I was searching through the archives here the other day and I couldn't believe that I had never done a British Fry Up. That is what they call a big breakfast over here in the UK.
A fry up, and it is what will be offered you for breakfast at any B&B in the country. It may vary slightly from area to area, but the basics are pretty simple . . .
It will consist of one or two British Bangers. In a good place they will use quality sausages, but most restaurants (unless quality) will use cheap and nasty ones. Blah.
Here at home I use only a quality banger. It will also include a couple of rashers (slices) of good quality dry cure smoked or unsmoked British Back Bacon. Both will have been grilled to perfection.
Along with a large free range (in the better places) egg done to your desire (scrambled, poached, or fried). Also grilled fresh tomatoes.
I have seen some places just heat tinned tomatoes, but I like to use fresh tomatoes myself. There will also be fried mushrooms. (Some places will serve tinned, again blah!)
What really surprised me when I first had a big breakfast over here was the addition of baked beans. Back home we would never have thought about having baked beans with eggs.
At least not in my experience, but it works quite well. I enjoy them. I use tinned Heinz, Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce. It seems to be the British preference.
You can also choose to have black pudding if you wish. (We never wish) Toast will often be offered, sometimes at an additional cost, which I just don't understand because to me toast is a must, but to each their own.
You can also get fried bread, which is a heart attack waiting to happen, no matter how good it tastes . . . just thinking about it makes my arteries start to ache.
It's pretty tasty, but you can imagine how much fat a slice of bread being deep fried would absorb!
And thats the Great British Fry Up!
Heat the grill of your oven to moderate. Place the sausage onto a grill pan. Grill the sausage beneath the grill for 15 minutes, turning occasionally. Add the bacon slices for the last 5 minutes, turning them once they are golden on one side. Remove and keep warm.
Place your cut tomato under the grill, bottom sides up. Grill for about 3 minutes, flip over and season with some salt and pepper. Grill for about 3 minutes longer. Remove and keep warm.
Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet until hot. Add the mushroom slices and cook until golden, giving them a stir once or twice. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and keep warm.
Place the beans in a small saucepan and heat gently.
Crack the egg open into a small bowl and slide it into the hot fat in the pan. (You may need to add a bit more oil.) Cook over medium heat until the white is completely set and the egg is beginning to turn golden at the edges. Remove to a warm plate and keep warm. (If you are wanting over easy, then flip it carefully, cook for about 30 seconds and then remove to a warm plate.)
If you are having black pudding, fry it now in the residual fat in the skillet, until crisp on both sides.
Toast your bread and butter it lightly, cut into half diagonally.
Plate
up the sausage, bacon, tomato, egg, mushrooms and beans. Serve with
the toast and black pudding ( if eating.)
I recently received a lovely little package from debbie & andrew's, makers of quality Pork Sausages. They sent me a delicious package of their new Caramelized Red Onion and Pork Sausage and that is what I used here in my fry up, and they WERE very delicious, trust me on this. Also included were the cutest little herb planter that is a pair of red wellies and a little sausage cookbook.
We really did like these sausages. They are wheat, gluten and dairy free. I wasn't sure how I would feel about that, but I was really surprised at how very good they were. They were DELICIOUS! I would and will buy these!
Their sausages come in a variety of flavours including . . . . Harrogate 97%, Perfect Pork, Perfect Cumberland, and of course the Caramelized Red Onion and Pork. debbie & andrews multi-award winning sausages are available in Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda, with the new Caramelized Red Onion Pork Sausages being available in Asda from mid April.
Everything which goes into a debbie & andrew's sausage is prepared from scratch, nothing is brought in pre-cooked and no short cuts are taken. It starts with the pork, using only the cuts that are best for making a really juicy sausage, selected from British farms that meet good welfare standards.
With the Caramelized Red Onion ones, the red onions are pan fried to perfectly ensure that they are caramelized for a really deep flavour, adding muscovado sugar to bring out the natural sticky sweetness as the onion reduces. To really get the taste buds tingling, Balsamic vinegar is also added towards the end of the process, making the onions darker and even more delicious. Altogether this makes for one very delicious sausage indeed.
Many thanks to Debbie and Andrew for sending me this lovely pack. Although I did receive a package of sausages for free, I was not required to write a positive review. Any and all opinions are my own.
Yum! Can I come to breakfast with you? We only have this when we are away, fills us up for most of the day. We always have toast never been charged extra......... I also cook this as a Christmas treat on Boxing day!
ReplyDeleteJulie
Julie, thanks! Most B&B's will throw in the toast, but I have found that cafe's etc. always seem to want to charge for the toast. I don't know why that is! It is a rare treat for us as well. You are right, when you are staying at a B&B it will fill you up for the day! xxoo
ReplyDeleteI love the English breakfast and I often fix it here in the States for our special breakfast. I do the fried bread for it sits under the egg and sops up all that gooey yolk! Bangers you can find, the bacon is harder and in a pinch we just use American bacon. And I can find tins of Heinz beans here as well -- American ones just aren't the same! This rainy morning I wish I had some beans and tomatoes for I'd do a fry up for breakfast!
ReplyDeleteI always have fried potatoes when I cook a big breakfast and now cannot imagine breakfast without them. Hash browns or home fries!
ReplyDeleteI love those mini red boots!!
ReplyDeleteJ would love your dishes~
I made a salad that was a meal for me for dinner..he BBQ'd sausages for him to go w/:)
The recipe is simple but the memories are much more complex. Several proper fry ups were high points of our last visit to the UK. However, the pinnacle was smoked haddock poached in milk just like my Gran used to do it - and nobody can compete with one's Gran.
ReplyDeleteHi Marie,
ReplyDeleteMy Brit husband showed me how to do this "fry up" and we have it about twice a year. We call it "Death on a Plate" because - well all that grease can't be good for you! He says to do it up "proper", you have to cook the bacon, then fry the egg in the bacon grease, spooning the grease atop the egg to cook it. Also we fry fresh tomatoes in "the grease" and sometimes we fry the toast/bread too - after the tomatoes, so you can sop up all the little tomato bits with the bread. Oh my word, this is so good but SO BAD!! :)
You are right when you say American beans are not the same as the Heinz Beans in Tomato Sauce Martha! They are the best for this. You can't beat a good English Breakfast for the perfect weekend indulgence! xx
ReplyDeleteI love hashbrowns too Amelia! I often make them as well! xx
Sounds like J is a real meat lover Monique! I think the boots are so sweet too! xoxo
You are so right there Pat, nobody can compare to the memory of a Gran's cooking! Smoked Haddock poached in milk, so good!xoxo
I try to make mine with less grease mizsuzee! But oh my word, fried bread it is so tasty. xoxo