Shepherds pie old fashioned

The best ever Shepherd's Pie IMHO is made with finely chopped cooked leftover lamb from a roast lamb (plus lots of gravy). In fact, I may be wrong but I think it was how the dish originated, way back.
 
Morning Glory said:
The best ever Shepherd's Pie IMHO is made with finely chopped cooked leftover lamb from a roast lamb (plus lots of gravy). In fact, I may be wrong but I think it was how the dish originated, way back.
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Yes, I can't imagine it without the gravy.
 
My shepherd's pie story:

First off, it's important to understand that in the US, since folks don't really eat that much lamb here, "shepherd's pie" nearly always means beef - we don't really call it cottage pie. Any restaurant I've been to, even the British/Irish themed ones, make it with beef.

A couple of years ago, my brother called me, knowing that I cook from scratch, and said they'd been given a few pounds of ground lamb, and would I be interested in it, since they had no idea what to do with it and weren't crazy about the idea of eating it.

I said, "Yeah, sure, I'll take it. What's more, you bring it over, and I'll make you and Linda something with it and we'll all have a good meal and a visit."

He agreed, but he was already nervous about the whole thing.

Obvious things to make with ground lamb...kofta and shepherd's pie, and I chose shepherd's pie because I knew it would at least be familiar to him, as I'd seen him order it in restaurants before.

They brought it over, I got to cooking, explained what I was doing, every step of the way. Lee, I kid you not, was visibly shaken at the prospect of eating lamb for the first time in his 60 years on this planet.

Lee's not an adventurous eater. At all. He likes burgers and pizza and fried chicken and fried fish, meatloaf and pork chops and lunchmeat sandwiches. The most "out there" thing he eats is shrimp, which isn't that exotic at all.

I got the pie all put together. Into the oven, and we have a few drinks, and the whole time, Lee kept nervously glancing over at the oven. He wanted to know what else we had to eat in case he couldn't stomach the pie. He began to actually look scared.

Finally, out it came, and I must say, I did it on my big cast iron skillet, and it was the best looking shepherd's pie I ever made. Golden on top, beautifully rustic...it was just begging to be eaten.

My wife and I, for having lived in the UK, had eaten lamb before, on more than one occasion, so there was no drama there. Linda, who liked to think she knew more than anyone else about everything, finally admitted that, at 63, it was her first experience with lamb, even though she'd spent considerable time in the Land Of Sheep (New Zealand), and Lee...

Poor Lee. He looked like he needed about six Valium to calm his nerves. He sat down. He got up. He sat down, I put a big serving on his plate. He got up and paced: "I don't know, man, I just don't know...I mean, what's it gonna taste like?!?!"

He sat down, he picked up his fork. He took a drink of water, he put his fork down. He got up. He paced. He went to the sink and splashed water on his face. He talked to himself, "C'mon, Lee! It's ground meat! It's just meat! You can do it! C'mon!"

Finally, he sat back down. With one hand on his face, he finally got a tiny forkful of the pie, and put it in his mouth. He looked like he was eating a skunk ass-end first.

But he tried another bite. And another. And another.

"Hey, this isn't too bad. No, really, it's not that bad at all."

He ate his first helping. Then he had "a little more," then a third helping. I ended up having to give him some more of it to take home.

They've eaten here a lot, and I've always cooked for them, and they both say that by far, their favorite thing I've ever made has been that shepherd's pie. :laugh:
 
rascal said:
My earliest memory of helping mum in the kitchen was grinding in a bench mounted grinder, winding the wringer and watching food come out.i was prolly under 10 and I helped regularly. Lamb was cheap back then, and my grandparents often supplied the meat and mum would cook us all a roast. Then next day we would make the meal
Ground cold lamb, also grind carrots,onions and any other root vegetable. I will,use sweet tatter as well. Mix with Worcester sauce and tomato,ketchup. S and p. Then put into a casserole dish.,then boil potatoes and mash. Top the meat and bake at 160c for 40 mins. My mash has cheese in it as well. It's only 10am here so I will post pics later as I make.

Russ
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You sound about my vintage. We usually had roast lamb on a Sunday and shepherds pie on a Monday. I loved mincing the leftovers in the big mincer, as we called it. Mum always made stock in her pressure cooker with the bones - which stank to high heaven - I was always amazed how tasty the final product was. She made a roux out of the fat from the lamb and flour - she had a big bag of flour and would just tell me to bring her a tablespoonful of it, which meant 'make the sauce for the shepherd's pie' - and add the stock and any gravy left over from the Sunday dinner. The leftover meat and veg were then added and stirred in. The whole thing was poured into a huge pie dish and mash added on top. Yum, especially with HP Sauce. I don't think I've done it since. We don't have a decent mincer and we don't often have lamb.
 
Naillig said:
You sound about my vintage. We usually had roast lamb on a Sunday and shepherds pie on a Monday. I loved mincing the leftovers in the big mincer, as we called it. Mum always made stock in her pressure cooker with the bones - which stank to high heaven - I was always amazed how tasty the final product was. She made a roux out of the fat from the lamb and flour - she had a big bag of flour and would just tell me to bring her a tablespoonful of it, which meant 'make the sauce for the shepherd's pie' - and add the stock and any gravy left over from the Sunday dinner. The leftover meat and veg were then added and stirred in. The whole thing was poured into a huge pie dish and mash added on top. Yum, especially with HP Sauce. I don't think I've done it since. We don't have a decent mincer and we don't often have lamb.
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This was in the 60s to 70s. I also was enlisted to make the salad dressing. I still make that too. I guess the gravy was the tomato and Worcester sauce. We don't often get leftovers as its normally all gone, or in sammiches. :)

Russ
 
BK before the Kenwood my Mum used one of these. Mincing on Monday after school whilst Mum prepped is a good memory. She always made a pud.. Apple pancakes with golden syrup was the pud after Sh/pie.
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Burt Blank said:
BK before the Kenwood my Mum used one of these. Mincing on Monday after school whilst Mum prepped is a good memory. She always made a pud.. Apple pancakes with golden syrup was the pud after Sh/pie.View attachment 50765
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My mum did the same on Mondays. I liked to make the mince. (She has a similar thing to chop mint for mint sauce. I used to pick the mint from the garden and make the sauce). Depending on meat roasted on sunday we minced lamb for shepherds pie, beef for cottage pie or pork for pork crumble. No apple pancakes but apple in a layer between the pork and the crumble.
 
We only ever had shepherds pie of the three you mention, Herbie. I only came across cottage pie in my adult years, maybe even since I married. I've never heard of pork crumble.

To those who still mince cooked lamb for shepherds' pie, what mincer do you use now?

People thinking shepherds' pie can be made with lamb or beef is akin to, and equally annoying as, those who think Irish stew can also be made with lamb or beef - it's made with lamb by the way.
 
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