For those of you who prefer lamb over beef (who cares). I WILL eat beef - if for no other reason - but for the actual way - your favorite "lamb" is slaughtered so you will have the ability to have your choice of baby animal. Lamb meat is absolutely horrible IF the lamb is startled during this process.. One person holds, rubs the animal, talking gently to it - to keep it calm.... while a second person - reaches around and cuts its throat. It is then allowed to drop to the ground - to bleed out.
I at least - allow any meat product the decency to achieve adulthood prior to entering the food chain. Now how about - an additional 900 plus complaints/comments. As said - "who care's".
Stop trying to be a food genius. Fix it the way - YOU prefer.

A rude person, perhaps, or maybe he just got caught up in his knowledge of his countries recipes. First, I will make both pies, and quickly and quietly decide if Mr. Neil's recipe is worth revisiting or not.

Let us be clear - I was born and raised in England, Yorkshire to be precise. My father was a coal miner and my mother was a factory worker who cooked meat and 2 veg every day. Yorkshire pudding was a staple in our house and included in almost every meal, almost like bread is in the USA. Never in my entire life did we have shepherd's pie made with lamb! Lamb stew, neck of mutton stew, leg of lamb was all on the menu, as was Shepherd's pie but always made with mince as we called it - beef that is! Also, my family never used Bisto but always Oxo. Just wanted to to add my two pence to the conversation!

Well, the comments have been very amusing! I don't even remember why I clicked on this recipe; maybe because there were nearly 1000 comments, which seemed odd...
Neil, thank you for the recipe. Very authentic to what I learned when I spent a great deal of time in the UK between 1979 and 1994 (with people who Cooked!) (Back when there were standards and traditions to be followed).
But, I am in the US. To me it is a "dish" to be made for dinner or supper.
First, no matter what's in it, I call it all "Shepherd's Pie". To me it is more to do with the 'style' of the dish than the actual ingredients. Life's too short for Me to get hung up on what it should be called
Second, when I make it, it's in a deep pie-plate, (like American "pies" -- apple, pumpkin, cherry, etc).
Third, I usually make it with the leftover beef stew, made from 'the Sunday roast', or whatever -- some kind of pot roast. Though I see the value of cooking up mince to make it from the ground up.

Thank you, Neil. I do not think you are being a snob, just matter of fact. I grew up eating both and learned the difference betwixt the two, early on whilst learning how to cook with my mom, and all of my nans and aunties.

The "American obsession to add cheese to everything" is why we have the pizza pie,as we know it (the modern (cheese-topped) pizza was invented in the USA, in Connecticut); potato skins, fried mozzarella sticks, baked mac & cheese, nachos, grilled cheese, and :) the Cheeseburger! So, dear stodgy old Brit, while you're over there in cold, wet UK enjoying your porridge and kedgeree and cottage pies, I'll be torturing my jaded American palate with quesadillas, pizza, and grilled cheese sandwiches. Bon appetit!

I agree that shepherds pie is lamb and cottage is beef, but... many years ago I spent 12 days a month in England for 4 years. Ate a lot of both pies. I once asked a Brit friend the difference between Shepherds and cottage. His response was that they were the same, just depended on where you ate it. I told him that the local pub had shepherds pie on Monday and cottage pie on Wednesday. He had to ask someone else. They explained the difference and added. Some pubs add cheese on top of cottage pie, it is the thatch on the cottage roof, but never cheese on Shepherds pie. So the cheese is not an American addition after all. If you make cottage pie use Bisto powder (not granules) to enhance the beef flavor.

Dear Neil,
Regarding the Shepherds Pie (thank you), reading the comments and the insults I don't know why you bothered.

I agree with author that the addition of cheese ruins the dish. I first had this in 4th grade at the American School in London, and the English lunch ladies did NOT use cheese. And it was delicious. Fancying it up with cheese and whatnot actually subtracts from the dish. I also agree with author's comments about cheese on everything - it is so often unnecessary.

Love you comment on the cheese - 100% accurate!

I don't find anything rude about the recipe mentioning not to put in cheese because that is an american thing to put cheese on everything because it is true. I like to prepare and eat food with the flavour from the country it originate from, otherwise, why make different food if everything is going to taste the same? It like putting ketchup on everything. People have to learn t educate their palate to the flavours of different world foods. I loved the recipe. Thank you.

I first encountered this recipe - and this debate - almost 11 years ago. Amusingly, passions have not abated over time. It's triggered vociferous international argument, but fortunately it has never come to blows. Imagine what would be said about ground turkey as a misguided lower-fat substitute.

This would be an OK cottage pie, shepherds pie, whatever idc what you call it. But you would want to add some herbs to flavor like thyme, rosemary, sage... whatever you prefer. Thyme is the standard. If you do sage, go easy. 1-2 tablespoons of thyme should suffice, depending on your tongue.

Also, it needs wine. I don't know how anyone can eat a dish like this without the addition of some sort of wine, recommend between 1/3-2/3 cup of either Noilly Prat or alternatively a nice Cabernet.

Add during the sautéing of the meat, profit. Don't try to cook it all off, but do cook off at least half up to 3/4 of the wine before continuing with recipe.

The rest of the recipe looks great.

Completely agree, no cheese. There is no cheese in these dishes, whatever you call them.

I got this recipe almost 60 years ago from my mother in law. (It's one of our favorites!). To settle the argument -- she called it Snow Capped Meat Pie.

5 stars!