Cumberland pie is similar to Cottage Pie¹ – the main difference is that cheese/breadcrumbs are used in the topping.

Ingredients

• 750g (1½lb) potatoes, peeled & cut into chunks for boiling.
• 450-500g (1lb) beef mince (ground beef).
• 75g (3oz) butter or oil.
• 150g (6oz) strong cheese (e.g. mature Cheddar), grated.
• 2 carrots, peeled & diced.
• A “cup-full” of frozen peas. (150g or to taste).
• 1 large onion, diced.
• Salt & pepper etc to taste.
• 275-300ml (½ pint) stock. (Beef bullion, or Bisto, or your usual stock)
• 2 tablespoons toasted breadcrumbs.
• 1-2 tbs thickener (starch) or flour to thicken the mixture (if needed).

Do It!

1. Boil potatoes in salted water for about 20-30 mins (or less if you’ve cut the tatties small!).
2. Drain and mash with some butter and a splodge of milk. Add butter and/or milk if it starts to feel “dry” – you want a nice, smooth mash!
3. Set aside to cool slightly.

While the potatoes are boiling:

1. Brown the beef, onion and carrot in some oil in a large frying pan.
2. When the beef is browned, add the stock and frozen peas, cover the pan and simmer for about 30 mins. Add salt at this point if you’re OK with it – a good tablespoon’s worth does it for me (or, even better, Aromat – but I don’t know how available it is).
3. Add thickener (starch) or flour to thicken if needed (depends on how thick you like the liquid – I add two tablespoons of thickener if I’m using normal stock, or none at all if I’m using British “Bisto” which has thickener in it).
4. Skim off any excess fat, if you want to. (I don’t!)
5. Turn into ovenproof casserole dish.
6. Add the potato layer to the top (maybe allowing the beef stew to cool a bit as it makes it easier to put the potato on).
7. The potato layer should be about 2.5cm (1″) thick – but the universe won’t collapse if it’s a little more or less!
8. Mix the cheese & breadcrumbs together and spread over the potato layer.
9. Bake (uncovered) at 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 for approx. 30 mins, until top well-browned. Don’t worry if you’ve gotten here and not preheated the oven. The time will allow all the heated meat / potato topping time to “settle in” OR give you time to do an even better job of making a nice smooth topping while the oven heats up. But once it’s at the right heat, slam that dish into the oven and wait…
10. If you like the top to be extra-crispy, stick it under a hot grill for a few minutes before serving (I usually don’t).
11. Serve on its own, or with extra green veg and gravy.

Variants

This is my version of Cumberland Pie – the frozen peas (and other veg) are sometimes laid out separately to the pie. I usually add peas and that, in itself, is a meal without extra stuff. Other variants include adding a bit of tomato ketchup, puree, Tabasco sauce or Worcestershire sauce to the mince (I usually add a little Worcestershire at point [2] actually). Other veg can be added of course – remember to add a little more stock to cater if you add a lot. Traditionalists would argue that the pie should be left well alone, though, and the veg be served separately 😉

Summary

I’ve given you the basics here, but once you’ve gotten used to making a Cumberland Pie, you’ll come back to it again and again! The juxtaposition of the filling mixed with the crunchy cheese topping is sublime. Salt is a sin for some but it really is needed to add some “umph” to this dish. If salt really is a no-no, it’s still good!

1. Cottage pie and Shepherd’s pie are very similar – basically a meat stew with potato being the “top of the pie”, rather than pastry. The difference – as I was brought up – is that Shepherd’s pie has minced lamb as the meat, and Cottage pie has minced beef. Cumberland pie is based on cottage pie but adds cheese and breadcrumbs to the potato topping for that extra-flavorful crispy topping. ↩︎