Experience the ultimate Irish comfort food! Our Guinness-soaked Smoked Shepherd's Pie is sure to bring a taste of Ireland to your St. Patrick's Day celebration. Enjoy a flavorful blend of smoked delicacies and an unmistakable Guinness aftertaste!
WHAT YOU’LL LOVE
- Smoked, then foil-braised meat: Two hours of smoke build flavor, and wrapping the roast and raising the heat to 325°F carries it to 200-210°F, tender enough to chop into small pieces.
- Grated onion and carrot: Grating makes them melt into the gravy base instead of leaving big chunks in the filling.
- Guinness and beef stock gravy: Cooking flour and tomato paste, then deglazing with Guinness and adding stock, makes a dark, malty filling.
- Riced cheddar mash with a cross-hatch top: Pressing the potatoes through a ricer and enriching them with Irish white cheddar and an egg yolk gives a smooth topping, and scraping a cross-hatch pattern into it browns the ridges.
Smoked Shepherd's Pie
Tom Jackson
Rated 3.9 stars by 7 users
Category
Entree
Cuisine
Irish
Servings
10
Prep Time
1 hour
Cook Time
3 hours
Calories
604
Get a little Irish in ya’ this St. Patty’s with this Guinness soaked Smoked Shepherd’s Pie!
Ingredients
- 3 lb beef chuck roast and/or lamb shoulder
-
Cattleman’s Grill Trail Dust
-
Cattleman’s Grill California Tri-tip Seasoning
-
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup yellow onion, grated
- 1 cup carrot, grated
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup Guinness Stout
- 1 cup beef stock
-
Noble Saltworks Hickory Smoked Finishing Salt, to taste
- 3 lb russet potatoes, peeled, quartered
- 4 oz Irish white cheddar, finely grated, divided
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 egg yolk
-
Noble Saltworks Hickory Smoked Finishing Salt, to taste
For the mashed potatoes:
Directions
Build a hot bed of charcoal and stabilize your Kamado Joe Classic II Ceramic Grill at 250ºF, set up for smoking/indirect grilling.
Season your beef and/or lamb with a layer of the Cattleman’s Grill Trail Dust Seasoning and then a layer of Cattleman’s Grill California Tri-tip Seasoning. Let the rub set up for a few minutes until it appears moistened on the surface.
- Smoke the meat for two hours. After two hours, remove the meat and wrap tightly in foil. Return to the grill and increase the temperature to 325ºF. Continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 200ºF-210ºF. Remove from the grill. Rest 15 minutes. After resting the meat, dice/chop into bite sized pieces (1/4”-1/2” thick).
Preheat a Lodge 12" Cast Iron Skillet over medium heat. Add the extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the grated onions and carrots. Cook until softened, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, tomato paste, herbs and flour. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture will begin to stick to the bottom. Add the Guinness Stout and stir constantly, scraping the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon, until the bottom of the skillet is clean and the liquid thickens. Add the beef stock and minced beef/lamb and stir to incorporate. Let cook until the mixture is thickened, about 5-10 minutes.
- To make the mashed potatoes, place the potatoes in a pot and cover with cool water. Bring the water to a boil. Simmer until the potatoes are tender and offer little resistance when pierced with
- Press the potatoes through the fine screen of a potato ricer. Warm the milk and butter in the microwave. Add the milk and butter, half of the cheese, the egg yolk and salt to the potatoes. Mix well by hand, until smooth. Spoon the mashed potatoes evenly over the surface of the meat and veggie filling. Spread smooth with a spatula.
Using a fork, scrape a cross-hatch pattern using the tines. Top with the remaining cheese from the mashed potatoes. Season the top of the potatoes with Cattleman’s Grill California Tri-tip Seasoning.
- Add more charcoal, if necessary. Bring the grill temperature up to 400ºF. Place the diffuser plates and grill grates back in place and place the skillet full of Shepherd’s Pie on the grill. Cook until there is steam coming from the edges of the skillet and/or the filling is bubbling up around the edges, about 40 minutes. Close down the airflow entirely on the chimney cap. Cook until the top of the Shepherd’s Pie is lightly browned on top, about 5 minutes longer.
Recipe Note
Recipe FAQ
Why smoke the meat first and then wrap it in foil?
Two hours of smoke build flavor on the surface. Wrapping the meat and raising the heat to 325°F braises it in its own juices until it's tender enough to dice.
Why cook the meat to 200-210°F?
That temperature breaks down the collagen in chuck or shoulder so the meat turns tender and chops easily. It is well above the 145°F USDA minimum for whole-muscle meat, so the higher target is for texture, not safety.
Why grate the onion and carrot instead of dicing them?
Grated vegetables cook down fast and melt into the gravy, so the filling has body and flavor without large chunks that would stand out under the mashed potatoes.
Why cook the flour and tomato paste for about two minutes?
Stirring them in the hot skillet cooks out the raw flour taste and deepens the tomato paste. The mixture will start to stick to the bottom, which is what the Guinness is added to lift.
Why scrape the skillet when the Guinness goes in?
The browned bits stuck to the bottom carry a lot of flavor. Scraping them into the stout as it thickens puts that flavor into the gravy.
Why use a ricer, and why add an egg yolk to the potatoes?
A ricer breaks the potatoes into fine strands without overworking them, so the mash stays light instead of gluey. The yolk adds richness and helps the topping hold its shape and brown.
Why scrape a cross-hatch pattern into the potatoes?
The ridges catch the heat and brown more than a flat surface, which gives the top a crisp, golden texture.
How do I know the shepherd's pie is done?
Bake it at 400°F until steam rises from the edges and the filling bubbles up around the sides, which takes about 40 minutes. Then close the chimney cap airflow and cook about 5 minutes longer to lightly brown the top.
Should I use beef or lamb?
The recipe allows either, or a mix. Lamb shoulder is the traditional choice for shepherd's pie, while beef chuck makes what's more often called a cottage pie.
How should I store leftovers?
Refrigerate the pie within 2 hours of cooking. It keeps for about 3-4 days and reheats well in a 350°F oven until steaming hot.
How indoor-friendly is this recipe?
3 out of 5. A 250-325°F oven can braise the meat to the same tenderness and the pie bakes the same way, but you'd lose the smoke flavor.
Recipe Highlights
Smoked, foil-braised meat: Builds smoky flavor and fork-tender texture.
Grated aromatics: Melt into the gravy.
Guinness gravy: Adds a malty, dark filling.
Riced cheddar mash: Gives a smooth, browned topping.
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Nutrition
Nutrition
- Nutrition Serving Size
- 13.28 oz
- per serving
- Calories
- 604
- Carbs
- 25 grams
- Protein
- 36 grams
- Fat
- 39 grams
- Sodium
- 1382 milligrams
