Lancashire hotpot

Lancashire hotpot is a stew originating in Lancashire in North West England. It consists of lamb or mutton and onion, topped with sliced potatoes and slowly baked in a pot at a low heat.

History and etymology

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. 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" and the Oxford English Dictionary cites the dish as being served in Liverpool in 1842. The Oxford Companion to Food cites Elizabeth Gaskell's 1854 novel North and South, depicting hot-pot as the most prized dish among cotton workers in a northern town.
The OED gives the etymology as "hot adj. + pot n.", and cites the analogous French term pot-au-feu. The OCF refers to earlier forms of the term: "hotchpotch" and "hotchpot", from the medieval French hochepot. A Book of Cookrye gives a recipe for hodgepodge, using "neck of mutton or a fat rump of beef", cooked and served in a broth thickened with bread. The term "hotchpotch" for a stew continued into the 19th century: Mrs Beeton gives a recipe under that name for a beef and onion stew in beer.
Hotpot became associated with Lancashire. In the OCF the food historian Roy Shipperbottom writes:

Preparation

The recipe usually calls for a mix of mutton and onions covered with sliced potato, and slowly baked in a pot containing stock or sometimes water. Some early recipes add lamb kidneys or oysters to the dish.
The traditional Lancashire hotpot dish is tall, round, and straight-sided, with a lid. Regardless of the baking dish, the lid should fit tightly.
Lancashire hotpot is traditionally served with pickled red cabbage.