The primary reason that i am against fried black pudding is that it uses up all the oil to fry the bread in!
Don’t forget that he pudding is already cooked and as such all you are doing is warming it up.
Am I alone in the heresy of preferring tinned tomatoes to fresh ones?
Nope. I’m with you. I love tinned tomatoes!
Although I do seem to be alone in my nauseated abomination of frazzled, snotty eggs.
Yukity yuk yuk yuk
If a fried egg which isn’t hard of yolk and non-frilly of edge, I would give it to the dog.
Note to self - Get dog
Heh - we’ve been having a sort of similar discussion in this thread about British food…
Some are gonna argue with me, but I think that if you want the full English breakfast experience, you need English-style sausages. Although English breakfast sausages look very much like American ones, the taste and texture is not the same.
American sausages tend to “pop” when you cut into them (probably due to the casing) but still require a knife to eat. They’re “meaty”. English sausages don’t “pop” nearly as much as don’t really require a knife to eat. I’m guessing that this is because most English sausages contain a fair amount of bread crumbs. To me, English sausages tend to be almost “mushy” compared to American ones.
Also, American sausages tend to be “spicy” in flavor - lots of sage and pepper - while English ones are much more mild. They get most of their flavor from herbs, not spices.
Several online places sell good English sausages, but for best results, look for a local butcher. I’m lucky enough to live in the same city as this store, which carries a nice range of sausages and meat pies, etc (check the “frozen” link.
Not at all; indeed a good tinned tomato (firm, flavourful, deep red with no attached tatters of skin is often a better option in a catered full engligh (in a hotel perhaps), than an acrid pithy, yet somehow mushy and slimy fried fresh one. I am particularly enamoured of fried bread soaked in the juices of hot tinned tomatoes.
Rex, thanks for that link! I have been craving meat pies and hadn’t found a place that would ship them. Nice selection!
Smapti, great idea for a thread. Let me know when breakfast is ready.
Woohoo! I just found out today that a Scottish Restaurant just opened in town, and they serve a Scottish Breakfast all day!
Ohhhhh baby…
I think I’ll start getting up earlier on workdays. Beats the hell out of cooking for one! I can just smell the black pudding…
I have experienced the Full Irish Breakfast, which sounds a lot like the Full English except we got coffee and finished it off with a neat shot of Paddy’s Whiskey, so help me. Maybe these were modifications to accommodate a tourist’s tastes and expectations. In any event it ballasted me for the rest of the day and I didn’t really feel like eating until about noon the next day.
In England we usually go for the half breakfast with tomatoes, soft boiled egg and that God Damned cold English toast. If nothing else cold, dry English toast is full justification for the American Revolution.
Don’t you people ever get any fruit in you?
For the black pudding, I’ve found that Polish kiszka is an adequate substitute (if you have a Polish deli nearby, they’re sure to have it.) I believe that some varieties of kiszka don’t have blood (particularly Jewish kiszka,) but I’ve always had it with blood. Otherwise, you can look for German blutwurst or French boudin noir. They are all very yummy, despite what it seems.
You all suck.
The kipper is by FAR the most important part. You’ve all given in to Greasy Spoonish.
Thanks for the great advice, everyone. I’m going to have to start hunting for a specialty butcher in this area where I can pick up some of the things you’ve mentioned.
A follow-up question on sausages, however - when I think of breakfast sausages, I think of eight-to-a-pound pork links with no casings. However, i’m getting the impression that an English “banger” is a bit more substantial than what we over here consider sausages to be. What kind of sausage should I be looking for? Can anyone give a recommendation as to a brand available in the States that will fit the bill?
Despite my recommendation, if you’re really looking for authenticity, links won’t fit the bill. Maybe try mail-ordering the bangers available here or here. There may also be a British-style butcher’s nearer you.
Why so little mention of Kippers? Never had one, but they get lots of mention in popular literature. Are they more Scottish than English?
Mmm kippers.
Smoked fish is certainly a speciality in Scotland (cf. Arbroath smokies), but they were indeed common in England a few decades ago. I have to admit, I only have them for breakfast occasionally, but they’re available for breakfast at the buffets of some more traditional hotels.
I eat them on toast, though I’m not sure if this is the ‘correct’ way of eating them. If prepared well, they’re delicious! Firm meat, a little salty, and the most fantastic smoky flavour.
For those of you who are having a heart attack just READING this … it’s very easy to do a healthy :rolleyes: version …
Grill a couple of low-fat sausages, a couple of rashers of lean back bacon, and two halves of tomato. Scramble a couple of eggs with no butter (I do them in the micro but they need careful watching, and removing whilst still runny). Tinned button mushrooms heated in the micro. One or two slices of toast with a scraping of low-fat spread, a splosh of any sauce which takes your fancy (I like Worcester) … and one multi-vitamin. There ya go. 
Believe me, after several months of counting calories, it can really hit the spot and taste almost like the real thing. 
I do an English breakfast all the time at home, modified a bit for what’s available in the States and in the nearest shops, and personal taste:
Fry one or two eggs in butter or margarine with a slice or two of thick, Canadian-type bacon (the stuff that looks like a thin slice of ham, not the crispy little strips of the usual American-style bacon). Since I don’t like fried bread, I’ll skip that and just make toast.
Two or 3 sausages (if not British-style, I’ll go for Italian-style, not Jimmy Dean), a fresh roma tomato cut in half, and a few white, fresh mushrooms sliced go on the grill while the above is frying.
Baked beans–Campbell’s, usually–after the eggs and bacon are done, remove them from the frying pan, wipe out the grease, and put a scoop of beans in to warm up while the toast is toasting and I’m removing everything else from the broiler to put on the plate. Then add the beans and dribble HP brown sauce over the whole thing (brown sauce is not that easy to find in the States, but can be obtained with some searching around; a good, big bottle can last awhile).
Serve with toast on a rack and suitable spreads, plus a pot of tea (English or Irish breakfast, of course) and a glass of orange juice; I have never developed a taste for the tiny glasses of highly acidic tinned juice served at most B&Bs in England, and have no idea if I could get hold of it here even if I wanted to.
I have travelled in England on and off for nearly 20 years now and stayed at all sorts of B&Bs, and have never seen a kipper offered for breakfast.
I’ve noted the same. In Scotland, I would usually get a choice of whether or not I wanted kippers with the breakfast. In England, they invariably came without.
For my 2p’s worth, black pudding is not only an important ingredient, it is an essential ingredient for a good FEB. My preference is for black pudding with oats as an ingredient - they taste soooo much nicer. And they must be fried! I am not a big fan of Wall’s products, but I have recently accepted that they produce the best black pudding known to man or beast. 1/4 inch and fried to death.
Bodswood:
Condiments: salt and pepper, **HP sauce ** (I suggest hiding the ketchup, since someone is bound to ask for it).
Would someone explain what HP sauce consists of?
Thanks, Jake
HP sauce is a bottled sauce, sort of like A1 steak sauce. The ingredients on my bottle say : malt vinegar, water, dates, glucose, molassses, tomato paste, salt, corn starch, onions, tamarinds, garlic and spices. I assume the HP stands for Houses of Parliament, since there is a picture of the Houses on the front. It’s easy to find in grocery stores here in Canada. The taste is like a cross between A1 and Worcestershire sauce. My bottle also has the royal seal “By appointment to Her Majesty the Queen”, so I feel all sophisticated 
These are my variations on the FEB and can be used in any combination.
Fried sausages, I like high pork content ones (90% maybe?) without to many herbs added. Fry them over a low heat for about half an hour to get that delicious sticky coating. They could be grilled or roasted for a healthier option.
Fried back bacon, smoked can add a nice dimension to the dish but as long as it is good and thick with a low water content it will be fine - don’t cook it too much though, crisp but not brittle.
Fried eggs are good but I often do scrambled or poached as a difference, again use good quality, free-range eggs.
Mushrooms should be fried in butter and I would use sliced or whole large, open capped field mushrooms. You could use quartered button mushrooms but I find them to be quite bland. Always add a bit of salt and pepper while cooking and cook off the liquid that comes out to concentrate the flavour.
Tinned tomatoes are excellent if you but them in a saucepan with some butter, salt and pepper and reduce the liquid by half. If not then fried or grilled fresh tomatoes are also nice.
other additions could be baked beans, black pudding (too far south to really get that but it is good) fried potatoe and onion, hash browns, fried bread, (I prefer toast to be honest) or maybe fried soda bread for the Irish vibe but always, always serve with a big mug of tea.
I don’t bother with a sauce if I have tinned tomatoes but if you eschew them and go for grilled then I second (or third) the ‘Daddies’ sauce option. In surmation the basic FEB (IMHO 'natch) is sausage, bacon, toast, eggs, tomatoes and mushies.