shepherd's pie

Shepherd's Pie. Winter. It’s dark at five. It’s cold. You want to wrap yourself in the evening and warm yourself with something from childhood, something more dense than stew; something rich but for dinner, not a lunch time macaroni and cheese. Then it hits you, a simple shepherd’s pie: meat and gravy and vegetables crowned in mashed potatoes. How I loved shepherd’s pie as a kid. It was that mixture of mashed potatoes, peas and ground beef that was already mixed together and you could scoop up simultaneously, not like when you had to sneak mixing your peas with the mashed potatoes at a roast beef dinner. And the gravy too, was built in. Shepherd’s pie was the all in one that ignored the fine points of distinct items on a plate: very not Italian and very not French.
Of course when we were children the shepherd’s pie was made with hamburger meat. Lamb was not something for any day dinner. While I can’t say for certain, I don’t think lamb was a common meat found in the local A&P. In fact, the only place I remember seeing lamb was on 9th Street in Philadelphia, where the animals were still alive and the butcher would dispatch them to order. And I only remember lambs at Easter. They were right alongside the live chickens and the baby chicks that we used to bring home at Easter time. Buying baby chicks to take home was a standard Easter ritual. We kept them in a box in the basement. They had a warming light and little dishes of food and water. Most of the chicks died but out of the half dozen or so, one or two would actually survive and run around the back yard. My father would give the survivors to a local farmer. Of course, today, 9th Street is now called the Italian Market, even though half of the stalls are Asian and there are certainly no more chicks at Easter or any other kind of live animals.
The internet took me on a bewildering journey of recipes and histories of shepherd’s pie. It would seem that this dish is also called “cottage pie.” While variations on many ingredients are countless, one thing that seems to be common to all is the use of mashed potatoes. In all recipes mashed potatoes cover the final dish. In some, mashed potatoes are also at the base of the dish. According to Wikipedia, shepherd’s pie first appears in print in 1791. It was at this time that research in foods, particularly foods from the New World were entering Europe in a significant way. Potatoes, like tomatoes were long thought to be poisonous. My first exploration took me to France.
The French version of shepherd’s pie is “hachis parmentier.” This is a very curious name, and frankly I don’t remember ever seeing “hachis parmentier” during my time as a student in France. From my experience at the farm stalls meat that was called “hachis” was generally not well regarded. You usually found it next to “viandes pour chien:” “meat for dogs.” Of course, as a student, I bought “hachis” all the time and I would ask the butcher’s wife for different ways I might prepare it. I can still see and hear her saying to me in her heavily accented southern French , “mais, c’est pas bong tout le tempgs.” “It’s not good all the time.” (Southern French adds a “g” sound to words ending in “m” or “n.”) Then too, we have to consider the word “hachis.” The word “hachis” needs to be distinguished from the word, “haché.” While “haché” simply means “chopped” and can apply to anything from meat to vegetables, the term “hachis,” means more something like “chopped left over scraps, “ perhaps like “hash” or Pennsylvania scrapple.

The second part of the French name for this recipe gives tribute to the 18th century apothecary, Antoine Parmentier, who showed the European world that the potato was not at all poisonous but was indeed a marvelous crop that could feed the masses. Several French recipes that make use of potatoes bear his name including this one.
Having considered the French sites, I then moved to Italy, “google.it.” The Italian sites I found call the dish, “torta del pastore,’ a direct translation from the English. I can find nothing that suggests any connection to a true Italian version. The Italian recipes all seem to be adaptations from England/
So, then, I had to look at England and Ireland for recipes and history. From the tradition that I grew up in, with a mother of Irish extraction, Ireland should be the source of all there is to know about shepherd’s pie. But this was not to be the case. Looking at English and Irish sites, I found little help in uncovering the source of this recipe. Many of the Irish and English recipes called for olive oil, which was clearly not a traditional Celtic ingredient. Some called for Worcestershire sauce. But Worcestershire sauce is a commercial product and Worcestershire would probably not be an ingredient in a traditional recipe. In these Anglo –Irish recipes there were also many calls for garlic. But, garlic is not an Irish or English element, and I know my mother never used it in shepherd’s pie.

Where then was a true shepherd’s pie? Did such a thing ever exist? Certainly in my online research I could not find it. In the end, I tried to construct what I think would have been some of the elemental ingredients and cooking methods. What would be the base of searing the meat? What meat would you use? What vegetables should be included? The shepherd pie that follows is my own construction based on childhood memories and plausible ingredients from a Celtic home. Olive oil is replaced by lard. Yes, lard. Lard would have been the grease in which to sear any meat. The pig was slaughtered in January, and the meats and fats were used for the rest of the year. The meat would be lamb, not beef. Lamb could be raised on a small farm that could not sustain cattle. The vegetables I use are inventive. I have added corn and peas. It would be my guess that in a real situation, the farmer would only have had root vegetables such as carrots and onions. As an option I have included parmesan cheese in the mashed potatoes , certainly something that would not have been available in the Ireland of 1790. I have also added a few shavings of nutmeg. My guess is that in the Ireland of 1790 there may not even have been black pepper.

The recipe that follows is an attempt, perhaps imaginative, to recreate a peasant shepherd’s pie. The end result is not what my mother made. It is not what I have tasted in Irish pubs in Philadelphia or New York. This recipe is founded on lard. Lard was what a peasant would have in winter. Lard, these days is not well accepted. But lard adds a sweetness and intensity that has no comparison Lard won't kill you. How often do you use it? This shepherd’s pie is certainly delightful: rich, full and even sweet.

What you need

Equipment
Cast iron skillet or similar.
Potato ricer

Ingredients

Ground lamb, one pound.
Garlic.
Milk.
Butter.
Potatoes: all purpose, Yukon gold or even sweet potatoes or yams.
Carrots: about three.
Frozen peas: one cup.
Frozen corn: one cup.
Parsely.
Lard,

Getting it together: the mise-en-place
The preparations for this recipe are quick and easy. The corn and peas are from frozen bags.