What's the Difference with Butcher's Mince?

kylith

I've recently stopped buying mince in Tesco because OH keeps complaining that it's too fatty. He's happy with the leanness of the stuff I get from the butcher, but I'm not so happy. I find that it clumps together much more than supermarket stuff, and also is more... bitty, breaking into much smaller pieces when fried; it has a completely different texture when it's cooked.

I assume that the mechanics of mincing are the same whether in a small local butcher's or in Tesco, so I'm at a loss as to what could be making them so different. Any ideas?

mitosis

What cut of meat are you buying in, Tesco, the local butchers?

kylith

I really don't know. I get whatever's in the pack in Tesco, or I walk into the butcher's and say "A pound of mince please, my fine fellow!"

byronbay2

kylith wrote: »

I really don't know. I get whatever's in the pack in Tesco, or I walk into the butcher's and say "A pound of mince please, my fine fellow!"

There's your first problem - you need to know what you're buying! There are various grades of mince (bog standard minced beef to extra-lean steak mince) that vary in fat content from over 25% to less than 10%.

Ddad

If you were getting the prepacked stuff in tesco, they have a specific speed and size of grind in the meat factories to deliver the mince with a specific type of grade and fat content.

Chances are in the butchers you buy at they are using a different die size and a different cut of meat which explains the different texture. I would also venture to say that the tesco mince may contain meat with a higher connective tissue (gristle, sinew) content. This will also change the texture. There isn't anything wrong with having gristle or sinew in mince btw. If its cooked properly, long and slow it'll remove any toughness that remains after the mincing process.

Mincing is after all a way of rendering scraps and tougher cuts easily and conveniently palatable by mechanically breaking up the fibres in the meat.

sweetie

if you can afford to you should buy steak mince and it's mince, it should break up!

mitosis

Ddad wrote: »

If you were getting the prepacked stuff in tesco, they have a specific speed and size of grind in the meat factories to deliver the mince with a specific type of grade and fat content.

Chances are in the butchers you buy at they are using a different die size and a different cut of meat which explains the different texture. I would also venture to say that the tesco mince may contain meat with a higher connective tissue (gristle, sinew) content. This will also change the texture. There isn't anything wrong with having gristle or sinew in mince btw. If its cooked properly, long and slow it'll remove any toughness that remains after the mincing process.

Mincing is after all a way of rendering scraps and tougher cuts easily and conveniently palatable by mechanically breaking up the fibres in the meat.

You make it so appetising, you silver-tongued devil

I agree. Buying something that doesn't specify what it is is something I couldn't do. "Minced beef" could reasonably be hooves and ears.

kylith

Ddad wrote: »

If you were getting the prepacked stuff in tesco, they have a specific speed and size of grind in the meat factories to deliver the mince with a specific type of grade and fat content.

Chances are in the butchers you buy at they are using a different die size and a different cut of meat which explains the different texture. I would also venture to say that the tesco mince may contain meat with a higher connective tissue (gristle, sinew) content. This will also change the texture. There isn't anything wrong with having gristle or sinew in mince btw. If its cooked properly, long and slow it'll remove any toughness that remains after the mincing process.

Mincing is after all a way of rendering scraps and tougher cuts easily and conveniently palatable by mechanically breaking up the fibres in the meat.

Thanks for that, it probably goes a long way to explaining it. I guess I just have to get used to the difference between the large and small scale production models. I have no problem with eating gristle or sinew (mmmm, sinew), I'm not fussy with my meat.

sweetie wrote: »

if you can afford to you should buy steak mince and it's mince, it should break up!

Thanks I'll bear that in mind. I know it should break up, but the Tesco breaks into largish 'stringy' bits of up to a quarter inch, the butcher's stuff breaks up much finer, more 'pinhead-y'.

brian ireland

mitosis wrote: »

You make it so appetising, you silver-tongued devil

I agree. Buying something that doesn't specify what it is is something I couldn't do. "Minced beef" could reasonably be hooves and ears.

Never mind the "H" word!!!!!

Only joking I don't think so

kylith

mitosis wrote: »

You make it so appetising, you silver-tongued devil

I agree. Buying something that doesn't specify what it is is something I couldn't do. "Minced beef" could reasonably be hooves and ears.

Ah, you'd notice if there were bits of hooves in there, and some people would pay good money for cows ears. Not generally in Ireland, granted.

Alun

sweetie wrote: »

if you can afford to you should buy steak mince and it's mince, it should break up!

I disagree. Whilst I don't buy the cheapest type of mince, you do need some fat /connective tissue in it to hold it together else it breaks up too finely to my taste. Ultra lean round steak mince just doesn't work for me I'm afraid, plus you end up having to add extra fat/oil to be able to brown it off anyway.

fenris

Talk to your local butcher, ask him for what you want, his job is to figure out how to do it best.

Round steak mince too lean, ordinary mince too fatty, then how about asking him to give you a mix of the two?

A good butcher can do more than just sell meat, but to do so you have to ask the question, sometimes the answer may not be what you think!

e.g. sometimes a cheaper cut smacked with a hammer will do a better job than a leaner piece.

If you have a good butcher you should be able to tell them what you want to do and let them recommend and prepare the meat for you.

Ooops - ranting, stopping now!

Toast4532

I find, and have always found that mince from the supermarkets is fatty and has a horrible taste/texture to it so I get round steak mince from the butchers, it does break up into smaller pieces, I don't mind that though.

I have gotten just mince meat in the butchers and again, found it to be fatty with that horrible taste/texture, so I stick to round steak mince, it's a bit more expensive, but worth it.

Tipperary animal lover

Tesco meat= siht and full of meal/fat and tasteless, butchers mince= nom nom but make sure you go to a good butchers.

dmc17

kylith wrote: »

I really don't know. I get whatever's in the pack in Tesco, or I walk into the butcher's and say "A pound of mince please, my fine fellow!"

You could walk into the butcher's and say "can you mince that piece of meat for me, my fine feathered friend?". Then you'll know what's in your mince!

yellowlabrador

My butcher never pre- minces. He has a dish with off cuts of stewing beef or he cuts a piece off a steak. The advantage is that you can buy as much or as little as you like and it's properly hung local beef. The taste is so much better when you eat it. Not so important in a bolognese but in home made burgers of great importance.

April O Neill

kylith wrote: »

or I walk into the butcher's and say "A pound of mince please, my fine fellow!"

I think that because you address them like this, they give you ratmeat horsemeat instead. :pac::P;)

fussyonion

Weird how I came across this thread as I was having this dilemma myself this week.

I always bought lean minced beef from the butchers, but with money a bit tight recently I started buying it pre-packed from Tesco.
However, I noticed a huge difference.
The mince from Tesco is stringy and (sorry to be horrible) looks like worms and doesn't break up in the pan.

Butcher's mince breaks up nice and finely ground and is, in my opinion, of better quality.

I don't care how much it cost but from now on I'm sticking with mince from the butcher's.
Mince that resembles worms and refuses to break up is very off putting.

Merkin

Ah I love my butcher.He says I'm his fussiest customer but then he always gives me the best cuts of meat.I always choose the steaks I want minced, normally rump or round steak are fine for mince, and then he prepares it in front of me.A far better way to buy meat than the unidentified fatty prepacked muck to be found in the supermarkets

huskerdu

I recently bought mince in Tesco in an emergency and quickly remembered why I never do that.

When cooked it gave off a huge amount of water and fat and the colour and smell was unappealing ( not off just grey and dull) . I nearly threw it out, only I had nothing else and it was too late to get anything else.

I drained the mince to remove the liquid and started again. I fried fresh onions and garlic and added the drained half cooked mince. It improved it a lot, but never again.

kylith

April O Neill wrote: »

I think that because you address them like this, they give you ratmeat horsemeat instead. :pac::P;)

Lol, if they sold horsemeat I'd be all over it, but I can't even get them to sell me mutton!

Johnny_Fontane

I agree about the mince in tesco, it seems to be minced weird and it keeps it weird shape during cooking.

But am I the only person, that (not from tesco) likes a little bit of fat in their mince. I have tried lean steak mince and its absolutely tasteless, dry and pointless.

My local butcher has an 80/85% mix and its the ticket.

the beer revolu

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

But am I the only person, that (not from tesco) likes a little bit of fat in their mince. I have tried lean steak mince and its absolutely tasteless, dry and pointless.

You're not alone;)
Of course mince can be too lean - round steak mince, in particular, has absolutely no flavour - I wouldn't buy it at the same price as regular mince not to mind pay a premium for it!

Same goes for sausages - lots of people seem to think that the higher the meat content, the better the sausage. Not necessarily so. A sausage need a certain amount of fat - if this is too low the sausage will be dry and not very tasty.

Ddad

One thing I didn't mention and a lot of posters touched on is ,freshness. The stuff in tesco is gas flushed with an inert gas to prevent the mince oxidising ( the meat reacts with oxegyn and starts to discolour and pick up bitter flavours). Many cuts of red meat are at their best just before they reach their use by date; mince isn't one of them though. Mincing grinds the meat and this process mixes the more microbial external area of the meat into the much less microbial interior of the meat. It also introduces a lot of air to a lot of surface area. This is one of the reasons why it's generally advisable to cook minced meat through.

Rambled a bit there, but in essence butchers generally mince just enough to cover the demand in the shop ,so the mince is far more likely to be fresh than that you find in a prepak in a supermarket. As its fresh it is less likely to have developed the off flavours that the mincing process accelerates. The one caveat is that it's best to use the mince as soon as you can, ideally on the day of purchase to ensure you get the best results from it

kylith

I sent Himself to Ennis' in D8 last week and the stuff he brought home was lovely. Much better texture than the butcher's near work. It did indeed oxidise over the 24 hours it was in the fridge, which did worry me at first, but a good sniff confirmed it was fine, and it made a scrumtious cottage pie.

I'm ashamed to say it, but it looks like I got so used to the supermarket stuff that I forgot what good mince was supposed to be like.

I even came close to buying my own mincer at a car boot sale the other day!

Melendez

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