Who cares, let the bloke be offended and let the miss call her recipe whatever she wants. Neil, my boy, you almost sounded French in your remarks, though you are more than welcome to have em - aye. Liberty for all!

BTW ground beef is cheaper and lamb is the only meat accepted by all religions, I think.

Just when I thought it was safe to go online.....then the recipe freaks take over! Have to admit I read thru all the comments and I didn't even have a thought to making this stuff!

I appreciate the "authentic" recipe, because I first came across the one with tomatoes in it. Awful to contemplate.
The plainer, the better. As for cheese on apple pie, place a thin slice of REAL cheddar cheese, at room temperature, on a good apple pie. Heavenly!

Thank you Neil
This is the first Shepherd's Pie of the season. I am in the process of cooking it. So far it is looking very good, and so much easier than old stove top method. I have never slow cooked all the ingredients without browning first because I thought it would be grey and tasteless. I have not used very much water though, but you have liberated this British American kitchen, and we have discovered slow cooking with an old favorite.

Thanks everyone, this has been totally fun, I couldn't help laughing a couple of times. Never thought I would see this on a recipe site. Totally entertaining.

ROTFL.. this has been going on for 3 weeks WOW. Very entertaining, glad to have come across it looking for a simple recipe for Shepherds Pie. Though I'm glad I've learned that its actually called Cottage Pie, maybe if I type that in the search engine I'll get more results.

I cant believe that you could take his HUMOUR as rude and snobbish! I am American AND a Brit. I think you (those complaining) have nothing better to do and think you can just tear down other ppl's recipes! Come on, he has a style and I DONT think he was trying to be rude! GET A LIFE PEOPLE! FOR HEAVEN SAKE!

I made the recipe according to Neil's instructions (because I was looking for an authentic recipe) with one exception. I added some flavor..1/4th teaspoon of thyme and 1/2 a bay leaf to the meat mixture before the first baking. That was for 1 lb. of ground lamb. And yes Heidi, lamb is red meat.

What's funny about this is that when cheese is melted it takes on a whole new meaning to its not-so-good characteristics...that being said, if we Americans don't add cheese and melt it to everything maybe obesity and heart disease wouldn't be such an issue in our country. The posts to this recipe have been quite entertaining and some of them show why some people don't like us.

As an expat Brit for over 20 years I've seen a lot of Brits complain about everything over here but who would never leave... go figure. Some just love to complain! Shepherds pie IS lamb based but I mostly make Cottage pie since its hard to find good ground lamb (and it really should be the leftovers from a roast..).

I saute the onions til translucent then add the carrots and ground meat to brown; I do use Bisto but you can get by with some Kitchen Bouquet browning mix to give it some color. And for Cottage pie a bit of Worcestershire sauce really livens it up. If you're American like my wife and can't pronounce it correctly just call it Lea and Perrins (the only brand to use)! She also likes me to add frozen peas - add last and bring back to a boil before putting into the casserole dish. Enjoy!

Sorry. To me it was very snobbish. The really funny part was the Bisto (British gravy mix). Lighten up.

Wow, great drama for a 1st time visitor...and to think I was only looking for an easy recipe for a British Shepherds Pie. Who needs a reality show when you have good food recipes and drama on Cooks dot com (Lol!). Thanks, I'm happy to know the recipe calls for lamb and not beef.

I'll bite. How delightful to find an authentic recipe for Shepherds Pie! The American version I grew up with was made with ground beef. For the sake of accuracy, from now on I will call it Cowboys Pie as Bill the Texan has suggested. As it didn't have cheese I can't call it Wisconsin Cowboys Pie.

Slow cooked lamb with a little cumin sounds like the basis for a great Fall dish. I will never be able to serve this without fondly remembering the reactions to Neil's British sense of humour and extreme frustration with our North American predilection for all things cheesy. If he had also weighed in on catsup or condensed cream of mushroom soup it would really have been something!

Amazing, I am watching the food network channel and the show is Cooking for real and she is doing Shepherds pie. Oh Boy is the Brit going to be mad, nothing like the real deal. Check it out!!

Neil,
Thanks for a great dish. Do you know if Bisto is available in th US? What type of a "gravy" is it? Are the only differences between shepards and cottage pies the type of meat that is used? Thanks again.