Lancashire Hotpot Recipe

Delicious and Easy to Make Regional Lamb, Onion and Potato Stew

Aug 13, 2009 Elaine Findlay

The cause of a mutiny in 1939 and made famous by barmaid Betty of Coronation Street, this easy to prepare hotpot helps the family budget as it uses cheaper cuts of meat.

Lancashire hotpot is a regionally traditional English casserole made using onions, potatoes and lamb (though cheaper cuts of stewing beef can also be used). It is the dish that is referred to as “Betty’s hotpot”, made by barmaid Betty Driver, that was a favourite of the clientele of the Rovers Return pub of the TV soap opera, Coronation Street.

Lancashire Hotpot Causes Ship Mutiny

The Times newspaper of 4th August 1939 reports on how thirty one sailors from the crew of the Napier Star liner of the Blue Star company were each given six weeks hard labour in prison because they reckoned the Lancashire hotpot they’d been served for dinner wasn’t fit for a dog.

After rejecting the meal because the meat tasted off, the crew went ashore and refused to return to the ship until they had been given a decent meal. They complained that the beef used in the hotpot was stinking. The Captain and various other senior crew members tasted the meal and refuted the crew’s claims. However, the mutiny delayed the ship’s departure and so the sailors ended up being prosecuted in court.

Lamb Hotpot – Cheap and Tasty Winter Warmer for Snow Days

This is an ideal dish to make on a snowy weekend afternoon in winter. The cooking time is long enough to allow a family to go out and enjoy an afternoon of tobogganing, sledging or snowman building fun. It doesn’t matter if the dish is kept in the oven for a bit longer than the three hours stated in the recipe.

If side vegetables (carrots and peas go well with it) are prepared beforehand, then when the family returns, cold and hungry after the afternoon’s exertions, to a house filled with the delicious smell of Lancashire Hotpot, this extremely satisfying and tasty meal will be ready to be served up and placed on the table within half an hour. The quantities given in the recipe serve four people.

Recipe for Lancashire Hotpot

Ingredients:

• 2 lb best end of neck lamb cutlets
• 2 large onions
• 2lb potatoes
• 1 – 1½ pints stock (vegetable or meat)
• 1 oz butter
• Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Peel and slice the onions into rings
2. Peel the potatoes and slice them thickly
3. Trim any excess fat from the lamb chops
4. Season the chops with salt and pepper to taste and pop them in a round, deep casserole dish
5. Layer the slices of onion and potato on top adding a good sprinkling of salt and pepper on each layer
6. Finish with a layer of potato
7. Pour the stock over the top until the liquid reaches just below the last layer of potato
8. Dot the butter on the top potatoes
9. Cover the casserole with a lid
10. Pop in the oven at gas mark 2, 150 C or 300 F for about three hours
11. Remove the lid and turn the heat up to gas mark 5, 190 C or 375 F for half an hour so that the top potatoes are nicely browned off

The copyright of the article Lancashire Hotpot Recipe in Seasonal Cooking is owned by Elaine Findlay. Permission to republish Lancashire Hotpot Recipe in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Lancashire Hotpot Includes Potatoes and Onions

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