Lancashire Hotpot

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg lamb neck or shoulder, in thick slices
• 1.2 kg floury potatoes, sliced 3 mm thick
• 3 onions, sliced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 600 ml lamb or beef stock
• 4 tsp worcestershire sauce
• a few sprigs of thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 50 g butter, melted

Method

1. Brown the lamb

   Toss the lamb in seasoned flour and brown it hard in batches in a heavy casserole. Neck is a cheap, fatty, sinewy cut and after three hours it is the best thing in the dish — but only if it is browned first.

   15 min

2. Soften the vegetables

   Cook the onions and carrots in the lamb fat until soft and beginning to colour.

   12 min

3. Build the base

   Return the lamb, add the stock, worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay, and season well. The liquid should come only about two-thirds of the way up — this is a braise under a lid of potato, not a soup.

4. Overlap the potatoes

   Arrange the potato slices over the top in tight overlapping circles, brush generously with melted butter and season. Overlapping like roof tiles is what makes the top crisp while the underside soaks up the gravy.

5. Long and covered

   Cover and cook at 160°C for two hours. Covered, the potatoes steam soft and the lamb breaks down.

   2 h

6. Uncover to brown

   Take the lid off, brush with more butter, turn up to 200°C and give it 30 minutes until the top is deep gold and crisp. Skip this and you have a pale, damp lid instead of the best part of the dish.

   30 min