Hachis parmentier is a popular French dish whose two main ingredients are mashed potato and beef mince. The latter is most frequently made from lean meat that was already cooked and served as part of another meal a few days before, typically roast or boiled beef. It is regularly served for school dinner in France as it is cheap, easy to prepare in large quantity and very popular with children. The word hachis means "mince" in French and stems from the word hache ("axe"). This dish is named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French scientist who was instrumental in spreading the cultivation of the potato in France in the late eighteenth century. The recipeThe dish is similar to a cottage pie except that it is customarily not made with fresh beef mince. Meat leftover from a previous dish is ground and mixed with chopped French parsley. Potatoes are mashed and mixed with a bit of milk, cream, or butter, then seasoned with ground nutmeg. Half of the potato mash is layered at the bottom of a roasting dish, covered with the beef and parsley in a second layer, and the remaining potato mash is added as a third layer on top. The dish is sometimes covered with a layer of grated cheese. The hachis parmentier is then baked for about 20 minutes 220°C. The anecdote of the soldiersAn interesting anecdote is how Parmentier convinced French farmers to start growing (and eating) the humble spud. Indeed, in the late eigtheenth century, before the French revolution, it was commonly believed that the potato was not edible and even caused disease such as leprosy. Parmentier ordered a potato field to be planted and surrounded by guards, but only during the day. Hence, enticing the farmers' greed, who came at night to steal the tubers and grew them in their own field.