I ONLY got to judge Radio Sheffield’s chef cum celebrity cook off this Bank Holiday weekend at the city’s food festival by the skin of my teeth – literally. I was having the two front teggies replaced by implants but not until after the contest. Then disaster! The temporary falsies snapped and the standby teeth shot out every time I sneezed.
A food critic is no good without his gnashers but luckily my dental surgeon got them fitted in time.
It was fun. The radio station’s presenters Paulette Edwards and Steve Bailey were paired with two of Sheffield’s finest, Lee Mangles, late of Silversmiths, now at the Lawn View Clubhouse, and Luke Durkan from Craft & Dough, respectively.
Both chefs had 20 minutes to cook up a dish with celebrity help, or hindrance in the case of Luke, from a box of mystery ingredients. I was a little surprised they didn’t have the same ingredients.
Lee had a baby rack of lamb which he finished off as three chops, served with spinach and an ace onion jam, made there and then. Nice but he wasn’t given any rosemary and the pressure of time (or helper Paulette) lost marks because the broad beans hadn’t been skinned. They weren’t young or tender enough to eat unskinned.
Luke’s fillet of Moss Valley pork won the day on taste and a clever little orange, garlic and chilli sauce, even though Steve lost half the orange zest while prepping.
It genuinely was close and while I was there by the skin of my teeth poor Lee lost through the skin of his beans!
Paulette, Lee, Steve and Luke cook like fury at Radio Sheffield’s cooknoff
Another helping from Martin Dawes 
Pork? Triumphant? Never. I didn’t think you cared for it that much đđđđđ
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Love all meats. Where would John Parsons’ Three Little Piggies or roast pork belly be worth Miss Piggy?
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Absolutely. My idea of hell is to get to heaven and see God asking Mahatma Ghandi “what’s for tea?”
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I got a “good lad” from Greg Wallace for skinning my broad beans, even though they were baby ones.
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