Mince and tatties is one of the fundamental staples of Scottish food (I hesitate to use the term ‘cuisine’ here). It is relatively cheap, uses readily available ingredients, and is hot and filling. There is no history to write here, other than that potatoes arrived in Scotland in the 18th Century, around the same time as the rest of Europe imported them from Peru.
Recipes for mince and tatties are as varied as there are fishwives to make it. There are any number of versions of in cookbooks and online blogs. For me, the key to a good mince and tatties that stands up to modern tastes is to muck about with it a bit to improve the product in terms of seasoning and texture. To that end, I bake the potatoes rather than boil them and use the crispy skins to add something more. Sweet swedes (neeps) are added to make a decent ‘neeps an’ tatties’ (see recipe notes). The mince is cooked according to an adapted version of a recipe from A Little Scottish Cookbook. I double the quantity of oats to aid thickening of the sauce.
Scotch mince wi’ neeps an’ tatties
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Loading...Ingredients
- For the neeps an' tatties:
- 2 swedes, peeled and cut into 2cm dice
- 3 large potatoes, skin on
- Vegetable oil
- 100g butter
- Approx 50ml milk
- Nutmeg, grated to taste
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the mince:
- 1 tbsp beef dripping
- 2 medium onions, sliced
- 500g beef mince (20% fat)
- 2 bay leaves
- 300ml stock
- 2 tbsp oats
- 2 spring onions, chopped (optional)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
For the neeps an' tatties:
Start with the vegetables. Heat an oven to 200˚C. Prick the potatoes all over with a fork, rub with oil and place directly on the wire rack of the oven for 1 hour.
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil with the swede and simmer for about 20 mins until tender. Drain.
Once the potatoes are done with crispy skins (check softness with a paring knife), halve them, scoop out the centres and add to the swede. Roughly chop the skins and reserve.
Mash the swede and potato together with the butter over a medium heat. Add the milk and mix to an almost creamy texture (not too creamy, though – this is a rustic dish). Season and add the nutmeg to taste. Tip in the chopped skins in and mix through.
For the mince:
Heat the dripping in a large pan and add the onions. Cook the onions on low for about 20 mins until soft and gilded.
Add the mince and brown it while stirring. Add the stock, bay and oats. Season and simmer for about 30 mins until thickened. You are looking for much but not all of the liquid to disappear and the oats to thicken that remains, Adjust seasoning.
To serve, arrange the neeps and tatties in a circle on a plate and spoon the mince into the centre. Garnish with the spring onion if desired.
Notes
Per the comments below, neeps and tatties are usually served separately. Mixing them makes a nice 'complete' side, and I usually mix them on the plate with my own fork anyway. HP Sauce is possibly sacrilege, but very nice with this dish.
2 Comments
Tom Johnston
11/12/2024 at 5:36 pmHi, Nigel, We wouldn’t usually mix the neeps and tatties together. There are some recipes (have you ever heard of rumbledethumps?) in which they are mixed with other things, but with mince it would be more usual to serve them separately. But who cares? Glad you added nutmeg to the neeps, but half a nutmeg would be way OTT. Best wishes, Tom
Nigel Eastmond
11/12/2024 at 5:46 pmHi Tom, nice to see you back. As a Scot, I know what you mean about mixing the neeps and tatties – they are usually separate. However, rather than just tread the usual road, I elected to mix them in a similar vein to a few other versions I have been served. For me, the sweet/bland mixture is nice. Adding the baked skins back is really, really nice. On the nutmeg, I think mine was quite small. I’ll adjust that in the recipe.
Note that the oats in the mince were a revelation for me. It is great.