The Full Irish Breakfast - Finscéalach!

[magnusfide]

Time to see about going to Ireland and the British Isles again. They know how to do breakfast!

"THE FULL IRISH" BREAKFAST

There is an old motto that says “Eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper” meaning it is wise to start the day with a large cooked breakfast. Such a motto could very much be applied to the traditional full Irish Breakfast.

A large cooked breakfast of meat (bacon, sausages and black and white puddings), eggs, vegetables and potato all fried in creamery butter, it is served with a generous helping of homemade Irish soda or brown bread for soakage and washed down with a strong cup of breakfast tea such as Barry or Lyons tea (depending where you are) and a glass of orange juice.

It is a meal that was traditionally concocted to prepare one for a full days heavy duty work on the farm on a cold winter morning and was comprised of the best local and homemade farm produce all cooked in butter in a frying pan.

While today it is not possible to be eaten on most work mornings, the traditional full Irish serves as a staple treat for most households to indulge in on a lazy Sunday morning whilst reading the Sunday papers. And it is not just confined to mornings, it is a meal that can be eaten at any hour of the day depending on your liking.

While opinion may be divided on what constitutes an Irish breakfast from household to household the main ingredients remain the same, with the very best of Irish local ingredients comprising of meats such as good loin bacon or rashers, best of local sausages, black and white puddings (which are a type of sausage made up of pork meat, oats and spices and pork blood (in the black pudding)) eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and cold cooked potato or potato bread (optional) all being used. These ingredients are then fried in a little knob of Irish butter in a frying pan and served with a helping of homemade bread, butter and jam at the side and finished off with a cup of tea or orange juice.

For visitors to the country a stay in Ireland wouldn’t be complete without first sampling the Irish breakfast whether it be the full version or a mini half portion. It is a meal that will fill you up and enable you to have the energy to make the most of a full days travel around the countryside.

For the adventurous types who wish to sample the local produce here is a simple recipe for the traditional Irish fry-up

Recipe
Serves 4
Pack of Irish bacon or rashers
Pack of Irish local Sausages
Black and white Pudding
400g of baked Beans
4 Eggs
Mushrooms
4 medium Tomatoes halved
Potato Farl or boxty or some cold cooked potato leftovers from yesterdays dinner (traditionalists only)

Served with a side of
Thick slices of soda or traditional Irish brown bread.
Irish creamery butter
Jam (optional)
Breakfast tea
Orange juice

Instructions
Place a frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat and melt a knob of good Irish creamery butter. Add the rashers and fry them until they are cooked to your liking (irish style cooked but not crispy). Set aside on a warmed plate in the oven to keep warm and fry the sausages in the frying pan. Once cooked add them to the rashers on the warmed plate.

Meanwhile slice the puddings, half the tomatoes and chop up the mushrooms and add to the frying pan, frying until they are browned on all sides. Again, once finished add to a warmed plate in the oven.
While you are frying the puddings, mushrooms and tomatoes, on a separate saucepan on another hob you can heat the baked beans if using.

If going the traditional route and using potato bread or indeed using cold cooked potatoes add it to the frying pan and cook as to your preference.

After finishing with the vegetables and puddings one can next fry the eggs in the same frying pan. Once finished with the eggs, one can now add all the cooked ingredients together and serve on 4 plates.

To serve
Serve with some thick slices of homemade Irish bread loaf be it soda or brown bread. For an extra touch have a little side dish of homemade jam and Irish creamery butter for a choice of a sweet topping to the bread to eat afterwards with your tea.

Wash down with a strong cup of Breakfast tea be it Barrys or Lyons tea depending on your local ties. A healthy side glass of orange juice is optional.

http://www.discoveringireland.com/the-full-irish-breakfast/

[NYCgrrl]

skrams wrote:

obgraham wrote:
That menu might lead to a short life, but it certainly would be an enjoyable one!

FYI, we don't eat like that every day!

Which is why you are still here;).

I'll admit I'm weird about breakfast despite knowing that most nutritionists say it's THE one meal we should eat everyday, I rarely do. Fortunately, over the years, I've brainwashed the man into thinking he doesn't want to eat breakfast either.
We all have our little quirks.

[skrams]

obgraham wrote:
That menu might lead to a short life, but it certainly would be an enjoyable one!

FYI, we don't eat like that every day!

[NYCgrrl]

Only one member of my family from what US residents call the South. She was from VA and came to realize there was a whole other South past FL;).

Certainly, there is a G.B. influence in American food but Southern food as I've heard it postulated among food historians and foodies is a melange of many cultures from around the world. Can't think of one ethnic or cultural group that can say "Yeah sure. This is all us".

Some of my ancestors died young of natural causes; don't want to join them on that part of tree. Or even revel in the whys because we do have choices and a lifestyle that they did not. And actually bore many... fortitudes so we wouldn't.

[magnusfide]

W4RLR wrote:
Southern men may die young from the Southern diet, but in the words of Lewis Gizzard, they die HAPPY!.

All the Southern men in my wife's family lived into their 90s eating fried, larded Southern delicacies washed down with generous amounts of alcoholic beverages. Genetics play a huge role too. We should all die happy anyway since we're all going to die sooner or later. :c

[W4RLR]

magnusfide wrote:

W4RLR wrote:

I miss the Southern style breakfasts my dear departed father used to prepare when we were camping when I was a kid. Lots of eggs prepared anyway you liked them, grits, bacon, sausage, and Alabama ho-cake (fried pan bread). Coffee, milk, and juice to drink. It smelled so good in the morning neighboring campers would come by for a cup of coffee. Dad wound up feeding them, too.

Herself is from the South and she tells me that not just her own ancestors but many indigenous Southern families have Irish blood. Apparently there was a huge immigration of the Irish to the South to leave impoverished Ireland. Foodists postulate that Southern cooking style came from the Scottish and Irish immigrant families. And that is your food factoid for the day.:C

Whatever it is I'll vote for it. :B

True. My family is Scots-Irish and has been in Northeast Alabama for several generations. I've traced the lineage back to the late 1700's. Lots of Scots-Irish influences in Southern cooking. Southern men may die young from the Southern diet, but in the words of Lewis Gizzard, they die HAPPY!.

[magnusfide]

W4RLR wrote:

I miss the Southern style breakfasts my dear departed father used to prepare when we were camping when I was a kid. Lots of eggs prepared anyway you liked them, grits, bacon, sausage, and Alabama ho-cake (fried pan bread). Coffee, milk, and juice to drink. It smelled so good in the morning neighboring campers would come by for a cup of coffee. Dad wound up feeding them, too.

Herself is from the South and she tells me that not just her own ancestors but many indigenous Southern families have Irish blood. Apparently there was a huge immigration of the Irish to the South to leave impoverished Ireland. Foodists postulate that Southern cooking style came from the Scottish and Irish immigrant families. And that is your food factoid for the day.:C

Whatever it is I'll vote for it. :B

[W4RLR]

I'll pass on the black pudding, but everything else sounds wonderful!

I miss the Southern style breakfasts my dear departed father used to prepare when we were camping when I was a kid. Lots of eggs prepared anyway you liked them, grits, bacon, sausage, and Alabama ho-cake (fried pan bread). Coffee, milk, and juice to drink. It smelled so good in the morning neighboring campers would come by for a cup of coffee. Dad wound up feeding them, too.

[NYCgrrl]

After finishing with the vegetables and puddings one can next fry the eggs in the same frying pan. Once finished with the eggs, one can now add all the cooked ingredients together and serve on 4 plates.

Procure pickaxe and get to work,LOL.

[TexasShadow]

What!? No oatmeal? 🙂

[magnusfide]

obgraham wrote:
That menu might lead to a short life, but it certainly would be an enjoyable one!

Only if you're sedentary. Either way I'd die happy!

[obgraham]

That menu might lead to a short life, but it certainly would be an enjoyable one!

[skrams]

Wish I was home!

[Skipper_Rod]

Now I need to get back to Ireland!!