What makes an English breakfast
The English are famous for their breakfast but what is so special about it? First of all, a breakfast usually consists of fruit juice, tea, cereals and toast (normally with marmalade). Additionally, it includes several fried foods like bacon and eggs. Variations of the full breakfast include the full English breakfast, the full Scottish breakfast , the full Welsh breakfast , the full Irish breakfast and the Ulster fry.
Common foods and dishes
The full breakfast is often served with brown sauce or ketchup only the ingredients can vary according to region and taste.
Here are some examples of what can be part of a full breakfast:
- fried or grilled bacon
- baked beans
- fried bread, soda bread
- black pudding, white pudding
- chips
- eggs (either fried, poached, scrambled or in a basket)
- French toast
- kidneys
- fried mushrooms
- oatcakes
- pancakes (in the northern USA, Ireland and Canada)
- sausages, sliced sausages
- tomatoes
- potato bread, potato waffles, potato cakes
- etc.
Regional variants
Full English breakfastThe ingredients of a full English breakfast include bacon, poached or fried eggs, fried or grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread or toast with butter and sausages as well as baked beans and hash browns. It is served with a mug of tea. In some regions black pudding and mashed potatoes also belong to the breakfast. Fried or grilled oatcakes can replace fried bread in the North Midlands
They also call it a “fry-up” because nearly everything is fried in this meal. If an English breakfast should contain all of the ingredients listed above it is referred to as a Full English or a Full Monty.
Full Irish breakfast
The most common ingredients of an Irish breakfast are bacon, rashers, sausages, fried eggs, black and white pudding, toast, fried tomatoes and Irish breakfast tea. Sometimes it also includes sautéed mushrooms as well as baked beans, liver and brown soda bread. Instead of brown soda bread they also serve fried potato bread or boxty.
Ulster Fry
The Ulster Fry is similar to the Irish breakfast. It contains bacon, rashers, eggs, sausage, vegetable rolls, black and white pudding or lamb's kidney, fried tomatoes, the farl form of soda bread, boxty or potato bread, wheaten farl, mushrooms, pancakes or beans. It can be either fried or grilled and is usually served with strong tea.
Full Scottish breakfast
Scottish breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, link sausage, toast, baked beans and tea or coffee. What is special about this type of breakfast is the Scottish style black pudding, sliced sausage and tattie scones. In addition to this it contains fried or grilled tomato and/or mushrooms and sometimes haggis, white pudding, fruit pudding, oatcakes and porridge.
Full Welsh breakfast
The Welsh breakfast includes (in addition to the ingredients already listed above) cockles and laverbread, a seaweed purée which is mixed with oatmeal, formed into patties and fried in bacon fat.