Mince & Tatties Recipe: Traditional Scottish Comfort Food (2024)

FAQs

What are mince and tatties made of? ›

Mince and tatties is a Scottish dish which consists of ground beef and mashed potato. Other vegetables or thickening agents are sometimes added to the dish as well.

Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, including pork, veal, lamb, goat meat, and poultry.

An economical dish, dating back to the 18th century, when the potato was first introduced to Scotland. The history and origins of “Mince and Tatties”, a traditional Scottish dish, are rooted in the simplicity and necessity characteristic of Scottish folk cooking.

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).

The "mince" in mincemeat comes from the Middle English mincen, and the Old French mincier both traceable to the Vulgar Latin minutiare, meaning chop finely. The word mincemeat is an adaptation of an earlier term minced meat, meaning finely chopped meat. Meat was also a term for food in general, not only animal flesh.

Haggis (Scottish Gaelic: taigeis) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with chopped onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though now an artificial casing is often used instead.

In the U.S. we refer to mince beef as hamburger or Ground beef . Many of us just call it hamburger even when we are referring to ground beef that has not been formed into hamburger patties.

Beef chuck is a popular primal cut of meat favored for mincing due to its valued protein-to-fat ratio composition. Butchered from the cow shoulder, beef chuck is a tough cut that turns tender when ground or slow cooked, making it a top option for just about any dish that calls for minced meat.

The terms “ground meat” and “minced meat” are sometimes used interchangeably. But they indicate two techniques for processing raw meat: ground meat is an emulsion of lean meat and fat, whereas minced meat is finely chopped skeletal-muscle meat.

haggis, the national dish of Scotland, a type of pudding composed of the liver, heart, and lungs of a sheep (or other animal), minced and mixed with beef or mutton suet and oatmeal and seasoned with onion, cayenne pepper, and other spices.

When did Scots start eating haggis? ›

The first known written recipe for haggis is from 1390, by one of the cooks for King Richard II, called Afronchemolye. The recipe calls for eggs, breadcrumbs and finely diced sheep's fat with seasoning (saffron) to be stuffed in a sheep's tripe and sewn securely, then steamed or boiled.

In British English, haslet or acelet is a pork meatloaf with herbs, originally from Lincolnshire. The word is derived from the Old French hastilles meaning entrails.

One of the problems with meatloaf is that it can dry out very easily so people will add in things like eggs or breadcrumbs to try and keep it moist. There is actually a regional dish called Haslet, from the UK, which comes from Lincolnshire and is a type of pork meatloaf.

Neeps and tatties are a classic Scottish dish – the 'neeps' means swede or turnip and the 'tatties' refer to potatoes. Traditionally they're served mashed separately alongside haggis, although some recipes suggest mashing them together with some butter, salt and pepper.

UK government guidelines currently state that minced meat must not include meat containing bone fragments or skin, meat of the head, mechanically separated meat or scrap cuttings or trimmings. Instead, it must derive from fresh meat, skeletal muscle and any adherent fatty tissues.

Ideally mince contains 100% muscle meat, and that can include a range of cuts or trimmings. Making mince out of a range of cuts is a good way for butchers to make the most out the entire animal, avoiding wastage.

Mincing is a food preparation technique in which food ingredients are finely divided into uniform pieces. Minced food is in smaller pieces than diced or chopped foods, and is often prepared with a chef's knife or food processor, or in the case of meat by a specialised meat grinder.