Shepherd's pie when the potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for the poor (cf. "cottage", meaning a modest dwelling for rural workers). The term "shepherd's pie" did not appear until 1854, and was used synonymously with cottage pie, regardless of whether the meat was beef or mutton. In the United Kingdom, the term "shepherd's pie" is now commonly used when the meat is lamb. In early cookery books, the dish was a means of using leftover roasted meat of any kind, and the pie dish was lined on the sides and bottom with mashed potato, as well as having
Pie and mash to higher social classes. The working class were poor and favoured foodstuffs that were cheap, in plentiful supply and easy to prepare. The savoury pie had long been a traditional food, and its small handsized form also made it a transportable meal, protected from dirt by its cold pastry crust, and filled with cheap minced meat, usually mutton. Adding cheap mashed potatoes, together with a sauce made with fish stock and parsley, made it a plate-based sit-down meal. Jellied eels are often associated with pie and mash, as European eels cooked in gelatine also became a common worker's meal since