If you have 500 grams of mince in the deep freeze, you have a meal waiting at any time. And the best thing about mince is you get to play with it. In other words, you create what you get, as it sure is nothing on its own. Mince is so even tempered. It does not dictate what you do with it. You can push it around and dominate it with your culinary wizardry.
Hang on to your apron. Here we go, around the world with a packet of mince! You can find the recipes on the net but hopefully this short world circumnavigation will give you some ideas form the humble pack of mince.
Australia: Meat pie
A number of countries have their own take on a meat pie, but the Aussies have made it into a standard. Pull into any service station, lunch bar or pub and have a meat pie. Mince, gravy and you can add carrots and peas if you want to make it more green friendly.
China: San Choy Bao
A Cantonese dish which has many versions. Usually made with chicken mince or pork mince, spiced and served wrapped in lettuce. Yummy.
Denmark: Frikadeller
Traditional Danish fare. Meat patties of minced beef and minced pork.
England: Shepherds Pie
Traditionally made from minced lamb or the lamb left over from a roast meal, finely chopped. It can be made with beef mince too. Scrummy mince with carrots and peas in gravy, topped with mashed potato and baked in the oven. The aromas fill the house.
Germany: Leberkaese
Another favorite with a mixture of beef and pork mince, herbs and seasonings, a few bread crumbs, packed into a tin and baked to produce a lovely meat loaf with a crusty top. Traditionally contains liver and sometimes bacon but in the modern world, you can adapt to your taste.
Greece: Kofta
A huge variety of recipes are found with different variants in many countries. In their simplest form, they consist of balls of minced beef or pork, mixed with spices and onions. Rice is added and an egg to make a meaty dough to be formed into meatballs. They can be grilled, fried, steamed, poached, baked or marinated. Generally served with a hearty sauce. Lots of room to play and create your own special meal.
India: Samosa
The ancient foods rarely remain static in how they are made or what they are made from. A Samosa made with minced beef or lamb, chopped vegetables and some herbs and spices, wrapped in pastry in a triangular shape, and baked, served with yogurt and mint, is a wonderful thing.
Italy: Bolognaise
Spaghetti bolognaise should be a fall back of every home cook. In can think of no time when someone has turned down “spag bol”, or turned their noses up at a plate of beautiful mince in tomato broth spooned over spaghetti. There is also plenty of room to add your own touch, depending on what you have to hand.
Israel: Meatballs
It is thought the Romans left these as a culinary footprint. These meatballs, of minced beef or chicken are made with chickpeas, cardamom, dill and cooked in chicken stock.
Japan: Menchi Katsu
A fried meat cake made with cabbage and mince, and then crumbed. Domo!
Lebanon: Ladies' Fingers
Minced lamb and herbs lovingly wrapped in filo pastry and baked.
Mexico: Tacos
Quick and easy and great to feed a group. You can add as much heat as you wish. Taco shells, lettuce, tomato, minced beef.
New Zealand: Rissoles
Minced beef, finely chopped onions, a few herbs of your choice, an egg and enough flour to bind the mix as you make it into small cakes. Cook them on the BBQ, in the oven, or in a fry pan. Easy peasy cooking. Another beauty to add your own personality to.
Poland: Golabki; Cabbage rolls
Cabbage leaves stuffed with a minced beef mixture combined with rice and onions
Saudi Arabia: Kafta
Minced lamb or beef. Layers of spiced meat, sliced potatoes and fresh tomatoes. Covered in a tomato sauce, pine nuts cooked in the oven. Mmmmm.
South Africa: Bobotie
Although probably of Malay ancestry, the bobotie is popular in South Africa and other parts of Africa where the Dutch have traveled in the past. Another dish with many variants, giving the cook plenty of room to maneuver. Minced beef or lamb or pork is mixed with herbs and spices, some curry, raisins and topped with an egg custard before baking. Some will bake it inside a pumpkin.
Spain: Arroz Riojano; Mince and rice
Beef mince with wine, stock and herbs Cooked with rice in the center of a baking tray, baked in the oven covered for 25 minutes until ready to enjoy
Thailand: Num Prik Aong
Very spiced pork mince, with all the special flavors of Siam, served with steamed rice.
USA: Hamburger
Simple fare or a taste extravaganza designed to suit your taste and budget. Everyone has their favorite addition to the meat pattie, and fresh buns basic. Tomato, grated cheese and beetroot with BBQ sauce is enough to get troops rioting.
Mince is adaptable, friendly, comforting, and amenable, budget conscious, will mix with most things but can always surprise.
