How to turn eggs into a traditional British pub snack – recipe
Pickling is a good way to lengthen the life of your eggs, and a chance to use up herbs and spices, tooThe Guardian’s journalism is independent.We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.Learn more.At Yeo Valley’s Good Food and Eating Well conference last year, Christine Storry of the Dynamic Food Board, a UK body that promotes sustainable, local food procurement, estimated that “more than 700 million eggs are wasted in the UK each year”; that’s roughly 45,000 tonnes, or almost equivalent to the weight of the Titanic.She also noted that only 22% of us know how to test if an egg is fresh and safe to eat.
The Guardian’s journalism is independent.We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.Learn more.To keep them at their best, store eggs in a cool place at a stable temperature below 20C, because fluctuating heat and direct sunlight can affect their quality.To test a raw egg’s freshness, put it in a bowl of water: if it sinks and lies flat, it’s fresh; if it stands upright, it’s safe but needs eating soon; and if it floats, it’s past its best, so feed it to the compost monster.
If you have a surfeit of eggs, you can boil them to prolong their life for a further four or five days in the fridge, but to preserve them for even longer, I like to make pickled eggs using a few spices to give them lots of flavour.I grew up in a small village in Dorset where there wasn’t a whole lot to do: when we weren’t cycling around and rambling through the forest, my best friend, Luke, and I would frequent Thorncombe sports club, where we’d play endless games of darts and pool.As minors, our main refreshment was a pint of Coke with a bag of salt-and-vinegar crisps and a pickled egg.Pickling is one of the simplest forms of preservation, and pickled eggs are a true British classic.Like most pickle recipes, they taste much nicer when you make them yourself.
Free-range or organic eggs, half-decent vinegar and an interesting combination of herbs and spices will take your pickled eggs to a whole other level.I tested a few different flavour combinations beyond a classic pickled egg, using up some spices from my kitchen cupboards.One batch I made with beetroot cooking liquid instead of water, which I’d saved from a boiling some beetroots that morning, and then infused it with cumin and fresh dill; I also made a batch with turmeric, peppercorn and ginger, and another spicier batch with lots of chilli flakes and a lime, which was my favourite of the three, though the beetroot and turmeric eggs were both very pretty.6 eggs 2 heaped tsp sugar 1 level tsp sea salt 150ml vinegar – apple cider, malt or wine vinegar150ml water, or beetroot cooking liquidOptional aromatics1 garlic clove, peeled1 dried chilli, or 1 heaped tsp chilli flakes2 tsp mixed spices, such as mustard seeds, peppercorns, star anise, cardamom, curry powder, cumin, coriander seeds, turmeric)2 sprigs fresh herbs, such as bay leaf, thyme, oregano, coriander, or 1 tsp dried herbsOther optional ingredientsSliced ginger Lime or lemon wedges Beetroot stalksPut six eggs in a saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to a boil.After two minutes, turn off the heat and leave for eight minutes.
Drain, put the eggs back in the pan, then cover again with cold water,Once the eggs are cool enough to handle, peel them all,Put the sugar and salt in a 500-600ml pickling jar, pour 150ml hot water over top and stir to dissolve,Add the vinegar, then gently drop in the six peeled hard-boiled eggs and your chosen optional aromatics (use whatever you have),Seal the jar, making sure the eggs are submerged, then refrigerate for up to a month.
They’re ready to eat immediately, but, to guarantee the best flavour, leave them to pickle for at least a few days.
UK Steel warns that Trump tariffs would be ‘devastating blow’
UK steelmakers have warned that the imposition of new US tariffs would be “a devastating blow” to the industry, after Donald Trump said he would announce 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US.Gold reached a record high and aluminium prices rose as financial markets were rattled by the US president’s comments, which caused concern in the UK and the EU.Gareth Stace, the director general of the trade body UK Steel, said: “The US is our second-largest export market after the EU. At a time of shrinking demand and high costs, rising protectionism globally, particularly in the US, will stifle our exports and damage over £400m worth of the steel sector’s contribution to the UK’s balance of trade.”Stace said it would be “deeply disappointing” if Trump decided to target UK steel, given its “relatively small production volumes compared to major steel nations”
UK halves subsidies for Drax and says it must use 100% sustainable wood
The UK government has halved subsidies for the Drax power station and ordered it to use 100% sustainable wood after sustained criticism over its business model.The large power plant in North Yorkshire would play a “much more limited role” in future, operating less than half as often as it currently does, the government said.The plant is an important generator of electricity for the UK but has been criticised for burning wood pellets sourced from forests in the US and Canada.The government has agreed a new deal with the power producer that will halve subsidies between 2027 and 2031, saying that Drax will provide power only when it is “really” needed. It estimates that this will save consumers £170m a year
BP shares jump after feared US hedge fund Elliott takes stake
Shares in BP jumped 7% on Monday after it emerged that the activist investor Elliott Investment Management had taken a stake in the UK oil company.The stock rose as investors bet that Elliott, a feared New York hedge fund known for its attempts to shake up listed companies, would push for an overhaul of BP’s strategy, along with a revamp of its board.Elliott’s arrival could lead to the departure of BP’s chair, Helge Lund, and put pressure on its management to shift back more decisively towards fossil fuels, analysts said.Shares in the 120-year-old company rose by more than 8% in early trading on Monday, before closing up about 7% at 465p, the highest since last July and helping the FTSE 100 to hit a new record high.Elliott, led by the billionaire Paul Singer, has amassed a significant holding in the British energy company, Bloomberg reported on Saturday
Fraud trial of Forbes ‘30 Under 30’ honoree set to lift lid on startup culture
Charlie Javice has joined an undesirable club struck by the “Forbes 30 Under 30 curse”, a term for the high-flyers identified by the business title as up-and-comers who ended up in legal trouble. The entrepreneur has joined a list that includes the pharmaceuticals fraudster Martin Shkreli and FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison.The strength of the Forbes “curse” will be tested this week in New York as Javice, 31, goes on trial on four counts of fraud relating to the $175m (£141m) sale of Frank, a student financial aid application assistance company she founded aged 24, to JP Morgan Chase. The deal quickly soured, and has descended into a legal wrangle that has been compared to the case of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.Frank’s premise was simple – to help steer students through the complexity of applying for student loans
Trump’s latest tariff bid shows the old rules of trade no longer apply. Scraps of paper will not save us | Greg Jericho
News that the US president, Donald Trump, was going to place a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports in to the US came as it generally does with such things – out of the blue, with no reasoning, and little to no understanding of whether Trump even knows what he is doing.Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on the way to the Super Bowl, Trump talked about “reciprocal” tariffs. As an aside he said that “we’ll also be announcing steel tariffs on Monday” and when asked who they would affect he said “everyone”. When further asked about aluminium he replied “aluminium too” (because hey why bother to mention that upfront?).The headlines went crazy and we saw reports here of how $15bn was “wiped from the Australian share market” in the first hour of trading
Tech firms call for zonal electricity pricing in UK to fuel AI datacentres
Tech companies are putting pressure on the UK government to encourage an AI datacentre boom in remote areas of Great Britain by offering some of the cheapest electricity prices in Europe.A report paid for by the tech companies Amazon and OpenAI has called on ministers to overhaul the UK’s electricity market by splitting it into different zones so that prices become more expensive in areas where power is in short supply, and cheaper in those where it is ample.This market arrangement, known as zonal pricing, would make areas such as Scotland a hotspot for AI datacentres – which use vast amounts of electricity – because of an abundance of windfarms and low population density, according to the report by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) thinktank.Keir Starmer said last month that artificial intelligence would be “mainlined into the veins” of the nation after putting in place a sweeping action plan to make the UK a world leader in the technology.However, the plans to host datacentres have attracted some scepticism, in part because the UK has some of the highest industrial electricity prices in the world and is pressing targets to virtually eliminate fossil fuels from the power system by the end of the decade
Labour peer calls for ‘arrogant’ attorney general to be sacked
Labour was told about ‘vile’ WhatsApp group more than a year ago, says councillor
Local elections delayed is democracy denied | Letters
Benefits system should protect, not punish, vulnerable people | Letters
Burnley MP Oliver Ryan suspended by Labour over messages on WhatsApp group
Watchdog recommends £2,500 pay rise for UK MPs