PORK and caramel (aka Cartmel sticky toffee sauce) would never have topped my list of marriages made in heaven.

And yet, according to the inventor of the aforementioned award-winning sausage flavour, some people absolutely adore this particular breed of banger.

Conversely, Mark Duckworth, of Dales Butchers in Kirkby Lonsdale, tells me that some people absolutely loathe them.

I fear Rick Stein is in the latter category for when those enterprising people at the Cartmel Village Sticky Toffee Pudding Company recommended Mark’s sausages for Mr S’s Padstow deli (the renowned chef stocks Cartmel STPs), he declined the offer. However, along with the pork and caramel sausages Mark sent the deli, he also supplied samples of his pork and haggis sausages, pork and haggis pies, and his pork and Mr Vikki’s chilli jam pies, the upshot being that all three products are now on sale in Padstow.

And what’s good enough for Rick Stein, is surely good enough for the rest of us – both the pies (available from Kirkby Lonsdale, and the Dales stall in Blackburn market, as well as Cornwall) are on at £1.20 each, and the pork and haggis sausage is on at £3.50 per 500g.

Country Harvest at Ingleton also has some new flavour combinations for you to try in the form of the Fine Cheese Company’s new ‘Toast’ for cheese range (£2.65 per box) – a thin, light and crispy biscuit, 60 per cent of which is fruits, nuts and seeds.

So, for example, the date, hazelnut and pumpkin ‘toast’ is perfect for lush, creamy cheeses; the apricot, pistachio and sunflower seed ‘toast’ is great with delicate goats’ milk cheeses; while the divine cherry, almond and linseed ‘toast’ is good with rich blue cheeses.

Burton in Lonsdale village stores continues this week’s ‘perfect partners’ theme with new season apples grown by local man Arthur Boddy. Suitable for eating or cooking they are on sale at only £1 per kilo.

Why not pair them with a couple of cheeses from Burton Stores – Grandma Singleton’s Wensleydale (£1.80/200g pack) or Lancashire with black pepper (£1.80/200g pack), and a jolly big spoonful of one of Sue Prickett’s made-in-Hutton Roof chutneys eg: apple and walnut (£2.60 per 280ml jar).

You could even make a gorgeous toasted sandwich with some Woodalls dry cure Cumbrian middle cut bacon (available from The Honeypot at Hawkshead, £2.99 per 200g pack), and melted cheese and a dollop of chutney.

I suspect one of Sue’s chutneys would also go well with a slice of a new meatloaf made by the butchers at Higginsinsons in Grange-over-Sands.

The meatloaf comprises a combination of minced beef, minced pork, mushrooms, peppers, herbs and seasonings and comes in its own ovenproof dish (£4.99 per 1lb meatloaf); pop it straight in the oven to cook and serve hot with seasonal vegetables or cold with a salad.

I want to leave you this week with some more inspiring culinary combinations to whet your appetites for adventure in the kitchen – smoked chicken, pineapple and macademia salad, and scallops with lemon and pistachios (Nuts, by Rogers & Jacobson, published by Aurum); calf’s liver with roasted apples, onions and turnips (Gary Rhodes at The Table, BBC Books); cauliflower and banana salad (Fresh Fruit and Desserts, Reader’s Digest); and thyme and lavender mousse with cherries (Terrines & Verrines, Franck Pontais).