Mince

Hmmmph! It's all very well that young Macdonnell should complain in The Scotsman about the latest Euro-attack on Scottish mince but he rather spoils the purity of his argument:

There were fresh reports yesterday that the European Commission wants to drive through plans to restrict the hanging of Scotch beef that is then turned into mince.
This tale of Eurocrats challenging "our mince and tatties" goes back 18 years. The issue was first raised in 1990, then shelved, then resurrected two years ago, and now it seems to have surfaced again with reports that Europe does really mean to push it through this time.
At this point, I should declare an interest, having spent at least some of the Easter weekend enjoying a home-made lasagne that I lovingly prepared around a pound of prime Scottish beef mince.

Look, the meat sauce prepared for lasagne is not mince. The ragu contains all sorts of filthy foreign ingredients, like garlic, tomatoes, wine and herbs. You wouldn't put such things into proper mince. And the same applies to the ingredients for bolognese sauce or moussaka.

I sometimes worry that it falls to me alone to maintain Scottish cooking standards. The middle classes wish to subvert honest Scottish mince by dressing it up in Italianate clothing. Enough, I say: mince shall always be mince.