One little girl from school am I ........all dressed up for March 1st

She's beautiful! Hope she got a spoonful of cawl yesterday?

She is lovely, I have one dressed in national costume bought as a keepsake on one of my visits to Wales many years ago, she is still in the protective plastic cover and yes she is probably dusty as well, where does she live?
well on my wardrobe of course !!, lol......

Lincslass: I hope she had "Made in Wales" stamped somewhere. Remember our younger son as a small boy spending his pocket money on a Scottish piper, also under a plastic cover, and marked "Souvenir of Scotland". When we did have a look inside it said, "Made in Hong Kong"!

Steragram: Alas, no, though I do have some BEST end of neck of lamb in the freezer!

There was one of these in my mother's house when we cleared it out.
I don't know what happened to it. I should think it went to the charity shop - no girls in the family, only boys, and they are all grown up now anyway ...

When I read the heading of your blog, I thought we were going to see you yourself dressed in a Welsh National costume :o)

"Those were the days, my friend
I thought they'd never end...."

Did you know Mary Hopkins?

Yes. My father used to translate songs into Welsh for her to sing :o)

I fear I am beginning to lose my spoken Welsh and that was always different from written Welsh.

That's not surprising. You have no use for it where you live :(

Eirlys, I thought Best end of neck was the proper description of that cut? I'm sure the butcher in Sheffield sold it as that when I was a child. When you use it in cawl do you leave it whole or cut it up? I do the hock one day in the slow cooker and trim it while its warm, then reheat it the next day. I'll give it a try.
Which part of Wales are you from?

Steragram: As I said, my mother always used that phrase and we used to laugh at her!

I cut it up and I'm having it today even though the sun is shining (all wrong!!). My mother's cawl had bones in it and we still survived. Always served in a large bowl for each person ; no cheese.

I'm from Cwm Tawe, Swansea Valley. You know what they say about taking the "girl" out of the valley! Miss it, but won't go back now my family home has been sold. Can't, and that's the sad part. Once upon a time I could have entered every house in my village and been made welcome.

Hywel: I still swear in Welsh. Sounds better and isn't as bad as the English version. :O)

Well I've just had a disappointing meal of cawl. It didn't taste anything like the one my mother used to make. I followed a BBC food "Welsh" recipe but, frankly, it was a bit like dish washer.

Am I imagining how delicious cawl was, the food flavoured with nostalgia? I don't think so!

The BBC is English ! so they don't know anything about how to make cawl ...
No disrespect intended, but they don't !

I always swear in Welsh (when I do swear)
The English versions sound rather mild in comparison, especially if it's said with gusto ;D

Just remembered that the other end of the neck was always referred to as the scrag end - doesn't sone very appetising does it?

Oh yes, I'd forgotten that. Love Welsh lamb and any nationality of pork! During the war we all kept a pig at the bottom of the garden and it was fed on household scraps. Wouldn't be allowed nowadays. We named ours Pamela, but we still ate her! :O(

Well I bought some scrag end today and it is in the slow cooker with the veg & stock. I'm assuming you cut it up after its cooked like I do with a shank?
I remember staying on a farm in Devon and eating a pig called Bunter. Very sad but quite delicious.

Steragram: If it's agood cawl, please, let me have the recipe.

Poor Bunter: :O)

I put a lamb shank in the slow cooker with the usual veg - potatoes, carrots and leek, with a cut up slice of bacon and a couple of lamb oxo cubes if there isn't any stock around.Cook for about 8 hrs and then take the meat off the bone. Reheat when required. I guess it would be improved by frying the veg first but i'm usually in too much of a hurry to get it cooking.

I made a mistake with the scrag end by not realising how little meat there was and not buying enough so although it tastes nice its not very filling. Definitely one for the lump of cheese! If yours is better (which it probably is, details appreciated...

If by "yours" you mean me, honestly the cawl was awful. Waste of time, energy and money!

Did you get rid of all the fat? I did, and I'm beginning to wonder if that is why the cawl was so tasteless. It didn't even smell like my mother's recipe.

How very disappointing. There wasn't any fat to speak of from the scrag end but I take it off the lamb shank one when its gone cold and set. If its a bit tasteless a couple of lamb oxos work miracles. Have to confess it doesn't always get the bacon. I wouldn't like to do it without the slow cooker though - long and slow seems to work well. I suppose an Aga would do either. Let me know how you go on. My recipe above serves at least two easily.

Thank you, Steragram. Think it will be a while before I tackle cawl again. Come to think of it, it was the same with rabbit. I used to love my mother's roast rabbit. My uncle shot them and Mam cooked them.

When younger son took up shooting I had ago at roasting a rabbit. It was OK but nothing like the ones I remembered.

(What I also remember is my father, who hated rabbit cooked any way, counting the cats to make sure it was rabbit we were eating!)

Lol!