Thursday, 10 September 2026

Mince on Toast

 Mince... or you may call it ground beef

Leftover mince on a piece of toasted bread is true comfort food.  The toast preferably is smothered with real butter. 

When I make a savoury mince sauce for spaghetti bolognaise or pastitsio or moussaka and there's a bit leftover this is the simplest and tastiest dish imaginable. 

Is it NZ or a British recipe? Or Australian.

It's a favourite in our house. Even K actually enjoys it. Not traditional Greek at all. So where are it's origins. I grew up with this. As far as I'm concerned it's a traditional kiwi recipe. 

Simple, no-fuss and hearty.  And apparently still a New Zealand favourite. 

The Guardian says it appeared in British cookbooks as early as 1865.  However it's gone out of fashion in Britain. 

The NZ Herald says the recipe wasn't stolen from the British but rescued. 



The reason I'm writing about it is because it came up as a recipe on an online NZ site.  It doesn't need a recipe for goodness sake. It's an idea. 
I would never make it from scratch, fry the mince, add tomato and spices.  Far too much trouble.  But when you've got leftovers it's the first thing that comes to mind for breakfast, lunch or dinner.   

Leftover mince
a piece of buttered toast, or 2
and maybe
a poached or fried egg on top
If you're a kiwi reading this then you'd probably add sliced avocado too.  They seem to add avo to everything thing these days.  We don't.  They're far too expensive.  Special occasions only

Minced beef is becoming a luxury too.  It's around 12-14 euros a kilo



14 comments:

  1. This Brit never saw mince on toast Linda....😍...or leftovers...😍

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    1. Neither has this Brit!
      Sounds yummy though ...

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    2. Not an English thing at all then. That newspaper article wasn't well researched. Marmite a n toast?

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    3. Or leftovers? I guess I had a privileged childhood

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  2. When I was living in Wellington in the early 70’s a cafe on Lambton Quay had mince on toast on their breakfast menu. It was delicious after a hard night on the town.
    Premium mince in Perth is $10 Aust for 500gms. A year ago it was $5

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    1. Lambton Quay!! Wellington even ❤️❤️
      Pork mince just isn't the same darn it. Proper mince is a real treat

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    2. And much better than a greasy kebab 😅

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  3. I am going with a Kiwi thing. My ex is a Kiwi, possibly his favourite meal. I remember many times at Christmas, people would offer him a mince pie and he’d eagerly take one only to find out it was filled with fruit mince, which he hated. Marie, Melbourne

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    1. Oh for one of those kiwi Mince pies . With ketchup 😅

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  4. Nope, never seen it. But I can imagine it would be good. Rachel

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    1. It's simple and really tasty but only if you have some leftover mince.

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  5. We love mince on toast! I make it especially for this purpose. Also mince on baked potatoes is a winner. If I make mince, my partner is as happy as a pig in muck!! There are still many cafes in NZ that offer mince on toast for breakfast.

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    1. It really is a NZ thing then. There's probably a, recipe in the Edmond Cookery book lol

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