New St. John Cookbook Illustrates Its Massive Influence on London Restaurants

Yes, Fergus Henderson probably did have a hand in **that** dish at your favourite London restaurant

A new anniversary cookbook from the co-founders of St. John illustrates just how much the Smithfield restaurant and its satellites have helped to shape London’s understanding of British cuisine. The 25-year-old restaurant — and its evolution out of Fergus and Margot Henderson, Melanie Arnold, and Jon Spiteri’s French House Dining Room — is known for its roster of alumni, including the Modern Pantry’s Anna Hansen MBE; Lillie O’Brien of London Borough of Jam; James Lowe, of Michelin-starred Lyle’s; and Lee Tiernan, of the singular Black Axe Mangal, as well as some of the city’s most well-known — even iconic — dishes. Recipes include the beef mince on dripping toast that launched a thousand tweets, and this website; smoked cod’s roe with egg and some fried, layered, familiar potatoes; and a dish of grilled lamb’s heart, mint, and gem lettuce that finds an analogue — repurposed and dialled up — at Tiernan’s Islington restaurant. The Book of St. John will be published by Penguin Random House on 3 October, 2019, and includes over 120 recipes, most of which have never before been published.

And in other news...

• One of the U.K.’s largest food bank charities, the Trussell Trust, has seen its number of emergency food supplies handed out per year triple over six years. [BBC]
• Mutant pizza dough has finally come for London — it’s from Dominos, and it’s in Pimlico. Throw away a blank canvas of possibility at your peril. [Twitter]

• A London brewery since 1845, shareholders at Fuller’s have rubber-stamped a £250 million sale to Asahi. [MCA]
• ASDA’s response to its rejected merger with Sainsbury’s includes cutting meat out of burgers in order to sell different burgers. The ‘donut burgers’ are reportedly designed for filling, and also for bagels. [Metro]
• Coca-Cola’s expected push into the ready-to-drink coffee market has begun, following the soft drink brand’s acquisition of Costa Coffee for £3.9 billion last year. Coca-Cola coffee — a blend of on-trend, easily mass-produced cold brew and the brand’s proprietary drink — should be on the U.K.’s fortunate shores by the end of 2019. Costa-branded coffee products are also on the list. Acquisition! [CNBC]