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Appreciation for Shepherd’s Pie

A herder herds and herds sheep, usually to raise them for eventual sale at a meat market. When used as a verb, the word shepherd means to lead something (such as sheep); move them in the direction of where he wants them next. For sheep, that often means from their pen to a grassy field where they graze. Thus, the shepherd leads the sheep to the field from his fold.

A cake consists of a dough formed in a bowl that will contain a basic food product that the baker chooses (meat, vegetables or fruit). With so much done, the product could be called more than just a cake. When the baker adds a pastry shell (top or lid) and then bakes his or her creation, he or she has baked a cake. The name shepherd’s pie implies that lamb (sheep’s meat) was baked into the pie. While it is true, if the baker chooses to use lamb meat, the name shepherd’s pie is applied to none grazed edible food in the pastry bowl.

Know the name of the prepared food items that were not all consumed: leftovers. Shepherd’s pie, a freshly baked presentation of kitchen leftovers, gives the baker a variety of opportunities to fix a B-list meal while functionally cleaning out the fridge of older but usable food before it spoils. I’ve seen the name “cowboy pie.” A cake will eat (taste) the same if you change the name; the cake itself remains the same. Cowboys herd cattle, like shepherds herd sheep. Some fishermen herd fish into a trap, so you can have fisherman’s pie if you want, and you probably should call it that if you baked leftover fish in your pie.

If you’re from Argentina, you can refer to your cake as pastel de gaucho, since a gaucho (the Argentine word for a cowboy) herds cows on horseback. Speaking of cows, Western Americans prefer the name cattle and loathe the term boy when referring to themselves and their cattle herding tradition. They like ranchers better. Cattlemen’s pie works then, doesn’t it? It also sounds better than cowboy pie. We should probably let go there, because ranchers don’t usually herd cows, which live in barns, produce dairy products, and make vaquitas (calves).

Herd of cattle steers to the meat market. Steers, castrated young bulls, must be exhausted before they become oxen (massive food-eating beasts once used to haul heavy loads on carts). We no longer need oxen because we have trucks to carry heavy loads. If you like to eat steak and burgers, then you understand the use of steers. But, you probably don’t want to think about a cake made from leftover geldings. #TAG1writer

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