The Full Monty - F E B - Full English Breakfast

"A fine British tradition - and a meal to set you up for the day; there is a saying in the UK that goes like this: "breakfast like a King, lunch like a Queen and have supper like a pauper"! So, what does a typical full English breakfast consist of? One recipe in an Edwardian Cookbook listed a plethora of ingredients that would have graced the table of many a stately home at the turn of the century, to include 7 courses! A modern day FEB is likely to consist of the following: two sausages, two or three rashers of bacon, fried eggs, fried bread, tomato and lashings of mushrooms with black pudding and brown HP sauce to taste. In finer establishments you can even expect additional courses such as cereal, porridge, kippers, toast and jam or marmalade, kedgeree, or devilled kidneys. Rumour has it that the term 'The Full Monty' is used to refer to these type of breakfasts because Field Marshal Montgomery was rather partial to them. Here is my basic recipe for an FEB, with optional extras! Grill or fry your FEB - and make sure you have acres of hot buttered toast and gallons of English Breakfast Tea! I am NOT suggesting this is what you should eat every morning - but it is a wonderful treat for the weekends, holidays and just when you feel like it."
 
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photo by French Tart photo by French Tart
photo by French Tart
photo by Andi Longmeadow Farm photo by Andi Longmeadow Farm
photo by Andi Longmeadow Farm photo by Andi Longmeadow Farm
photo by French Tart photo by French Tart
photo by French Tart photo by French Tart
Ready In:
25mins
Ingredients:
9
Yields:
1 Full English Breakfast
Serves:
1
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ingredients

  • 2 link good quality sausages
  • 2-3 slice bacon
  • 2 flat mushrooms
  • 1-2 ripe tomatoes
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 slice bread
  • Optional Extras

  • 1 slice black pudding (optional)
  • baked beans (optional)
  • cooked potato, thinly sliced (optional)
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directions

  • Heat the flat grill plate over a low heat, on top of 2 rings/flames if it fits, and brush sparingly with light olive oil or vegetable oil.
  • For the sausages.
  • Always buy sausages with a high meat content. Cook these first. Add the sausages to the hot grill plate/the coolest part if there is one and allow to cook slowly for about 15-20 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden. After the first 10 minutes, increase the heat to medium before beginning to cook the other ingredients. If you are struggling for space, completely cook the sausages and keep hot on a plate in the oven.
  • For the bacon.
  • Choose between back or streaky, smoked or unsmoked bacon; generally, dry-cure has the best flavour. Snip a few small cuts into the fatty edge of the bacon. Place the bacon straight on to the grill plate and fry for 2-4 minutes each side or until your preferred crispiness is reached. Like the sausages, the cooked bacon can be kept hot on a plate in the oven.
  • For the mushrooms.
  • Brush away any dirt using a pastry brush and trim the stalk level with the mushroom top. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle over a little olive oil. Place stalk-side up on the grill plate and cook for 1-2 minutes before turning and cooking for a further 3-4 minutes. Avoid moving the mushrooms too much while cooking, as this releases the natural juices, making them soggy. (Alternatively, you can slice your mushrooms, as shown in my photo.).
  • For the tomatoes.
  • Cut the tomatoes across the centre/or in half lengthways if using plum tomatoes , and with a small, sharp knife remove the green 'eye'. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil. Place cut-side down on the grill plate and cook without moving for 2 minutes. Gently turn over and season again. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes until tender but still holding their shape.
  • For the fried bread.
  • For 'proper' fried bread it's best to cook it in a separate pan. Ideally, use bread that is a couple of days old. Heat a frying pan to a medium heat and cover the base with oil. Add the bread and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until crispy and golden. If the pan becomes too dry, add a little more oil. For a richer flavour, add a knob of butter after you turn the slice.
  • For the fried eggs.
  • Break the egg straight into the pan with the fried bread and leave for 30 seconds. Add a good knob of butter and lightly splash/baste the egg with the butter when melted. Cook to your preferred stage, season and gently remove with a fish slice.
  • Once all the ingredients are cooked, serve on warm plates and enjoy straight away with a good squeeze of tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce or brown sauce, and don't forget the toast and marmalade with a pot of good English Breakfast tea.
  • Optional Extras.
  • Black Pudding.
  • Cut the black pudding into 3-4 slices and remove the skin. Place on the grill plate and cook for 1½-2 minutes each side until slightly crispy.
  • Baked Beans.
  • Heat up the baked beans in a saucepan and serve on top of the fried bread, or on the side.
  • Fried Potatoes:

  • Fry the sliced cooked potatoes in a little butter until crispy and golden brown. Season with a little salt and black pepper.

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Reviews

  1. Beyond euphoric! Totally the most prolific show of love for your dearest ones that clamber around your early morning breakfast table. I felt as though I had taken a quick flight cross' the pond and landed within another world, or quite possibly; another time in history. I really wanted to do something special for Dennis, and for no reason, or because I had to. I had everything right here in my kitchen to address the whole recipe, except; tomatoes. (Don't ask why a person who has a farm doesn't have tomatoes as this is a question I often ask myself?) I didn't have the pudding either, but I did add the optional potato on as suggested. The mushrooms were succulent, and oh so tasty. I fried a piece of whole wheat toast, and added fresh raspberry jam. The rest went together quickly and had quite a punch for the amazing little amount of time this took to put together. The only addition was putting the potatoes in come cold water for 1/2 hour along with some thinly sliced onions. Drained them, making sure the water was removed...and doing a wonderful potato fry following your suggestions. Will at least make this once a month for Dennis and family. After all; I am sure they will be sitting here waiting until I make it again. Wish I had those tomatoes though. Made for *FT* just for the heck of it. April 2008
     
  2. Thanks for posting this! Breakfast has always been my fave meal of the day. Over the years I have spent several weeks in the UK and always cherished these robust breakfast feasts. Actually, if you look, and are a bit "choosey" you can get similar breakfasts from St. Petersburg/Moscow to Rome, all over Portugal, Italy, and of course back to GB. Ingredients/items may vary quite a bit from country to country, but that's what makes such a breakfast so great. I truly enjoy such a breakfast in my own home at least once a month....even more often when I want to just indulge myself!
     
  3. OHHH, FT !! How you made me LONG for the many trips' Cross The Pond, where we would Bed and Breakfast for 3 weeks at a time (in the '80's)- and partake of this lovely start to the day EVERY day !! It held us nicely til we looked for a Pub Lunch around noon, then Tea with scones and strawberry jam at 4 PM, as an appetizer before dinner at 7 !! Small wonder we look as we do today ! Thanks for the memory.
     
  4. Spent 3 years in England, and years later I decided to cook this for my wife on her birthday...results were great. She felt like it was restaurant quality (and I'm not that good of a cook, so props to the recipe). Very authentic if you follow the directions.
     
  5. As an Englishman the FEB is a cherished item of my food culture though, as it must be actually a fried breakfast (as opposed to the less tasty low fat option of grilling), then it has to be taken sparingly. However when on holiday I really do make a pig of myself each morning which has the benefit of filling me up nicely so that I do not require anything else to eat until the evening meal. I spent a week on the Isle of Mull off the west coast of Scotland where a lovely bowl of porridge was the 'starter'. The fried breakfast was a mountain on the plate with a great chunk of black pudding just lightly fried. It was a good job that the holiday was a walking holiday as I think that I would have sunk the ferry back to Oban. Try black pudding uncooked: the making of the pudding is actually cooking so that you are OK to eat it like that and I enjoy it with some apple but that is just me.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p><strong><span>The sunflowers in the field behind my house in SW France:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Sunflowers src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/DSCN8221.jpg alt=Sunflowers width=640 height=480 /><br /><strong><span><br /><br />I am British (English-Scottish), but I was born in South Africa and have lived all over the world, including Hong Kong, Germany, Cyprus, USA &amp; Singapore. I have also been very fortunate to have travelled extensively over the years.........I still have wanderlust! <br /><br />I used to be an English Literature &amp; Art History teacher &amp; lecturer; before that, I trained and worked as a Graphic Designer for many years. I now live in France with my husband &amp; my daughter who has just started university in September 2006. We also have one very chatty Burmese cat Willow, who allows us to live with her here! (I used to have three cats, I recently lost Monty, a beautiful seal point Siamese and before that, Rama, who was a debonair blue point Siamese cat - I would love to have another Siamese cat or cats in the future!)</span></strong></p> <p><em><strong><span>This is my Burmese Cat, Willow, sunning herself on the log pile in the kitchen garden:</span></strong></em></p> <p><strong><img title=My src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/ABaconButtyandSundryFoodPhotos34.jpg alt=My width=640 height=480 /></strong></p> <p><strong><span>Here is my lovely Monty, a seal point Siamese, and Willow, sitting&nbsp;in the kitchen garden last year, and a few months before Monty died; he was 18yrs old:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Monty src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/AbsolutelySinfulStickyToffeePudding.jpg alt=Monty width=640 height=480 />My</p> <p><strong><span>This is my wonderful old boy, Rama, a blue-point Siamese, who died when he was 20yrs old - excuse the old and much sellotaped photo:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Rama src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Rama1stOctober2004164.jpg alt=Rama width=517 height=639 /></p> <p><strong><span>My favourite pastimes are: reading, writing, painting &amp; drawing, photography, gardening, anything creative, walking, travelling, dining out and of course COOKING! I love all types of cuisine, but especially Traditional British - and NO it is NOT all bad!! I particularly love food associated with the changing seasons plus traditional feasts &amp; festivals, as well as Slow Cooking. I also enjoy French &amp; North African cuisine, come to think of it, there isn't much I don't like! <br /><br />My husband &amp; I run a Chambres D'Hotes, (Bed and Breakfast) called Auberge de la Fontaine here in beautiful South West France; we specialise in Gourmet Food &amp; Wine Breaks, French Antiques &amp; Restoration courses, French Language courses and French Cookery classes. Our home is completely furnished with Antique French furniture that we have rescued &amp; restored ourselves. Our charming village has one of the oldest Churches in the region &amp; it is famous for its connection with the St.Jacques de Compostella Pilgrimage route, as well as being within the Cognac &amp; Bordeaux wine growing area. <br /><br />We have a wonderful garden where we grow ALL of our own herbs and most of our fruit and vegetables. I specialise in rare, unusual and old-fashioned herbs, which I grow in our walled garden. As well as growing herbs, I also grow many different varieties of lavender, old-fashioned shrub roses and heirloom fruit and vegetables. <br /><br />We have lived overseas for many, many years now - but we both still love going home to Northern England, near Scarborough &amp; York, to visit our family &amp; friends. We also love indulging in dining out when we are there, in a wide variety of EXCELLENT Gastro-Pubs that we have in North Yorkshire; and popping in to have a Pint of REAL ENGLISH ALE in our local pub is a always a must!! <br /></span></strong></p> <p><br /><a href=http://photobucket.com/images/merci%20beaucoup target=_blank><img src=http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/pp287/vi-vie15/Merci/hb09izl7.gif border=0 alt=merci /></a> <br /><br /><strong><span>A Message to all who make and review my recipes! I try very hard to reply to EACH and EVERYONE of you who kindly makes, reviews and photographs my recipes! However, sometimes I am so busy in the B and B, and with other things, that I may be late in sending a personal thank you message, and sometimes I forget completely! I would just like to thank you ALL in advance, and just in case I am late or forgetful in sending a personal thanks. 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