How to turn a single egg and rescued berries into a classic British dessert

Just a single egg white can be transformed into enough elegant meringue shards to crown more than four servings of pudding, as I discovered when, earlier this year, I was invited by Cole & Mason to come up with a recipe to mark London History Day and decided to do so by celebrating the opening of the Shard in 2012. Meringue shards make a lovely finishing touch to all kinds of desserts, from a rich trifle to an avant-garde pavlova or that timeless classic, the Eton mess. As for the leftover yolk, I have several recipes, including spaghetti carbonara (also featuring salt-cured egg yolks that make a wonderful alternative to parmesan) and brown banana curd.Architect Renzo Piano is said to have sketched his original idea for the Shard on the back of a restaurant napkin. Similarly, whenever I design a more conceptual dish such as this one, I love to start by drawing it in my sketchbook, to develop an idea of what the dish will look like, and while I was drawing the angular lines of the Shard, it reminded me of a minimalist dessert I’d eaten at the seminal AT restaurant in Paris that featured grey meringue shards that seemed to me to perfectly emulate the dramatic geometry of that iconic London building

Cracker Barrel suspends remodeling plans after backlash over logo change

Cracker Barrel announced on Tuesday that it’s suspending plans to remodel its restaurants just weeks after reversing a logo change that ignited a political firestorm.The 56-year-old restaurant chain, known for southern-style cooking and country-store aesthetic, faced intense backlash last month after unveiling a rebranding effort aimed at modernizing its image. The company rolled out a new minimalist logo and plans for more contemporary interiors, and it updated menu items.The new logo replaced the brand’s image of an old man in overalls leaning against a wooden barrel with a simplified gold background and the words “Cracker Barrel” in minimalist lettering.The change was immediately met with intense outrage online from conservatives and far-right influencers who accused the company of going “woke”

Australian supermarket sausage rolls taste test: from ‘perfect, flaky casing’ to ‘bland’ and ‘mushy’

With six friends and multiple kids in tow, Sarah Ayoub tests 10 brands of frozen sausage rolls to find the ones with crisp exteriors and convincingly meaty flavoursIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayWith spring picnics and footy finals on the horizon, sausage rolls – one of the pinnacles of frozen celebration foods – are in order. But with up to a dozen varieties in your local supermarket freezer, it’s hard to make an informed choice.I rounded up six friends (plus a couple of kids) with discerning frozen-food palates: people who love a sausage roll and see it as a culinary staple, whether it comes from the servo or a bakery, and parents used to baking them in a pinch for dinner or for a crowd at birthday parties.We agreed that a good sausage roll is all about a flaky and crispy exterior; a soft, meaty interior; and a decent meat-to-pastry ratio. With those qualities in mind, we then set about taste-testing 10 varieties from Coles, Woolworths, Aldi and independent grocers

Beyond the bacon sandwich: the many uses of brown sauce

I like my bacon sandwich with brown sauce, but that means keeping a bottle for a long time. What else can I do with it? Will, via emailIn the early 1980s, Tom Harris, co-owner and chef at the Marksman in east London, made a beer mat from penny coins for his dad (and in the quest to secure a Blue Peter badge): “The instructions said to put the dirty coins in brown sauce overnight,” he recalls. “The next morning, they were all shiny and looked brand new, so there’s another use for it right there!”Brown sauce is “an absolute marvel”, agrees Sabrina Ghayour, author of the recently published Persiana Easy, and not just for its cleaning prowess: “If you break it down, the sauce is packed with some pretty interesting ingredients, including my beloved tamarind.” It’s worth exploring your bottle options beyond HP, too, not least because there was much controversy back in 2011 when the brand gave its recipe, which had remained unchanged for more than a century, a tweak. “They reduced the salt [from 2

Georgina Hayden’s epic crab, chilli and lime sarnie – recipe

This time of year has to be one of my favourites for British produce – all the joys of late summer sweetness with early autumn favourites just around the corner. I’m happy to keep the summer party going, though, with tomato salads, crisp sundowners and crab sarnies. Despite never having visited Cornwall as a kid, there isn’t much better than sitting by the beach and devouring a Cornish crab sandwich. This is the slightly elevated version I make once the holidays are over to keep some sunshine in my life.Prep 20 min Makes 2150g mixed crab meat, picked through for bits of shell 70g mayonnaise 1 green chilli, pith and seeds removed, flesh finely chopped Sea salt and white pepper½ lime1 small handful flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped¼ cucumber, trimmed½ little gem, finely shredded1 tbsp olive oil 40g salted butter, at room temperature4 slices fresh white or wholemeal breadPut the crab meat, mayonnaise and chopped chilli in a large bowl and season well with salt and ground white pepper

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy eggs in a basket with smoky chard – recipe

Eggs in a basket are a treat. The easiest way to make the necessary holes in your sliced bread is with a round pastry cutter – or a heart-shaped one for fun. Break the eggs into their bread ‘baskets’, then fry up their “hats” to go alongside. To make this a grownup rather than a nursery dinner, serve with lemon-and-paprika-spiked chard, or spinach or kale, if that’s what you have; I am growing a surfeit of chard, so I always need new ways to use it up.Prep 10 min Cook 10 min Serves 2 (but scale up if you’re hungry)2 tbsp olive oil 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely sliced150g rainbow chard, roughly chopped1 tsp hot smoked paprika 1 tsp flaky sea salt Juice of ½ lemon2 large slices good white bread or sourdough2 medium eggs50g Greek yoghurt, to servePut a tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat, add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds