Follow the call of shepherd’s pie

This St. Paddy’s Day, feed your inner Irishness with the meat-and-vegetable classic

St. Patrick’s Day, at least in the United States, is inextricably linked with corned beef and cabbage.

Funny thing about that, though.

“Me growing up in Ireland, we never had corned beef and cabbage. It was always boiled bacon and cabbage,” said Lisa Bentley, who owns the Cottage Irish Pub on Broadway along with her husband, Phil Bentley. “I think that was because pork was quite cheap in Ireland. In America it was kind of the opposite. Beef was cheaper than pork. It was more the Irish immigrants who made corned beef popular.”

What Bentley does have a distinct memory of, however, is shepherd’s pie. That amalgam of meat and vegetables in a savory gravy capped with a cloud of fluffy mashed potatoes was, and continues to be, a household staple, she said.

The dish, like many classic recipes with centuries of tradition behind them, has a history as murky as any bog in the Irish countryside. It likely emerged somewhere in the British Isles and not a moment before potatoes were introduced to Europe from the Americas in 1589.

What’s believed to be the first published recipe for shepherd’s pie came out of Scotland in 1849. The term “cottage pie,” which can mean the same thing as shepherd’s pie, was known in England by 1791. And then there’s hachis Parmentier, a very similar dish from France named for the early potato advocate AntoineAugustin Parmentier, dating to at least the late 1800s.

And shepherd’s pie has a bit of an identity crisis, depending on who you talk to. Some would argue it must contain lamb, while

cottage pie is made with beef. Sometimes that meat is cooked first; other times it goes into the base of the pie in a raw state. Sometimes the meat is minced; other times it’s sliced. It’s also a popular way to use up leftover meat, either boiled or roasted.

Bentley said sticklers who insist lamb must part of the dish to count as a shepherd’s pie are more likely to be found in England than Ireland.

“My mother would use ground beef and called it shepherd’s pie,” Bentley said. “It was the English, really, that started calling it cottage pie to differentiate.”

At the Cottage, Bentley lists Cottage Pie on her menu, and it’s made with ground beef, not lamb, but she said that is in honor of the restaurant’s name, not a capitulation to those who would scorn her for calling it shepherd’s pie.

Her version is very traditional in its preparation, although the Cottage isn’t afraid to innovate. It also serves Cottage Pie Skins, with the meat, vegetable and gravy components scooped into a potato shell, then topped with mashed potatoes and cheese.

“In Ireland it’s cold weather, so we always go for the heartier, more heavy comfort food dishes. But we’re in San Antonio and have to have some lighter stuff. We thought, ‘Let’s put it in a skin,’ ” she said.

However you like it or whatever you call it, you can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day year-round across San Antonio. At least six area restaurants keep some version of shepherd’s pie — some very traditional, others made with puro San Antonio flair — on the menu for any time you’re craving meat and potatoes.

Blue Star Brewing Co.

To kick off this list let’s go completely off the rails. The kitchen at this craft brewery and restaurant skipped beef and lamb entirely, opting instead for pork simmered into a zippy green chili in a dish dubbed Pig Pie ($14). And because we’re already breaking the rules, why not add some roasted corn to the mix? That unorthodox meaty base is where the shenanigans end, though. As per custom, the dish is topped with mashed potatoes and cheese, then baked to a gooey golden brown.

Blue Star Brewing Co., 1414 S. Alamo St., Suite 105, bluestarbrewing.com

The Cottage Irish Pub

The Cottage Pie ($16.95) here is a textbook example, in many ways. The silken brown gravy was rich and savory, and the dish was loaded with an ample quantity of beef and veggies. The mashed potatoes on top were fluffy and light, with a generous cap of molten cheddar. The Cottage Pie Skins ($11.95) had an identical flavor profile, with the added benefit of being finger food. Be sure to ask for an extra slice of soda bread — it’s fresh-baked, flavorful and borderline addictive.

The Cottage, 3810 Broadway, 210-463-9111, thecottageirishpub.com

Francis Bogside

Most restaurants that serve shepherd’s pie in San Antonio do

so in a large-scale format that easily could become two or three meals. Not so at Francis Bogside. Here, the shepherd’s pie was served in a petite cast-iron dish and baked to a bubbly brown for $10. It’s just the right quantity to provide suitable ballast before a night of raising what will no doubt be multiple glasses of Guinness. Sláinte!

Francis Bogside, 1170 E. Commerce St., 210-314-2994, francisbogside.com

Mad Dogs British Pub

In San Antonio, even the British go green during St. Patrick’s Day. This River Walk pub is currently decked out in shamrocks, streamers featuring the Irish flag and enough sparkly green garland that it’s a struggle to find the Union Jack tacked to the ceiling. The dish here is billed as Cottage Pie ($16.95) and features ground beef and vegetables in a gravy

that tasted of beef stock, tomato and a hefty dose of Worcestershire sauce. If you plan on people-watching while enjoying your shepherd’s pie this year, this is the spot to do it, with an elevated view of the tourists strolling below.

Mad Dogs British Pub, 123 Losoya St., Suite 19, 210-222-0220, maddogs.net

Waxy O’Connor’s

Another River Walk staple, Waxy O’Connor’s has long been a favored escape from the chaos outside, where one can belly up and enjoy a cold beer in relative peace. The shepherd’s pie here ($18.25, add cheese for $2) sported an extra beefy base with a significant quantity of ground meat in a thinner, light brown gravy under a cloak of mashed potatoes. And those spuds received the fancypants treatment, arranged in a tight coil piped from a pastry bag

before being baked.

Waxy O’Connor’s, 234 River Walk St., 210-229-9299, waxyoconnors.com

The Winchester

This Alamo Heights watering hole also tosses tradition to the wind. It’s Cottage Pie ($17.95) on the menu, but this dish is all San Antonio. The Winchester starts with a base of zippy chili con carne instead of the usual beef in gravy. And it’s pretty solid chili, with a nice burn and blend of spices that would be just as good in a cup as it is under the blanket of mashers atop this sailboat-size portion. A tidy row of grilled cherry tomatoes and sprinkling of parsley topped our order, adding the red, white and green color palate of the Mexican flag to this cross-cultural hybrid dish that could only happen here.

The Winchester, 5148 Broadway, 210-721-7762, winchester-pub.com

Photos by Paul Stephen/Staff Waxy O’Connor’s: Piped mashed potatoes top a hefty amount of ground meat in a light brown gravy. Not hardy enough? Add cheese for $2.

The Cottage Irish Pub: Put down the fork and branch out from traditional shepherd’s pie, front, with Cottage Pie Skins, back, accompanied by freshly baked soda bread.

Paul Stephen/Staff The Winchester: Cottage pie begins with a zippy base of chili con carne and is then topped with grilled cherry tomatoes.

Paul Stephen/Staff Francis Bogside: The bubbly shepherd’s pie arrives in a petite cast-iron pan.

Mike Sutter/Staff Blue Star Brewing Co.: In the Pig Pie, pork is mixed with green chili, mashed potatoes, corn and cheddar cheese.

Paul Stephen/Staff Mad Dogs British Pub: The River Walk establishment goes all out for St. Patrick’s Day; that includes beefy cottage pie.