Scottish Hitchers: mince and tatties

I fry off mince and onion, add sliced carrot and oxo and simmer for a while. I usually chuck in a spoonful of bisto powder in the last 5 mins, depend son how it's looking. Serve with tatties, peas and doughballs. Yum, I haven't made mince and tatties at least since I got pregnant nearly a year ago, must do it again soon.

No, having googled half a dozen recipes, that would appear to be it.

Beef and onions boiled in Bisto.

I'm not sure flavour comes into it ?

You don't know what you're missing. It tastes amazing!

From the nation that brought you "egg in a cup" ?

I do it like Girlypie but mix the bisto into a cup with a little bit of water first.

Mince and tatties are fab. ?

Now, see, I've never had that...

That's NOT a national Scottish dish ?

Rache - I used to love my mum's mince and tatties.

She makes it with carrot, onion, minced beef, and sometimes peas or green beans. I'd think she crumbles a stock cube into it. Served with boiled tatties. We never had dumplings but if we were lucky we'd find a mealy pudding in it.

I don't like beef now and I htink that was the only way we had beef that I did like as a child. It used to be my favourite.

I don't see that it's much different to the basis of spag bolognaise tbh so I'm not sure why people think it's funny. <shrug>

Mince and tatties sounds lovely, I'm sure Master I would like it too.

? at egg in a cup, I'd forgotten about that.

I don't think it's funny Zeb, just bland.

As for Spag Bog - even the most rudimentary ragu usually contains pancetta, tomatos, red wine, herbs, maybe even an irreverent dash of Worcestershire sauce

A splash of worcestershire sauce works wonders in plain ol'mince......

I soften the onions, brown the mince, crumble in 2 oxo cubes, chuck in some carrots and water and leave to bubble away for about 20 minutes, then thicken up with some granules.

Love mince and tatties (sadly I really like beetroot with mine)

No onion here. I just get good steak mince, brown it and then add water with bisto and oxo, and cook for as long as I can.

Then serve with mashed tatties.

Edited to add: when you are browing the mince if you burn it a bit it tasted even better ?

It's not bland though, it's quite a rich flavour.

In ragu - Tomatos yes. I don't know anyone who includes pancetta to be honest, I think that's a sign of a real foodie. Red wine, if there's a bottle going.

Herbs - well some people do use those in mince and tatties - my mum would always include parsley from the garden and probaby a bay leaf or three. Worcestershire sauce, I would if I was making m&t for my H.

There's no doubt that Scots dishes aren't known for their spiciness but there are many countries where the indigenous food is fairly bland, England included. I was at my non-WI meeting and one of the girls was doing a presentation of her national dish. she's Brazilian and the Brazilians are totally obsessed with beans - kidney beans, black beans, red beans, white beans. She did a huge pot of the most amazing kidney bean dish - apparently Brazilians eat this with practically every meal and different regions do it slightly differently - done in the pressure cooker. We were all desperate for the recipe - she told us: "red kidney beans, onions, and water". That was it. Not even any salt. So my point - it's not only the Scots that don't have much in the way of flavourings - it doesn't mean it's not delicious in its own way.

Thanks again, everybody. I'm really hungry now!?

Rache - the exception to non-spicy Scots dishes is haggis though - that's got a divine pepperinesss.

you reckon? ?

Yours might, mine usually does, but I know plenty of people who make spag bog that is basically the above recipe for mince with a tin of chopped tomatoes thrown in, and some baked beans if you are particularly unlucky.

(one summer camp i worked on insisted on putting baked beans in everything - spag bog, lasagna, shepherd's pie. Grim.)

I agree with Rache- some of the blandest food I've ever eaten has been in South America. In fact, the worst meal I've ever eaten was cooked by the Colombian wife of a friend who was "treating us" to a Colombian meal- the worst meat you can imagine, boiled up for hours with some beans, no seasoning, nothing. *** me, I could barely swallow it and yet she sat there saying "mmmh, you can't get this in England, this is real Colombian food, the best!"

Actually that's not what Rache was saying, is it? I suppose my point is that some people like bland.

Soften sliced onion, brown mince. Whack in a bit pf black pepper, mug of boiling water with oxo cube dissolved in. Throw that in with the mince and onions and then simmer for at least 20 mins. If i had my way (and had them in the freezer) I'd add carrots and peas, carrots going in 10 mins before the peas. Thicken up with bisto and serve with plenty of buttered mash.

I don't add salt as i find i get enough from the beef stock cube.

Might make that for tea tomorrow if we're not at a friends for a BBQ.

And they were saying on BBC breakfast this week that Haggis actually originated in Northern England!

J

OMG - Killie pies?? - the best pies EVER.

[/homesick]

I love mince n tatties, not had it for ages. OH usually makes its the usual brown the mince, chopped onions and carrots. Simmer for what seems like ages. Salt and pepper added. thicken with bisto.

Have mine with mashed tatties/baked potato, beans/broccoli/green beans. Lovely.

To me that is cottage pie but with the potato served seperately instead of cooked on top of the mince mixture?

I agree Zeb. I thought my spag bowl was quite good but has no panncetta in it and only red wine if there is some open. Herbs yes.

I didn't realise that mince, potatoes and dumplings was a Scottish dish - my family are from the North East and it's something that I was (force) fed as a child ?

The very thought of it makes me heave (see also braised beef and carrots with potatoes - another one of my family's favourites) -the texture of the mince with the slimy carrots - vile, vile, vile. The dumplings were the only redeeming feature. My mother is actually a very good cook but I still fail to see the attraction in mince and potatoes...

I blame this dish for my continuing aversion to many mince based dishes - Shepherd's Pie, Lasagne and Spag Bol are all on my 'will eat if given, but will never make for myself' list. Chilli is ok for some reason ?

My mother used to make "meatballs"- actually one big meatball boiled to *** made of about 50:50 beef to breadcrumbs. Totally disgusting.

Mince and tatties, big meatball etc = prison food.

Um, could you be any more insulting?

I can't quite believe you said that.

Big meatball sounds foul!

In solidarity with the Scottish hitchers, we're having mince & tatties tonight! It's not the most exciting food in the world but I do rather love it in a filling comfort-food type way. I didn't realise it was Scottish, particularly - we had it as kids in London and my only Scottish relatives are fake (and thus inveterate senders of tartan and shortbread for Christmas and sport terrible pretendy Scottish accents [cringe])

???

Why is it insulting? I just mean that all that sort of sloppy stuff (inc my mother's cooking) is like prison food- the sort of thing you can imagine slopped onto a tray by a burly server. What's so shocking about that?

We had mine at MILs this week and she has the wierdest recipe. Mince/onion/very little gravy. Too dry for me. Veg on the side. Mashed tattie on the side. And a square of puff pastry. WTF? Mr Mal tells me she used to put a tin of baked beans in too [shudder]

When I make it I brown the mine, add finely chopped onion, an oxo cube, a bit of beef cube, lots of gravy. And I bung in carrots, huge chunks of potatoes, dumplings. Sometimes (marrowfat) peas too. Yummmmmmmmm. Cook down low for as long as possible.

Um, prison food is notorious for being inedible, tasteless, deficient in nutrients, and filled with whatever bodily fluids the prison "chefs" feel like including. It's not exactly what you'd call complimentary.

Like school dinners but a millions times worse...

Zebra, are you saying "Um" at the start of every post you address to me for a reason? It comes across as quite rude.

Mince in Bisto gravy and mashed potato does sound like prison food to me, or school dinners if you prefer- it's not a personal insult. I'd include all sorts of things in the category, inc my mother's big meatball (as I did) and I regularly eat such things myself (cottage pie etc)- cheap food you can slop on a plate. I don't understand why you're so annoyed.

No of course not.

And my point is I was annoyed because to most people labelling something as prison food is a way of insulting it. You explained so fair enough.

Well, I sort of was insulting it a bit ? but not in a way that was intended to insult people who eat it, more as I might refer to my beloved full English breakfast as a "builder's breakfast", say- implying it's stodgy, greasy, full of calories, served in low-rent places etc- it doesn't mean I don't love it.

Mince and tatties does sound a bit sloppy, I can't deny it, but I imagine that for those who like it that's part of the charm.