pork mince...?

greeneyedspirit

Would anyone have any ideas where to get pork mince? I've tried various supermarkets, to no avail (Tesco, Supervalu, Lidl etc) - and haven't found any in various butchers around Galway, either. In short: I've never seen it being sold here
I find mixed mince (half pork, half beef) great for meat loaves, for example.

Cheers for any help

rocknchef

any good butchers should do pork mince, defo 1 that makes there own sausages

Alun

I've bought it in both Dunnes and Tesco in the past, although it tends to be well hidden. I agree also .. half and half is ideal for not only meatloaf but meatballs as well .. the pork keeps it together without having to use too much of another binding agent, plus it adds to the taste IMO. In some countries you can buy it ready mixed, i.e. they mince the beef and pork together but I've never seen it here.

greeneyedspirit

Alun wrote: »

I've bought it in both Dunnes and Tesco in the past, although it tends to be well hidden. I agree also .. half and half is ideal for not only meatloaf but meatballs as well .. the pork keeps it together without having to use too much of another binding agent, plus it adds to the taste IMO. In some countries you can buy it ready mixed, i.e. they mince the beef and pork together but I've never seen it here.

Cheers, I'll have a good root around in either of those, then. Maybe I'll have better luck.
I've always bought it ready-mixed from the supermarket (over the counter, not pre-packed) in Germany, and was hoping I'd be able to here, but alas... :pac:

Alun

greeneyedspirit wrote: »

I've always bought it ready-mixed from the supermarket (over the counter, not pre-packed) in Germany, and was hoping I'd be able to here, but alas... :pac:

Yeah, I used to buy it in Holland too ... 'gehkakt half om half' they call it.

duploelabs

Failing everything else, squeeze a few sausages out of their skins. Great for meatballs

greeneyedspirit

duploelabs wrote: »

Failing everything else, squeeze a few sausages out of their skins. Great for meatballs

Now there's a suggestion that definitely had NOT crossed my mind. :pac:
Thanks! More of an emergency solution, but better than nothing.

rubadub

Tesco near me have always got it, in ballybrack.

_blank_

I make all my meatballs with half and half beef mince and sausage meat.

duploelabs

greeneyedspirit wrote: »

Now there's a suggestion that definitely had NOT crossed my mind. :pac:
Thanks! More of an emergency solution, but better than nothing.

Actually if you get a decent sausage, like hicks or rudds, it's better than mince

bonkey

rocknchef wrote: »

any good butchers should do pork mince, defo 1 that makes there own sausages

I'd go one step further and say that any butcher should be willing to mince pork for you on request, even if they normally don't sell minced pork.

Baraboo

My butcher will mince anything for you as long as it is a reasonable amount of meat to begin with. He says about 2-3 kilos of turkey/lamb/pork is worth cleaning the mincer for but any less and half the meat ends up left in the mincer to be cleaned out before using the mincer for the next job.

Most places that do their own sausages either supermarket or butcher, will sell you sausage meat.

rubadub

Sausage meat will have filler like rusk in it too, not pure pork and will be high in fat. If texture is not a matter i.e. it does not have to be minced but could be ground like sausages then you could just get cheap pork chops and stick them in a blender. I have done this before making pork burgers. It is often cheaper to buy chops than good sausages, and I prefer to see what is going in, i.e. a piece of "real" meat rather than scraps & off cuts they might use. Same goes for beef.

But liquidised meat is not the same as real mince, e.g. you could not make spag bol or chilli with liquidised stuff, but could form small meatballs.

Also I have just attacked meat with a scissors cutting tiny bits up which are like large bits of mince.

greeneyedspirit

bonkey wrote: »

I'd go one step further and say that any butcher should be willing to mince pork for you on request, even if they normally don't sell minced pork.

That, actually, is very true. Damn right they should

Alun

greeneyedspirit wrote: »

That, actually, is very true. Damn right they should

But as someone else said, it would have to be a minimum quantity to make it worth their while cleaning the mincer out for. They wouldn't do it, nor indeed would I expect them to, for just 500g or 1kg, say.

rubadub

Alun wrote: »

But as someone else said, it would have to be a minimum quantity to make it worth their while cleaning the mincer out for. They wouldn't do it, nor indeed would I expect them to, for just 500g or 1kg, say.

If you know them well you could ask for them to do it and collect it. e.g. I go to my butchers once a fortnight. Now if you are buying half & half this is easier for them. In a big mincing machine some is always stuck, e.g. if you put in 100g in a clean mincer you do not get 100g out, it needs to be "primed". It gets stuck in the tubes.

So if they have done mince beef and you stick pork in then some mince beef will come out first, then the pork. Now they stick more beef in and it pushes the remaining pork out which is still stuck in the mincer. So there will be a mixture of pork & beef which they set aside, then put in more beef and continue on.

I would expect some butchers would have small hand grinders to do small batches.

BrigR

Found Eastern European shops very good for providing pork mince, both fresh and frozen. Maybe there are some in your area.

greeneyedspirit

BrigR wrote: »

Found Eastern European shops very good for providing pork mince, both fresh and frozen. Maybe there are some in your area.

There's loads in Galway, I'll definitely check them out.
Apparently, there's also a Russian (?) butcher in Liosbaun Industrial Estate that does pork mince. Time for a trip down there, methinks. :pac:

Minder

Would it pay you to buy a mincer? - Moulinex do a domestic model that is great. I use it a lot for lamb kebabs, beef burgers and the occassional string sausages. Also recipes for thai meatballs containing chicken. Turkey meatballs etc. Great bit of kit. Also you get control of the amount of fat in your mince.

brianthebard

greeneyedspirit wrote: »

There's loads in Galway, I'll definitely check them out.
Apparently, there's also a Russian (?) butcher in Liosbaun Industrial Estate that does pork mince. Time for a trip down there, methinks. :pac:

There's a specialist pork butchers beside Ryans, opposite the church that has the farmers market on Saturday, they must have pork mince.

Assets Model

Superquinn usually have pork mince I buy it alot.

nc6000

Why not put some pork into a food processor and mince it if you're having trouble finding it?