Real Lancashire Hotpot Recipes

TRADITIONAL LANCASHIRE HOT POT

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 170C/325F
• Melt the butter and vegetable oil in a medium sized casserole or sauce pan and fry the lamb pan until lightly browned all over (about 3-4 minutes). Spoon the lamb into a bowl, then add the onions to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring regularly, until soft.
• Add the lamb back in, then stir in the flour, cooking for a minute. Add in the stock, bay leaves, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Give everything a stir, bring to a gently bubble. Then place a lid on it and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, stir in the carrots. At this point, you can transfer the contents of the pan to a casserole or pie dish if you wish (I moved mine to a 25cm diameter pie dish). Top with the sliced potatoes. Start from the outside, and layer the potatoes, moving towards the centre.
• Brush the top of the potatoes with the melted butter and sprinkle on the dried thyme. Cover with a lid or foil and place back in the oven for 1 hour.
• After an hour, turn the oven up to 200c/400f and remove the lid. Cook for a further 30 minutes until the potatoes are browned and crisp on top.
• Take out of the oven, and leave to rest for 5 minutes or so (it will be very hot), then serve with some green veg.

TRADITIONAL LANCASHIRE HOTPOT

Steps:

• First trim the lamb of any excess fat and wipe with kitchen paper. In a large frying pan, heat the oil and ¼ oz (5 g) butter until it is very hot, then brown the pieces of lamb two or three at a time until they all have a good brown crust. As they cook, remove them to a wide casserole. Brown the pieces of kidney too, and tuck these in among the meat. Next, fry the onions - add ¼ oz (5 g) butter to the pan if you need any extra fat - cooking them for about 10 minutes till they turn brown at the edges. Now stir in the flour to soak up the juices, then gradually add the hot water and Worcestershire sauce, stirring or whisking until flour and liquid are smoothly blended. Season with salt and pepper and bring it up to simmering point, then pour it over the meat in the casserole. Add the bay leaf and thyme, then arrange the potato slices on top, in an overlapping pattern like slates on a roof. Season the potatoes and add a few flecks of butter here and there. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook near the top of the oven for 1½ hours, then remove the lid and cook for a further 50 minutes.I sometimes finish off the hotpot under the grill. If you brush the potatoes with a little more butter and place the casserole under a hot grill they crisp up and brown beautifully. Alternatively, if you think they're not browning enough during cooking, you can turn the heat in the oven right up during the last 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs before serving.

LIGHTER LANCASHIRE HOTPOT

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Cut the lamb into chunky 5-6cm pieces. Tip the flour onto a large plate, season with pepper and a little salt, and toss the lamb in the flour to coat evenly and completely. Set aside.
• Heat 2 tsp of the oil in a large, deep frying or sauté pan. Put the onions, carrots, swede, thyme sprigs and bay leaves in the pan and season with pepper. Cook on a medium-high heat for 6-8 mins, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick, until the vegetables start to go brown around the edges - the bottom of the pan should be slightly brown and caramelised too. Pour in the stock; it should sizzle then bubble in the pan. Immediately remove the pan from the heat so the stock does not reduce in volume. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce.
• Overlap a single layer of the potato slices in the bottom of a 2-litre casserole dish (about 20cm diameter x 10cm deep). Lay half the lamb over the potatoes, then spoon half the vegetable mix over the meat. Season with pepper. Sit the rest of the lamb on top, then tip the rest of the vegetables, herbs and all the liquid over the lamb. Press down with the back of a spoon, if necessary, to make room for the remaining potatoes. Start to layer up the potato slices in 3 tightly overlapping layers, seasoning each layer with pepper and brushing with oil as you go - save a bit of oil for the top layer. Cover the dish with a tight-fitting lid and bake for 10 mins.
• Reduce the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Cook for a further 2 hrs until the lamb is really tender and the potatoes are cooked. Take the lid off and pop under the grill for 8-10 mins until the potatoes are golden and crisp around the edges. Remove and let the hotpot settle for 5-10 mins, then serve scattered with thyme leaves.

REAL LANCASHIRE HOTPOT

Steps:

• Cut the lamb into pieces suitable for serving. Skin the kidney, cut in half lengthways, cut out the white fatty core and cut the kidney into pieces. Peel and slice the onions, carrot, and turnip (if used). Peel and slice the potatoes and cut into thick slices (1/2in/1.25 cm).
• Heat the oil in a frying pan, and brown the lamb pieces over a medium heat, turning them so that they cook on all sides. Brown the kidney, and arrange all the meat in a casserole or ovenproof dish. Fry the onion in the pan for 3-4 minutes, to soften it. Add the sliced carrot and turnip (if used) and continue to fry gently, stirring all the time, for a further 3 minutes.
• Add the vegetables to the meat in the casserole. Dissolve the stock cube in 2 cups of boiling water. Sprinkle the flour over the remaining juices in the frying pan, and stir. Gradually stir in the stock, stirring hard to make a smooth gravy and adding the salt, pepper and herbs. Pour the gravy over the meat in the casserole, to cover the meat and vegetables.
• Then cover the meat with a thick layer of potato slices, placing them so that they overlap and form a thick crust. Dot with the butter. Cover with a lid or piece of tight-fitting foil, and cook in a moderate oven (325F/170C/Gas Mark 3-4) for 1 1/2-2 hours, removing the lid for the last half hour of cooking time, to brown the top. If the top does not seem to be getting crispy enough, either increase the oven heat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6-7, or pop the casserole dish under a hot grill for a few minutes.
• If you have cook the casserole on top of the stove because an oven is not available, simmer the casserole very gently for 1 1/2-2 hours, then brown the potato topping under the grill as described above.

CORONATION STREET BETTY'S HOTPOT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F Melt half of the butter over high heat in a heavy bottomed frying pan until the fat smokes.
• Sear the meat and continue frying until nicely browned.
• Remove the pieces from the pan to a deep casserole or divide among 4 individual high-sided ovenproof dishes.
• Turn down the heat to medium.
• Fry the onions in the pan juices, adding a little more butter if necessary.
• When the onions are soft and starting to brown, sprinkle on the flour and stir in to soak up the fat and the juices.
• As the flour paste starts to colour, start adding stock or water a few tablespoons at a time, stirring vigorously to avoid lumps.
• Gradually add the rest of the liquid.
• Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, add the Worcestershire sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Pour the onions and liquid over the meat and mix well. Tuck in the bay leaf (tear into 4 pieces if making individual hotpots).
• Arrange the potatoes over the meat in overlapping layers, seasoning each layer.
• Dot the top layer of potato with the remainder of the butter.
• Cover the dish and place on the top shelf of the oven for 2 hours.
• Uncover and cook for a further 30 minutes.
• If the potatoes are not brown by this point, turn up the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes or finish off under the grill, brushing the potato slices with more butter if they look too dry.
• Serves 4.
• Great Potatoes Kathleen Sloan-McIntosh.