.

Very often flour or cornstarch is used, but in certain instances tapioca, arrowroot and potato starch can also help achieve the desired consistency.

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.

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.

Classic Shepherd's Pie is a comforting casserole that consists of ground lamb, carrots, and peas simmered with Guinness, Worcestershire sauce, and herbs and topped with a cheesy mashed potato layer that's baked until golden and crisp.

The cornflour is used to thicken the mince, if you don't have any, you can continue without, reduce it for longer, or add a little plain flour. Remove the bay leaf, and spoon the mixture into a pie dish – I generally try to keep the ratio of potatoes to beef mixture about 60/40.

The right consistency for a meat sauce that mash can sit on can leave the finished pie on the dry side. So we've gone with a jug of extra gravy because, let's face it, who doesn't love extra gravy? See the full recipe for our next level cottage pie.

Why does my potato sink in cottage pie? ›

Cottage Pie – 2 little tips

I just have 2 little tips to make your Cottage Pie a resounding success: To stop the potato from sinking into the filling, cool the filling first. But this isn't a deal breaker, it's just a visual thing ie if you don't cool the filling, the potato “bleeds” into the beef mixture; and.

Classic shepherd's pie is made with ground lamb, gravy, mashed potatoes, and veggies like peas, corn, celery, and carrots. Why is my shepherd's pie soggy? Avoid a soggy pie by simmering the meat mixture for at least 8 minutes. Be sure to cook down the mixture to remove excess moisture.

A good shepherd's – or indeed cottage – pie, needs a solid, but fluffy top: too much milk or butter, and you'll end up with a sloppy puree instead. Make sure you steam the potatoes dry before mashing, and season generously; I like Bareham and Hopkinson's nutmeg as well as the usual salt and pepper.

How do you keep shepherds pie from falling apart? The eggs in the mashed potatoes help keep the pie together. You should also make sure to spread the potatoes and press down a bit.

There are four ingredients in a standard pie crust: flour, fat, liquid, and salt.

Shepherd's pie comes to us from England, and is traditionally made with lamb or mutton. Here in the states we are more of a beef eating culture than a lamb eating one, and when one is served "shepherd's pie" here, it is most often made with ground beef.

The three primary ingredients of pastry are fat, flour and water. The ratio and handling of these ingredients give us the full spectrum of pastry, from delicate tenderness to brittle flakiness.