Pâté chinois, literally translated as "Chinese pie", commonly called shepherd's pie in English, is a French Canadian dish made from layered ground beef on the bottom, and corn and mashed potatoes on top.

Peel and chop the onion and carrot finely. Heat the oil in a large fry pan or saucepan, add the onion and cook until the onion is clear or translucent. Add the minced beef and sauté using a wooden spoon break up the mince so it is nice and fine. When the mince is thoroughly browned stir through the flour and cook for one minute. Add the tomato sauce, Worcester sauce, finely chopped carrot, peas, corn and herbs. Stir thoroughly to combine. Gradually add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cover, simmering for 10 to 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. The mixture should be quite thick. Remove and discard the bouquet garni or whole bay leaf and set mixture aside.

Peel the potatoes, chop into quarters and place in a medium saucepan with cold water just covering the potatoes. Add a little salt to the water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. When the potatoes are cooked, drain well, and ash the potatoes with one tablespoon of butter until the potato is very creamy. Add milk, cream and seasoning to taste. You may use a potato masher or a Kitchen Aid mixer with the whisk attachment.

Preheat the oven to 190°C, 375°F or gas mark 5. Spoon the mince mixture into a pie dish, cover with the corn, then spoon or pipe the creamy mashed potato over the mince. Sprinkle grated cheese on top if desired and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the potato is golden and the pie is heated through.

This dish can be made using left-over meat if desired and many additions may be added, such as seasonable vegetables, garlic, herbs, etc. as this recipe was originally cooked to use any left-overs. So the number of variations to this recipe is virtually endless!

Pâté chinois believed history and cultural references:
Pate chinois does definitely not come from China, most sources will say it comes from Chinese people who were working on railway construction in the 19th century. It is either the Chinese cooks, hired by railway companies, who were making such a dish because it was cheap and that was all they had at hand to cook with, or because that's what the Chinese worker used to eat, for the same reasons. Railways at that time were not only built in Quebec, but a lot of people from Quebec went to work on the railways in other parts of Canada and, mostly, in the north-east part of United States. They probably brought the recipe back home.

In the Quebecois humorous television program La Petite Vie, pâté chinois is used to show one of the character's (Therese) abysmal lack of common sense as she regularly fails at preparing it, for example, by laying the three ingredients side by side instead of layering them, or forgetting to mash the potatoes.

La Petite Vie was first a stage sketch of the comedy duo Ding et Dong, formed by Claude Meunier and Serge Theriault, and later a hit Quebec television sitcom from 1993 to 1999.

The stories of La Petite Vie, sketch and television show, revolve around the strange couple simply known as Papa and Maman (Quebec Joual for dad and mom). The sketch was memorable for the pillow talk scenes with the beds comically placed straight up so the actors, seemingly laid on the bed but still standing, would be clearly visible to the theater public. This would be kept in the sitcom, where the context made it even more surreal. While the sketch only featured the couple, the sitcom introduced a vast array of relatives, creating a caricature of the Quebecois working class family, a very bizarre but endearing one.