# Brits: What's a "fry-up"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2008, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579 "2008-02-14T10:05:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/21 "2008-02-14T15:25:49Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Fry-ups are special occasions. Most of the time we just have toast or cereal. Don’t know what the lady in Wells was doing - B&Bs are usually quite stingy. ETA: I’m guessing she didn’t expect you to eat the lot. Which is a dreadful attitude on her part, IMO. [/QUOTE] _WE_ meaning those from the delicate Southern climes of the UK. In’t frozzen Norf we eat fry ups on a daily basis and sometimes we have half a roofing tile smeared with lard for afters ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/22 "2008-02-14T15:32:43Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] Do you really think this one data point is sufficient to support your conclusion that the British eat way too much for breakfast? How about some other hypotheses? - That woman in Wells eats too much for breakfast. - That woman in Wells prepares big breakfasts for guests, not knowing how much they might want and not wanting to get a reputation for skimping on the breakfast. - British B&B’s serve big breakfasts. [/QUOTE] When come back, bring sense of humor. I was in the UK for a month and two months at seperate times and my general experience was of heavy breakfasts. That said, I am aware that hostels and B&Bs (and the cafeteria attached to our dorms) may not be representative of the breakfasts of Britons in general. ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/23 "2008-02-14T16:16:59Z")
Yeah, in my experience B&Bs tend to “over breakfast” - mainly because they don’t know how much you want and don’t want to be seen as being stingy. Hotels - where budgets and proper accountancy tend to hold more sway - tend to be more reserved with their portions. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/24 "2008-02-14T16:31:33Z")
Good lords, I miss Irish breakfasts. And the salmon. and Ireland ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/25 "2008-02-14T17:28:52Z")
[QUOTE=Wallenstein] Mine would be: - 2 x sausages - 2 x fried eggs - 1 x handful fried mushrooms - 2-3 x rashers of bacon - 1 x slice of fried bread - 1 x dollop of baked beans - 1 x grilled tomato - tomato ketchup [/QUOTE] Mine would be… 2 beef (or beef+pork) sausages (the sausages are optional) 2 fried eggs. mushrooms (optional) **six** rashers of bacon. 1 fried bread (optional) 2 toasted bread, buttered when allowed to go cold (optional) Fried (not grilled) tomato, or boiled plum tomato (from a tin) Lovely lovely black pudding. edit: I wonder if a black ribboner can have black pudding? (wink wink) ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/26 "2008-02-14T17:46:27Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] When come back, bring sense of humor. I was in the UK for a month and two months at seperate times and my general experience was of heavy breakfasts. That said, I am aware that hostels and B&Bs (and the cafeteria attached to our dorms) may not be representative of the breakfasts of Britons in general. [/QUOTE] I think the point of large b&b breakfasts is for tourists who want their morning meal to tide them over until the evening meal. I made a point of eating them so I wouldn’t feel like eating again until 7 or 8 at night. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/27 "2008-02-14T18:28:07Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Mine would be… 2 beef (or beef+pork) sausages (the sausages are optional) 2 fried eggs. mushrooms (optional) **six** rashers of bacon. 1 fried bread (optional) 2 toasted bread, buttered when allowed to go cold (optional) Fried (not grilled) tomato, or boiled plum tomato (from a tin) Lovely lovely black pudding. [/quote] This is pretty much (except with pork sausages and the occasional kipper) what I ate every day for an entire month when I worked & lived in Scotland. After about a month I thought maybe this wasn’t entirely a good idea and switched to Wheatabix. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/28 "2008-02-14T19:08:35Z")
Mmmm, kippers and scrambled eggs with toast ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/29 "2008-02-14T19:40:25Z")
[QUOTE=Boscibo] I think the point of large b&b breakfasts is for tourists who want their morning meal to tide them over until the evening meal. I made a point of eating them so I wouldn’t feel like eating again until 7 or 8 at night. [/QUOTE] True. And I really shouldn’t complain - the hostels in Paris threw us a rock-hard chunk of bread for our so-called breakfast. The cafeteria at the University of Edinburgh always had a fry-up breakfast option, which was nice for particularly hungover mornings. (Most of them were, upon reflection.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/30 "2008-02-14T20:59:12Z")
> [@](#): > > I think the point of large b&b breakfasts is for tourists who want their morning meal to tide them over until the evening meal. I made a point of eating them so I wouldn’t feel like eating again until 7 or 8 at night. Indeed. When I visited Ireland, we stayed in B&Bs, and a full Irish breakfast, plus a bit of brown soda bread through the day, pretty much covered it. I still haven’t figured out how to make that bread… I have a recipe from one of the B&Bs, but it’s not in Metric, so I can’t understand it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/31 "2008-02-14T23:57:58Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] I have a recipe from one of the B&Bs, but it’s not in Metric, so I can’t understand it. [/QUOTE] 😕 Ireland is the bloody spiritual home of metric. PM me for a good (authentic - from the Boluisce restaurant in Connemara) metric Irish brown bread recipe if you like. BTW it’s not sourdough, it’s soda, made with buttermilk. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/32 "2008-02-15T00:55:18Z")
Damn, I am starving now… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/33 "2008-02-15T01:58:54Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Scroll down. [http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411879/1547688](http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411879/1547688) [/QUOTE] From the link: > [@](#): > > 1. Cook brisket or other meats first till soft, it usually takes around two to three hours. > > 2. Add salt and pepper. > > 3. When almost cooked add potatoes and kumara and Cook for half an hour. > > 4. Add pumpkin and cook for another half an hour. > > 5. Add your veges, cabbage and wild spinach takes around fifteen minutes to cook, however the puha and watercress takes a good hour to cook. > > 6. Maori always say that the second cook is the most tasteful, in other words if there are left overs reboil and eat. Yeesh. So the meat is just about fully cooked in step three and then you continue cooking it for another **two hours** (steps 3+4+5) as the veggies are added? It must be slurry by the time it’s done. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/34 "2008-02-15T05:24:05Z")
[QUOTE=Patty O’Furniture] Yeesh. So the meat is just about fully cooked in step three and then you continue cooking it for another **two hours** (steps 3+4+5) as the veggies are added? It must be slurry by the time it’s done. [/QUOTE] Looks just like Mother used to cook… _shudder_ (Boil vegetable until the veges are white and the water is green. Discard water). Fortunately a generation on here in NZ many of us prefer our veges crisp and crunchy… and food less slurry-like. 🙂 But on the OP… a fryup, similar to some of those already listed (but minus black pudding I must say) appears on pretty much any café or hotel breakfast menu as “Full Breakfast” or “English Breakfast”, or indeed “Kiwi Breakfast”. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/35 "2008-02-15T10:30:24Z")
Just popped in to say that I have a great fry up in a London greasy spoon this morning. Large portions, lots of toast and tea. Now if only they had have had white pudding it would have been perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/36 "2008-02-15T10:35:29Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] The cafeteria at the University of Edinburgh always had a fry-up breakfast option, which was nice for particularly hungover mornings. (Most of them were, upon reflection.) [/QUOTE] They never served enough in their fry-ups. Limiting to 5 points a piece (or whatever it was) misses the point of a fry-up: everything needs to be on the plate. And they used crap sausages. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/37 "2008-02-15T11:35:02Z")
I’d love to pop down to Botanic Avenue and grab a fry at lunch, I just don’t get enough time to wait for one though, perhaps Monday if I can get an early lunch and beat the rush. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/38 "2008-02-15T12:00:07Z")
Y’see this is why we British are so robust and manly like… 😃 None of your faggotty croissants and shit like that, proper grub is what built the empire. It was only when the lily livered tarts from darn sarf switched to foreign grub (I use the term loosely) that decline set in. Churchill must be spinning in his grave, innit? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/39 "2008-02-15T17:15:45Z")
So is a “rasher” of bacon what we in the States would call a “slice”? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579/40 "2008-02-15T18:14:19Z")
Fried BREAD?? No toast? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-whats-a-fry-up/437579.md?page=3)