Full English Breakfast 🥓🍳🇬🇧

Of course you can tell them to leave anything off and add anything extra if it's table service. The hotels that offer full English usually do it buffet style and you pick what you want anyway. Black pudding (the blood sausage) is great.

It’s the visual equivalent of those youtubers that edit their audio so that there is no pause between sentences.

Yes, R2.

His carbonara recipe is pretty frantic, too.

Also, I've never seen it made the way he makes it.

He created a paste out of the eggs and oil, then dilutes it with water.

Weird.

The steak and eggs looks delish!

That potato side dish looked tantalizing. He rinses off the starch and uses clarified butter for a higher smoke point, and ladles butter over the shredded potato as it cooks. I always associated that dish with Switzerland.

Looked it up and it’s supposed to be a Cornish thing.

He actually cooks the sunny side up eggs the way you are supposed to do it, R4.

Looks great but too many meats.

I never have black pudding on my full english.

Perfect combo is 2 sausage, 2 egg, 2 hash brown/rosti, 3 proper thick bacon, beans, mushrooms, 2 toast.

I'm a Brit and the Full English is a bit of an institution. Like any dish, there are regional variations and people will argue all day long what must or mustn't be included.

It's also not something we eat regularly. As someone said upthread, it's often associated with hotels or "greasy spoon" cafes. You might cook one at home for a special occasion or if you've got guests. Cooking the perfect fried breakfast is quite difficult as you need to get all the different elements cooked correctly in the correct order so they're all ready at the same time.

[quote] I'm a Brit and the Full English is a bit of an institution. Like any dish, there are regional variations and people will argue all day long what must or mustn't be included.

What's with the beans, tomatoes, and mushrooms?

I usually associate these things with lunch or dinner, but not breakfast.

The beans will leave you gassy, if you eat them first thing in the morning.

[quote] As someone said upthread, it's often associated with hotels or "greasy spoon" cafes

Any standard pub or bar serving food will serve a cooked breakfast up to 11am or midday.

R11 Those elements are a good example of the arguments people have about what should or shouldn't be in the breakfast. People lose their shit over whether or not they should be in a breakfast. Baked beans are very different from American beans.

R12 Are you talking about Wetherspoons? Cos most pubs don't even open till 11am and don't do breakfasts.

[quote] [R12] Are you talking about Wetherspoons? Cos most pubs don't even open till 11am and don't do breakfasts.

At least near me all the standard pubs that serve food will open for breakfast. That includes chains and independents.

R11 Don't see any issue, with tomatoes and mushrooms. They're often options for breakfast omelettes. And sometimes people who don't want fried potatoes or hash browns with their eggs are offered sliced tomatoes as a side. .. As for the beans, the British aren't the only ones who might serve something like that for breakfast. Go to Mexico and beans are almost always part of the traditional Huevos Rancheros (pinto, refried, or black). The tomato part on that dish is the pico de gallo.

People in the UK pretty much only have it at hotels or if they're eating breakfast out.

It's very rare I cook one myself but if I do, it'll always be for an evening meal, never at breakfast. It feels too heavy for a morning meal.

Full English/Scottish is an occasional indulgence. If it is made with really good ingredients it is delicious, but it’s too much unless you are a weightlifter or a lorry driver. I find it hard to move after eating it.

Baked beans are very different from American beans?

Um, they are as American as you can get—

Signed, Boston & New England

R19 Are you trying to tell me Boston Baked Beans isn't different from baked beans emptied from a can?

R20 They are different. But here in the states we also eat baked beans in the can. Think of the Bush’s brand.

Also the only people I know who eat beans in a can here in the states are black people. It’s not standard but we do when we are having a big breakfast for like special occasions.

I meant to stipulate canned beans as part of the breakfast meal.

Around the UK and Ireland, there are many regional variations on this kind of breakfast especially with the sausages. Obviously not called a ‘Full English’ outside of England. As others have said, it’s a mostly eat out thing usually in restaurants that specialise in breakfast and lunch and not open for dinner. There is one place near me that has over a dozen options including one called the ‘Protein and Iron Booster’ with extra bacon, sausage and blood sausage. You can always ask to leave the beans off if it’s not your thing. You may or may not be allowed to substitute anything, just depends on the place.

When I were a lad (I'm being northern, not illiterate), it was fried bread, not hash browns, which have taken over more recently

People argue vehemently over which is the best black pudding, but for me it’s Charles Macleod’s Stornoway black pudding, no question. The local supermarkets in Stornoway have huge displays of them because so many tourists want to take some home. It’s also available in quality butchers throughout Scotland.

Scrambled eggs have no place in a Full English.

There's also the Full Welsh over in Wales. It's pretty much the same, but includes something called laverbread, an edible seaweed. It can be spread on toast or sometimes it's mixed with oats and deep-fried to form a laverbread cake. (The laverbread might replace the black pudding.) The other item that's part of the traditional Full Welsh is cockles.

[quote] Around the UK and Ireland, there are many regional variations on this kind of breakfast especially with the sausages.

Does anyone know what kind of sausage he's making in the video?

I absolutely love that type of sausage, but it's not typically served here in the US (at least not where I'm from).

We only ever have that Jimmy Dean style of sausage in the tiny short log or round patty form.

But I almost never see the type of sausage featured in op's video, here in the US. It's hard to find at dining establishments, or even in the grocery store.

I’m telling you that baked beans are baked beans, in America. That’s what I’m telling you.

I'm sorry R28 but that breakfast just does not look appetizing.

From the blackish puddle on the plate, to those little twisty things, to the soggy tomato, to the jerky looking bacon.

The English Breakfast in the video looks so much better.

The blackish puddle is laver bread, a type of edible seaweed, and it is delicious.

The lack of potatoes was always odd to me. I mean they have chips with Everything.

Be careful of getting an English Breakfast at Fawlty Towers

I have beans with breakfast a lot - usually black beans scrambled with eggs. I don't fart all the time or anything like that. You queens need more fiber and vitamins.

Full English is disgusting. I can't imagine beans, tomatoes and mushrooms with my eggs and bacon. That blood sausage is revolting.

Two eggs, bacon or regular sausage, hashbrowns, toast or biscuit. As I'm southern sometimes a biscuit with gravy.

I generally dislike eating early so breakfast for me is more like brunch.

It's a full betrayal of my ancestors but I just can't with the blood sausage. I've tried. Nasty.

I remember at my London hotel buffet loving the English bacon and sausage.

I sort of mix the blood sausage with everything else. I can't eat it straight-up.

Blech, I can rarely get down a banana for breakfast. The thought of this is nauseating

Salmon for breakfast in Scotland —that’s it.

That Carbonara looks mouth-watering R3!

You'd need a nap after eating all that.

Could we have kippers for breakfast, mummy dear, mummy dear??

I'm that special creature, a Precious Vulgarian.

And an uneducated one. Except for my also being an emoji cunt.

[quote]I’m telling you that baked beans are baked beans, in America. That’s what I’m telling you.

Practice what you preach.

Nobody calls it blood sausage in the UK, it’s black pudding.

R45 makes no sense. They are baked beans, no geographic modifier needed.

Enjoy your bacon-in-the-round ham.

I LOVE baled beans, it’s one of my favorite parts of the English breakfast (which is generally called an Irish breakfast when you are in Ireland).

BAKED beans, I meant above.

Crossing the north Atlantic while eating a full English breakfast aboard Queen Mary 2, remains one of my favorite vacation memories.

[quote] Blech, I can rarely get down a banana for breakfast.

R39 = Karen Carpenter.

R50 doesn’t get out much…

I fancy a full English breakfast for my tea. But not this Gordon Ramsey shite.

But my Friday treat is a Gregg's breakfast roll - sausage, egg and bacon in a soft bap. I have a free one so tomorrow I'll get two, one with brown sauce, one with red sauce.

Gregg’s?! Why did you bring him up now?

[quote]Enjoy your bacon-in-the-round ham.

Whatever the fuck that means, we don’t call ham “bacon” here.

It means Canadian bacon as defined in the US. What the fuck do you mean by whatever the fuck?

No one actually likes it over “regular” bacon AFAIK.

R56 The best breakfast I ever had was in Victoria Canada.

They got to have 'em in Texas, 'Cause everyone's a millionaire

In the US we associate baked beans with BBQ.

I prefer the traditional Italian breakfast.

A cappuccino and a brioche.

There’s also a specific English breakfast- the Blackpool breakfast which consists of a cup of instant black coffee and a cigarette.

During the week I don't eat breakfast. Just coffee. Weekends I'll eat around 11ish. Food too early makes my stomach revolt.

R62 Thanks for letting us know this very important information.

You're welcome R63. The minutae of my day is fascinating.

Last time I was in London, here's what I got when I ordered the "full English" breakfast. It was a chain place (can't remember the name) near Victoria Station. I had them leave off the tomatoes since I don't care for them.

r51, the Berlin version of coffee and cigarettes for breakfast is called the Huren Frühstück

OP has never left his basement bedroom in his parent's house.

R66 That is in no way a Full English. I don't even know what to call it.

I'll see you cunts soon!

I thought British baked beans are similar to Campbell's Baked Beans which have a tomato base.

The very concept of breakfast is now forever ruined for me.

R66’s breakfast is a chef’s day off breakfast.

Potato wedges as part of a full English? Never.

Mind you a lot places are doing a breakfast tortilla wrap. That’s immigration for you.

[quote]The very concept of breakfast is now forever ruined for me.

Have you tried porridge?

[quote]Looks great but too many meats.

There's no such thing as too much meat.

A full Scottish is just the thing for a hangover.

R66 Is the very epitome of an American tourist being made a fool of and going home thinking he had some kind of genuine British experience.

Spain also has a breakfast dish with beans - "Alubias Fritas con Huevos" (Fried Beans with Eggs). The beans are typically a butter or white bean. The egg is typically poached, often a duck egg is used Chopped calabacin (Spanish zucchini) is usually part of it. You can find versions with tomato as well as crumbled bacon or sausage.

Weak tea r66 in every sense of the term

Well I don’t know about you old queens but this old queen is salivating at the prospect of a sausage smothered in brown sauce first thing tomorrow

This thread takes me back to my youth, pre-colon cancer, when I stayed at various gay-owned B&B's in New Zealand and Australia, where the hosts served me an equivalent of a Full English. Notably missing was the black pudding (not that I knew what that was at the time), but otherwise there were fried tomatoes and shrooms and beans, which seemed weird. Also, with the toast/fried bread came little packets of Vegemite. I loved all of it, except for the beans, which I like, but not in the morning.

As an American, breakfast meant sugar, sugar, sugar. A bowl of Fruit Loops with chopped bananas, sweetened yogurt, pancakes with maple syrup, toast with jam.

Years later, while visiting London, I stayed at a large, crappy hotel that had an elegant dining room where I had breakfast. All of the items mentioned above. The buffet was elaborate. I put one of those brown disks on my plate, not knowing what it was. It was fine. Would learn long after that it was pig's blood mixed with oatmeal. The food was so bad in England that I'd starve myself during the day and only eat the hotel "Full English" breakfast.

Have visited Canada many times. They call it Back Bacon, not Canadian Bacon. If you order a meal that includes potatoes, the server will ask if you want gravy, another non-morning substance for me.

Spent two weeks in Japan. Hotel breakfast was green tea, rice balls wrapped in seaweed, maybe a boiled egg, miso soup, and some sort of cold fish or eels. It was disgusting at first, but then I became addicted.

Due to digestive issues, am vegetarian now, but am currently craving a few bites of a Full English breakfast.

R80 Get a blog you boring cunt.

Who hurt you?

Yea—no shit. We didn’t ask for a low-rent gastro tour.

What’s breakfast?

R9 has it exactly right. No black pudding and no stewed tomatoes!

R80 How fascinating. Do go on.

Wow, R81.

You really are a nasty cunt, and that's saying something, by Datalounge standards.

This UK culinary boast is the equivalent of the Southern's US favorite, sweet tea.

Nobody is impressed and you should stop embarrassing yourself always talking about it.

R80, ignore the twats here and carry on celebrating a well travelled post cancer life.

R80, same illness. Dietary modification is essential. The parts of this I could eat are the eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and beans. Possibly the potatoes.

[quote] Well I don’t know about you old queens but this old queen is salivating at the prospect of a sausage smothered in brown sauce first thing tomorrow

Same here!

[quote]But my Friday treat is a Gregg's breakfast roll - sausage, egg and bacon in a soft bap. I have a free one so tomorrow I'll get two, one with brown sauce, one with red sauce.

My Greggs rolls were lush they were and I had a large latte with them.

This seems similar to an Irish breakfast, less the beans

Irish breakfast:

Egg

Sausage

Bacon

Toast

Guinness

Anti English grievance

What about kippers though, or are they just for St. Swithin's Day?

Full English gluttony.

Quite educational.

I checked. I can get everything, including the black pudding, within several miles of me. Just not motivated to make it

It's strange how certain dishes/foods become associated with a country.

I certainly don't know how hot dogs and burgers became synonymous with America. I feel like July 4th grills somehow led to this. Sure we eat burgers and sometimes hot dogs (German origination) at certain events - but a lot of countries have burgers and a sausage on a bun.

Then there's fast food - which again is default American somehow. We just had a car culture early on and it coincided with the Boomer youth movement in the 60's and 70's and the drive during that time for food convenience. It wasn't just fast food - it was frozen food, microwaved food, boiled in a bag food - and it permeated society when also more women went into the workforce and wanted time-saving food options.

The difference is that I don't hear ANY American talking about burgers, hot dogs or fast food with any pride. It is what it is - but most American's don't necessarily equate those with American food. Perhaps burgers. But we're certainly not boastful about fast food, burgers or hot dogs.

You hear time and again people from other countries talking about wanting to try the burgers, fast food, hot dogs - and nearly all Americans' reactions are like - why? We don't consider that good food - at all.

Whereas the English Breakfast is touted as some important cultural landmark - but it's really unimpressive and not original, except for the beans. Same goes for the typical Sunday English roast. It's just roast chicken and vegetables - a dish that many people had after church in other countries. Yet somehow the English claim that too.

R77 Besides that Spanish breakfast featuring beans, Spain also has a dish with "Morcilla" - which is what they call blood sausage or black pudding.

R99, American here. That was long-winded and full of generalizations.

R99 ---> TL;DR

I’ve tried various versions of the full English breakfast. I’ve usually enjoyed it. But the texture of the tomato always puts me off. Not sure how it’s prepared but it’s too damn mushy for me. (Though I’m happy to eat mushy peas.)

$7 vs $115 English Breakfast

R103 The tomato is fried in the same skillet -- why the breakfast is also called a "fry up." It's usually a smaller tomato, cut in half, so that the surrounding skin helps keep the shape of the tomato.

Yeah, it's called a "fry-up." That's what I remember my coworker from London calling it.

From Goggle AI: How do you improve on Full English Breakfast?

An "improved full English" typically refers to a traditional full English breakfast with higher quality ingredients, gourmet additions, and a focus on fresh, locally sourced produce, potentially including items like artisan sausages, free-range eggs, organic mushrooms, grilled halloumi, roasted tomatoes, and a variety of gourmet breads, all cooked with attention to detail and presentation. Key elements of an improved full English: High-quality meat: Opt for premium sausages with unique flavor profiles (like Lincolnshire or Cumberland), thick-cut, well-marbled bacon, and potentially a leaner, higher quality black pudding. Fresh vegetables: Grilled or roasted vine tomatoes, portobello mushrooms, asparagus spears, or even roasted red peppers. Elevated egg options: Poached eggs with hollandaise sauce, scrambled eggs with herbs, or a perfectly fried egg with a crispy yolk. Interesting sides: Grilled halloumi cheese, avocado slices, homemade baked beans with herbs, or a side of roasted sweet potatoes. Bread selection: Crusty sourdough toast, gourmet English muffins, or a selection of artisanal breads. Example "improved full English" ingredients: Meat: Free-range pork sausages with fennel, thick-cut smoked bacon, black pudding with herbs Vegetables: Cherry tomatoes on the vine, portobello mushrooms, grilled asparagus Eggs: Poached eggs with a herb hollandaise sauce Sides: Grilled halloumi, roasted red peppers, avocado slices Bread: Toasted sourdough bread with a balsamic glaze

This is how to fry sausages properly.

A giant hash brown?

[quote] Full English Breakfast

Followed by a HUGE English POOP!

We do not serve hash browns in a Full English.

What are the recommended potatoes?

👏 HASH 👏 BROWNS 👏 ARE 👏 ENGLISH 👏 CULTURE 👏

R112 That's a very difficult subject. "Bubble n Squeak" (fried cabbage and mash) is sometimes served as it'd be leftovers from the day before. You might get "tattle scones" in Scotland. In my experience, a potato dish is not traditional, but there are so many regional differences I'm not going to argue.

What kind of breakfast does McDonald's in the UK serve?

R115 American breakfasts. Pancakes, hash browns, overcooked eggs, horrible "patties". It bears no resemblance to what we would traditionally eat in the UK.

I think the best way to serve it is right in the skillet that everything was fried in. And that includes the toast. That's fried too. Spread a little butter on it, so it fries like the bread on a grilled cheese.

R117 How would you fry the bread in that pan? That's so staged and a terrible example of a Full English. And no-one in the UK has ever served a breakfast in the frying pan it was cooked in. We have plates.

R118 You fry the bread in the middle of the pan before you fry the eggs, then move and prop it on the side of the pan when it's time to fry the egg.

R119 No British person has ever done that.

This strikes me as at least twice the amount of food the average person can tolerate and something for a special occasion. I think the switch to beans and enormous sausages would be challenging fo most Americans who would miss their potatoes.

The white pudding that is sold in the US sounds good but is a lot of work if you make it yourself. This recipe, which I have no doubt is delicious, requires a sous vide and a grinder.

[quote[I think the best way to serve it is right in the skillet that everything was fried in. And that includes the toast. That's fried too. Spread a little butter on it, so it fries like the bread on a grilled cheese.

That is wholly impractical and unpleasant - you don't want the food to be sitting in the grease while you're eating it, you want it to be served on a hot plate.

I can imagine serving it in a skillet for wanky presentation purposes but eating it out of the skillet it has been cooked in leaves me retching.

I had my Wetherspoons breakfast this morning with 2 free coffee refills. Perfectly adequate.

r110, it's all fat and protein with very little fiber. Looks like it should be served with laxative pills on the side.

That Notorious Foodie guy can really put out some interesting plates with serious attention to quality ingredients. Not a bad looking guy either.

Can someone explain what in the hell this British guy is talking about?

He's completely manic, and a bit rambling.

But it ends with something about a full English breakfast.

Black pudding is hideous and most young Brits won't eat it. For me, this a Full English Breakfast:

Four slices of crispy smoked bacon

Two fried eggs

Two spicy Cumberland Sausages

Baked beans

Fried mushrooms

Fried tomatoes

Two slices of fried bread

Some of us Brits will also have chips (fries) on the side.

None of that is appetizing.You folks must be from Brit-land

It's delicious but I only eat it on a Saturday or Sunday around 11am instead of lunch. Nobody eats it every morning and then goes to work.

UK here.

I only have it if I am on a walking holiday and need a big breakfast to keep me going. Nobody eats like that every day.

The NHS recommends this English breakfast.

[quote]Wow, it looks good. But it's huge.

Words few on the Datalounge have ever heard IRL.

Gordon Ramsey's version of a healthy english breakfast is really impressive.

Amateur nutritional analysis: two bangers and four slices of bacon are double what your body needs. Processed meat is an extablished carcinogen. Choose one or the other or cut the amount in half. Look for a work-around for the fat associated with fried eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms. If you have an airfryer or convection oven, use that for the mushrooms and tomatoes. I understand loving fried eggs but use a safe nonstick pan. A better suggestion is poached eggs or an egg white scramble, possibly combining the tomatoes and mushrooms. Opt for whole-grain toast. Try to incorporate some fresh fruit into this. Baked beans are great for fiber. Find one with minimal sugar.

I realize this is not the traditional English breakfast but your health is everything.

I dated an English guy for a few years and he said he thought Americans did eggs much better than back home.

I love a good fry-up in the morning.

Too much food. It makes me ill just looking at it. Two slices of bacon is plenty of meat. You don't need that nasty sausage. Beans and mushrooms? 🤢

Fried bread is something I see mentioned in a lot of British books. What is it? Is it the same as French Toast? Is it served with syrup?

[quote] Too much food. It makes me ill just looking at it. Two slices of bacon is plenty of meat. You don't need that nasty sausage.

For me, sausage is the best part.

I can do without the "bacon," which to me isn't like American bacon. It looks more like Canadian bacon, which I hate.

Fried bread is fried in a skillet with some sort of fat.

For fried bread, we dump a slice of lightly toasted bread into the frying pan with the eggs and bacon and let it soak up the fat. Very unhealthy, I know.

[quote] I realize this is not the traditional English breakfast but your health is everything.

Thanks for the long lecture.

It wasn't a lecture. It was an attempt to suggest healthier alternatives.

One of the bakers on Bake-Off put black pudding (blood sausage) along with chorizo and goat cheese in her savory Chelsea buns this week.

That is disgusting R143!

The skinny version is two slices of grilled bacon with the fat cut off, one fried egg, two fresh baby tomatoes, baked beans, no fried bread or sausages, but that's the bare minimum. If you skip the fried egg and bacon it becomes a different meal.

The mushrooms are fine. Swap toast for fried bread and two eggs for one. Fry the eggs in a safe nonstick pan. Fine as brunch.

Heinous, no thanks

I wonder what we would consider American bacon to be here in Canada.

We have bacon and then peameal bacon or backbacon.

I guess “American bacon” would be scrapple or something.

I think the Brits call American bacon "streaky bacon."

R149 We do. We usually eat back bacon, which oddly mainly comes from Denmark.

no thanks

UK bacon is from a different cut of meat to American bacon. American bacon is similar to the streaky bacon we would use on the turkey breast at Christmas.

I recall reading in Richard Burton's diary his enthusiasm about eating breakfast in an American diner. It was the late 50s, and he was appearing on Broadway. Every morning he would stop by his local diner to have a breakfast, and soon the staff would know to start up his particular order as soon as he walked in the place. He would sit in a booth, read the paper, and eat the breakfast, and he raved about the experience. Can't remember exactly what his regular order was. He was Welsh, so he also love laverbread.

[quote]He was Welsh, so he also love laverbread.

That will go on his PERMANENT RECORD!

In the UK we don't have a standard type of bacon. Streaky and non streaky, smoked and non smoked are all available just about everywhere.

R155 That's completely true, but we ain't serving up streaky bacon at breakfast.

Blech at r143 's pic. Just because you CAN put a bunch of disgusting ingredients together, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Dump that concoction straight into the trash.

I find the breakfast objectionable because it is too much food and too much fat, I assume people aren't eating it everyday.

I have no problem with beans for breakfast...and I'm America.

I also, on occasion, have a breakfast burrito and you bet your sweet bippy I put refried beans in it (with eggs, cheese, bacon or sausage, sour cream).

Now I'm hungry.

R158 Of course we're not eating it every day. It would be like me assuming Americans are eating pancakes every day for breakfast and cheeseburgers and fries for lunch with a Thanksgiving dinner.

r160 But the fact that you eat it at all is sickening.

I didn't grow up on sugary cereals or pancakes/waffles for breakfast (pancakes were a once in awhile thing, and reserved for a Sunday family breakfast).

I prefer savory breakfasts.

R162 Thanks for letting us know.

Grits and toasts was the go-to in my house growing up. Savory grits with margarine. Not sugar. I had home training.

I think the food channels and TV commercials give you the impression Americans are gluttons eating giant waffles and the world's largest cheeseburger. Not true ot my life but maybe others disagree. I think of that as MAGA food for the less discerning.

So many anorexic queens on this thread.

So many anorexic queens on this thread.

R158, the only people who could eat a full English every day are manual workers. Anyone doing a less demanding job would soon get very fat. It’s an occasional treat for most. I prefer porridge.