Full breakfast:
A full breakfast[1] is a traditional cooked meal, typically and originally eaten at breakfast, though now often served at other times during the day (this is particularly true of the Ulster Fry, described below).
The full breakfast traditionally comprises bacon and eggs, although vegetarian alternatives exist and is popular throughout the British Isles and other parts of the English-speaking world. Depending on where it is served, it is called bacon and eggs,[2] a fry, a fry up,[3] The Great British breakfast,[4][5] a full English breakfast, a full Irish breakfast, a full Scottish breakfast, a full Welsh breakfast[6] or an Ulster fry.[7] The complement of the breakfast varies depending on the location and which of these descriptions is used.
[edit] Origin
E. Cobham Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, published in 1898, describes a full breakfast, calling it a Scotch breakfast.[8] He describes it as "a substantial breakfast of sundry sorts of good things to eat and drink."
[edit] Tradition
Many cafés and supermarkets serve the fry-up as an "all-day breakfast". The fry-up can be accompanied by orange juice and tea or coffee.
In hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, a full breakfast might include additional courses such as cereal, porridge, kippers, toast and jam or marmalade, kedgeree, or devilled kidneys. Fruit juice and dry cereal were added to the breakfast after 1950.[citation needed] The term "full breakfast" is used to differentiate between the larger multiple course breakfast, and the simpler continental breakfast of tea, coffee and fruit juices, with croissants or pastries.
[edit] Typical ingredients
The ingredients of a fry-up vary according to region and taste. The bacon, often called rashers, and eggs are traditionally fried, but grilled bacon, poached eggs, or scrambled eggs may be offered as alternatives. These are accompanied by toast. Some of the additional ingredients that might be offered as part of a Full breakfast include:
[edit] Regional variants
[edit] Full English breakfast
The normal ingredients of a traditional full English breakfast are: bacon, eggs, fried or grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread or toast, and sausages, usually served with a cup of tea. Black pudding is added in some regions as well as fried leftover mashed potatoes (called Potato cakes). Originally a way to use up leftover vegetables from the main of the day before, bubble and squeak, shallow-fried leftover vegetables with potato, has become a breakfast feature in its own right. Baked beans and hash browns are modern additions that have crept into many recipes.
When an English breakfast is ordered to contain everything available, it is often referred to as a "Full Monty", and often attributed to Field Marshal Montgomery, the prominent British military officer of World War II. However the OED states that "Perhaps the most plausible (explanation) is that it is from a colloquial shortening of the name of Montague Maurice Burton (1885-1952), men's tailor, and referred originally to the purchase of a complete three-piece suit".[9]
[edit] Full Irish breakfast
In Ireland, as elsewhere, the exact constituents of a full breakfast are matters of debate, depending on geographical area, personal taste and cultural affiliation. The most common ingredients are bacon (rashers), sausages, fried eggs, white pudding, black pudding and toast, normally accompanied with black tea and milk. Potato cakes are sometimes served as well. Although baked beans, fried tomatoes and/or mushrooms may sometimes be found served with a full Irish breakfast. The full Irish Breakfast is also known simply as a "fry" or a 'fry-up'.[citation needed] The Irish have also adopted the Breakfast Roll, a staple of the working class, even writing songs about them.
[edit] Ulster Fry
- See also: Culture of Northern Ireland
An Ulster Fry is a dish of fried food that is popular throughout Northern Ireland and the three counties of Ulster which lie in the Republic of Ireland (Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal). The Ulster fry is similar to the Irish fry.
A traditional Ulster fry consists of bacon, eggs, sausages (either pork or beef), the farl form of soda bread (the farl split in half crossways to expose the inner bread and then fried with the exposed side down), potato bread and tomatoes.[10] Other common components include mushrooms, wheaten bread or pancakes. All this is traditionally fried in lard.
The Ulster Fry is not considered solely a breakfast dish as it is often served for lunch and dinner in households and cafés around the province. Emigrants have also popularised the serving of an Ulster Fry outside Northern Ireland.
From 2001-2007, a BBC Two Northern Ireland ident used during opt-outs of the network schedule featured the BBC Two logo of a figure 2 eating Ulster Fry at a table.
[edit] Full Scottish breakfast
In Scotland, a square "sliced sausage" in the form of a patty slice, known as a Lorne sausage, Black Pudding, Fried Tomato, potato scones, oatcakes and fruit pudding might also be served, along with the foundation of Bacon and Eggs.
[edit] Full Welsh breakfast
The traditional Welsh breakfast include laverbread, a seaweed purée which is mixed with oatmeal, which is formed into patties and fried in bacon fat. Cockles are also often eaten.
[edit] North America
A full North American breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast and more is often referred to as a "country breakfast" in many areas of the USA's midwest. The terms "fry" and "full breakfast" are not generally used in North America, though hotels may distinguish between a "continental breakfast" and "North American breakfast." "Bacon and eggs" as a meal name was popularised in the United States by Edward Bernays in the 1920s and 1930s. In order to promote sales of bacon, he conducted a survey of physicians and reported their recommendation that people eat hearty breakfasts. He sent the results of the survey to 5,000 physicians, along with publicity touting bacon and eggs as a hearty breakfast.[11] In the Southern United States, it is typically known as a "big breakfast" or "Sunday breakfast," and usually consists of eggs; bacon, sausage, and/or ham or steak; grits, toast, and coffee, and may also include pancakes.
[edit] Central America
Important components of a Central American full breakfast are soured cream and refried beans. Other ingredients include, ham or sausage, and eggs, much like a full breakfast elsewhere. Either tortillas or toast are necessary while orange juice is often added as a drink.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ David Else, 2003, Britain, Lonely Planet, ISBN 1740593383: :"If you stay in B&Bs or visit a café during your visit to Britain, as you surely will, you'll just as surely come across the phenomenon known as the 'full breakfast'. The "full breakfast" is almost always called a "full English breakfast" and often shortened to simply "a full English". Around Europe a breakfast of this type is often termed as " an english breakfast" to distinguish it from a "continental breakfast". "A full english breakfast" usually consists of bacon, sausages, egg, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, sausage and fried bread. In B&Bs it's preceded by cereals, served with tea or coffee, and followed by toast, butter, jam and marmalade. In northern Britain (if you're really lucky) you might be served with black pudding - a mixture of meat, blood and fat, served in slices.... If you don't feel like eating half a farmyard, it's quite okay to ask for just the egg and tomatoes. In Scotland you might get oatcakes instead of fried bread. Some B&Bs and hotels offer other alternatives such as kippers (smoked fish) or a 'continental breakfast' - which completely omits the cooked stuff, and may add something really exotic like croissants or fresh fruit."
- ^ Fried Rashers of Bacon and Poached Eggs Recipe - Mrs Beeton Revisited from The Foody
- ^ BBC NEWS | UK | R.I.P. Full English Breakfast
- ^ The Great British Breakfast
- ^ The Great British Breakfast
- ^ News Wales > Agriculture > Welsh breakfast in Brussels
- ^ UKTV Food: Recipes: Ulster Fry and Steamed Fried Eggs
- ^ Brewer, E. Cobham. “Scotch Breakfast.” Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1898; Bartleby.com, 2000.
- ^ Entry from OED Online - Series One - Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ BBC - h2g2 - Great International Breakfast Dishes
- ^ NPR: Freud's Nephew and the Origins of Public Relations
[edit] External links
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