Mincing is a food preparation technique in which ingredients are finely divided into uniform pieces. Originally carried out with a knife or , mincing became widely done with machines developed in the nineteenth century.

History

To mince in the culinary sense is defined in the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' as "to cut up or grind (food, especially meat) into very small pieces, now typically in a machine with revolving blades". The term can be traced in English usage from 1381: "Nym onyons & mynce hem smale & fry hem in oyle dolyf" ("Chop onions small and fry them in good oil"). The word is taken from the eleventh-century Anglo-Norman and

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

: to cut up food into small pieces. The equivalent modern French term, , dating from the thirteenth century, derives from , "axe". For centuries mincing was done using kitchen knives, sometimes including a multi-bladed, double-handled chopper known most commonly in English as a (Italian for "half moon") and in French as an . The food writer Elizabeth David wrote that this implement "produces far superior minced meat to that done in the mincing maching, for it does not squeeze out the juices" but adds "few people would care to bother with it nowadays". The mincing machine was invented in the 1850s, described by ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'' as "a cutting or mincing machine, operating by means of a cylinder, or cylinders, having tapering grooves extending from end to end". The cook and food writer

Jane Grigson Jane Grigson (born Heather Mabel Jane McIntire; 13 March 1928 – 12 March 1990) was an English cookery writer. In the latter part of the 20th century she was the author of the food column for ''The Observer'' and wrote numerous books about Eu ...

did not regard this development as a good thing: The first mincers were hand-cranked; the meat or other food to be minced was fed into the top aperture and propelled through the grinders, emerging as mince through a die at the outlet. Electrically powered mincers have since become available. Professional mincers have dies of varying sizes, most domestic models have two: the larger die grinds coarsely; the smaller, more finely.Ruhlman, p. 112 For food that needs to be particularly finely minced it may be necessary to put it through the machine twice.

Uses

'' Larousse Gastronomique'' records numerous uses for a mincing machine, including the preparation of

chicory Common chicory (''Cichorium intybus'') is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant of the family Asteraceae, usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Native to Europe, it has been introduced to the Americas and Australia. M ...

fondue Fondue ( , , , ; ) is a Swiss dish of melted cheese and wine served in a communal pot ( or fondue pot) over a portable stove () heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread and sometimes vegetables or other foods into the c ...

,Montagné, p. 423 fricadelles,

haggis Haggis ( ) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's offal, pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), Mincing, minced with chopped onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with Stock (food), stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the anima ...

hamburger A hamburger (or simply a burger) consists of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. The patties are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis ...

s, mushroom fondue,

pelmeni Pelmeni (, '' pel’meni'', ; pelmen, , '' pel’men’'', ) are dumplings of Russian cuisine that consist of a filling wrapped in thin, unleavened dough. They are considered to be a national dish. Pelmeni became a staple of Russian cuisine dur ...

, potato fritters, potted meat and

rillettes Rillettes (, also , ) is a preservation method similar to confit where meat is seasoned then submerged in fat and cooked slowly over the course of several hours (4 to 10 hours). The meat is shredded and packed into sterile containers covered in ...

. Several cooks and food writers prefer finely chopped meat to minced for some recipes. For

cottage pie Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, or in French cuisine ''hachis Parmentier'', is a savoury dish of cooked minced meat topped with mashed potato and baked, formerly also called Sanders or Saunders. The meat used may be either previously cooked or fr ...

, Grigson and Felicity Cloake do so, as, for

steak tartare Steak tartare or tartar steak is a French cuisine, French dish of Raw meat, raw ground meat, ground (minced) beef. It is usually served with onions, capers, parsley or Chives, chive, salt, black pepper, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and other ...

, do many chefs. David prefers finely chopped meat to minced for pâtés. According to the '' Oxford Companion to Food'', in the US, the process is usually referred to as "grinding", and the product as "ground meat".Davidson, p. 506

References

Sources

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