Shepherd's Vs Cottage Pie: The Differences, Explained
When it first comes out of the oven, a savory pie covered in baked mashed potatoes looks like it could be either a shepherd's or cottage pie. While they look the same, there is one difference. You won't know until you cut in because a shepherd's pie is traditionally made with ground lamb, while a cottage pie is made with ground beef.
There's more that unites than separates the two dishes coming from the British Isles. Cottage Pie most likely came first as a broad term for a pie using leftover meat, and was originally in a pastry crust. The name shepherd's pie for variations with lamb came after potato crusts became the norm. Both will have veggies and gravy hiding with the meat under the potatoes. It all depends on whether you prefer lamb or cow. To make things even more confusing, vegetarian shepherd's pie is often made with meat substitutes like Beyond or Impossible, lentils, or mushrooms. Here in the U.S., the name shepherd's pie has now taken over as the more common broad term for a meat pie covered in mashed potatoes. The difference is now more of history than a modern menu.
Let's complicate it with even more variations
You can make a shepherd's pie meatless with a few different fillings. You can go further with vegetable filling by fusing it with a classic French dish to make French onion soup shepherd's pie. As long as it has mashed potatoes on top, people will recognize it by name. You can sub beef or lamb for any meat you'd like. Bison is a good option as the lean meat can be healthier, and the distinctive, rich, grass-fed meat pairs well with the mashed potatoes. Even if you use chicken or turkey, no one is going to insist you call it poulterer's pie.
This leaves the real modern boundary of shepherd's pie — the potato. It's not unheard of to replace the regular potato with sweet potato to make it more colorful and healthy. Adding chickpeas into the mash is another legitimate way to up the nutritional content of the dish. There are so many variations because who would turn down the combination of a rich protein and a fluffy mash?