14 June 2014

Mr Trotter's Snack Emporium (@Mr_Trotters) [By @SpectreUK]



Whilst wondering around some rather smart wooden cabin-like stores at Trentham Gardens Cinabar and I stumbled into a farmer's style market. We instantly picked up a large basket and started filling it to the brim with all manners of Foodstufffinds' goodies. Two such items were produced by Mr Trotter and as I've had the great pleasure of sampling his Jalapeño Chilli Pork Crackling, it came to me to blog about them. And by jove weren't they just made for me!


Mr Trotter's Proper Potato Crisps

These potato crisps were thinly sliced with their skins left on to add flavour. Each slice was then fried in rapeseed oil and finally coated with Mr Trotter's original seasoning. This sounded too good to be true, but it wasn't of course as these crisps were clearly in front of me in the store. I have a photograph (above) to prove it! There was a meaty smell on opening the packet, which Cinabar exclaimed to be the yeast extract. This hog worthy whiff was closely followed by the sea salt and fried potato. Each potato crisp had an almost juicy melt in the mouth crunch that burst with flavour. These were definitely the best meaty but not meaty ready salted potato crisps flavour I've ever tasted. After each crisp I immediately wanted another and had to physically make myself slow down to write notes in my special Foodstufffinds notebook (well... nearest scrap of paper). There was obviously serious care to flavour quality pumped heartily into every crunchy crisp. There was an initial yeasty flavour merging with the sea salt and rapeseed oil flavours, leaving the mouthwatering juicy salty meaty taste I came to yearn for until the bottom of the packet loomed heavily. These crisps would go perfectly with a good pint of ale, and that's just what I had found...

Information on the packet;
40g packet. With 528 calories per 100g, with 1g of sugar and 33.9g of fat. GM free. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Potatoes and rapeseed oil grown at a neighbouring farm called Wade Lane Farm. Ingredients included; potatoes, rapeseed oil, yeast extract, salt, sea salt, hydrolysed vegetable protein, sugar, dextrose, rusk (from wheat flour).


Mr Trotter's Great British Chestnut Ale

By crikey! A bottle of Mr Trotter's Great British Chestnut Ale to whet my whistle no doubt! Brewed by the Lancaster Brewery this 4% volume amber ale was blended with chestnuts and Maris Otter barley. There was a sweet bitter nutty smell with a hint of spice on opening the bottle. The taste started with a smooth creaminess and a subtle sweetness from the barley, which was soon replaced by the nuttiness and spicy hoppy bitterness from the English Cascade hops and Bramling Cross hops. This was definitely an ingenuous and well thought out brew that screamed quality as had the crisps in the review above. The 500ml bottle's label recommended trying this chestnut ale with quiches (blah, hate quiche... love beer though), pies, pates, and roasts (especially hog roasts I reckon). I'd certainly recommend trying this amber ale with a roast pork meal, with big bold roast potatoes, some greens on the side (for the healthy bit) and lashings of gravy. Either that or try it with a couple of bags of Mr Trotter's Proper Potato Crisps and a good thrilling black and white movie, or indeed an honest British traditional bag of Mr Trotter's Pork Crackling. Just watch out if you buy the Jalapeño Chilli kind!
By Spectre

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