As has been mentioned before on this blog, mince is the largest proportion of cuts off a beef animal.
So to eat sustainably and with respect towards the animal that has given of itself to provide sustenance, we should eat more of it.
Contrary to popular belief, mince doesn’t have to be the poor cousin to steak or of a low quality.
Our mince is created with the trimmings off our high-quality finished animals, from which the butcher maintains a certain percentage of fat, generally approximately 15%. This produces mince that is not too greasy or too dry – the goldilocks effect – tasty, moist mince. There really in no “bad” trimmings off an animal that has been raised and processed well.
I wanted to try some different mince meal recipes featuring flavours that vary from the typical meals I make which include Lasagna, Spaghetti Bolognaise and Spicy Mince.
Take a look at the short videos of each meal process and see how easy it is to embrace mince on your daily menus and experiment with some new quick and tasty dinners.
There are two recipes in Part 1 of this blog post series:
- Teriyaki Beef
- Cottage Pie
Read on to view each:
The Teriyaki Beef Recipe
The Teriyaki Beef recipe is from RecipeTin Eats cookbook “Dinner” by Nagi Maehashi, page 63, so I can’t replicate it here due to copyright.
I doubled the mince to 1kg and substituted the zucchini with tatsoi from the garden. As always, I used tallow instead of cooking oil. It was simple and quick to cook, especially when preparing all the ingredients in advance so they are ready to go when you are.
The most important thing – how did it taste?
Well, my adult son called dibs on the leftovers for lunch the next day; he enjoyed it so much!
It had a gentle Asian flavour that wasn’t overpowered by the rice. I enjoyed it, Dominic has a rather more robust palate and would have liked a bit more spice, but having said that, he liked it too. When Isaac cooked for us the next week, this was the recipe he choose to use, and again it was a success.
The Cottage Pie Recipe
This recipe for Cottage Pie is a version of my own that I have tweaked over time from experience and ideas I’ve found in other recipes I’ve come across.
The recipe is in the description of the actual YouTube video (on YouTube).
The verdict?
Probably the best Cottage Pie I’ve made to date! We all enjoyed it, Dominic most of all; being an Englishman it really hit the spot for him!
This experience has taught me that mince can become a tasty and satisfying meal, not just good for “typical” mince meals like Spaghetti Bolognaise or Rissoles. I now have a couple more weekly meal recipes to choose from.
The journey will continue in Part 2, as I try out Chilli Con Carne and another RecipeTin Eats recipe: Beef Enchiladas.
I hope this will encourage you all to give Shingle Hut Creek Farm premium mince or hearty mince another look and create your own dishes that will become family favourites.
Don’t forget you can find us at the Mulgowie Farmers Markets at Mulgowie, 30 mins drive south of Laidley on the first Saturday of every month. It is where we sell our chemical-free, grass-fed & finished, locally raised & grown beef (including mince).
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