English Breakfast

When I was at university in Sheffield, me and my friends used to pile into a place called Belly Busters after one of our weekly seminars and devour bacon baps, fried egg baps, and the occasional full English. The place was basically a mad house.

There was a dog that ran free in and out of the kitchen (hygienic) and on more than one occasion “escaped” out the front door and bounded into the busy street. Cue lots of drama and yelling. We loved that place.

The kind of full English breakfast they served was proper good stuff. No frills, no fancy ingredients; just lots of lard, runny eggs, and fried bacon. That may not sound like your cup of tea but it.was.the.business.

A few months ago I discovered real English bacon at my local food co-op in Minneapolis. This had previously been unheard of in these parts. I may have shrieked and embarrassed my husband, and I may have panic-bought way more than was necessary. The point is, I found a little slice of home.

If you google “full english breakfast” a few variations on the classic will come up and my version is of course a variation too. It’s all about where you grew up, what your family traditions are, and what you happen to have in the fridge. Plus, how bothered you are about gaining 8 pounds after one meal.

I used to make my full English at home with lard – it was really common in England for a long time, although it’s gone completely out of vogue now. Pah. Healthy eating.

Your Full English should include at least bacon (preferably English back bacon) and/or sausages (Cumberland for me, please), eggs (mine’ll be sunny side up and runny), toast or fried bread and most definitely some of the following:

baked beans
fried mushrooms
fried tomato
black pudding
a mug of milky tea

Cooking a full English might read like a bit of a nightmarish juggle, but I promise it’s easy as can be. Bacon and sausages are very forgiving and personally I like them with browned edges so don’t worry if you’re waiting for things to come together. Get things going in the right order and you’ll be dandy.

Full English Breakfast
serves one

Ingredients

• 2 rashers of English bacon
• 2 English sausages, if you can find them
• 1 tomato
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup baked beans
• 1 slice bread, to toast
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil
• H P Sauce (otherwise known as brown sauce), as desired