On Saturday, in Wildwood NJ, a group of south Jersey chefs set the record for cooking the world's largest meat-and-potato pie. The setting for this culinary feat was the first ever Wildwood St. Patrick's Day Block Party. The meat-and-potato pie weighed in at 1805 pounds. The achievement was certified by a representative from the Guinness Book of World Records.
Only here's the thing. According to the new's report, the chefs were not trying to make the world's largest meat-and-potato pie. They were trying to make the world's largest shepherd's pie. I can only imagine their embarrassment when the representative from the Guinness Book pointed out that shepherd's pie is made with lamb, not beef, and therefore had to deny their claim of the world's largest shepherd's pie. Think about that for a moment. It's not like this was some random group of guys trying to set the record, not a group of plumbers or electricians, not morticians, neither accountants nor fashion designers. These were chefs. Shouldn't they be expected to know what goes in a shepherd's pie?
And somewhere in the audience, Cassie O'Malley was sipping a glass of Tullamore Dew and smiling.
photo courtesy of The World Records Academy
Comments (13)
Must of been a surprise of their lives.
bummer. but it's a really big meat-and-potato pie.
I'm pretty sure I've been duped. I was served shepherd's pie at a Scottish friend's house in the 1970s in Bogotá, and I'm almost positive they used beef. So apparently I have yet to eat real shepherd's pie.
I wonder when they switched from using shepherd to using sheep?
Looks wonderful. Did you get to eat it?
I did not know authentic shepherd's pie was made with lamb. Makes sense, though.
The shepherd's pie I always had as a kid in MD was made with beef. Guess none of us knew, eh? At least they made some record.
i don't know whether to be impressed or disgusted. and i always thought it was beef too.
It's the long-awaited outcome of the Pleasant Valley War, between the cattlemen and the shepherds. The sheep get to say "Baa, humbug!"
Too funny. Actually, I lived in England for a few years and I only knew it to have beef as well. Hmmm.... I make it at home and it has beef.... I had to laugh at one of your comments though, "wonder when they switched from using shepherd to using sheep?" That one got me. It could explain a lot of the mix up here as to precisely what meat is used. Hmmmm.... I've said enough I think. :D
Well, perhaps they'd had too much beer to drink before they started cooking. Or perhaps beef was on sale cheaper than lamb. Or a combination of the two.
My mommy always told me that if you made it with beef, it was a cowboy pie, not a shepherd's pie.
@aliceduncanzianet - Your mommy was a wise woman.
I don't like my food to mix so I wouldn't have been able to partake of the beef version of shepherd's pie! :)