The Traditional English Breakfast

The traditional English breakfast, also known as a fry up, is a challenge. But a challenge you will want to repeat over and over.

This past summer I went on my first backpacking trip through Europe with my sister. The very first thing we did after arriving at our London hostel, fresh off the Eurostar from Paris, was have our first experience with the famous plate of breakfast food. In a sandwich shop called Barbarella’s, I fell in love. It was amazing, filling, and downright beautiful. I found very quickly during my time in this beautiful country that the food reputation of the English was just not true. The entire time I spent in England, every meal was delicious! But I digress. The full English breakfast is the heartiest and most filling breakfast you will ever have.

It seems simple at first (what I thought) and while each individual part isn’t difficult to make, getting it all warm at the same time may begin to seem impossible halfway through. A normal plate consists of eggs (usually over easy), bacon (but not what us Americans are used to, it’s called back bacon, very thick), fried tomato, beans, fried bread, and sausage. Sometimes it’s served with potatoes as well, which was what I opted to do. 

Here I’ll talk you though how I handled the massive undertaking, and give you some tips to cook your own! (Keep in mind since I was shopping in an American supermarket, not everything is exactly the same as you would find in England, but it was pretty darn close!)

What you’ll need:

Serves a family of 4!

2 tomatoes

8 eggs

2 cans of beans (Heinz or Campbell’s are the best)

4 slices white bread

1 package of Canadian bacon (I used Jones brand, after much discussion with a friend who works with meat, we decided this was the closest possible thing to back bacon)

1 box Jones all natural pork sausage

8 potatoes (optional, I just knew my family would definitely eat them)

A lot of vegetable oil on hand

Tea or coffee to serve

Foil and plates

Po-ta-toe. Boil it, mash it, stick it in a stew.

To begin, slice up all the potatoes and throw into a good sized frying pan with vegetable oil.  Get those started first if you’re including them. Put the burner on medium to avoid oil splattering. They’re going to take forever, so get them cooking. (Also don’t forget to stir and mix them up as you’re going, there’s going to be a lot going on on your stove top at once!) 

While the potatoes are cooking, get the sausage started. In another pan brown them real good. It should take about 10 minutes tops. While the sausage is cooking, begin to slice up your tomatoes, and put them aside. When the sausage are done, throw them onto a plate and cover it with tin foil. That’s crucial to help keep it warm!

Le sausage.

Then take the canadian bacon and brown in the same pan as the sausage. This will take no longer than 5 minutes, they cook really fast. When they’re done, also put on a plate and cover with tin foil. 

The potatoes should be making good progress at this point, make sure to cook them until they’re golden brown. There’s nothing worse than undercooked potatoes!

Fry, fry, fry the bread! Fry it up real good!

In the same pan you cooked your sausage and bacon, you’re going to make your fried bread. Pour in some vegetable oil and fry the bread like you’re making a grilled cheese, just without the cheese. I’ve never done this before, and let me tell you, bread fried in with bacon and sausage grease is one of the tastiest things in the world. Fry them until they’re golden brown on both sides. Be careful to not leave them too long before flipping, because the bread will burn fast.  

Once your bread is finished, it’s time to heat up the beans. I put them in a microwave safe container and heated them up, but you can also heat them in a pan on the stove. I chose microwave for the simple fact that it was faster and less to have on the stove. When they’re heated, cover with tin foil and put aside with everything else.

Now that you have your sausage, bacon, beans, and fried bread done, your potatoes should be very close to finished. Once they are, add them to your new collection of plates covered in tin foil. 

Mmmm tomatoes.

Take the tomatoes that are already sliced, and fry them up for about five minutes. They might get a little browned on the edges. After your tomatoes are done, what do you think I’m going to say to do? Cover with tin foil! 

Now you’ve reached the end! Just one more thing to do! It’s egg time! Fry up your eggs however you like. Traditionally it’s over easy but do whatever tickles your personal fancy. To me, the best part of the whole meal was dipping my fried bread in the egg yolk. Oh my gosh, YUM.

The finished product.

Now you’re done! Throw together everyone’s helpings onto a plate. Hopefully everything is still warm from sitting under the tin foil. It’s super tricky to get it done properly and warm all at the same time. My brother complained that his bacon was cold, but hey! It was my first try. If you have a warming drawer on your stove take full advantage of that! It will work way better than my plate and foil contraptions. It’s a lot going on all at the same time, but you won’t be sorry. I’m sure once you get the hang of it you’d be like a traditional English breakfast machine.

Twinings is the best!

Also don’t forget your tea! My absolute favorite go-to tea is Twinings Earl Grey. I collect vintage teacups so my family even each got their own teacup for dinner (that’s how they know I love them, I let them use my English china! Just kidding guys, I know they’ll read this). 

Sit back and enjoy your English masterpiece. I know I did!

My mom, being super happy I moved back in with her.

Also for your reference, I used this link from Serious Eats as a bit of a guide. Happy cooking!

By Laura Zimmerman