Fresh Beef Mince — Ground Daily

Beef mince is the most-cooked cut in the Australian kitchen, and the fat ratio changes everything about how the dish behaves.

Reading the fat ratio

Ratio is written lean-to-fat. 95/5 – 90/10 (extra-lean and lean beef mince): meatballs, koftas, meal-prep, anything simmered in sauce — holds shape, low shrinkage, but dries out if grilled. 80/20 (premium): the all-rounder for bolognese, cottage pie, tacos and san choy bau — enough fat for flavour without a greasy pan. Our mince is ground fresh every day from whole-muscle chuck and rump, with no added water or fillers, and each batch is labelled with its real ratio. Diced beef (chuck, gravy beef) is for slow cooks and curries.

Cooking beef mince well

Brown mince hard in a wide, hot pan in batches — crowding steams it grey and washes out flavour. Don't drain all the fat if it is going into a sauce. Because grinding mixes surface bacteria through the meat, beef mince must be cooked right through to 71°C — there is no safe medium-rare mince, unlike a whole steak; this follows the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand guidance. Store below 4°C and use within two to three days, or freeze flat in meal-size portions.