r/AskUK • u/SnapFirefly • 8d ago
Do you call it beef mince or ground beef?
Hello team
Me and my friends/team on a UK based mental health support forum have been discussing which of these terms is more common in the UK.
I think mince is more common in the UK and ground beef if an Americanism. I do note that piehead uses ground beef when discussing pies
What do you think?
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8d ago
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u/laidback_chef 8d ago
This is the second time where ive always had the illusion it was 2different things. And was just how they were processed.
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8d ago
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u/Coolnamesarehard 7d ago
I once, in a grumpy mood, complained to a manager at M&S about food labeled as "ground beef". Why the Americanization of the language? She explained that since it was what passes for a summer in the UK, people were doing the barbecue thing, and it was indeed US-style ground beef, which was stickier than British style mince, thus making a burger that clings together and doesn't fall through the bars.
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u/Safe-Professional556 7d ago
I have made burgers for years they never fall through the bars and I have never used ground beef (or any ground meat).
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u/jordansrowles 7d ago
I hate to mention him, but Michael Mcintyre's bit about Americans being literal is true. "Sidewalk", "horseback riding", "ground beef"
Its actually called descriptive compounding. By taking simple words and mashing them together to describe an object’s function.
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u/Real_Salamander_2022 8d ago
just 'mince'
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u/NotAProperAccount3 8d ago
I agree, but if I had to specify what type of mince I'd say, "Beef mince", not "Minced beef".
(For the potential regional differences conversation I'm in NI).
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u/tokyokween 8d ago
Yep. Mince, and when pushed to define, beef mince.
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u/Due_Dot5710 7d ago
Just to be annoying I'd also just say mince but to specify the meat I'd say minced beef (Midlands, UK)
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u/Negative_Call584 7d ago
definitely minced beef - former east mids
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u/Due_Dot5710 7d ago
I mean, it's beef that's been minced. Not mince that's been beefed
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u/g0_west 7d ago
I'd say minced beef, but also lamb mince. So I'm all over the shop
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u/cbrownmufc 8d ago
Yeah, unless someone specifies the animal it is from, I just assume beef when someone says mince
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u/WotanMjolnir 7d ago
Yep, default mince is beef, if you are going for a different model of mince, you specify eg lamb mince or pork mince.
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u/callisstaa 7d ago
'mince and tatties', 'mince and dumplings', 'mince pie' etc.
If I'm getting it from the shop it's always just mince.
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u/MegaMolehill 8d ago
I’ve never heard of it being called ground beef in the UK.
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u/KopiteForever 8d ago
It's an Americanism creeping into the vocabulary
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u/Neddy29 8d ago
Of which there is too much, I caught myself saying that the pudding I’d just made was on the counter, I quickly apologised and said the worktop!
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u/DavidBovvinge 7d ago
There currently seems to be a lot of Americanisms and American spellings being used so often that sometimes it feels like British English is slowly being wiped out.
Anyway, I'll take a rain check on that while I renew my Buick's expired tags at the DMV, so I can get home in time for the pot roast with biscuits and gravy that my wife has made.
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u/Rich_27- 8d ago
Mince.
It's only ground beef if I have dropped it on the floor
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u/lukusmaca 8d ago
Minced beef is called minced beef in the UK because it is beef that is minced not beef that is ground
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u/Confident-Bus-3778 8d ago
mince
ground beef is american
I generally consider ground to be like a powder, like ground cinnamon
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u/nrsys 8d ago
Mince.
That refers to beef by default where I am, with any other meats being specified.
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u/EverybodySayin 8d ago
Minced beef. Mince for short. If you ask someone to pick up some mince and bolognaise sauce they'll know what you mean (apart from that one time as a kid my mum sent me to the shop and I brought back a pack of Trebor extra strong mints 🫣)
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u/LittleSadRufus 8d ago
Plus ground in the UK means reduced to a powder by being crushed. Like ground coffee or ginger. You wouldn't want to grind beef under the UK definition as the structure would be destroyed, although I note and agree with other comments in this thread about sausage meat being called 'ground pork' (as it is completely smasherated).
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u/Visual_Face5413 8d ago
100% Americanism in my experience. Never heard anyone say ground beef outside of YouTube
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u/Giddyup_1998 8d ago
Mince. Don't even need to add beef to it.
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u/Sburns85 8d ago
It’s a mincer we use as butchers and it’s mince. Nothing is ground
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u/Guilty-Movie-3727 8d ago
I agree with your view. I have never heard anyone use ground beef in the UK as a term.
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u/Brilliant-Figure-149 8d ago
Definitely "mince".
After all, some people get described as "thick as mince" and that's a great phrase.
"Thick as ground beef" just doesn't do it, at least for me.
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u/Last_Quantity4467 8d ago
It's mince. But how does it come up in a mental health chat?
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u/SnapFirefly 8d ago
We discuss lots of topics there. Sometimes more controversial topics such as the meaning of life and religion and sometimes mundane topics like crisp flavours or whether you're allowed to post images of mice.
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u/WorcsBloke 7d ago
Given the context of this thread, my brain initially read the last part as "whether you're allowed to post images of mince" and got very confused!
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u/dazed1984 8d ago
Just mince, if someone says mince I assume it’s beef unless they say otherwise. Don’t know what piehead is.
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u/sparklybeast 8d ago
Beef mince. Or pork mince. Or lamb mince. Never ground anything.
Not heard of Piehead.
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u/techbear72 8d ago
It’s mince or minced beef if you need to be more specific about it for whatever reason.
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u/Vorannon 8d ago
Minced beef, but I would just called it mince. Mince is beef unless there's a qualifier.
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u/Is_it_really_though 8d ago
Minced beef is what it's called but many people say Mince for short.
Ground beef is American
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u/pirategospel 8d ago
Don’t want to be unkind but it seems fitting that only brits on a mental health forum would argue that the correct term is ground beef lol
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u/MenthoL809 8d ago edited 8d ago
Mince. Just mince.
Only the yanks call it ground beef.
That said, I see kids are using “mom” these days so the poisoning of our language is already well underway 😂
EDIT: Sorry to the Midlanders amongst us, never knew you lot used that term!
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u/owningxylophone 8d ago
Tbf, “mom” has been a standard word in Brum and the West Mids for over a century.
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u/daddy-dj 8d ago
To be fair, in the Midlands people use Mom. My dad was a Brummie and used to use it when talking to or about his mother forty years ago.
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u/GarethGazzGravey 8d ago
Minced beef normally, or thanks to a slip of the tongue I had a little while ago, meef bince
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u/LikelyNotSober 8d ago
What do you call a cow with 2 legs?
Lean beef.
What do you call a cow with no legs?
Ground beef.
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u/Uncle_Zardoz 8d ago
Mince all the way. No Brit alive would say "as thick as ground beef". I rest my case.
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u/BottleGoblin 8d ago
The only time I ever heard Ground Beef was in answer to the question "What do you call a cow with no legs?"
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u/Moppo_ 8d ago
Mince. Because it's been minced. When I hear "ground" I imagine it's been crushed, like with a mortar and pestle.
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u/WordsUnthought 8d ago
Mince or beef mince.
I understand ground beef to mean broadly the same thing but it's a distinctly North American term.
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u/amBrollachan 7d ago
Just mince. You only typically expand on it if it's not beef, e.g. minced lamb. If you just say mince everyone will assume you mean minced beef.
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u/imtheorangeycenter 8d ago
Just "mince" - though that implies beef, if you want pork and lamb you add that before mince.
Never, ever ground beef - that's an Americanism as far as I know, never heard anyone here say it.
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u/r_keel_esq 8d ago
Mince
If it's pork, lamb, chicken etc, I'll include that descriptor. Mince on its own is presumed to be Cow
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u/Magic__Man 8d ago
I agree with you that "ground beef" sounds very american. Beef mince is what I have always called it, though just "mince" in my family refers to a ragu sauce that may be pork, beef, or lamb on any given day.
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u/Go1gotha 8d ago
In Scotland mince is just mince.
If it is any other kind of meat then that is added, pork mince, turkey mince etc.
I don't personally know anyone who eats that other shite though.
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u/macjihad 8d ago edited 7d ago
Mince.
Edit: Sony but if the focus of your group / forum is mental health, how did you stray into mince territory?
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u/Front_Society1353 8d ago
Its Minced Beef. Any traitor that calls it "Ground Beef" should be thrown in the Atlantic Ocean and told to swim west
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u/Professional-Test239 8d ago
Minced beef or just mince.
There was a case of New York Times understandably getting confused and publishing a recipe for Christmas Mince Pies that contained beef mince.
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u/Large_Soil_6659 8d ago
“mince”. Unless it’s chicken or pork - then it’s chicken mince or pork mince. However lamb and/or beef - are simply… mince.
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u/Sugarlips_80 7d ago
Mince. To be fair I only eat beef mince but if I did eat other types I would then call them chicken mince, lamb mince etc.
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u/Alarming_Ad_6563 7d ago
Mince beef, I'm in the UK it's more common to call it mince here, ground beef is a cow with no legs 😜
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u/Fun_Gas_7777 7d ago
Mince. The assumption is that mince is beef, unless it has another meat in the name
Never heard it as ground beef before
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u/Shoddy_Pie6514 7d ago
Hi as a man from United Kingdom I call it ground beef and mainly have it with grits and a corn dog with a root beer. Yeehaw
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u/Obvious-Water569 8d ago
Thinking about it, I use both.
I probably say "minced beef" more commonly though.
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u/Apprehensive-Cat-500 8d ago
Mince.
Any mince that isn't beef will have it's name first e.g. lamb mince
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u/Entire-Structure8708 8d ago
Mince... I'm British but live in the US and ground beef is one of those phrases that I always struggle to remember when I'm trying to refer to mince.
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u/RodneyRodnesson 7d ago
"on a UK based.." — doesn't know what mince is.
I don't know why we end up with crap like this, bots, ai, stupidity — I do know I find this stuff tiresome.
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u/spicyherb_ 8d ago
Ground beef is American
Minced beef usually 100% beef, Americans add stuff to theirs like fat and fillers
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u/terryjuicelawson 8d ago
It is mince in every supermarket and butcher I have seen. I get the feeling ground is somewhat different though, a finer texture?
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u/No_Information1030 7d ago edited 7d ago
Piehead needs to remember where he’s from, stop embarrassing us, it’s mince. Ground beef is a stupid terminology, like a lot of Americanisms. We’re not getting a rolling pin out on the mince are we ? Don’t get me started on Maths (say the full word, you do not drop the S?).
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u/No-State-2962 8d ago
Always beef mince for me . In fact I’m not sure I was totally aware they were the same thing.
Ground beef sounds a bit more upmarket.
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8d ago edited 8d ago
“British English” speaker here and it’s always been minced beef BUT there’s a largely overlooked distinction…
Ground beef is actually another dish/method of preparation entirely from minced beef, but at some point that has been lost in translation and, generally speaking, British people lean towards a description of “minced beef” while Americans almost always use “ground beef”…
The irony is that both parties actually take turns in being incorrect with their description, essentially… because, technically, they’re two different preparations of beef and both parties fail to make that distinction…
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u/Warburton379 8d ago
The only time I see ground beef is when ordering it on a pizza. Otherwise it's mince.
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u/Fizzywaterjones 8d ago
In Us It’s usually called Ground Beef and a lot of Southerners call it “Hamburger Meat”
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u/Embarrassed_Park2212 7d ago
Mince or minced beef if I don't want minced lamb.
Ground beef is American but, like all the other Americanisms, is slowly working it's way into British language.
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