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Colibri
General Questions Moderator
When I saw the thread title, I had no idea that it would be about breakfast at all. Or about food, for that matter.
If someone had specified to me “full English breakfast”, I’d have assumed there’d be a lot of it; and that probably both toast and kippers would be involved. Apparently I’d have been right about there being a lot of it, but wrong about the components. I might well have assumed eggs and sausage, but I wouldn’t have thought of beans or mushrooms.
ETA: baked beans in tomato sauce are common here, but not generally for breakfast.
Or as part of a chili-cheese omelet.
Yes, people do sometimes put beans in chili. Get over it.
Of the dozen or so B&Bs we stayed in in Ireland, I think only two included white pudding (though most had black pudding); about as many as had beans or mushrooms. All had some sort of potato dish, though I’m not sure what “farls” are (Americans probably know them, but call them a different name). <looking it up> What’s the difference between farls and boxty? In any event, I don’t think any of the B&Bs had those. Mostly, it was what Americans would call “home fries” or “hash browns”.
It might be worth noting here that my Ireland trip was entirely in the southern provinces, not Ulster.
I see in the ‘Foreign Foods’ aisle at the grocery store cans of Heinz Baked Beans imported from England. Very distinctive cans, I suppose that’s so British ex-pats here can find them easily. There must be dozens of flavors of baked beans on the shelves here, but the Heinz in that aisle stands out. Beans on toast sounds like a fill-em-up kids or working man’s meal, cheap and easy. We had them once a week growing up, with sliced hot dogs mixed in - Beanie Weenies.
I go out with different people for breakfast about nine or ten times a week, and have done so for the past tree-fitty years, and I have NEVER seen “Full English” in the States. Also have NEVER* seen black sausage, tomahtos (grilled or fried), baked beans, or chips/french fries at breakfast.
It’s really a shame, it’s my favorite thing about my trips to London. (Have I seen the Tower or Big Ben? Nope. Buckingham Palace? Nope. Eaten huge breakfasts and pub lunches? Every day)
*Well, NEVER minus one. Our local Irish pub put on the Big Irish Breakfast one summer during World Cup Soccer/Futbol games, many of which were airing at 6 am. Ahhh…
Speaking as someone from the Midwestern U.S., this, pretty much. If I heard the term, especially in regards to breakfast, I could probably suss it out, more or less, but it’s not a term that gets used, at all, in my experience.
I’m a bit more familiar with the concept of an Irish breakfast, though that’s a function of (a) having visited Ireland, and (b) having a number of Irish pubs / restaurants in our area.
We do a Full English around Casa Silenus every couple of months, missing only the black pudding, which neither of us are fond of. With English beans, too. American beans are a different flavor and don’t really go with breakfast. At the very least we’ll have EBCB if we don’t feel like messing with the tomatoes and mushrooms. HP sauce on the table and a pot of tea. You just can’t have it too often.
It’s not a regular thing for most British people either, to be honest. A weekend hangover cure for many, I suspect. People with physically demanding jobs tend to pre-load at breakfast though.
I’ve seen "continental breakfast " used in the US - but I’ve never seen either “English breakfast” or “American breakfast”. Either the menu/sign just says something like “2 eggs, any style, choice of meat” or different breakfasts have different names like at Cracker Barrel, where the Old Timers breakfast and the Sunrise Sample and Uncle Hershel’s breakfast . The closes I’ve seen to an English breakfast was on an cruise ship with an Irish pub themed restaurant. The breakfast had grilled tomato, baked beans and mushrooms, but it was called a breakfast platter or something similar- not an English breakfast.
I forget where I first heard about English Full breakfasts, but it was probably back in the '70s, even before I lived in Britain. I remember an episode of The Persuaders where Roger Moore served Tony Curtis one.
I suspect anyone who’s watched Fawlty Towers knows about them too.
I recently found Heinz beans in tomato sauce (“a la Britannique”) at a posh supermarket nearby. I was surprised how different they tasted, compared even to simple pork and beans. Truth be told, I found them to be pretty bland. They’d be much better with a shot of brown sugar or some maple syrup.
It’s a fpoon!
I have a question: I’m watching Jamie Oliver right now, and they were talking about going out for breakfast at a chippie. His guest said something like “I wanted beef early, eggs and chips.”
What the hell is “beef early”? Or did I mishear completely?
The Big Over-The-Top English Breakfast saved my life…
Landed at Heathrow, took the Tube then a long walk to my hotel, with a heavy backpack. Bait ‘n’ Switch by hotel chain (“Oh, so sorry. I know the web site said you’re in this quaint hotel, but you’re really in our new high-rise down the street.”) led to another walk.
New hotel not sure what to do about a room for me… I muttered “Look, you figure it out, I’m getting light-headed. I’m dropping my backpack in that closet and going for a walk before I faint.” Wandered outside, even dizzier, and THEN realized that on top of a day of airsickness and dehydration, I hadn’t eaten for 24 hrs.
And there it was… the quickly-scrawled sign in a cafe window: **Big English Breakfast • All day • With coffee • Come in! **
The plate was piled seven inches high with eggs, huge sausages, grilled tomahtos, baked beans and chips, and within minutes I was totally revived. I have never felt that huge of a change (both physically and psychologically) that quickly.
tl/dr: Praise be to the Full English Breakfast!
So some days you have both Breakfast and Second Breakfast, like a hobbit?
I’m familiar with the term “full English” from William Gibson’s Bigend trilogy, but, like digs, I’ve never seen it in the wild. Or not in the U.S., anyway.
Maybe it was shorthand for “I wanted beef earlier in the day than I’d normally have it”?
Not as common as here in Europe perhaps, but most “Irish Pubs” in large American cities offer them, maybe some only on the weekends, but it’s pretty standard Irish Pub fare, along with fish & chips, Shepard’s Pie and some abomination involving corned
beef.
I’ve been to a fair number of Irish pubs in the US; IME, “Irish Breakfast” is common, but I’ve not seen “full English” or “English Breakfast” at any of them. YMMV, of course.
Yes, I too would like to know how digs fits nine or ten breakfasts into the average week. Maybe it was a slip for “nine or ten times a month”?