Mince and tatties is a popular Scottish dish, consisting of

minced beef 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). It is used in many recipes including hamburgers, bolognese sauce, meatloaf, ...

and

mashed potato Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a ...

. The dish is also known in the island of Jamaica, mainly in the Cornish county, as the dish was introduced by the Scottish in the 1800s. It sometimes contains other vegetables or thickening agents. It has had a longtime association with

school dinner A school meal or school lunch (also known as hot lunch, a school dinner, or school breakfast) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world ...

s, while other chefs have attempted to modernise the dish.

Preparation

There is no set recipe or form of cooking and large variations can occur from cook to cook. Essentially the dish consists of varying amounts of

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nat ...

s or other root vegetables, seasoning and stock. Some cooks add thickening agents such as

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

oatmeal Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been de-husked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains (groats) that have either been milled (ground) or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel-cut oats are ...

cornflour Cornflour may refer to: * Cornflour (in the UK), corn starch, from the endosperm of the kernel of the corn (maize) grain * Corn flour (in the US and elsewhere), very finely ground cornmeal, ground from dried maize See also * Flour * Starch * Gl ...

History

Despite concerns that British people are no longer eating traditional dishes, mince and tatties remains popular in Scotland. A survey by the ''

Scottish Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' in 2009 found that it was the most popular Scottish dish, with a third of respondents saying that they eat mince and tatties once a week. This placed it above other dishes such as

smoked salmon Smoked salmon is a preparation of salmon, typically a fillet that has been cured and hot or cold smoked. Due to its moderately high price, smoked salmon is considered a delicacy. Although the term lox is sometimes applied to smoked salmon, t ...

haggis Haggis ( gd, taigeis) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though n ...

Scotch pie A Scotch pie or mutton pie is a small, double-crust meat pie, traditionally filled with minced mutton but now generally beef, sometimes lamb. It may also be known as a shell pie or mince pie (although the latter term is ambiguous) to different ...

s and

Scotch broth Scotch broth is a filling soup, originating in Scotland. The principal ingredients are usually barley, stewing or braising cuts of lamb, mutton or beef, root vegetables (such as carrots, swedes, or sometimes turnips), and dried pulses (most oft ...

. An annual competition is held in Tobermory on the

Isle of Mull The Isle of Mull ( gd, An t-Eilean Muileach ) or just Mull (; gd, Muile, links=no ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Arg ...

to determine the best mince and tatties. Mince and tatties is well known for being used historically in school canteens, where the quality of the ingredients and the ability to feed a large number of children made it popular. In recent years, there have been attempts by some to modernise the dish, which resulted in it appearing on '' Time Out'' magazine's list of the top 100 dishes available in London in 2012. The version from the Dean Street Townhouse restaurant placed on the best of British section of the list.

References

External links

Mince and Tatties Recipe

More about Mince and Tatties Recipe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mince And Tatties Scottish cuisine Jamaican cuisine Beef dishes Food combinations Meat and potatoes dishes Scottish beef dishes

Preparation

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links