Scottish Mince Recipe with Tatties - My Kitchen Love (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.

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.

To get the best flavour from your minced beef, you should brown it slightly before you add it to your recipe. To brown / fry your mince take the following steps: Add a dash of oil to a hot pan & add your mince. Stir to make sure the mince doesn't stick to the pan and browns evenly.

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.

Mince is cooked when the temperature has reached 75°C. If you don't have a thermometer, ensure it's been simmering on the heat (it should be bubbling gently) for at least 15 minutes. If you're cooking meatballs or meatloaf, use a thermometer to check the temperature or cut open to check it is cooked through.

Heat 1 tsp (5 mL) of oil in a large skillet and place the mince in the center. Break the mince into smaller chunks and sprinkle it with salt. Let the mince brown, and inspect a larger chunk to ensure it's cooked all the way through. Enjoy the mince right away or refrigerate it for 1 week (or freeze it for 3 months).

Choices like coconut oil and avocado oil do tend to have a distinctive flavor that could affect the final taste of your meat, but they are each a great choice for high heat cooking. Olive oil and canola oil are more neutral flavors and tend to be more commonly used.

Haggis is traditionally served with mashed neeps (turnips) and mashed tatties (potatoes).

Mincemeat isn't difficult to make, but it has a lot of ingredients, which can make it expensive to produce in small batches, and it requires at least a day's advance planning to let the ingredients sit.

Why do Scottish people call potatoes Tatties? ›

The tradition continued into the 1980s, when the advent of new farm machinery such as potato harvesters made hand picking potatoes obsolete. The word "tattie" comes from the Scots word for potato.

The calcium-rich properties of milk react with enzymes in the meat to gently soften the proteins. Whole milk (not reduced fat), buttermilk, and yogurt all get the job done – with a special nod to buttermilk and yogurt for their optimal tenderizing acidity levels.

Spoilage and pathogenic bacteria may both affect ground beef. These bacteria are generally not harmful but cause food to lose quality and develop a bad odor and taste. On the other hand, pathogenic bacteria are dangerous, as they can lead to food poisoning.

Adding too much meat will reduce the temperature of the pan and the meat will not brown. It will release all of its liquid becoming tough, stewed and grey. Avoid over-stirring the mince as it fries. Allow the mince to develop a good brown colour before breaking it up and turning.

Mincemeat is a combination of chopped dried fruits, spices, sugar, nuts, distilled spirits, a fat of some type and sometimes meat. The name is a carryover from 15th century England when mincemeat did indeed have meat in the mix; in fact, the whole point of mincemeat was to preserve meat with sugar and alcohol.

You can't celebrate Burns Night without this classic Scottish recipe. We've served our haggis alongside its traditional side dishes 'neeps and tatties' aka mashed potatoes and swede. A rich whisky sauce is an ideal accompaniment to this flavourful dish too.

The reason mincemeat is called meat is because that's exactly what it used to be: most often mutton, but also beef, rabbit, pork or game. Mince pies were first served in the early middle ages, and the pies were quite sizeable, filled with a mixture of finely minced meat, chopped up fruit and a preserving liquid.

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.