Restaurant recreations: How to make Tom Brown's Cornerstone crumpets at home

Tom Brown is a talented chef – anyone who's eaten at Cornerstone knows so, and the likes of Nathan Outlaw will swear to it – but it's not much of an exaggeration to say the humble crumpet made his career.

"Have you had Tom's crumpet?" – a giggling kind of question – was the thing the greedy sorts who eat out often were asking each other when Brown's Cornerstone opened as an instant hit in Hackney Wick a couple of years ago.

Their appeal has never wavered. Still on the menu, these crumpets are buttery, comforting things. They shouldn't work – what's a mid-afternoon snack doing on either a lunch or supper menu? – but they do; though there's something a little surreal about one coming out as a bite alongside beautifully done bits of fish, they're such a treat that the strangeness soon dissipates after tucking in. No surprise, then, that they've become something of a Cornerstone signature. Just before shutting, the restaurant had a version topped with crab but here, we've elected to do the one that recipe got all the attention, where the crumpets are smothered with potted shrimp.

Given the restaurant is out of bounds for the time being, below is the recipe for recreating them at home. It's not the simplest of things to make – a perfect crumpet takes take, skill, care – but it should serve as a challenge for the weekend. Good luck – let us know how you get on by sharing your versions on Instagram and tagging us @esgolondon on Instagram.

Cornerstone’s potted shrimp crumpet

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the crumpets

• 125g Bread Flour

• ¼ tsp caster sugar

• 7g packet of dried yeast

• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 150ml tepid water

For the shrimp

• 250g brown shrimps

• 250g unsalted butter

• Pinch cayenne pepper

• ½ tsp nutmeg

• ½ tsp mace

• Pinch smoked paprika

• 1 lemon, zest and juice

• 2 large gherkins

• ½ medium Kohlrabi

• Handful of chopped parsley

Method

• Start with the crumpets. Mix everything together in a bowl and whisk until smooth, then cover and leave to stand somewhere warm for 15 minutes for the yeast to develop and for bubbles form on the surface.

• Next, grease eight 90mm crumpet rings and place them a large frying pan or a flat griddle plate and put on a low heat.

• Fill the rings about three-quarters of the way full with the crumpet mix and cook for around 10-12 minutes, until the top has formed a skin and the mix is almost cooked through.

• Carefully lift off the rings and flip each crumpet. Finish cooking them for 3-4 minutes, until lightly golden-brown, then leave on a wire to cool.

• For the shrimps, gently toast the cayenne, nutmeg and mace in a dry pan until aromatic, being careful not to burn them.

• Add the butter and lemon zest and allow to melt, leaving it all to mix and soak up the flavour.

• Now shred the gherkins and kohlrabi on a mandolin – or alternatively use a coarse grater – and pop them in a bowl. Stir in the parsley, mix well and set aside.

• Now take the pan and bring the butter mix to the boil, and add the lemon juice and shrimps.

• To finish, toast the crumpets under a hot grill until crispy and golden, then spoon on the shrimps and as much butter as possible.

• Now, top with the kohlrabi and gherkin mix, and enjoy!