Minced Beef 540g

⭐ great taste® 2023

Swaledale Minced Beef* is famed amongst our chef community for its depth of flavour. To make Yorkshire's best-tasting mince, carefully selected cuts of grass-fed beef (chuck, rib cap, flank and short-rib) are coarsely ground and combined. The resulting mince is perfect for making ragù, lasagne, beef burgers, chilli con carne and so many more beefy classics.

Chef Valentine Warner chews the fat... "What on earth is happening to mince these days as it seems most purchase options lean towards lean ;) and have a dishearteningly low fat content. A crime no less! This is not good for the cooking or the flavour.

Swaledale Minced Beef contains 25% outer fat, which is important as it will be retained in the texture of the meat when cooked - internal fat will just melt away. Swaledale uses only slow grown, heritage breeds of cattle; this creates mince that is deeply beefy in taste, with a higher fat content that makes it exceptionally good for steak burgers.

I’d note here that a good steak burger patty should not contain onions, and salt should only be added when cooking. The fat and meat protein render egg obsolete - you won’t need any old fashioned tricks to bind the patty, not with minced beef of this quality.

Personally I love a green chilli cheese burger…blitz together 25g of fresh coriander with a half tsp of ground cumin, ¼ tsp of dried oregano, cracked black pepper and two roughly chopped jalapeño raw chillies, ½ tsp lime juice, 1 tsp of coarse sea salt and 1 tbs sunflower oil.

Over refinement is the curse of a good burger. Cheese should be techno orange and floppy, not noble or aged, and a toasted brioche bun is far preferable to sourdough bread. However, settle for nothing less than Swaledale’s most excellent dry-cured unsmoked streaky bacon. Dust a few thin slices of onion in cornflower and deep fry. And there you have it.

If you want to incorporate other bits into the mince, then the addition of herbs, shallot and a few capers would deliver a steak haché, and a discreet French bistro lunch to be accompanied with a wine jus, pommes frites and a sharp green salad. Medium-rare would be my preference for both burger and haché alternatives.

I have always loved beef mince and carrots. Made well it’s a simple supper, a joy on toast or with rice, while on fried bread it’s a belter. It’s beautiful under silky mash in a cottage pie, and if you haven’t tried it, add spices and sultanas to give the mince a South African twist, cover it with béchamel, and the resulting bobotie casserole (pronounced ba-boor-tea) is absolutely delicious."

great taste® commented:
"This is a visually-appealing mince with good caramelisation, which suggests high levels of fat. This mince is firm to the chew, and the coarsely-ground texture added to a pleasant mouthfeel. There is no greasiness remaining on the palate. There is an underlying sweetness which might be elevated with the addition of seasoning...this beefy flavour is long on the palate...a versatile product in the kitchen.

The presentation had a fabulous chargrilled appearance, with a good texture of mince. There was a moistness to the initial taste and cut which was positive. This mince has a great beefy aroma and is very meaty in the mouth, not sinewy at all...the drier texture has great flavour and a clean, fresh, meaty taste."

*All Swaledale beef is heritage breed and raised on independent farms and smallholdings dotted around the wildly beautiful Yorkshire Dales. Slow grown and free to roam on the swath of green hills and valleys; the result is exceptional tasting beef with an umami taste - rich, dense and flavourful. Swaledale Minced Beef is Always Fresh Never Frozen®, butchered to order, vacuum packed, and shipped in recyclable packaging to arrive safely insulated and ready to enjoy.