Mince Is A Really Cost Effective Meat, And These Recipes Prove How Versatile It Is (2024)

FAQs

What meat is used for mince? ›

Beef is the mince you'll most likely see at an Australian supermarket or butcher, representing approximately 30% of all beef dishes served here ⁷, but it's also easy to source pork, chicken and lamb mince. In Australia, mince is typically from made from chuck, blade, brisket, topside and round steak.

Beef also has almost twice the iron and zinc of pork, but pork has almost 30 times more vitamin B1. Food standards prohibit additives in both kinds of mince, so both should be preservative free. Your best bet is a lean variety of either mince.

I have seen the topside and the chuck (both tough cuts) as the most commonly used cuts to mince. Both have their advantages: Topside is quite lean and for this reason, once minced, would be suitable for bolognaise (or bolognaise related meals).

Ground beef, correctly called minced beef is cheaper than steak because it can be made from any tough cut of beef along with scraps and offcuts from better cuts. When I was a kid it used to be said that minced beef was made from floor sweepings in the butchers shop.

British call it “minced beef”, Americans call it “ground beef”. Both mean the same thing, i.e. the beef is put into a machine that minces/grinds it into very small pieces that can be “molded” to a desired shape.

Mince is a type of meat that you can't go wrong with. You can make burger patties, meatballs, spaghetti bolognese, koftas, meatloaf, cottage pie – the meal possibilities are endless. Not only is mince an incredibly versatile meat, it is also packed full of nutrients that can help support good health and wellbeing.

Consider the fat content of mince before you buy. Beef mince, and sometimes lamb, is graded by its fat content, and remember that some fat is desirable as it adds flavour and helps to keep the meat moist during cooking. The standard fat content of mince is 20%, but you can opt for a lean or extra-lean version.

Ground beef, minced beef or beef mince is beef that has been finely chopped with a knife, meat grinder (American English), mincer or mincing machine (British English). It is used in many recipes including hamburgers, bolognese sauce, meatloaf, meatballs, and kofta.

Shank. Shank is arguably the toughest, cheapest cut of beef. Located in front of the brisket at the cow's forearm, this beef cut is notable for its sinewy dryness. Due to its lack of popularity, shank is not typically found in retail stores.

You want to start with full-flavored beef. I almost always go for chuck, round or even brisket. Round is leaner so you'll need to increase the fat content by adding another cut. That's when I ask for the short-ribs.

What is the best cheap meat to mince? ›

Flank. A steak cut that's from the abdominal muscles of the cow, flank comes in thick, hindquarter and forequarter varieties. It works well minced.

Cooking instructions

Fry the mince in the hot pan for 5–7 minutes until crisp and brown and broken down to a fine consistency. Drain the crisped mince in a sieve – this will help it stay crispy.

The containers you use must be scrupulously clean, so I like to use jars straight out of the dishwasher or I sterilise them in the oven. If you store it in a cool dark place the mincemeat will last for up to 1 year unopened. Once open store in the refrigerator and use within 3=4 months.

But the mincemeat I'm talking about is thick, sweet, spicy and brown; a sludge of raisins, booze, orange peels, allspice and other aromatics. Some recipes also involve apples, and almost all varieties include shredded beef and suet.

There is no reason to view it as a lesser cut of meat; it is simply meat that has been put through a mincing machine to break it down into smaller pieces. You can get many different types of mince, from beef, lamb, and pork, to turkey, and some of them, like beef come in a range of qualities.