Mince and tatties is an extremely popular Scottish evening dish, consisting of minced beef and mashed potato.

It is quick and easy to prepare. The meat comes from cheaper cuts of beef such as Chuck and Blade or Neck and Clod, as opposed to the more fine grained cuts used for steaks or roasting joints, is inexpensive to buy and is commonplace in Butcher shops or markets. Mince and Tatties has become a standard evening meal for a large section of Scots society.

There is no set recipe or form of cooking and large variations can occur from cook to cook. Essentially however, the dish consists of varying degrees of:

onions
Minced beef
carrots or other root vegetables
Seasoning
Stock (Beef, Chicken or Lamb), to which some cooks add thickening agents such as cornflour

There is a Mince ‘n’ tatties world championship held every January in the Mishnish Hotel in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull.Entrants have come from such diverse places as Australia,New Zealand,South Africa ,France ,Canada,Germany,and Liverpool. Previous World Champions have included ;a university lecturer,a serving police officer,a parliamentary standards lawyer and the Tobermory lifeboat coxwain.

as mentioned above theres many ways to cook this dish..below is just one variant..enjoy

Serves 4 people or 1 fat bugger..

Ingredients: 500g/ 1lb beef mince
2 medium sized onions (diced)
2 large carrots (diced)
5g/ ¼oz fresh rosemary and thyme
400g/12 oz mashed potatoes
handful peas
splash single cream
400ml/ ¾ pint gravy
salt and pepper
tablespoon olive oil

Method:
Place the mince in a hot pan with a little bit of olive oil. Brown the mince for 5 to 10 minutes, making sure to keep stirring it so that it breaks down and browns evenly.

Place the onions in another hot pan and add salt and pepper. Once the onions are transparent, add the carrots to the same pan. Leave it cooking until the onions have a light brown colour.

Meanwhile, chop the rosemary and thyme and add it to the onions and carrots to give some fresh flavour.

Once the mince has broken down, drain it for about 5 minutes until all the fat’s extracted. Once drained, add the mince to the pan with the onions and carrots, stir it and add the gravy. Leave it cooking for another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, splash a small hot pan with some single cream and then add the mashed potato to it. Keep stirring the mixture and make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add the peas to the mince and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste and season if necessary.

Remove the tatties from the pan and place it in the middle of a warm serving dish. Finally, add the mince on both sides of the tatties and serve.