Full breakfast

A full breakfast is a substantial cooked breakfast meal, often served in the United Kingdom and Ireland, that typically includes back bacon, sausages, eggs, black pudding, baked beans, some form of potato, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, and a beverage such as coffee or tea. It appears in different regional variants and is referred to by different names depending on the area. While it is colloquially known as a "fry-up" in most areas of the UK and Ireland, it is usually referred to as a "full English" (often "full English breakfast"), a "full Irish", "full Scottish", "full Welsh", and "Ulster fry", in England, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, respectively.

It is so popular in Great Britain and Ireland that many cafes and pubs offer the meal at any time of day as an "all-day breakfast". It is also popular in many Commonwealth nations. The full breakfast is among the most internationally recognised British dishes along with bangers and mash, shepherd's pie, fish and chips, roast beef, Sunday roast and the Christmas dinner.

On its origin, '' Country Life'' magazine states, "The idea of the English breakfast as a national dish goes right back to the 13th century and the country houses of the gentry. In the old Anglo-Saxon tradition of hospitality, households would provide hearty breakfasts for visiting friends, relatives and neighbours". The fried breakfast became popular in Great Britain and Ireland during the Victorian era, and appears as one among many suggested breakfasts in home economist Isabella Beeton's '' Book of Household Management'' (1861). Its popularity soared post–World War II and became a staple of the working class. The protein-centric full breakfast is often contrasted (e.g. on hotel menus) with the lighter, carbohydrate-based alternative of a continental breakfast.

Variants

Great Britain and Ireland

England

The "traditional" full English breakfast, includes back bacon (or more rarely, streaky bacon), sausages (usually pork or Cumberland), eggs ( fried, poached or scrambled), fried or grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms ( button or Portobello), and fried bread. Black pudding and baked beans are also very frequently included, and very rarely bubble and squeak: potato products are not generally included in a full English breakfast. Buttered toast, and jam or marmalade are often served at the end of the meal although toast is generally available throughout the meal. In recent years, hash browns have become a popular inclusion. In the North Midlands, fried or grilled oatcakes sometimes replace fried bread. The food is traditionally served with tea or coffee, as well as fruit juices.

As nearly everything is fried in this meal, it is commonly known as a "fry-up". As some of the items are optional, the phrase "Full English breakfast", "Full English", or " Full Monty" often specifically denotes a breakfast including everything on offer. One theory for the origin of the latter name is that British Army general Bernard Montgomery, nicknamed 'Monty', was said to have started every day with a "Full English" breakfast while on campaign in North Africa during the Second World War.

Breakfast cereal (or porridge), often precedes the breakfast dish, and the meal typically concludes with buttered toast spread with marmalade, jam, honey or other conserves, together with additional tea and coffee.

Ireland

In Ireland, as elsewhere, the exact constituents of a full breakfast vary, depending on geographical area, personal taste and cultural affiliation. Traditionally, the most common ingredients in Ireland are bacon rashers, pork sausages, fried eggs (or scrambled or poached), white pudding, black pudding, toast and fried tomato. Sauteed field mushrooms are also sometimes included,Traditional Irish Breakfast recipe
from Barry's Tea as well as baked beans, hash browns, and brown soda bread. Fried potato farl, boxty or toast is sometimes served as an alternative to brown soda bread. Limerick in particular has a long-standing traditional association with pork-based meat products.

The " breakfast roll", consisting of elements of the full breakfast served in a French roll, has become popular in Ireland due to the fact it can be easily eaten on the way to school or work. The breakfast roll is available from many petrol stations and corner shops throughout Ireland.

In Ulster, the northern province in Ireland, an "Ulster fry" is a dish similar to the Irish breakfast, and is popular throughout most of the province (chiefly in Northern Ireland and parts of County Donegal), where it is eaten not only at breakfast time but throughout the day. Typically it will include soda bread (soda farl) and potato bread."Is the Ulster fry the best cooked breakfast in the UK?"
BBC. Retrieved 29 October 2018

Similarly to the breakfast roll seen in the rest of Ireland, "filled sodas" are found throughout Ulster, which usually consist of a soda farl shallow-fried on one side and filled with fried sausages, bacon or eggs. Fried onions or mushrooms are usually added upon request. Filled sodas are a popular choice for breakfast from roadside fast-food vendors.

Scotland

In Scotland, the full breakfast, as with others, contains eggs, back bacon, link sausage, buttered toast, baked beans, and tea or coffee. Distinctively Scottish elements include Scottish style or Stornoway black pudding, Lorne sausage (sometimes called a "square" for its traditional shape), Ayrshire middle bacon and tattie scones. It commonly also includes fried or grilled tomato or mushrooms and occasionally haggis, white pudding, fruit pudding or oatcakes. Another more historical Scottish breakfast is porridge.

Early editions of ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'' referred to a ''Scotch breakfast'' as "a substantial breakfast of sundry sorts of good things to eat and drink".

Wales

As in the rest of Britain and Ireland, the composition of a full Welsh breakfast ( cy, Brecwast llawn Cymreig) can vary. However, with the new-found appreciation of Welsh food and recipes in the early 21st century, there have been attempts to establish a broad definition.

The traditional Welsh breakfast reflects the coastal aspect of Welsh cuisine. Two key ingredients that distinguish the Welsh breakfast from the other "full" variations are cockles ( cy, cocs) and laverbread ( cy, bara lafwr or bara lawr) (a seaweed purée often mixed with oatmeal and fried). Fried laver with cockles and bacon was the traditional breakfast for mine workers in the South Wales Coalfield, but a breakfast may have also included Welsh sausages, mushrooms and eggs.

Full Welsh Breakfasts are accompanied by traditional breakfast drinks, with Welsh tea a ubiquitous choice. Today, as they are often served throughout the day in public houses or inns, Welsh beer or ale is not uncommon. Modern alternatives to the traditional full breakfast will often develop the traditional seafood theme. Smoked fish such as sea trout or sewin may be served accompanied with poached eggs.

North America

This style of breakfast was brought over by Irish and British immigrants to the United States and Canada, where it has endured. A full breakfast in these countries often consists of eggs, various meats, and commonly one type of fried potatoes – hash browns, home fries, potatoes O'Brien, or potato pancakes – and some form of bread or toast. Big breakfasts of this kind are most often served on special occasions or weekends only, owing to the time needed to prepare them and the calories involved. In the Southern United States, grits are typically included.

Canada and the US do not follow the trend of the rest of the Anglosphere, where tea is the usual hot beverage for breakfast, but rather both strongly prefer coffee, drunk black or with milk, cream, or sugar. Maple syrup is common to both nations, which have sugar shacks in their Eastern forests. Both nations have diners, and there the most common components are eggs, bacon and breakfast sausage served with one or two of either toast, English muffins, hash browns, home fries, pancakes, French toast or waffles. Omelettes are a dish where anything goes, and several kinds of cheese are added to the mix depending on the cook's desires, such as cheddar, Colby, Monterey Jack, and feta. Eggs Benedict originated in New York and bagels wherever Eastern European Jews settled, but both are now a staple in both countries.

There is great regional variety. Oatmeal, made with rolled oats, is commonly served at breakfast in much of Canada and New England, yet is generally replaced by grits in the Southeast, where the climate is too warm for growing oats, and eating oatmeal for breakfast has become more popular in that region only in the past fifty years. Biscuits leavened with baking powder or baking soda are a staple of the South and a component of biscuits and gravy. Country ham is very popular in every Southeastern state other than Florida and replaces Canadian bacon in recipes. Scrapple and pork roll are breakfast meats common to Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey, and the sausages eaten in South Texas and Florida are sometimes a type of chorizo. Country-fried steak is a dish that is popular in Texas, and steak and eggs are popular in much of the Midwest.

The West is usually the home of dishes like migas, huevos rancheros, and the breakfast burrito; all three are spicy because they contain sizable amounts of chili peppers. Both coasts of Canada and the United States serve smoked salmon for breakfast, and it is a staple in particular of First Nations of British Columbia. Eggs Sardou and eggs Neptune are local variations on eggs Benedict from Louisiana and Maryland that change out the Canadian bacon with artichoke and crabmeat, respectively. Midwesterners used to eat calf brains with their eggs, Southerners did the same with pork brains, New Englanders eat johnnycake, and Spam is a staple in Hawaii.

Hong Kong

A few establishments in Hong Kong offer all-day breakfast or brunch options (hybrid of English and North American items) from formal restaurants to low-frills establishments.

Foods included

The ingredients of a full breakfast vary according to region and taste. They are often served with condiments such as brown sauce or ketchup.“Stress-free full English breakfast”
BBC. Retrieved 30 October 2018

Some of the foods that may be included in a full breakfast are:

* eggs; fried, scrambled or poached
* fried or grilled bacon, also referred to as "rashers" or "slices"
* sausages or sausage patties
* white pudding
* black pudding
* kidneys, grilled or fried
* potato, either sautéed or served as chips, potato waffles, potato bread, potato cake, hash browns or röstis
* bread, usually toasted or fried
* soda bread/soda farl (common in Ireland, and available in both white and brown varieties)
* pancakes (in the US)
* baked beans
* fried or sauteed mushrooms
* fried, grilled, or tinned tomatoes
* fried haggis (in Scotland)
* oatcakes (in Scotland)
* fruit pudding (in Scotland)
* potato (or "tattie") scones (in Scotland and Ireland)
* sliced sausage, also known as Lorne sausage (in Scotland)
* spam, often fried in slices (in the UK; unusual)
* laverbread (in Wales)
* grilled smoked mackerel/kippers
* cockles (in Wales)
* hog's pudding (in Cornwall and Devon)
* corned beef hash (in the United States)
* grits (in the US)
* scrapple (in the US)
* English muffins or biscuits (in the US)
* bubble and squeak.

See also

* Builder's tea
* Cafe (British)
* Culture of the United Kingdom
* English breakfast tea
* Irish breakfast tea
* List of breakfast topics
* List of Irish dishes
* Mixed grill
* Northern Irish cuisine
* Welsh cuisine

References

Reference bibliography

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External links

Stress-free full English breakfast

Why the great British breakfast is a killer

{{DEFAULTSORT:Full Breakfast
Breakfast
British cuisine
Irish cuisine
Cuisine of Northern Ireland
Eggs (food)
Pork dishes
Food combinations
National dishes