Baked bean layer in a cottage pie? Insanity or genius?

[HandMini]

I've just noticed the back of the Colmans cottage pie sachet suggests a layer of baked beans between the meat and potato. Is this delicious or rank? I can't quite decide....

Because, Flats, try as I might, I can't recreate the secret yummyness that is a Colmans sachet. If I don't have one, I do a mix of oxo, onion granules, bit of vinegar and touch of tomato ketchup. But its never quite the same, and I love the taste of the sachet - it's exactly the same as when I had it as a child.

I think the cauliflower cheese sounds yum, but too labour intensive, alongside mash, which always seems to take forever to make.

DIRTY BASTARDS

Vile vile vile vile vile vile vile vile vile vile vile vile vile. Ugh.

Cauliflower cheese in cottage cheese sounds horrible to me. Have had it with baked beans. Okay. They're just haricot beans after all. But better without. Cauliflower cheese though. Words fail me.

This thread has reminded me of a cottage pie type thing that my mum used to make with leftovers from Sunday roast beef. She'd cube the meat in small pieces, put it in casserole dish, cover with layer of baked beans and top with mashed potato. It was absolutely lovely, and I will be making it next Monday for my dcs

I used to put beans and sweet corn and peas in cottage pie when I was a student. We called it Dog Pie because it looked like something that the dog had already eaten. It was gorgeous!!

The only reason I don't still do it is because my weirdo children don't like beans

Beans mixed in with mince and veg makes it go so much futher esp. with hungry teens!

With tea and bread and butter - Hell yes!

Cottage pie of course.

Sounds amazing.

But then again, I live in a backward country where you can't buy baked beans and I have been fantasising about them. I would probably put them on my cornflakes right now if I could.

It's wrong. WRONG. WRONG

What about mashed potato/bean juice pollution?

Of all the disgusting things i've read on here, of all the rank links i've clicked on, the things I should never have googled.

THIS
IS
BY
FAR
THE
WORST.

Mash and beans mmmmmmmmm

Tomtoes/tomatoey juice should not go anywhere near mashed potatoes or egg, it's all kinds of wrong.

Rank

Cottage pie has only recently been rehabilitated into my cooking repertoire due to past historical sauce/potato seepage incidents being forgiven and for gotten and a robust stance taken on the level of gravy permitted.

If you're going to throw baked beans into the mix, then I am going to have to ban the fucker once and for all.

Ps shepherds pie is lovely with a spoonful of redcurrant jelly in the gravy.

And sachets are WRONGNESS SQUARED.

:o :o at Freebutton

DP used to make a lovely veggie version with red lentils and baked beans instead of the mince.

It was delicious. Tho agree with whoever said you could just mix the beans in to the meat, as that was the overall effect. To the sachet-haters, what do you put in yours for flavouring?

Thyme and Rosemary usually. Currently dried because I've killed all my herbs.

I am ignoring all the baked bean travesties,

Cottage pie, when I first cooked it years ago I followed a Gary Rhodes recipe and have done that ever since. It's lovely.

Onions, celery, chopped carrots, squirt of tomato sauce, worcestshire sauce, some thyme, red wine. Lots of salt and pepper.

Dry fry the mince separately from the onion etc and let it catch at the bottom a bit, s it doesn't fry uniformly but has well cooked bits iykwim, adds to the flavour,

Don't you come here with beans anywhere near mashed potato,

Worcestershire

I always put beans in cottage pie.

A sachet on the other hand - rank.

Ooh yes lea and perrins. Yum

I put a layer of mashed carrot and swede in between the mince and the mash. Mmmm.

Oh and I've found that the hairy bikers mince and dumplings recipe for the mince is lovely (pretty much like getorfs, but with beef stock and chopped tomatoes rather than wine).