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 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 (OED) cites the dish as being served in Liverpool in 1842.
The OED gives the etymology as "hot adj. + pot n.", and cites the analogous French term pot-au-feu. 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. 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.
Hotpot became associated with Lancashire. In the OCF the food historian Roy Shipperbottom writes: