I have tried to keep quiet about this. To bite my tongue and say nothing. But, it’s happening so often I must speak up.
Over the last few months, I have noticed a growing number of American bloggers discussing shepherd’s pie. Nothing wrong with that, I like shepherd’s pie, it is the epitome of fine food in my book. No, the problem is, for some unknown reason, the bloggers in question seem to think shepherd’s pie is Irish. It’s not. Dublin Bay Prawns = Irish. Soda bread = Irish. Shepherds pie = jolly good food for our climate.
I admit, it is eaten in Ireland – my Irish grandmother made a first class shepherd’s pie. However, it is also eaten in England, Scotland and Wales. Trust me, the people of the north-western archipelago are very fond of the stuff. Furthermore, it does not contain tomatoes and under no circumstances should you ever use instant mashed potato. In fact, anyone guilty of the latter thoroughly deserves whatever cruel and unusual punishment the comfort food gods throw at them.
BTW, there is a variation, cottage pie, which is made from beef, not cottages. Shepherd’s pie, in case anyone wondered, is made with lamb, not shepherds – we stopped using them because the buggers are really hard to catch.
One final thing. I wonder if shepherd’s pie is being wrongly described because of the snobbery against British food. Hmm.
Oh well, off to boil some tripe . . .
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