To ask you if you boil and cool your mince meat before cooking it?

[BigRedBall]

Because this is what mine looks like after boiling and cooling, and I took the pic after removing another heaped spoonful. It's sheep mince from my local butchers which sells halal meat (not that makes a difference). It's always the same.

I wonder what makes it have such high fat content. I think it was meat from the leg.

Why would you cook mince before you cook it?
Iyswim

As in boil it in water?!! Er.no I don't.but I do drain the fat off after browning it.

If I boiled and cooled it, I wouldn't be able to freeze it again would I?

Fats are added to lots of meats sadly.

Why the heck would you boil it first?!

I've never boiled mince, just drain it well during cooking.

Minced meat is usually from fatty cuts, hence the price. Mutton will be fattier than beef.

Why do you boil and cool it, by the way?

Because it cooks faster when I need it, if that makes sense. I just boil it beforehand as I'm going about my day.

I cook mine off in stock/wine/wine then sieve it before I use it for the main attraction. Lamb mince (or sheep mince) is much more fatty than beef. Moussaka's can be a bit faffy.

Eating fat won't make you fat.

I've never boiled mince in my life! Why would you do that?

Also, I now boil it to get rid off this fat too. It makes me feel sick we eat that fat.

I've no experience of 'sheep' mince, what do we call that anyway ? Minced mutton ?
But I have to say I wouldn't fancy eating it.
I use a lot of beef mince and I buy the slightly more expensive lean option in the supermarket.
I generally brown it in the pan with a little fry light. I've never seen fat like that come off it.

you need some decent Scottish mince...real proper meat minced, none of your butchers offcuts and odds and ends.

;)

Oh I meant to say if I boiled it before doing whatever else I'm going to do it would be very tough.

But if you seive it/drain it off, the fat is liquid. This way it's hardened and I just throw it in the bin.

Boiled mince - eurgh. Sounds a bit workhouse!

Blimey, you sound a bit phobic of fat. It's not bad to eat fat you know?

Er no. I fry it and then soak up some of the fat with kitchen paper - surely boiling would ruin it?

Mince will vary quite a bit in fat content and I would have thought that sheep mince would be quite high as lamb is fatty anyway and older animals even more so.

Even 'lean' steak mince gives off quite a bit of fat - 10% fat mince will have about 3-4 tablespoons per 500 g pack, twice as much if it's 'standard' mince which is about 20% fat?

If you get a lot more, it could be a sign of a dodgy low quality butchers? There will be a certain percentage of fat that you don't want to go above even if you aren't scared of eating fat, as it just won't be palatable.

One tip DM gave me when I left home was 'never buy the cheapest mince in the shop and never pay less than X per pound' because it's all fat. I suspect she learnt this the hard way herself as she is a bit of a bargain hunter.

No way. It doesn't need it. Just drain the fat off after.

Yeah, so? Aren't you more likely to get rid of more fat if it's liquid draining off, rather than hardened and scraped off? As long as you dispose of it properly down the sink with some washing up liquid in a container, I don't see the problem?

It was £6 for 1kg. Is that cheap?

It gets made quite nicely actually. Not tough at all.

Never, ever have I ever considered boiling and cooling mince.

The fat is drained off after.

You are making a lot of work for yourself.

Boiled mutton mince. Sounds glorious...
What do you do with it once it's cooled?

MrsLH used to boil mince when I met her . she doesn't anymore.

If we're doing bolognese or chilli (2 favourites) we would fry the mince as is, to bring out a lot of the fat and fluid, and then strain it off before adding the other ingredients (you'd be amazed how much there is).

Otherwise you're washing the flavour away ...

Agree - best to pay a little more for better quality.

I also rinse it beforehand too .