No idea what this Colonial is talking about but it sounds rather splendid 
Its a cottage pie using beef, my mother's family was poor growing up so they altered dishes to make them "Cheap" - after having different traditional shepherds pie's - I could never switch away from this recipe.
1.5lbs of ground beef cooked brown and drained
Pour two cans of Cream corn over the ground beef in a casserole dish (Demonte or a good quality cream corn)
make unflavored instant mash potatoes and evenly place it over the cream corn and while the mash potatoes are hot spread butter over the top evenly (half a stick generally works)
broil it until golden brown (usually less then 10 minutes as you are simply crisping the top)
Serve with a splash of ketchup - cheaply done but comes out quite delicious
