Shepherd's Pie Done RIGHT

hey what's up shepherd's pie is one of those dishes that's great in theory but almost always sucks because of a few common technical mistakes today I'm going to show you how to address all of them the first step here is to make the potato crust so to get started on that I'll grab a medium stock pot and into it at 1200 grams or about two and a half pounds of peeled potatoes I'm using russets here but gold potatoes would also work next I'll add in enough water to cover these potatoes by about three to four inches there we go and then I'll move this pot over to the stove and bring it up to a boil once it's boiling like this I'll turn the heat down to medium low so it doesn't boil over and then I'll pop on a lid I'll check back in about 30 to 40 minutes that gives me plenty of time to prep my veggies and make my meat filling first up I'll need two medium dice two medium onions in total I'll need 350 grams of those next I'll cut two to three large carrots into a similar medium dice or just large enough to have some texture in the final dish 200 grams of those veg-wise I'm also including some celery 200 grams of that and then also some fennel this is optional if you don't have access to it but personally I seek it out because I love its mellow anise sweetness and it pairs perfectly with the meat that we're using the last little bit of veg prep here is to rough chop four to five cloves of garlic or about 20 grams worth and once all these veggies are cut I'm just going to toss them together they're all going in the same pot so they can be combined now let's get this thing cooked for that I'm gonna grab a large heavy bottom pot and then throw it on the stove over high heat once it's very hot I'll add in a long squeezer of olive oil about 40 grams and then in goes a big clod of ground lamb specifically three pounds or about a kilo and a half's worth and by the way beef would work just as well but Liam seemed a little bit more shepherdy and as you can see I've jumped into the pot at this point with my trusty ground meat masher and I'm smushing the meat down so that it's in contact with the pot also I know some of you guys are wondering hey Bry don't you usually cook your ground meat in the oven in the form of a sheet yes I do do that quite a bit and if you don't want to babysit a pot of ground meat for 20 minutes stirring constantly that is a really great way to Brown off a bunch of meat at one time I've done it for lasagna Bolognese tons of stuff but I don't love repeating techniques over and over on this channel so I'm going with the more traditional approach here and this dish really does benefit from the extra Browning in the pot speaking of Browning there's like none of that going on at this point the meat always goes through this weird phase where it releases all of its water just keep on mushing the meat and that water will evaporate over the course of about five minutes and once it's cooked off the fat in the pan is actually going to start to fry up the meat again and that's when the Browning is gonna happen from here I'm going to keep on searing this for about five to ten more minutes to really build that deep roasty meat flavor one of the main technical shortcomings in bad shepherd's pie is not enough emphasis on this step the majority of meatiness comes from the font that we're building up on the bottom of this pot and after about five to ten more minutes of stirring and Searing this beef has taken on some really deep mayard Browning and the bottom of the pot is well glazed up time for veggies next I'll add in everything that we diced earlier along with 15 grams of salt then I'll jump in and stir that to combine and Fry these veggies until they're lightly softened and starting to release their moisture for about three to four more minutes at this point the bottom of this pot is completely covered in meat and vegetable stuff so to get the bottom cleaned up and to bring some much needed complexity to this meat sauce I'm going to add in 250 grams of red wine using a wooden spoon I'm going to come back and give that a thorough scrape down to get all of that fond dissolved into the wine and once we're there I'll add in 50 grams of tomato paste 50 grams of better than bouillon beef paste 50 grams of Worchester shirt and then 2 grams of black pepper yes this is a lot of work and bouillon and tomato paste but this is all in an effort to make this meat sauce as Dynamic and dense with flavor as possible and once that's all stirred in and the wine is mostly reduced I'll add in 2 grams of chopped fresh thyme I'll stir that in and then 25 grams of all-purpose flour this will help make the sauce into more of a gravy and help avoid that classic soupy consistency that ruins your mashed potatoes I hate that now I'll cook this until the pan is glazing up one more time to deglaze this I'll add in 450 grams of store-bought beef stock or chicken honestly it doesn't really matter because this stock isn't that flavorful once that's stirred in I'll bring this entire pot up to a simmer and cook until these veggies are tender and the sauce is reduced by half I'll also lower the heat to medium low here so this doesn't burn and I'll quickly thank Catalina crunch for sponsoring this video I love cereal and we'll eat whatever amount of it is in my house within one day of buying it guaranteed that's normally not a good thing if we're talking about sugary kids cereals but we're not we're in 2023 where Catalina crunch exists for people like me and you who just want to eat a ton of cereal that tastes good and not have to feel bad about you guys Catalina crunch comes in a ton of different flavors inspired by childhood favorites today I'm snacking on mint chocolate chip which kind of tastes like eating a bowl of very crunchy Thin Mints sounds weird but it's dope these cereals are zero sugar they're high in protein and fiber and they're only five grams of net carbs per serving so if you want a Hoover cereal like me and not feel bad about it click the link in my description below to get 15 off any Catalina crunch pack and you'll get even more of a discount if you subscribe try a variety pack that includes their best selling flavors or if you already have a favorite just order a four pack of that again click the link in my description and you'll get 15 off five to ten minutes later when I check back my sauce or more accurately gravy is nice and glazed up and my veggies are tender be careful though as the flour in there is going to make this sauce grip the pan and burning can happen if you're not paying attention this is fine though a quick taste here to make sure that the salt level is good and overall intensity of flavor is high ooh baby that's special I'm excited now to finish this sauce I'm gonna add in 15g grams of chopped parsley I'll stir that in and then finally 150 grams of frozen peas and I'll stir those in to melt that's my sauce sorted now let's make these potatoes mashed first of all I'll need to check them for doneness and as you can see there's no resistance here for my cake tester that's what I'm looking for undercooked potatoes make a sticky gluey mash and once these are drained off it's time to break them down for that today my weapon of choice is a potato ricer I like the rice you're here because it gives me a texture that is like 85 percent of the way to extra smooth restaurant style potato puree but without the extra work of having to push them through a chinois by the way if you haven't had restaurant style potato puree before and want to know how to make it I'll link to a video where I go deep on that below because it is occasionally worth all that extra effort once all these potatoes are riced I'll add in 115 grams or a whole stick of melted butter 125 grams of heavy cream 125 grams of sour cream 125 grams of grated Parmesan cheese and then a strong grip of salt make that two then I'll stir this to combine or until the parmesan is well Incorporated and then very importantly I'm going to give this a taste it should be creamy well seasoned and very rich and oh yeah I should have a little bit of twang from the sour cream that tastes amazing I'm sold lastly I'll add in three large egg yolks this along with the cheese is going to help set the potatoes into a firm almost sliceable crust and I'll stir those in there we go a thick flavored dense potato roof for our gravy now to bake this I'm going to grab a deep 9 by 13 baking dish and then load all of my meat into that pan I'll spread that out and most importantly press it down as well as I can to make an even layer next I'll drop on my potatoes then I'll spread those out into a nice even layer from there I'm going to grab something flat and make some indents on the top of this pie roughing it up a little bit is going to greatly increase the amount of crustiness on top not doing this will yield a boring one note potato crust with very little crunchiness overall and once I've got these potatoes dim both like this I'm going to move this onto a sheet tray to prevent spillage and then I'm going to top the whole thing with a few grips of Parmesan cheese from there I'm going to load this into a 425f oven to bake it for 25 minutes and cut to the time lapse once these potatoes have risen and the top is looking lightly golden brown like this I'm going to take things a step further by turning my Broiler onto high and then moving this pie up a shelf so that it's closer I'm going to give this thing a healthy dose of aggressive heat right at the end here to maximize crustiness keep a close eye on this though because it can go from great to ruined in like 10 seconds and once I've got an Immaculate crust on the top of this it's time to take it out and take a look as you can see the top of this pie is Puffy light and mucho crusty that's going to bring a ton of textural fun to an otherwise very soft dish of course at this point this dish is molten hot lava and it would be absolute murder suicide to break into it so I'm gonna let it cool for at least 25 minutes when I come back you can see that I've got a well set up luxurious topper of potatoes covering a thick well set lamb gravy in a perfect one-to-one ratio you guys this shepherd's pie has it all creamy crusty Rich Tangy potatoes sitting on a properly thick and deeply flavorful meat sauce I hope this one helps you avoid the greasy soupy shepherd's pie of your past and I really hope you make it soon [Music]

Channel: Brian Lagerstrom

Views: 733,795

Keywords: shepherd's pie, shepherds pie, shepherds pie recipe, how to make shepherds pie, best shepherds pie, shepherds pie lamb, lamb recipe, cottage pie, classic shepherds pie, comfort food, comfort food recipes, shephards pie, shepherd pie, easy shepherds pie, cottage pie recipe, homemade shepherds pie, mashed potatoes, Brian Lagerstrom, weeds and sardines, winter recipes, dinner recipes

Id: mUnkLXXD2dw

Length: 9min 12sec (552 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 30 2023