Minced Beef 500g

Swaledale Minced Beef: Rich, Grass-Fed & Full of Flavour
Swaledale Minced Beef is renowned amongst our chef community for its exceptional depth of flavour, natural marbling, and rich, beefy taste. Sourced from heritage breed, grass-fed cattle, slow-grown to maturity on the lush, nutrient-rich pastures of The Dales, our mince is expertly prepared using a blend of premium cuts, including chuck, rib cap, flank, and short rib. These dry-aged for 28+ days cuts are coarsely ground to maintain the ideal balance of fat and texture, resulting in a more flavourful, juicy, and tender mince.

This versatile, high-quality minced beef is a kitchen essential, perfect for slow-cooked classics like ragù, lasagne, chilli con carne, and bolognese, as well as quick and easy midweek meals, including homemade beef burgers, cottage pie, meatballs, tacos, and koftas. Whether you're cooking a hearty British favourite, a bold Mexican dish, or an Italian-inspired classic, this premium, dry-aged mince delivers unbeatable flavour and texture.

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® 2023 Judges' Comments
"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."