It’s no yolk

Add a little eggs-travagance to the table this Easter Sunday with Simon Hopkinson’s decadent meringue puddings

Surrender to Simon Hopkinson’s sinful meringue puddings

‘Which is correct–the yolk of an egg are white or the yolk of an egg is white?’

HERE is an old-fashioned trick question for the little ones over breakfast on Easter Sunday: ‘Which is correct—the yolk of an egg are white or the yolk of an egg is white?’ Hopefully, the answer from the braying clutch will be the latter, but, of course, as any fule kno, both answers are wrong—the yolk of an egg is yellow! Or of a gorgeous, almost orange hue, if you use the wonderful Burford Brown eggs from Clarence Court (www. clarencecourt.co.uk).

Anyway, I remain enchanted by the simplest of riddles and word play, particularly when you can pass on what you were told as a child.

The egg whites in the following two recipes are nicely white, especially when whipped up to a snow-like fluff. These days, conveniently, it’s possible to purchase cartons of pasteurised egg whites in the supermarket. This relieves the necessity to fashion bowls of mayonnaise and hollandaise sauce with the yolks, simply to have an excuse to make meringues—well, that’s how it used to be when I was a young, budding cook in my mother’s inspiring kitchen.

With her innate sensibility still well in mind, I’m astonished that supposedly informed cookery writers and chefs remain ignorant over how essential it is to dust the surface of a meringue pudding—lemon meringue pie or the recipe below, say—with caster sugar before baking. Without it, the description ‘leathery’ is almost too kind an epithet.