 Lancashire hotpot | |
| Course | Main course |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Lancashire, England |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | Lamb or mutton, onions, potatoes |
Lancashire hotpot is a stew originating in Lancashire in the North West of England. It consists of lamb or mutton and onion, topped with sliced potatoes and slowly baked in a pot at a low heat.
In the 17th century the word "hotpot" referred not to a stew but to a hot drink – a mixture of ale and spirits, or sweetened spiced ale.[1] An early use of the term to mean a meat stew was in The Liverpool Telegraph in 1836: "hashes, and fricassees, and second-hand Irish hot-pots";[2] and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) cites the dish as being served in Liverpool in 1842.[1] The Oxford Companion to Food (OCF) cites Elizabeth Gaskell's 1854 novel North and South, depicting hot-pot as the most prized dish among cotton workers in a northern town.[3][4]
The OED gives the etymology as "hot adj. + pot n.", and cites the analogous French term pot-au-feu.[1] The OCF refers to earlier forms of the term: "hotchpotch" (a mixed dish, typically a meat and vegetable stew) and "hotchpot", from the medieval French hochepot.[3][n 1] A Book of Cookrye (1591) gives a recipe for hodgepodge, using "neck of Mutton or a fat rump of Beef", cooked and served in a broth thickened with bread.[6] The term "hotchpotch" for a stew continued into the 19th century: Mrs Beeton (1861) gives a recipe under that name for a beef and onion stew in beer.[7]
Hotpot became associated with Lancashire. In the OCF the food historian Roy Shipperbottom writes:
The recipe usually calls for a mix of mutton (nowadays more frequently lamb) and onions covered with sliced potato, and slowly baked in a pot containing stock or sometimes water. The traditional Lancashire hotpot dish is tall, round and straight sided, with a lid.[3][8] Some early recipes add lamb kidneys or oysters to the dish; it is traditionally served with pickled red cabbage.[8]
