How do you make it?

I made it tonight with mixed results and opinions form my kids.

I browned onions and carrots, added mince and then (shock horror) added gravy powder and water. Clearly it wasnt the right gravy as I was missing the richness in colour. I added a bit of BBQ sauce as an emergency hack and then added peas. We had it with mashed potatoes. Ive really fond memories of a good savoury mince and mine really didnt hit the mark!!!!

Vanessa

Use good quality minced beef. Brown 600g beef in olive oil or butter in a large pan, stirring often. While browning peel and dice two large carrots and add. When beef is well browned turn down heat, peel and finely chop a large onion and add. Cook for 5 minutes until onion has softened. Add 2 tab tomato paste and stir well. Add 2 tab Worcestershire sauce, 1 tab soy sauce, 2 tsp fish sauce, 1 tab dried oregano or marjoram, 2 tsp salt. Combine well, add enough water or fresh chicken stock to almost cover, partly cover pan and simmer about 45 minutes until the carrots are tender and most of the liquid has evaporated. Check seasoning and add pepper before serving.

I make this regularly and we have it for breakfast with poached eggs as well as for dinner with mashed cauliflower and cabbage or Brussels sprouts. A batch will keep well in the fridge for at least five days.

PennyG's son made a very tasty butter mince which Penny posted to this website back in 2007. I'd saved into my recipe book because it is so nice:

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2017 03:08AM by Lorna.

When I was growing up this was always a regular dish in our home and I can't remember any complaints.
I always brown the mince and onions. The rest of the ingredients are more or less what I have on hand but always worcestershire sauce and tomato sauce plus seasoning to taste,often a few drops of tabasco.
At the moment anything spicy is off my radar, but (hopefully) will be back on soon and I love the sound of the butter mince, so 10 years later it will be a dish served here.

I wonder where PennyG is now. She hasn't posted for about 4 or 5 months. Anyone down BOP way, if you know Penny, tell her we're thinking of her and missing her posts.

Awesome, thanks, the main missing ingredients in my mince are...

Tomato paste
Worcestershire sauce

I never buy or use Worcestershire sauce let alone pronounce it correctly ;-), however I will invest in some now.

What other uses does it have?

Vanessa

The Butter Mince sounds great too, my kids do love Butter Chicken and of course love mince so that could be a winner too.
Thanks PennyG

Vanessa

Pronunciation of Worcestershire:

Wo as in 'wood', not as in 'poodle'
forget the 'rce' , they're not pronounced at all
ster as in 'stir'
sher and in 'sheer'

Put it all together as Wostirsheer, or if you're lazy, just as Woster (Wooster) sauce.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2017 11:25PM by Lorna.

I like to make quite a simple savoury mince which I use for cottage pie, mince savouries or just on the plate with mashed potato and a green veg. My version is to brown premium mince (otherwise too much fat renders), then add a finely chopped onion brown until softened, then add good quality liquid beef stock and about 1/2 a teaspoon of Parisian Essence (concentrated gravy browning) which is a liquid that comes in a small bottle from the supermarket. This gives a lovely colour but no flavour or salt. Then season with salt and pepper and simmer about half an hour. Then mix a tablespoon or so of cornflour with cold water into a slurry and add on a low heat until your mince is a thick as you need. Adjust the amounts of everything depending on how much you are making. It cools solid in the fridge which is great for making pies the next day. This gives a really beefy favoured mince with a wonderful rich glossy colour.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2017 12:38AM by Danube.

I needed this!!!
Parisian Essence (concentrated gravy browning) which is a liquid that comes in a small bottle from the supermarket.

I think the colour turned the kids off - thats why I added the BBQ sauce in an attempt to get it a deeper colour.

Its very true - we eat with our eyes, it was the first thing my 5 year old noticed.

Vanessa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2017 03:28AM by Vanessa45.

I use a recipe that involves browning the onion and the mince, then stirring in some flour, add tomato sauce (I use BBQ sauce) a little dark soy (adds colour and seasoning so go easy on salt), mixed herbs (the dried type, the only time I ever use them!), worcestershire sauce, beef stock cube and water, I add heaps of frozen mixed veges, and use this with mash for a shepherds pie, or on toast. I vary this at times by adding a bit of red wine and letting it evaporate at the beginning of cooking, some tomato paste or even some curry powder (omit the herbs). You can also add chopped potatoes and make an all one dish, and perhaps serve with green veges.

I always brown the mince, then the veg....carrot, onion, leek and celery. Liquid I usually add either tetra pack stock, or water and a stock cube. I often add a splash of oyster sauce, adds a lovely savoury umami flavour, Worcestershire sauce and sometimes soy too. I also often add chopped Swede and/or chopped potatoes too. Nice on toast, or as the base for a cottage pie.

Savoury mince is lovely with a crumble topping, like apple crumble without sugar but with grated cheese in the topping.
Regards,
Dawn.

That's a nice idea, Dawn! I've never come across it or heard of it before.

For Stephanie or anyone interested the crumble topping:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8th teaspoon cayenne pepper
90 grams butter
3/4 cup grated cheese - more if you like

I put ingredients including the cheese (cubed) into a food processor and whizz. Alternatively put dry ingredients into a bowl and rub or cut in butter until it looks like breadcrumbs and then add grated cheese.

Spread over pre-cooked savoury mince and bake in oven 190oC for about half an hour and crumble starts to lose it's 'white' uncooked look. Don't use a baking dish too large or the crumble will spread too thinly.

I often make double or treble of the crumble topping and store it in the freezer. Ready made and quick to top mince with crumble.

Regards,
Dawn.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2018 03:38AM by Dawn.

This might be nice for one of Helen's frozen meals for Mum and Dad. A bit like cottage pie but changing it up a bit. The uncooked topping is proven to freeze well.

You can use soy sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce, not quite the same but saves having to buy a special ingredient.

What great ideas, have written them all down, we like mince a great comfort food. Lorna on your sons recipe what would he put with it eg mashed potatoes or what?

It's the time of mistaken identies! Lyn V, it isn't my son's recipe but the son of PennyG, Reuben. It was adapted from a recipe for Butter Chicken that PennyG had, and it was Reuben's turn to cook dinner (he was 17 at the time). It had been suggested that it be called Reuben's Mince. Just like any other curry, I serve it with basmati or jasmine rice and naan bread.

I recently made Chelsea Winter's Savoury Mince recipe from her Scrumptious cookbook. It was delicious. I liked her idea of grating the carrot and courgette, which enhanced the texture of the dish.

She used 500g beef mince, 3-4 rashers bacon chopped (I used 6 Freedom Farms streaky bacon slices), 1 onion finely chopped, 4 cloves garlic crushed (I used 2 cloves finely diced), 1 stalk celery finely chopped, 1 carrot grated, 1 courgette grated, 2 cups stock (I used water), 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes (I used six fresh bright red golfball-sized tomatoes), 2 tbspns tomato paste, 1 tbspn Dijon mustard (I used my own homemade Dijon mustard), 1 tbspn Worcestershire sauce, pinch chilli flakes, 1 tspn malt vinegar. Also, you stir in ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan (I used Mainland Noble cheese) and ½ cup chopped fresh parsley at the end, plus salt & freshly cracked black pepper to taste.

You brown the mince, then set aside in a bowl. Then fry the bacon, onion, garlic 10-15 mins. Add celery, carrot, courgette; cook 5 mins until soft. Add mince back in, plus stock/water, tomatoes, tomato paste, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chilli flakes, vinegar. Simmer about 30 mins, stirring cheese and parsley through at the end and seasoning with s&p.

After reading our newsletter yesterday Diane emailed me this

"With Savoury mince I think for me - It's the additions. 'Woody' herbs (thyme, rosemary etc)added when browning the mince. Lots of vegetables - onions, carrots, parsnips. + half a tin of tomatoes. But the softer, green herbs & 'lighter, brighter' vegetables eg beans, peas, corn & peppers + celery tops added close to the end of the cooking to preserve their vitality.
I always add a 'hot' ingredient (Chilli in some form) and perhaps, Soy sauce for depth of colour & flavor.
When thickening with a cornflour slurry, I quite like to add a packet of mushroom soup to the mix. I adjust the seasoning 'to taste at that point - because the soy/soup additions can add quite a salty taste.
I also intend to try adding a spoonful of marmite (to make up for the fact that the meat component in mine, is less than the veg content) I keep forgetting to do this. But as I'm going to be making a big pot of Winter stew (beef, cubed with oxtail as well ) very slowly simmered for a very long time - I'll try the Marmite addition in that.

If I'm going to make a really big lot of savoury mince to use as a base, in multiple ways ('bolognese' sauce, chilli con Carne, cottage pie etc ) I leave out some of the above veg and add more herbs & spice, as appropriate."

I'm still here but since increasing my hours at work, (+ everything else) I don't often get the chance to check out Foodlovers.

I find a packet of oxtail soup is a great addition to either mince or a stew

Hi PennyG

You're often in my thoughts when I'm browsing my recipe book for something to make because one of my recipes with a red heart (to denote favourites) beside it is Ruebens Butter Mince. Please pass my congraulations on to him for such a delicious recipe from one who was so young when he produced it. I've got the date I saved it as 31st July 2007, so it's been in my repertoire for a long time now. It's a good 'go to' recipe.

I wonder if he still makes it. He lives in Melbourne now. I gave each of my sons a copy of the recipe book but his may have been discarded in the course of his travels.