English breakfast

[JSD]

Working people, blue collar and northerners eat a substantial breakfast early, start work at 8am (farmers earlier), break for half an hour |"breakfast"0 at 10am, lunch 12.30-1pm, stop work at 4pm, go home for 5pm High Tea and maybe a snack before bed at 10pm.  Second breakfast at 10am is sacrosant, for example to the people doing building work on my house.

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We visited Scotland this summer, and had the full breakfast everyday. Only once did it include haggis. We were walking around a lot, and we never ate lunch, or the second breakfast, or tea, or a before bed snack! The big breakfast kept us going until dinner. Granted, we ate an early (7ish) dinner, usually. I was struck by the lack of hugely obese people I see daily at home.

BTW, I ordered bacon every single day, and was served ham instead!

My husband works with some Brits, and when they visited, they stayed at a hotel here in the US, where they were served the huge breakfast which included eggs, meat, pancakes, waffles, etc. They wanted to know if that's what Americans eat everyday!

[Carrot Top]

That and the lack of a satirical Smilie.

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< You mean like that?

Well....you know...I understand these things can be useful....but I have a vague fear of them.

My forebears are from Plymouth, in England. Cold rocky place I hear. Also hear you don't give up a smilie unless you think the occassion really warrants it.

These smilies must be literally forced out of me, kicking and quietly screaming (all internally, you understand). Don't want to be excessive, no, no.

Will practice today, in real life. Print out a few and walk round town flashing them at people as we pass.

Thank you...I feel so free now!

( )

But then again, maybe it was just the tankard of ale I scarfed down for lunch...

Edited October 14, 2004 by Carrot Top (log)

[OnlyTheBest]

In addition to haggis, the 'Full Scottish Breakfast' also can contain fried potato scone, white pudding and fruit pudding (like a slice of Christmas pudding, fried in bacon fat). By comparison the Full English is a meal for whimps on a diet.

If I could eat without consequence I would have a jugged kipper or smoked haddock with brown bread and butter (alternating with fried liver and eggs), Marmalade and toast to follow. Builders tea obviously.

But mostly I have a bannana and a coffee.

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Adam... what exactly is builders tea? I've not heard of that.

[Gary Marshall]

builders tea is exceptionally strong ie over stewed tea, very dark, but with milk

usually with the addition of about 2 tablespoons of sugar for that authentic building site flavour

cigarette optional

gary

[Adam Balic]

Gary is correct. Most brands will do (e.g. PG tips), as long as they are not too posh. I like builders tea, but I have "Barries" from Ireland which makes me a try-hard wanna-be I guess.

[Adam Balic]

My forebears are from Plymouth, in England. Cold rocky place I hear.

Funny I have always thought of it being warm and sunny, relative geography I guess.

[OnlyTheBest]

builders tea is exceptionally strong ie over stewed tea, very dark, but with milk

usually with the addition of about 2 tablespoons of sugar for that authentic building site flavour 

cigarette optional

gary

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That sounds like the way I have always had my tea....stands up to all that richness of eggs and meat. And yeah...gotta have that cigarette. mmmmmm

[Duncan]

What grade of proper oatmeal, there seems to be a large number of different types of the nasty stuff.

Pinhead preferably. It benefits from being soaked overnight and then microwaved until glutinous. Add salt if you are a jolly Scot, sugar for the Sassenachs (no idea what you would do with it: probably you'd throw it away).

[andiesenji]

My daughter and her family have been in Inverness, Scotland for four months and are enjoying the many varieties of tea cakes available. She sent me some Bell Heather honey that would make a slab of pine taste good. She said "they take their tea cakes seriously here" and so they should.

In spite of eating much more than when they were home (in northern California) they spent so much time walking that they have all lost weight.

I have been the recipient of a sheaf of postcards of the various castles, gardens, villages and kitchens they visited.

After reading them I too feel "a bit peckish"........

[slacker]

My daughter and her family have been in Inverness, Scotland for four months and are enjoying the many varieties of tea cakes available.  She sent me some Bell Heather honey that would make a slab of pine taste good.  She said "they take their tea cakes seriously here" and so they should. 

In spite of eating much more than when they were home (in northern California) they spent so much time walking that they have all lost weight. 

I have been the recipient of a sheaf of postcards of the various castles, gardens, villages and kitchens they visited. 

After reading them I too feel "a bit peckish"........

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....and for breakfast?

[Adam Balic]

QUOTE(Adam Balic @ Oct 14 2004, 11:55 AM)

What grade of proper oatmeal, there seems to be a large number of different types of the nasty stuff. 

Pinhead preferably. It benefits from being soaked overnight and then microwaved until glutinous. Add salt if you are a jolly Scot, sugar for the Sassenachs (no idea what you would do with it: probably you'd throw it away).

Throw it away? I would have to have bought it first. Actually, you have just remined me of another great breakfast (OK, I have had it twice) item: Herring coated in pinhead oats, fried in bacon fat. Deeee-lish.

[Foodie_Penguin]

how a nation continued to perpetuate its existence by contributing to the gene pool after consuming a breakfast with fried eggs, fried bacon, blood pudding, smoked kippers(does anyone else remember the smoked kipper episode in fawlty towers?) AND devilled kidneys is beyond me. apparently, its great after a particularly indulgent evening at the bar. this was demonstrated by a very puzzled french chef at school. the full english breakfast, that is..

i mention this to a friend of mine whom i assumed was english(apparently not. "i am SCOTTISH", he objected)...and i found out that there is such a thing as a 'full scottish' which includes haggis. *cough* then i get thumped on the back and he casually mentions..or just a "bowl of porridge with salt". pause. "splash of scotch, optional"

what do the english *really* have for breakfast?

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When I stayed at a hotel in Scotland a few years back, at breakfast I had the Scotish breakfast. It differs to the full English breakfast because it featured lovely Scottish kippers and porridge, both of which I love.

Sadly, haggis wasn't offered in my Scottish breakfast but I would have gladly eaten some (I miss it so much).

The English breakfast on the other hand is pretty much a hearty meal with the bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato, mushrooms, baked beans, toast (no fried bread for me, thanks) and lashings of brown sauce (not fond of this myself). Blood pudding is also featured but I think it might be more of a Northern England feature.

Foodie Penguin

[Duncan]

Throw it away? I would have to have bought it first. Actually, you have just remined me of another great breakfast (OK, I have had it twice) item: Herring coated in pinhead oats, fried in bacon fat. Deeee-lish.

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Now you're talking!

[Gary Marshall]

Blood pudding is also featured but I think it might be more of a Northern England feature.

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whilst it is obviously made of blood, pigs usually, we call it the more paletable 'black pudding'!

the heartland for this is Bury, Lancashire. It's certainly available all over the UK .

cheers

gary

[Marco_Polo]

While we're on the subject, what about the unpalatable sounding hog's or white pudding. It seems to be popular here in the West Country, but it looks and, well, sounds so bloody disgusting that I've never tried it, never seen it as an option in a fry-up anywhere, nor do I know anyone who has ever admitted eating. But my butcher has it so someone must buy and eat it on a regular basis. Don't think it's a northern thang, so anyone down this way care to enlighten me on what I've been missing all these years.

Needless to say this hog's or white pudding seems to bear no resemblance or relation whatsoever to that most sublime, creamy, finely textured delicacy, the boudin blanc.

Come to think of it, black pudding has become a trendy item that appears more and more regularly just about everywhere, so I wonder: could white pudding be the next big thing?! When GR starts waxing lyrical about it, then I know we're doomed.

MP

Edited October 19, 2004 by Marco_Polo (log)

[Adam Balic]

Scottish white pudding would be pinhead oatmeal, suet, onion, spice, salt. It is actually rather nice, sort of crumbly and nutty. I prefer mine deep fried. Not sure about the pansy Southern types.

[Marco_Polo]

Scottish white pudding would be pinhead oatmeal, suet, onion, spice, salt. It is actually rather nice, sort of crumbly and nutty. I prefer mine deep fried. Not sure about the pansy Southern types.

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Um, er, you mean, in effect, a big sausage casing stuffed full of fat (with a bit of this and that)? 'Fraid that's what I always suspected. 'Fraid that's what it always looked like. But obviously I was missing the master stroke of genius: deep fry the sucker! Yum yum now I know what I've been missing . . . better pop right out and get some . . .

While we're on the subject of British food phobias (mine), it's not particularly a breakfast food, but another thing that's always scared the shit out of me for, what, nearly a quarter of a century are those jars of pickled eggs you see on the bar top counter at least of my local, the Bridge Inn. I've always imagined it was the same jar, still sitting there after 25 years or more. I've never seen anybody eat one, though apparently some people do. Don't tell me, Adam, you like 'em deep-fried . . .

[Adam Balic]

Actually I occassionally have a pickled egg with a pint. The white is a little rubbery, but the yolk is nice and creamy.

RE: White pudding. It is ~30-40% fat (it is mostly oatmeal), which is lower then many of the delicious Spanish Chorizo that I have been eating. I wouldn't eat a white pudding every day or even every month, but I think that an occasional one is much better then a steady diet of garbage filled ready-meals or for that matter regular Chicken Tikka type curry.

[Marco_Polo]

I wouldn't eat a white pudding every day or even every month, but I think that an occasional one is much better then a steady diet of garbage filled ready-meals or for that matter regular Chicken Tikka type curry.

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Hey steady on, Adam, is that what you think we whitepuddinghaters live on down here in the soft pansyish southern underbelly of Britain? Ready meals and chicken tikka? Never touch a ready meal, myself, not particularly fond of chicken tikka either. And don't misunderstand: I'm not fat phobic, believe me, actually love the stuff, cub's honour. Extra virgin olive oil, glug it by the litre; duck fat, can't get enough of it; the charred ridge of fat on a nicely fire-grilled aged sirloin steak, best bit of all; roast pork scratching, crispy and salty and dripping in oil, one of the greatest foods on earth; deep-fried local cod, deep-fried local scallops, hell, deep-fried anything at all (but not a Mars bar, pu-leeease), thank you very much. But some things you gotta draw the line at. Some things just don't seem worth even trying. And that sausage casing of, what, 40% solid white suet - looks like a whole lot more to me - well, it just doesn't inspire me. Honestly, I can say with my hand on my heart that I don't think I'm ever going to be a hog's pudding aficionado . . . though never say never.

Now Moby if you're reading this, I'm sure you'll take me to task and describe the most amazing things you can do with it, to make the proverbial silk purse out of, well, a sow's pudding . . .

[slacker]

Um, er, you mean, in effect, a big sausage casing stuffed full of fat (with a bit of this and that)? 'Fraid that's what I always suspected. 'Fraid that's what it always looked like. But obviously I was missing the master stroke of genius: deep fry the sucker! Yum yum now I know what I've been missing . . . better pop right out and get some . . .

While we're on the subject of British food phobias (mine), it's not particularly a breakfast food, but another thing that's always scared the shit out of me for, what, nearly a quarter of a century are those jars of pickled eggs you see on the bar top counter at least of my local, the Bridge Inn. I've always imagined it was the same jar, still sitting there after 25 years or more. I've never seen anybody eat one, though apparently some people do. Don't tell me, Adam, you like 'em deep-fried . . .

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Agreed. I once heard a story about a stag night when one or two of them went missing...in the sort of place you wouldn't expect them to go missing. (Where's the green sicky smilie?)

Not strictly breakfast, I grant you.

[Adam Balic]

Hey steady on, Adam, is that what you think we whitepuddinghaters live on down here in the soft pansyish southern underbelly of Britain? Ready meals and chicken tikka? Never touch a ready meal, myself, not particularly fond of chicken tikka either. And don't misunderstand: I'm not fat phobic, believe me, actually love the stuff, cub's honour. Extra virgin olive oil, glug it by the litre; duck fat, can't get enough of it; the charred ridge of fat on a nicely fire-grilled aged sirloin steak, best bit of all; roast pork scratching, crispy and salty and dripping in oil, one of the greatest foods on earth; deep-fried local cod, deep-fried local scallops, hell, deep-fried anything at all (but not a Mars bar, pu-leeease), thank you very much. But some things you gotta draw the line at. Some things just don't seem worth even trying. And that sausage casing of, what, 40% solid white suet - looks like a whole lot more to me - well, it just doesn't inspire me. Honestly, I can say with my hand on my heart that I don't think I'm ever going to be a hog's pudding aficionado . . . though never say never.

Suet definately has to hire a better PM team. It's it is fat, connective tissue and a little water flavoured with the essence of beef/lamb. Makes excellent like flaky pasty (in the right hands), not to mention puddings and if we are speaking of breakfasts, try lambs kidneys encased in fat, trimmed to 0.5 cm all about, scored and rubbed with cumin, flour and salt, slow roasted until the fat is gone and the tender kidney is encased in a crispy layer of deliciousness. Eat with decent toasted bread and thank the Lord for you good fortune.

[Stephen B]

While we're on the subject of British food phobias (mine), it's not particularly a breakfast food, but another thing that's always scared the shit out of me for, what, nearly a quarter of a century are those jars of pickled eggs you see on the bar top counter at least of my local, the Bridge Inn. I've always imagined it was the same jar, still sitting there after 25 years or more. I've never seen anybody eat one, though apparently some people do. Don't tell me, Adam, you like 'em deep-fried . . .

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It's a pickled boiled egg. Boiled egg plus vinegar plus a bit of spice. How could it scare anyone? Marco: next time you're in the pub buy one and eat it. If you don't like it, never buy another one. Hang on, I've a better idea: next time you're in a supermarket, buy a jarfull. If you don't like them, give them to me.

There was that time in Ye Olde Woolpacke when I asked for an egg, and the barmaid served it on a plate complete with a cocktail stick. I laughed so hard and long that Mrs Stephen wouldn't go in that pub for years.

Stephen