The History of Shepherd’s Pie (2024)

FAQs

What is the history behind shepherd's pie? ›

Many people believe that the peasant housewives invented the pie as an easy way to repackage leftovers from their Sunday roast. The Shepherd Pie is thought to originate from Ireland and the northern parts of England.

Shepherd's pie hails from Scotland, but is also popular in Ireland and England. The Scottish people are known for their frugality (or we're cheap, whatever!) so it comes as no surprise that they created a dish where the ingredients were in an abundant supply and inexpensive for them.

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.

According to the Oxford Companion to Food, once upon a time, Scotland made its shepherd's pies with pastry instead of mashed potatoes. Indian cooks once considered shepherd's pie to be a perfect dish for tiffin (a word used to mean a light snack in British India).

The name “shepherd's pie” first appeared in an English cookbook of 1877 that attributes the dish to Scotland while complaining that it is “too farinaceous,” since the potato topping was evidently itself topped by a wheat-flour shell.

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.

We don't eat a lot of lamb in the United States, so we call the version made with ground beef, Shepherd's Pie, and beef is what most folks here in The South would expect if you were to serve them Shepherd's Pie.

A real Scottish favourite, the Scotch pie has been made in Scotland for at least the last four or five hundred years. The first filling was spiced mutton and sometimes you'll still find Scotch Pies called a Mutton pie, although now minced lamb or beef is more commonly used.

"Shepherd's Pie is one the most traditional Irish dishes I know of," she said. Culhane said the meal became popular in Ireland for a simple reason: It's easy to make, it makes a lot and it's cheap. Although there are many variations, most Shepherd's Pies are made with ground meat, potatoes, carrots, peas and onions.

countable noun. Your pate is the top of your head. [old-fashioned]

What do Italians call pâté? ›

Italian country paté is the Italian equivalent of the French Paté de Campagne. A mixture of coarser meat cooked in an earthenware terrine. Patés and terrines have been known in Italy since Roman times, and although the words are often used synonymously there is a distinction.

Foie gras is the liver of a goose or duck that has been fattened by a process of force-feeding. It is considered a delicacy of French cuisine. Foie gras is ideally very firm and smoothly textured, with a colouring of creamy white tinged with pink.

Shepherd's pie is considered a savory pie even though it lacks a flour-based crust because mashed potatoes serve the same function as a crust. The mashed potatoes form a layer on top of the meat filling, providing a protective and flavorful barrier between the filling and the outside.

The main difference between Cottage Pie and Shepherd's pie is cottage pie uses ground beef, and Shepherd's pie uses ground lamb. Both pies are cooked with vegetables and gravy and baked under a layer of mashed potatoes. To make Shepherd's pie using this recipe, simply substitute ground lamb.

Patrick's Day, if you find yourself hankering for something other than corned beef, give shepherd's pie a serious look. With a flavor profile similar to beef stew, or pot roast, it's a hearty, warm, and delicious dish to help you refuel after a long day of… whatever it is you do to celebrate.

From Egypt to Rome via Greece

The Ancient Egyptians were the first to invent a dish close to what we know as a pie today. They had a honey filling covered in a crusty cake made from oats, wheat, rye or barley. A recipe for chicken pie was also discovered on a tablet carved prior to 2000 BC.

The origins of the meat pie have been traced back to the Neolithic period, around 6000 BC. Versions of what are now known as pies were featured on ancient Egyptian tomb walls, and in ancient Greek and Roman texts.