Video:Tips for Making Cottage Pie

Transcript:Tips for Making Cottage Pie

Hi, I'm Brian Smith for About.com here with some tips on making Cottage Pie.  Cottage Pie is hearty dish that is vey quick to prepare. I'm following a recipe for Cottage Pie that I found on the About.com website.

Tips for Making Cottage Pie

The First tip deals with the name "Cottage Pie" so that you don't get it confused with Shepherd's Pie. Shepherd's pie, although prepared the same way, is made with ground lamb whereas Cottage Pie is prepared with Ground Beef. 

The second tip is to use fresh ingredients. I'm using all fresh vegetables that I picked up at the market just this morning. This recipe calls for carrots, mushrooms, onion, garlic and parsley. Since this is topped with mashed potatoes, I'm using a starchy russet potato.

Tip #3 is to mash your potatoes by band. Over processing with electric mixers can result in a goopy, sticky mash so for the best results, make sure the potatoes are fully cooked and mash them with a hand masher.

More Tips for Making Cottage Pie

While you're mashing, the next tip is to not overcook or dry out the rest of your mixture after browning the ground beef and cooking the rest of the mixture. So keep in mind that the mixture is going to be baked for another 30 to 35 minutes after it has been topped with the mashed potatoes. 

Finally, make some Peaks in the mashed potatoes before you put them in the oven. Since this is what you're going to see when you present the cottage pie, make it more appealing by using your fork to make scores and peaks in the mashed potatoes so that when it comes out of the oven, the peaks will be toasty brown. 

I hope these tips are helpful for the next time you prepare Cottage Pie. For more tips, visit us on the web at food.about.com