So Charles - did you manage to consume all of it?

[Burney]

Well you learn something new every day. Italians make meat loaf. Well, that's Italian food down one notch on the WES rankings.

So what is this Tuscan recipe, braised mince or braised mince with breadcrumbs? And why braise mince? Surely it would be far nicer to braise chunks of the meat used to make mince and let them break apart beautifully with time? I can't imagine why anyone would mince it prior to braising it.

Because it makes an entirely different - and quite delicious - dish

You might as well ask why people bother with hamburger when they could have steak sandwiches instead.

[World's End Stella]

Because it makes an entirely different - and quite delicious - dish

You might as well ask why people bother with hamburger when they could have steak sandwiches instead.

People choose hamburger over steak for sandwiches because mincing the meat causes it to break apart more easily when you bite into it. People don't want to chew through a chunk of steak when eating a hamburger.

People use mince in pasta sauces for a not dissimilar reason; you can make the sauce and then easily add the meat which, because it has been minced, breaks into small pieces and becomes part of the sauce, no lumps of meat to chew through.

Mincing it and then braising it makes no sense as the meat will break apart quickly and therefore not absorb the flavours which are part of the braising liquid, which is one of the two reasons you braise it in the first place (the other being that braising causes the fibers in the meat to break down and you get lovely soft, unctuous pieces of meat filled with the flavor of the braising liquid).

Nope, it's just wrong, sorry.

[World's End Stella]

Because it makes an entirely different - and quite delicious - dish

You might as well ask why people bother with hamburger when they could have steak sandwiches instead.

Oh and just to be clear, you don't add breadcrumbs to the meat before braising, right? That would be especially insane.