Mincing

 ( Cutting Techniques ) 

For centuries mincing was done using kitchen knives, sometimes including a multi-bladed, double-handled chopper known most commonly in English as a mezzaluna (Italian for "half moon") and in French as an hachoir. The food writer Elizabeth David wrote that this implement "produces far superior minced meat to that done in the mincing maching, for it does not squeeze out the juices" but adds "few people would care to bother with it nowadays".David, p. 47

The mincing machine was invented in the 1850s, described by Scientific American as "a cutting or mincing machine, operating by means of a cylinder, or cylinders, having tapering grooves extending from end to end". The cook and food writer Jane Grigson did not regard this development as a good thing:

The first mincers were hand-cranked; the meat or other food to be minced was fed into the top aperture and propelled through the grinders, emerging as mince through a die at the outlet. Electrically powered mincers have since become available. Professional mincers have dies of varying sizes, most domestic models have two: the larger die grinds coarsely; the smaller, more finely.Ruhlman, p. 112 For food that needs to be particularly finely minced it may be necessary to put it through the machine twice.