The traditional full English breakfast, also called full, dates back to the early 19th century, during the Victorian era. It was served to the table of both the upper and middle class. During the industrial revolution, it became popular among workers, as it allowed them to recharge the necessary energy. The peak of the popularity of the English breakfast came in the middle of the 20th century, when millions of Britons started their day with it.
What can an English breakfast consist of?
A full English breakfast is called hearty for a reason - its essential ingredients are bacon, eggs, British sausages and toast, accompanied by tomatoes, mushrooms, canned beans, a slice of black pudding and, of course, a good cup of tea. The rich English also supplemented this breakfast with smoked halibut or salmon, stewed figs, pheasant legs, boiled tongue slices, kidneys served on toast, and pork pies. A frequent but optional part of an English breakfast is aromatic marmalade. Every British province has its own meat products, the kind that local farmers were proud of, for this breakfast. Traditional British sausages are especially varied in taste. So in Lincolnshire, they put a lot of sage in minced meat, in Manchester sausages they use a wonderful spicy composition of cloves, ginger, nutmeg and white pepper, and in Oxford sausages, in addition to traditional pork, tender veal is also contained in the filling.
Eggs for this breakfast are often served in the form of scrambled eggs, but it can also be poached eggs, scrambled eggs or "scramble egg", eggs "in a bag".
On the basis of the English breakfast, the breakfasts of the countries of the United Kingdom also emerged. Each of them contains local specialties, traditional cuisine. So a Scottish breakfast can include haggis, potato or oat cakes, Irish is always accompanied by soda bread, a full Welsh breakfast is unimaginable without lavercake - special oat cakes with seaweed.
Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish made from lamb by-products finely chopped with onions, lard and oatmeal.
Recipe for a hearty English breakfast
To prepare a traditional English breakfast, you will need:
- 2 minced pork sausages in a natural casing;
- 2-3 slices of bacon;
- 2-3 caps from large mushrooms;
- 3-4 cherry tomatoes;
- 1 chicken egg;
- 1 slice of toast bread;
- 100 grams of beans, canned in their own juice;
- butter and olive oil;
- salt and freshly ground pepper.
Start your breakfast by frying the sausages in a lightly oiled grill pan until golden brown. Start frying them over low heat, cook for about 15 minutes, then turn up the heat and fry for another 10 minutes. Place on a preheated plate and place in a warm oven. Then, in the same skillet, start frying the bacon. Cook it until crispy. Take it to the sausages. Wipe the mushroom caps with a damp paper kitchen towel, drizzle lightly with oil, pepper, salt and place in the pan with the leg facing up. Fry them for 2-3 minutes, then send them to meat products. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise, also season with oil, salt and pepper and fry, cut side down. Place on a plate in the oven. Make bread. You can use a toaster for this or fry them in a pan. In a special frying pan for omelets and scrambled eggs, melt a slice of butter and fry the egg so that the white grabs and the yolk remains runny. Simultaneously heat the beans slightly in the microwave or in a saucepan. Brew tea. Remove the plate with bacon, sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes from the oven, put scrambled eggs and toast on it, add beans. Serve with freshly brewed tea.
