FIRETHORN1

Not a huge favourite of mine, but my 80-odd year old mum often hankers after pigs' trotters (and also pigs' tails). There's occasionally pigs' trotters on sale in Morrison's on Hillsborough - but they're pretty pathetic specimens - tiny little trotters in polystyrene trays, covered in clingfilm - all skin, gristle and bone ....no real meat on 'em at all. The best pigs' trotters my mum has bought recently were from a butcher's stall in in the old-fashioned "market" bit at Crystal Peaks. He didn't have any trotters on display, but when she asked if he'd got any - he went out back and got her half a carrier bag full of plump, meaty trotters....and charged her a quid for the whole lot! She was in her element!

I've recently tried my hand at cooking Maryland crab-cakes, based on recipes I've found on t'internet, with a few of my own "twists & tweaks" thrown in for good measure! My attempts have mostly turned out very well - if I do say so myself -but most of the recipes I've found - which are mostly American (unsurprisingly) - include an ingredient called "Old Bay Seasoning". This is something I'd never heard of - and I've never seen on sale, even in the many, many ethnic shops I regularly visit. It's easy enough to buy Old Bay Seasoning online - and there are plenty of recipes for making your own spice mix (which is what I did in the end). "Old Bay Seasoning" is apparently a kitchen staple - and a store-cupboard essential - across huge swathes of America, so I'm just wondering if any of you fellow foodies have ever used it.....or even heard of it?

Ta for the tips happyaslarry - maybe using the tinned chickpeas, rather than the dried ones will make the difference. You've inspired me to keep on trying to perfect the art of making a decent home-made hummus!

Thanks for your recipe Happyaslarry. I tried it, I followed it to the letter, but I am sad to report that my home-made hummus stillturned out far too bland and slushy. Maybe I'm doing summat wrong?? I'll keep on trying to get it right....but in the meantime, I'll keep on buying the Supermarket hummus stuff....which is not perfect...but it'll do!

I tried some pork dripping from Funk's in Hillsborough, when I visited my family over the Easter period. I'd give it about 7 or 8 out of 10. Lovely, fresh porky-tasting dripping, with a nice ratio of fat-versus "bottoms". My only criticism is that the "bottoms" were more like gravy than jelly....very tasty, but made my drippin' toast go a bit soggy! There's nowt wrong with Funk's dripping, I'd definitely eat it again .... but I still prefer Talbot's or Crawshaw's in the Hillsborough area....or Waterall's, in The Moor Market.

I've got one of those cast-iron griddle pans and yes, they are indeed very heavy and a right pain to keep rust-free. I don't use it very often, but I must admit that a good, heavy griddle pan with sharp, deep ridges, does tend to give the food a bit more flavour than you get from just plain grilling it. It also gives the food an attractive appearance, because you get those nice, black griddle lines across whatever food you're cooking - like pan fried salmon, chicken breasts, halloumi cheese, flatbreads etc. I tend to use mine more when I'm cooking for guests and want to show off a bit.

Talbot's butchers in Hillsborough do a very lovely pork dripping - with separate jelly "bottoms" . The blended stuff is okay, but I much prefer my drippin' with separate bottoms! Crawshaw's - also in Hillsborough (near Morrison's) do a good drippin' too - and if I'm in the Moor Market, Waterall's is the place I head for.

:D:D Your reply really made me chuckle, Naïve. I'm quite an experimental cook and there's been quite few times when I've spent a small fortune on ingredients, hours of preparation and cooking, only to have the end result turn out to be an absolute disaster....and end up either in the bin. or down the kitchen sink! My most recent spectacular failure was home-made hummus. All that faffing about soaking, boiling, cooling and pureeing chickpeas.....all that trying to add exactly the right ratios of olive oil, tahini, garlic, seasoning, etc! The end result was totally the wrong texture and consistency - not a nice, dense hummus at all... more like bowl of pale, beige gravy - and the whole lot ended up being washed down the sink! I could have bought a perfectly nice tub of hummus from Lidl for £0.89p. Instead, I spent about £2.00 quid - and about 2 hours of my time - making crap hummus that I had to chuck away at the end of the day!

I've got a bit of a thing for celeriac lately - a lovely vegetable, with a mild celery-like taste and a dense, creamy texture, quite cheap to buy...and very versatile. I love making spicy celeriac & parsnip soup - it's really velvety and tasty. Celeriac also works well cut into wedges and oven-roasted, or finely diced and added to stews, casseroles, vegetable curries or pasta sauces etc. It's also quite nice raw, finely grated or shredded - and added to salads, home made coleslaws etc. If anyone has any more ideas for tasty celeriac recipes, please share them with me.

I've hunted high and low for a Medlar tree but never found one. I live in London and earn my living as a Grounds Maintenance gardener, yet I've never come across a Medlar in any of the housing estates, parks or "green spaces" I've worked in over the last few years. A colleague of mine has found one. He's very smug about this find - and just like HappyasLarry - he too won't reveal where it is! What is it with all the secrecy HappyasLarry? Are these Medlar trees incredibly rare or summat? I must admit that I'd never even heard of 'em until about 5 years ago and I've been looking for them ever since..... to no avail, so far!

I too use jars of sweet and sour sauce Hauxwell. They're good enough when in a bit of a rush, although I do admit that I always enhance the jarred stuff a bit, by adding a few extra veg, extra seasoning etc. I much prefer my own home made s&s sauce though ....if I've got the time to faff about! To make my base sauce (enough for about two servings) I use a couple of tablespoons each of seedless raspberry jam, sherry vinegar, a small squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a squeeze of clear, runny honey and the juice only from drained tin of pineapple chunks. I then heat it and simmer it gently until it reaches the required flavour and consistency - if it's too sweet, add more vinegar/lemon juice, if it's too sour, add more jam/honey. If it's too thin, simmer a bit longer to reduce down - or if too thick, add a splash of water and stir in. Once the base sauce is ready, I stir in the pineapple chunks from the tin I drained earlier, some spring onions, de-seeded cucumber, red pepper and carrot - all peeled and cut into "matchstick" strips, a clove of minced garlic, a thumbnail sized piece of minced fresh ginger and a small pinch of Chinese 5-spice seasoning. Warm it through gently, until the vegetables and pineapple chunks are warm - but still quite crunchy in texture. After I've got my basic sauce right, I'll add pretty much what I feel like and what I've got left in the fridge or freezer. Water chestnuts work well, as does sweetcorn, bamboo shoots, bamboo sprouts, thinly sliced mushrooms, chopped bok-choi or Chinese leaves, sugar- snap peas............. a splash of soy sauce or oyster sauce.....a grind 0f Sichuan pepper....a drizzle of sesame oil over the top of it......the possibilities are endless!

Thanks for that idea Rimrunner. It's a good 'un .. and an ideal compromise. I can cook my guests what I know they'll enjoy for the main course, and yet also flex my experimental culinary muscles on the starters and desserts. I'll definitely give your suggestion a try!

I like to cook - and I particularly enjoy inviting friends/family over and cooking for them. I like to be a bit experimental, but my problem is that all my friends and family always insist that I must cook them either one of my curries, or one of my traditional English roast dinners, with the Yorkshire pud, the roast 'taters...and all the trimmings Of course, it's flattering that they enjoy my curries and roast dinners so much, but I get a bit bored of cooking the same stuff over and over again

I too saw Bobby Knutt perform in Working Mens' Clubs - e.g Dial House - in the '70's and I really liked him. He was very funny. I also remember taking my little brother to see him in Panto in the late 70's and he was brilliant with the kids. My bro' was about 6 or 7 at the time and he was totally amused, entertained and enthralled by Bobby's performance. Even now, in his mid-40's, he remembers it fondly. Bobby was also very believable in his more dramatic acting roles - like The Price of Coal, Coronation Street etc. I think Bobby Knutt was vastly underrated, both as a stand-up comedian and as an actor. Of course, looking back, some of his stuff can seem a bit dated and "politically incorrect" these days ....but those were the times we were in. Bobby Knutt was a brilliant "observational" comic. The nearest we've got to him these days is Peter Kay - who I also like and find very funny. RIP Bobby Knutt - a lot of us will miss you.

I love cooking with mince - and not just because it's economical (which of course it is), but also because it's so versatile and tasty. I use lamb, beef or pork mince (I'm not all that fond of turkey mince) and I make everything from Bolognese-sauces, chilli-con-carne, moussaka, Cornish pasties, shepherd's/cottage pies, meatballs, soups and broths, keema curries, Mediterranean-style koftes, etc, etc. One thing that's always puzzled me though - is why is it so impossible to buy chicken mince? I live in London, where you'd think almost everything would be available, yet none of the supermarkets - nor even the poncey, expensive "artisan" High Street butchers shops seem to sell it either. I've got one of those old-fashioned type meat-mincers - and I've occasionally made my own chicken mince by grinding up bits of raw, chopped up breast and thigh meat. It's really nice, but it's a right time-consuming faff to do it. It'd be so, so much easier just to be able to buy chicken mince in the supermarket or butcher's - like you can easily buy lamb, beef, pork (or turkey) mince. Does anyone have any idea why nowhere seems to sell chicken mince??

Hi daducky88 I live and work in London, so maybe this ready-made chilled pizza base dough hasn't made it quite as far north as Sheffield yet? I must admit that I looked for it, but didn't find it anywhere, when I spent a week visiting my family in Sheff in mid-July. In London, I've bought it in a couple of Sainsbury's stores that I shop in from time to time - the Clapham Common and East Dulwich stores. I've also bought it in a Little Waitrose store - also in Clapham Common. (Not that I can actually afford to shop in Waitrose to any serious degree - but I pass this little store on my way home from work occasionally - so I tend to pop my head in and have a quick nosey through the "discount" corner of their chilled cabinet... just to see if I can find any usually unaffordable little "treats" that have been reduced down to an affordable price)!

Heh heh heh! Loved these replies - it's comforting to know that we weren't the only daft young buggers, slavishly following the same "pub crawl" routes, week in, week out. Having said that, I do remember when we impulsively decided to go "off piste" one weekend - and do a pub crawl route involving many of the town centre pubs that we'd been warned - as daft teenage lasses - that we should never venture into! On this particular night, we got off the bus in t'Interchange (or Pond Street bus station - as it was then known) - then our "crawl" took in The Penny Black, The Marples, The Norfolk Arms (in Dixon Lane), The Cannon, The Hen & Chickens...then a trudge across town to have a beer in The Museum and The Barleycorn, finally hitting the The Claymore...before crossing the road and getting the last Wisewood bus home! I remember at the time wondering why we'd been warned off these pubs - we had absolutely no trouble at all in any of 'em ...and they all seemed perfectly friendly places to me. My most favourite pub on this particular "crawl" was definitely the Norfolk Arms. It was full of old blokes with bulbous purple noses, dressed smartly in shiny suits and bri-nylon shirts - and old women - who looked like pantomime dames - with bright red -lipstick, heavily mascara'd lashes, loads of face-powder accentuating their creased faces - and clouds of heavily "tazzed", back-combed, bleached-blonde hair. My least favourite pub was The Claymore - far too modern and soulless - even in way back the 70's.....and the beer was pretty appalling too! McEwans "Tartan" Export...if I remember correctly...really bland and tasteless stuff ...typical 70's keg bitter.

When I first started my boozing "career" as a teenager in the mid 70's, the done thing was to go into town every Thursday/Friday/Saturday night. It makes me chuckle to think of it now, but those days, we didn't have one or two favourite pubs that we'd spend the evening in - we had to spend the whole night roaming from pub to pub, having one (or at the very most two)drinks in each, then moving on to the next pub, before getting the last bus home. It also makes me laugh when I remember that our "pub crawl" route seldom - if ever - varied. We always, always went in the same pubs, in the same order....and I suspect many other small groups of young people were doing exactly the same...because we'd always pass the same small groups of lads and lasses several times - but going in different directions! My mates and I would get the Oughtibridge bus into town, get off where it terminated in Campo Lane - and then we'd take the following "crawl" route - Blue Ball/Dove & Rainbow/Stonehouse/3 Tuns/Pig & Whistle/Cambridge/Yorkshireman/Brown Bear - then a last one in The Mulberry - before staggering drunkenly out and falling on to the last Wisewood bus home - which used to go from just outside the Mulberry in those days! Was it just us - or does anyone remember doing similarly daft city-centre "pub crawls" back in the day?

Interesting to hear that your husband is making sourdough bread by hand Chez2. I think blokes are generally better at making bread by hand than women are, because they have bigger hands and more strength to knead and pummel the dough. I only ever tried making my own bread by hand once - and it was a bit of a disaster. The end result tasted alright...well, sort of... but my bread dough didn't rise much at all during the "proving" stage - and when I cooked it, my breadcakes were like curling stones and my loaves were the weight and consistency of house-bricks! I reckon this happened because I had neither the patience nor the physical strength to knead the dough vigorously enough... or for long enough!

Crikey - hope it's not true that the tram service will be closed down. What with the Sheffield bus services being so sparse and unreliable, I can imagine that huge swathes of the city's population wouldn't be able to travel anywhere - particularly in the evenings. People who live in the Wisewood/Loxley areas are already pretty much cut off in the evenings. The buses are fairly ok during the daytime, but my sis-in-law, who lives in Loxley (not far from the Admiral Rodney pub) , works in a restaurant in West Street and finishes at 11pm....sometimes even later, if the last customers of the day are a bit slow to leave and allow them to shut up shop. Currently, her only way to get home is to get the tram to Malin Bridge and then walk home the rest of the way. It's already a long way to walk, after a hard day's graft.... not to mention the safety implications for a lone woman, walking home along a quiet, mostly deserted road, between 11.30pm and midnight! How the hell will she get home if they cut off the Malin Bridge tram? It doesn't bear thinking about!

Oops! Sorry if I put my foot in it about the source of Beres' and Wateralls' pork pies! I like them both equally and, to me, they taste very, very similar - so I was just speculating that they might - just might - be baked in the same place. I was clearly wrong about this and I and stand corrected! I praise them both though ... both Beres' and Waterall's do absolutely lovely , absolutely delicious pork pies....wherever they may bake them!

Thanks for the replies everyone. Much appreciated. I live in London, but regularly visit my family and stay in with them in the Wadsley/Wisewood/Loxley areas. It's nice to meet up with friends, go for a nice long Sunday walk in the beautiful surrounding countryside, then have a nice pub roast dinner. I'll eat any kind of roast meat or poultry, but my very fussy friend is just roast chicken..or nowt! The Wadsley Jack is only a short-ish walk from where I stay, so I'll definitely check that one out. The Rivelin Hotel also sounds very promising. I've never actually been to the Rivelin Hotel - although I was born and brought up in that general part of Sheffield! The place at Brentwood sounds delicious, but I don't drive...so that one would maybe be a bit too far away.

I have a "fussy-eater" friend, who loves to go out for a traditional pub Sunday roast, but who will only eat chicken. Can anyone out there help me locate a pub in - or around - the Sheffield 6 area that serves a roast chicken Sunday dinner? I've found quite a few pubs that do a roast dinner - but it's usually beef, turkey or gammon - occasionally roast pork or lamb shank, but I can't find anywhere that does roast chicken

Like Taxman, I also don't use a lot of sliced bread, but it's always handy to have a sliced loaf in the freezer - for making toast, or making sarnies for a packed lunch. I also make my sandwiches in the morning on frozen slices of bread and they are fully thawed and taste nicely fresh and moist by lunchtime. I usually buy wholemeal, or granary, or multigrain brown bread, but some things just have to be on white bread - like a bacon and fried egg sarnie - or a fish-finger sarnie - so, for these, my favourite white sliced bread is Warburtons "Toastie". It's called a "toastie" because the slices are square and fit perfectly in most toasters, but it works equally well for sarnies. It's nice and thick and soft, freezes well - and lasts for several days, even if you don't freeze it.

Depends what sort of pies you're looking for, I guess. The best pork pie I've tried so far has been from Beres' - and I also like the the pork pies from Waterall's in the new(ish) Castle Market. However the Beres' and Waterall's pork pies taste so very similar and are so similarly nice, that I suspect that they may both "buy them in" from the same manufacturer! When it comes to steak and kidney, chunky steak... or chicken and mushroom pies, I think Morrison's "in-store" bakery's versions are pretty good - nice light, crisp, shortcrust pastry, plenty of moist, tasty filling. The very best pies are the home-made ones though....if you can be arsed with all the time-consuming faffing about involved!!