Canned Beef Stew Is The Key To Shepherd's Pie In Half The Time

Picture this: A dish chock full of ground beef immersed in savory tomato gravy, flavored with bits of onion that have been cooked 'til the caramel flavor oozes out of them, and made oh-so hearty by the addition of chunks of carrots and celery. And if that combo right there weren't comfort food enough, the dish, called "shepherd's pie" – mostly, though some people call it "cottage pie" — wears a crown of fluffy mashed potatoes to keep all those ingredients good and toasty. 

Both the Irish and the English claim shepherd's pie as their thing. In this respect, the history of shepherd's pie can sometimes be as scrambled as the casserole that fills the dish. However, few seem to dispute that it originated centuries ago as a way to use up leftovers. Because of this, modern shepherd's pie recipes include other ingredients, like corn, peas, seasonal asparagus, and possibly the kitchen sink because anything, really, can be leftovers. The inclusion of condiments, like Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and barbecue sauce further demonstrate just how far modern cooks have gone to bring the flavor profile of this traditional St. Patrick's Day food into the modern era. Indeed, it's a credit to the dish's flexibility that you can do so much with it. It is, after all, just basically beef stew topped with potatoes — and that beef stew can even come from a can.

Given shepherd's pie's stewy constitution, it was only a matter of time before home cooks figured out that there was an easier way to whip up the dish. Enter one 20-ounce can of Dinty Moore Stew and the instant mashed potatoes of your choice. As a substitute for your leftovers, Dinty Moore Stew checks off all the right boxes. It contains beef, though it's chunked beef instead of ground, potatoes, carrots, tomato paste, and a bit of mushroom extract to add an extra savory factor to the dish. These ingredients go into a baking dish, stew first, then the instant mashed potatoes.

Using Dinty Moore Stew as the filling for your shepherd's pie, and using instant potatoes as the topping, cuts the cooking time down considerably. Under normal circumstances, this recipe clocks in at an hour and 30 minutes when you make it from scratch. The Dinty Moore version cuts the time down to just 25 minutes in the oven.

Aside from the reduction in cooking time, this version of shepherd's pie has some other advantages. It satisfies the craving for this popular comfort food without forcing you to either buy all of the ingredients first or wait until you have the right kind of leftovers to make a batch. This makes it cheaper than making it from scratch, because the canned beef stew and the ready-made mashed potatoes will each set you back only about four bucks.

The ingredients in traditional shepherd's pie have continued to shift. While many recipes call for ground beef, there are some that ask for lamb or mutton instead. The difference between lamb and mutton comes down to the age of the animal: Lamb is a young sheep, younger than 1 year old. Mutton, however, comes from an adult sheep, ideally, around 3 years old. Mutton is said to have a strong flavor, more so than lamb.

This change in meat also explains the difference in name. Sheep are the realm of the shepherd, so when the dish is made with sheep meat, it's shepherd pie. It's called cottage pie when it's filled with beef. It's also the variety of meats that offer a clue to the origins — sort of. The Irish often use lamb or mutton in their dish, while the English tend to opt for beef. Other variations of shepherd's pie see it topped it with biscuits or dumplings instead of mashed potatoes. The addition of cheese, be it cheddar, gruyere, or even Pepper Jack, creates even more flavor profiles for shepherd's pie lovers to try. And even vegan versions of the dish exist, which exchange lentils for beef, lamb, or mutton.