Mince

Culinary definition of mince:  To chop into very small, fine pieces.

C@H FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A helpful mental image to have when mincing food is one of tiny pieces of cracked wheat or bulgar.  That granular size more-or-less represents the size of a mince.  Minced garlic is sometimes called for in recipes and it is readily available as a prepared food in a jar. 

With the exception of shallots and onion, not very many other foods are minced as a matter of course - and thank heavens for that. Chefs sometimes finely mince or ultra-finely dice red pepper or tomato shell as a garnish  -  looks gorgeous but is very time consuming. 

Mince as a verb is not to be confused with mince as a noun - as in mince pies. Mincemeat for pies is a cooked mixture of dried fruit, spices, spirits and beef (meat and/or) suet baked into small (typically) pies.  Old cook books sometimes refer to ground meat as 'minced' meat, but not so today.

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