I don't usually buy 'regular" (the cheapest) mince because it has so much fat and shrinks so much when all the fat melts out. But I've avoided it for another reason too: a queasy feeling due to people joking years ago, it's made from all the 'rubbish' they'd otherwise throw away… eyeball, tongue, organs, etc. But I've never thought about how true or false that might be. Does anyone know for certain (from knowing a butcher) what is in it?
Does Anyone Know A Butcher?
GregMonarch on 13/07/2017 - 17:36
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You could mince your own beef if you are worried.
I've done that in the past. But… apart from noticing some gravy beef steak for $12/kg last night, I never see steak cheaper than mince anymore.
Coles has Blade steak for around $7 kg. It's used for casseroles etc but once minced is fine.
Really? Mine doesn't. The cheapest meat at Coles is either breast fillet $9/kg, pork or lamb roasts for about $10/kg, or lamb forequarter chops $12/kg (when on sale).
Yeah no its 11 on special in the 1kg packs or 14 :( this is nsw though
@RupertMurduck:
I was wrong its $6.88 not $6.95 per KG https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-national/product/coles-beef-bb…@PVA: Went into Coles today. $12/kg cheapest. Asked at counter, showed them the price on my phone: "You have to order online to get that price."
Ridiculous.
@GregMonarch:
crazy, bugger them I think. Im not the type that orders groceries online so Coles misses out then.
Most should have a little mincer so they can do small amounts for customers eg 500g or so out of whatever in the window
Or ask any butcher to mince any cut while you wait.
The real thing to avoid, I think, is mechanically recovered meat.
Go YouTube that and never eat a nugget again.
Fattier mince is the better quality for cooking, and will give you a better result in most cases.
Very rare you will find offal in the mince you buy. Things like liver etc are not bad for you at all (quite the contrary) but they have a distinctive taste you would pick from a mile in even small quantities.
There may be 'offcuts' as in the odds and ends from the main cuts customers eat. Certain cuts of meat (steaks etc) are highly prized by customers, others are not. Also, to make any cut of meat there will inevitably be little scraps from corners, sides, odd shapes etc. This is fine, just not what people expect to buy in a packet at the shop, so often it's recycled in to things like mince.
The main dodgy tactic with meat (this happens a lot with smallgoods like bacon) is the injection of soy products / moisture to up the weight. This is why when you buy bacon from most shops you get a white residue in the pan - it's something a bit like tofu being squeezed out of the product.
You can mince your own meat if you're concerned.
Yeah, I've noticed the taste difference, which is one reason I asked. I feel cheated when it shrinks so much (like hamburger patties on the BBQ), but it's cheaper, and tastes better for some things.
All meat shrinks to a degree when cooked, it's the fibres contracting as they're heated / moisture evaporates out. This might happen more with meat that's got more filler / other shit in it (part of the reason that store bought bacon goes all wobbly)
There are some workarounds for that, one is making patties with a thinner middle which will cancel out the shrinkage (or at least result in a more even pattie). You might see in American burger joints they have the cast iron paddle type things with a handle that they put on the grill and stick on top of the patties. That's partly to keep them weighted down / squashed so they don't contract us. So weighing down patties is another option, if you have a heavy pan for example.
I'm sure there's other tricks online!
Oh, I mean the fat that melts out, but thanks.
eyeball, tongue, organs
So you mean the really healthy bits!
I'm a butcher at a supermarket, all our mince is from trimmings of the meat we cut. No offal or anything dodgy like that. I'd take note though when buying beef mince to look at the different types because sometimes the premium mince will end up being fattier than the regular, heart smart is generally still always near fat free.
i used to work at a supermarket when it was made in store our mince was the meat that was near date
the mince3 star was anything and everything put through the thick mince plate
4 star was exactly the same put through the thick plate then through the thin plate.
5 star(Premium) was rump straight from the fridge fat trimmed put through the fine plate.
should add offal was never part of any mince.
I worked for a year and a half some time ago in a butcher shop, it was a italian one and a bit pricier then coles etc. But yeah all the trimming from the cows went into big trays, the fattier bits were used for aussie sausages, and the less fattier bits were used for continental sausages in mince. One of my jobs was to trim them up. No dodgy shit like the old days which i was told about…
Pork mince was made from big pork shoulders that came in bags, got the grissle bits and hunks of fat out and the boss helped me get it all in the mincer. Very physical work id forgetten no wonder i was skinnier then.
I am a ex Meat Inspector and we did species testing of mincemeat. Often found ‘fillers’ in mince – horse meat masquerading as beef and pink slime filler in beef mince. Fortunately, not common these days.
Also, don’t be fooled by bright red colour of minced meat to be a sign of freshness – it could have sulphur dioxide in it to disguise old or inferior raw meat. Again, not so common these days.
The brown-grey colour under the red surface of beef mince is ok. Fresh minced meat can go through a number of colour changes during its shelf life and occurs naturally (e.g. oxygen exposure), and a brown colour just under the surface does not mean that the meat is old, stale or unsafe to eat.
May I ask how you found privately operated meat retailers in comparison to supermarkets for everyday cuts of meat (mince etc.)?
Must say your local butcher will always beat the supermarkets hands down e.g. quality, choice etc.
I suppose these days the only independent butchers left are the ones offering good quality. I can assure you that in days past there was a huge variation, with butchers ranging from dodgy cowboys through to gourmet.
The big supermarkets, at least, brought in some standardisation across their stores so their products were reasonably consistent.The quality of meat we get today is higher, I think, but a factor might also be that industrialisation of meat packing and screwing the producer has lead to some lower price points.
An easy trick to make day old mince look all nice and red again is to just chuck it into mincer again…
@trblvb "horse meat masquerading as beef and pink slime filler in beef mince"
What does pink slime mean?Ok you will not want to eat Hamburgers again but here goes:
“Pink Slime” is interesting and the formal name used by the meat industry is “lean, finely textured beef” (LFTB) i.e. beef trimmings that were once used only in dog food is treated with ammonium hydroxide to make it safe to eat, and then added to most beef as a cheaper filler, yes Hamburger mince etc.
The person, Gerald Zirnstein, a former meat inspector at the USDA who coined the term “Pink Slime” also considered naming it "pink paste" or "pink goo”.
Mince is the beef or chicken or veal meat minced up. It does not contain offal like kidneys tongue eyes etc.. if it had offal you would be able to taste it.
Cheaper mince just has a bit more fat, not as lean as the diet mince.