Just as certain styles of cooking have gone in and out of fashion over the years, individual ingredients, too, have their moments in the sun. These tend to run in shorter cycles, but can often take on such a ubiquitous character that we can be left wondering how we ever managed without them.
Meats are no longer just elemental categories, but come with specific designations: Angus beef, Old Spot pork, English rose veal, Anjou pigeon. Ingredients from other cultures can become rapidly assimilated too – witness the indispensability of chorizo.
The nation’s favourite restaurant shellfish, the scallop, has reigned supreme on menus for some years now, teamed not long ago with black pudding, now more often with a vegetable purée.
Vegetables have their moments too. The Jerusalem artichoke, a boon during winter scarcity, has been brought in from the cold. Beetroot has been rescued from the pickle jar, while rhubarb rules the roost from starters through to dessert.
Dessert ingredients are probably the least susceptible to voguishness (notwithstanding the brief tonka bean craze), perhaps because chocolate, toffee and dairy richness never go out of fashion.
or chicken hearts 
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