British Shepherd's Pie (Lamb, with a Cottage Pie Option)
Britain's potato-roofed pie: ground lamb, onion and carrot simmered in beef broth with tomato paste and Worcestershire, topped with buttery mash raked with a fork and baked until the ridges brown.
Edited by JP Lambiase
Change the estimate
Swaps change the price only: cook any meat to its own safe temperature. Where these numbers come from
Shepherd's pie, cottage pie and France's hachis Parmentier are the same idea: cooked minced meat under mashed potato, baked (Wikipedia:). Wikipedia says "cottage pie" is the older name: Parson James Woodforde wrote of a "Cottage-Pye" in his diary on August 29, 1791. In 1806 Maria Rundell's *A New System of Domestic Cookery* gave "Sanders", minced beef or mutton with onion and gravy under mashed potato. "Shepherd's pie" appears in an Edinburgh cookbook of 1849, *The Practice of Cookery and Pastry*, as cooked meat of any kind under mashed potato, and Mrs Beeton's 1861 *Household Management* has a "Baked Minced Mutton" made the same way. Both pies were ways to finish the Sunday roast through the week.
Whether the names mean different meats is the argument. British supermarkets and some reference books say shepherd's pie is lamb and cottage pie is beef; Brewer's Dictionary, Prue Leith and Caroline Waldegrave, and John Ayto say the names are interchangeable (Wikipedia). In America the question barely exists: Wikipedia notes that Merriam-Webster has no entry for cottage pie, and that Walmart and Costco sell beef "shepherd's pies". So the version most American families know as shepherd's pie is, by the British supermarket rule, a cottage pie. This recipe is the lamb pie; the Tips give the beef swap.
🇬🇧 The original
Britain's potato-roofed pie: ground lamb, onion and carrot simmered in beef broth with tomato paste and Worcestershire, topped with buttery mash raked with a fork and baked until the ridges brown.
🇺🇸 The American version
Minnesota swapped the mash for a crisp roof of frozen potato tots over beef and green beans in a creamy sauce: the church-supper hotdish. See the Minnesota Tot Hotdish (Ground Beef, Green Beans and Potato Tots) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
A long, open simmer
40 minutes in broth softens the lamb and carrots, and the last 20 uncovered reduce the broth to a gravy thick enough to hold up the mash instead of soaking it.
Fork ridges
Raking the mash makes peaks and grooves, so the top browns in stripes and gets crisp edges in the time the filling takes to heat through.
🧰 You'll need 8 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
Appliances
Pans and pots
Tools
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook the onion and carrots 5 minutes, until softening.
- Step 2
Turn the heat to high, crumble in the lamb and brown it 8 to 10 minutes, breaking it up. Spoon off the excess fat.
- Step 3
Stir in the tomato paste and Worcestershire and fry 2 minutes. Pour in the broth, bring to a simmer, cover and cook 40 minutes, taking the lid off for the last 20 so it thickens. Stir in the frozen peas and season to taste.
- Step 4
While the filling simmers, boil the potatoes in salted water 15 to 20 minutes, until tender. Drain well, then mash with the butter, warm milk and salt.
- Step 5
Heat the oven to 350°F. Spread the hot filling in a 9x13-inch baking dish, spoon the mash over in dollops, spread it to the edges and rake the top with a fork.
- Step 6
Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until the ridges are golden, the filling bubbles at the edges and the center reads 165°F. For darker tops, broil 2 minutes. Rest 5 minutes before serving.
British Shepherd's Pie (Lamb, with a Cottage Pie Option)
Serves 8 · one 9x13-inch pan · 1 hr 35 min total
Lamb filling
- 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
- 1 large onion (200 g), chopped
- 3 medium carrots (180 g), diced
- 1 1/2 lb (680 g) ground lamb
- 3 tbsp (48 g) tomato paste
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 cups (720 g) beef broth
- 1 cup (135 g) frozen peas
- Salt and black pepper
Mash
- 3 lb (1,361 g) russet potatoes, peeled and cut in 2-inch chunks
- 6 tbsp (84 g) butter
- 1/2 cup (122 g) whole milk, warmed
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Equipment: Oven, 9x13-inch baking dish, Dutch oven, Deep skillet, Instant-read thermometer, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons, Colander
Method
- Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook the onion and carrots 5 minutes, until softening.
- Turn the heat to high, crumble in the lamb and brown it 8 to 10 minutes, breaking it up. Spoon off the excess fat.
- Stir in the tomato paste and Worcestershire and fry 2 minutes. Pour in the broth, bring to a simmer, cover and cook 40 minutes, taking the lid off for the last 20 so it thickens. Stir in the frozen peas and season to taste.
- While the filling simmers, boil the potatoes in salted water 15 to 20 minutes, until tender. Drain well, then mash with the butter, warm milk and salt.
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Spread the hot filling in a 9x13-inch baking dish, spoon the mash over in dollops, spread it to the edges and rake the top with a fork.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until the ridges are golden, the filling bubbles at the edges and the center reads 165°F. For darker tops, broil 2 minutes. Rest 5 minutes before serving.
Adapted from Barney Desmazery, "No-fuss shepherd's pie", BBC Good Food, serves 4. We follow his method (onion and carrots softened, lamb browned and drained, tomato paste and Worcestershire fried in, beef stock simmered covered 40 minutes and uncovered halfway, mash of boiled potatoes, butter and milk ruffled with a fork, baked at 180°C until the edges bubble) at about 1 1/2 times the amounts for a 9x13. Our changes: frozen peas stirred in at the end (not in his recipe) to stretch it to 8 servings, a little less butter in the mash, and a longer bake for the bigger pan. The 165°F check is ours. Estimated cost: about $23.37 for the pan, about $2.92 a serving with lamb at the site's $9.99 a pound; as a beef cottage pie, about $2.37. bbcgoodfood.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Cottage pie: use 1 1/2 lb 85% lean ground beef instead of the lamb; everything else stays the same.
- Make ahead: let the filling cool, assemble, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours (house rule), then bake 45 to 50 minutes, to 165°F. BBC Good Food freezes the assembled pie; to bake from frozen it uses 160°C (about 325°F) for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes, until piping hot in the center.
- Leftovers keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated; reheat portions to 165°F.
- A splash of the broth into the mash instead of some of the milk makes it taste meatier.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Shepherd's pie is lamb and cottage pie is beef. Disputed: British supermarkets and the Oxford Companion to Food say so; Brewer's Dictionary, Prue Leith and Caroline Waldegrave, and John Ayto say the names are interchangeable (all via Wikipedia).
- Cottage pie is the older name. Documented: "Cottage-Pye" in Parson Woodforde's diary, 1791; shepherd's pie in print by 1849 (Wikipedia).
- In America, shepherd's pie is made with beef. Documented as common usage: Merriam-Webster lists no cottage pie, and Walmart and Costco sell beef shepherd's pies (Wikipedia).
- It was invented for leftovers. Folklore as a rule, but early recipes back it: Rundell (1806) and the 1849 Edinburgh recipe use cooked meat, and Eliza Acton (1845) called a version with fresh meat "very superior" (Wikipedia).
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