Clean Eating Shepherds Pie Recipe | The Gracious Pantry (2024)

FAQs

Why is flour used in shepherds pie? ›

This shepherd's pie recipe uses 2 tablespoons of flour to thicken the gravy but if you feel like the meat mixture is too watery, add in another tablespoon and stir to combine. You may also try simmering the mince mixture for longer so that the stock reduces down and thickens.

Shepherd's Pie is the sort of food that brings a smile to everyone's face! That saucy, deeply flavourful filling, that creamy potato topping, and that awesome golden cheese crust.… While Shepherd's Pie is traditionally made with lamb, beef is just as tasty in this recipe.

Shepherd's pie is popular throughout the British Isles and is served both at home and in homey settings such as pubs but also sometimes in fine dining establishments.

Shepherd's Pie first came about late in the 1700s and early 1800s. Accordingly, housewives back then were on the frugal side. Much like we do today, they were looking for ways to incorporate those leftovers that husbands and kids would turn up their noses at. The struggle was real back then just like today.

Thickening Gravy, Sauces, or Pie Fillings

Cornstarch works remarkably well as a thickener in sauces, gravy, and pie fillings, and some prefer it to flour.

These meaty, mince-filled and mash potato-topped pies are very similar, the difference comes down to the filling. Cottage pie is usually made with beef, whereas shepherd's pie is made with lamb. You can also add vegetables and aromats to the filling, such as onions, garlic, carrot, zucchini and rosemary.

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.

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.

The dish originates from the British Isles, but some might argue that it is an Irish dish by origin. The name "Shepherd's Pie" was first recorded in an 1877 cookbook. In this same cookbook, it was noted that the dish was of Scottish origin. During the period between the 18th and 19th centuries, money was very tight.

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.

What ethnicity is Shepherd's Pie? ›

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.

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).

Freshly baked shepherd's pie will keep for about 3 to 5 days in the fridge refrigerate covered with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.

If it is made with mutton or lamb it is usually called "shepherd's pie" (because a shepherd looks after sheep) and has a topping of mashed potato, patterned to represent sheep's fleece.

At the heart of most pastry problems—and therefore of most Pie Panic—is the flour: its protein, when combined with liquid and kneaded or mixed, creates a network of strands of gluten that forms the crust's structure.

It's great because it thickens at low temperatures, but you'll need to use more of it because it's not as effective as some of the other starches. Most people prefer other thickeners over flour because it creates a cloudy filling with a slightly gummy texture and a wheat-flavored taste.

Common thickeners for fruit pie fillings are flour, cornstarch, arrowroot, and tapioca. Flour gives an opaque appearance, while the other thickeners are clearer.

To me, the most important thing to know about wheat flour, whether all-purpose white flour, bread flour, semolina, pastry flour or whole wheat flour is that its main contribution to baking is structure. It creates structure because of gluten.