/ck/ - Food & Cooking

More cheese and mushrooms

Some onions and more cheese. Maybe some bacon on top of the perderders.

>>4741771
Onions, garlic, etc; anything from that family of plants tastes great. But, I avoid them when I can. The compounds in the get in your bloodstream. You can't brush it out of your mouth, there'll be a bad smell no matter what.

>>4741778
Who da fuck cares, it tastes good nigga.

what about a soffrito or mirepoix base? many, possibly most, shepherd's pies have carrots and onion in

mine is pretty pimp, i use shredded shank, stock, and i infuse mint and rosemary before the potato goes on

>>4741746
>shepard's pie
>beef

>>4741965
foad

>>4741746
ground lamb nigga. get with the program.

>>4741778
I eat garlic and onions every day and I've never had a problem like you describe.

>>4741965
It's just cottage pie, stop being a pedant.

>>4741965

being this pretentious

Fucking love Marco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkK7BbBNPaY

>>4742045

Compared with Ramsay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJB3_asB2rc

Needs carrots and onions. Instead of regular old mash try it with some champ or mix in some sauteed leeks.

What cheese are you using?

When I do shepherd's pie, I use chopped onion, carrots, peas, mushrooms, a bit of garlic, and sometimes some celery and corn. Add some worcestershire, brown mustard, a bit of beef broth, a splash of red wine, and a little cornstarch to thicken it up. Spices are salt, pepper, dried thyme, fresh rosemary, and a bit of dried savory.

Also, for the topping, I boil the potatoes, and after they're done boiling, I pour the water out, put the potatoes back in the pot, dry, and put the pot back on the heat for about 30 seconds. It allows some of the excess water to evaporate, making the potatoes less watery and fluffier. Then I add in about a tablespoon of butter, and 2 tablespoons of cream for each (medium sized) potato. Then I stir in salt, pepper, chopped chives, and a bit of garlic powder. if you have the time, and feel like it, feel free to use mashed roasted garlic, it gives a nicer, sweeter taste, but I usually skip doing that.

For shepherd's pie, same thing, except I add a bit of cheddar parmesan cheese, and 1 egg for every 2 potatoes. Sometimes I add crumbled crispy bacon to the potatoes. Spread the potatoes over the top. Make sure it's not spread smooth, use a fork to rough it up so it develops a good crust. Put in the oven at 400 until it looks nice and brown and crispy.

>no onions
>no garlic
>no carrots
Seriously, wtf? Step it up m8

>>4741778
if they are cooked that wont taint your breath FACT
if they are raw they will taint your breath FACT
no matter what you eat afterwards, hygene product you use etc. they wont make a difference. Raw allium prevails

When I made shepard's pie for the first time (after hearing about it, not actually seeing it), I took the 'pie' part literally and took a blind baked crust, filled it with cooked ground lamb (with peas, onions, black pepper, nutmeg and allspice) and topped with with mashed potatoes mixed with shredded cheese, then baked the whole thing until the potatoes were nice and brown.

Turned out pretty good. If I had to nail down a ratio of ingredients in the filling, it was probably 1/2 lb lamb with about 1/2 cup peas, topped with 1 cup of mashed potatoes mixed with 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.

These days I make it with ground beef because it's more commonly available. I really don't notice that big of a difference.

lamb!!!!!

I always mix the meat part with gravy, usually one that has some tomato sauce mixed in.

Hey, a shepherd's pie thread! How convenient!

I asked for vegetable recommendations earlier this week. With /ck/'s help, I chose butternut squash, mushrooms and Brussels sprouts to add to the ground elk I had for a base. I seasoned the meat mixture with sage and the potatoes with roasted garlic. It came out really good. I'd try those vegetables and seasonings again. You guys know your stuff.

>>4742502

Like this guy said, lamb.

Shepards pie is with lamb, cottage pie is with beef.

>>4741746
>1/2lb mushroom
>1/2lb cheese

Less of these.

Add onions, carrots.

>>4742529
Who gives a shit, everyone knows what OP means. Shuffle your autistic ass off elsewhere.

>>4742529
>>4742502
>>4741965

Cottage pie is the original name for a pie made with potato crust. The name shepherds pie was first recorded about 90 years after cottage pie and has been used synonymously ever since.

Recently shepherds pie has been used by some to refer to a lamb filled pie, the theory being shepherds are associated with sheep. This meaning has no historical basis and is an example of false entomology.

>>4742564
*entymology

Carrots celery and onion.

try using some lamb
also add onions and carrots if you like them

Carrots are important, they add sweetness. Onions are obviously mandatory if you don't want it to taste like ass.
A tablespoon of tomato paste is often an improvement.

>>4742564
>citation needed

>>4741746
Brown some onions and shredded carrot then mix with the meat. Garlic also works well, add some nutmeg, pepper and thyme too. You could also try mixing some mustard and/or horse radish to the mash, even some worcestershire sauce if you feel like it; I like to give the mash a bit of a kick.

>>4741746
Use more 'shrooms. Don't be afraid of onions and garlic either. Yes, they're spicy. Yes, raw, they will taint your breath. No, you won't be able to smell it on your breath after you cook them, especially in a shepherd's pie.
Also, what sort of cheese are you using?
Also, lamb isn't traditional, but is better than ground beef IMO.

>>4742674
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/shepherd's-pie

OP back again.

-I've been using a Monterey jack and medium cheddar blend. I know Monterey jack is a Mexican cheese and doesn't jive with the whole shepard/cottage pie theme. But, it's the best tasting cheese to me.

-The pie tastes good currently without anything from the Allium family. As such, not going to add any. As for the smell, I don't notice my breath. But, I know for sure cooking Allium, the smell gets into the air, into your clothes, on your skin, and doesn't come off. What's worse is when I exercise and sweat, the Allium smell comes out.

-I'm on the fence about carrots and celery. When you add something, it decreases the ratio of everything else. I want my pie to be about the main ingredients.

-I might be captain obvious here. But, instead of browning the meat and adding it to a casserole dish. I just put the raw meat in a cast iron pan and put it in the oven. I'll open the oven 1-2 times to stir the mixture, that's it. The results are the same to me as stovetop. I layer the peas and mushrooms on top once the beef tallow has rendered. I don't care enough to season my cast iron pan. The beef tallow plus the bed of beef has been enough to prevent sticking. Just food for thought.

>>4742529

shut up

>>4742569

*etymology

>>4742950

>medium cheddar
>not cooking with onions because of an irrational fear of the smell
>not making any flavour base at all for the stew because they're not 'the main ingredients' (protip: they are)
>jusrt fucking baking the meat and throwing vegetables on top

holy god fucking dammit shit balls i am glad you don't cook for me.

>>4742950
"I want my pie to be about the main ingredients"
>I don't care about flavour, I'm going to serve completely unseasoned ground beef and call it a pie

This is why people think badly of British food.

>>4743075

he's not british

>>4743081
Obviously, but it's British food, and if he serves it to someone else, they will think it represents British food.

>>4743083

ah i see your point.

to be fair this is how most of my uni housemates made shepherd's pie. just onions, meat, ketchup, more or less heated to the point of cohesive greyness then topped with bashed up potatoes.

>>4741746
Why does shepherds pie have Irish association in the USA?

>>4743093

I'm from the US, and that's the first I've heard that. We just think of British Isles in general for that.

>>4742950
I mix some English mustard in with the mashed potatoes before putting it on top to give it a bit of a kick.

Peas and mushrooms do not feature in any common mirepiox ever, for good reason. They do not impart any flavour to your dish beyond simply being in it. With zero aromatics and zero seasoning you get zero flavour.

Compare your shepherd's pie side by side with one made with a complete mirepoix alongside a generous amount of worcestershire sauce, tomato paste and stock with a bay leaf and some thyme for good measure, and you'll come out wiser.

>>4743100
I went searching for recipes and both on youtube and recipe sites, they always mentioned how it is the perfect saint Patricks day meal or they ate it in an Irish pub, that sort of thing. I was just wondering where this association came from when it is a British dish.

>>4743111
Probably because Irish pubs are the only type of British restaurant in the U.S. (for obvious reasons, because nobody is going to go out and pay for a meat pie butty).

>>4743111

Hate to say it but probably because (some) people here conflate British, English, and Irish. And they wouldn't even know what Welsh is.

>>4743119
Well, that's just not true. I go to an English style pub here all the time. Decent beer selection and great fish and chips and pasties. And there's not just one, either. For some reason, there's more English style pubs here than I've seen in other cities or areas. (I live in NorCal).

>>4743120
I'm American, and I can't imagine being so ignorant as to not know where Wales is located. Unfortunately, though, you're probably right....sigh.

>>4742950
>Monterey Jack and Cheddar.
I'm not usually a huge fan of cheddar, but you're making an English dish so it's all good.
But come on, Monterey Jack? Pick something with character, especially since you're using cheddar, another pretty dull cheese. I'd go for a Gouda or Gruyere, but those are just my suggestions.
Yes, your pie is probably edible without allium. But, as someone who loves garlic and onions, I'd say use them. Your pie will be better off without it, not that I can force you.
Carrots and celery are the main ingredients, genius.
I'd cook some shit in a pan before it all goes into the oven, but this isn't my area of expertise, so...

>>4743133
I went to an "English-style pub" in the US once... ordered "fish'n'chips." (as it was written on their menu, complete with fullstop) only to receive a plate of cornmeal-battered unidentifiable fish of some kind in a plastic boat beneath which was a bed of near-burnt crisps. Crisps.
Not what the Americans call "fries" and Brits call "chips," but thin disks of potato that the Americans call "chips" and the Brits call "crisps."
Let that sink in a minute.

Let's be honest: the vast majority of restaurants serving food outside of the nation of its originating cuisine will invariably fuck it up. I've tried getting soul food and cajun/creole in Dublin, pizza in Vietnam and Chinese food in Italy, amongst other things, and each time the interpretation better reflected local tastes than the cuisines they were meant to represent.

Occasionally, a place might be surprising, but when something as piss-simple as fish and chips gets fucked up to the point where the fish is unrecognisable and the fried potato is of the wrong sort, it implies more complex foods are fucked up even further.

Tried my luck on a cottage pie today thanks to this thread. Wish I had more potatoes on hand. I used onions, garlic, tomato paste, beef stock and worchestershire.

>>4742058
this sounds good

however, when we have shepherds pie we don't tend to add cheese, but if we did i'd imagine it'd be extra mature cheddar.

for the stew, mince (lamb or beef), onion, carrot, celery, worcestershire, stock or wine, rosemary and perhaps some mint sauce if it's lamb

for mashed potato, add some english mustard, or maybe horseradish if using beef

>>4744044
>fish and cooked crisps

... what? Just what? How do you fuck up fish and chips like that?

>>4744049

looks delicious. Was it cheesy on top or just plain?

>>4744093

Thanks, bro. Yeah I added a little parmesan before the oven. I actually made another as well with lamb with no cheese. Have a feeling they will taste even better tomorrow.

>>4743141
Sorry about your countrymen dude, but generally calpistani knowledge of basic geography is non-existent, but I guess you know that. I've heard Europe referred to as "a country in France" by a twenty-something girl from Cali, a bit of me died that moment.

>>4742950
brown the meat, everything should be at least part cooked before it goes near the oven

onion is ESSENTIAL to pretty push all English ground meat recipes, garlic is more of a to taste thing

if you insist on cheddar use a mature Cheddar
otherwise pick a county (or other regional) cheese that you like
(i personally like red Leicester when doing it cheap, smoked Wensleydale when doing it nice, and Yarg when being really fancy)

no foreign cheeses (this does extent to somerset brie)

>>4744087
Well, no the crisps weren't from packet then re-fried. They were thin, round shavings of potato fried in oil... you know... like nearly all crisps are. The problem was that they were left in the oil a tad too long. The crisps were on the cusp of burnt.

But yeah: my reaction exactly. I ordered "fish'n'chips." because I figured it would be far safer than any of the other options. I shudder to think how the place might prepare and serve their steak and ale pie.

It's humourous how Brits ruin hamburgers with egg and rusk and how Americans ruin fish supper with cornmeal and crisps as each are horrificly simple dishes to cook. At least the Americans have an excuse: they misunderstood "chips" to mean their "chips" (Brit crisps). The Brits have no excuse cooking unseasoned meatloaf and calling it a hamburger. None.

I leave out the peas. I just use a pound of lamb, a large onion, several carrots and several stalks of celery. I add a splash of Worcestershire sauce and never add garlic. Don't muddy it up with mushrooms or anything else. Its supposed to be a simple dish, let the lamb shine.

Got inspired by this thread. Never has shepherd pie before, it is in the oven now. everything seems to taste very good.