Minced meat is one of the things that is cooked terribly all too often. Either the meat is not defrosted properly or there’s just a lack of know how. I can’t stand eating lumps and I loathe gray minced meat. Life is really far too short for bad eating and, with this in mind, I had no option but to include this in my brand new  ”Basically” series. If you think about it, there are so many dishes made with minced meat that one would expect everyone to have worked it out by now. Believe me, everyone hasn’t. So, I made a list of all the important things you need to know so that your

mince never turns into a  grey, lumpy, watery mess and is always make decent, crumbly, brown mince.

• Meat has to be defrosted and free from all liquid – never use the defrost button on the microwave;  remember to take out the meat in time but whenever you can or use fresh minced meat!
• Heat your saucepan and melt a substantial amount of fat (butter, lard, oil or a mixture of butter and oil).
• Sprinkle the minced meat* into the bubbling oil (or butter or lard) and do not stir immediately.
• With a wooden spatula, start stirring only after you are sure that the bottom layer of meat has browned – at least 2 – 3 minutes; if, however, the meat has not defrosted properly, the meat will form a single pancake and that’s disgusting.
• Now watch the mince and continue to fry as you normally do, breaking up anything that looks as if it may coagulate.
• You will notice that the meat is loose, browns well and has the aroma of roasted meat; that’s how it should be.
• At this point, deglaze the saucepan with the mince inside with a little (a tbsp) wine, stock or just plain water – depending on what you are cooking;
• If you need to fry onions or garlic, do it first, remove and set aside or make the mince first and set it aside so that you can cook the onions.
• * The exception to this rule is fatty minced mutton – this must be dry-fried in a non-stick pan because the fat content is high enough.