Full English Breakfast

One of the quintessential English dishes, still very popular in many of the top restaurants across the land, the 'Full English Breakfast' is quite possibly one of the highest forms of culinary art and without doubt one of the most famous breakfast offerings in the world, only second to the French omelette.

Being a self confessed connoisseur of this creation, I did drive many miles over many years, between the furthest reaches of the British Isles, to comprehensively research the 'Full English' phenomenon.

In doing so, I encountered many imitations and imposters, namely the 'Full Irish', 'Full Scottish' and the 'Full Monty' and many deviations from the true recipe but now, at last, here are the results of many decades of tireless work by myself, now considered to be one of the foremost experts on the subject.

Although, by definition a breakfast, this dish can be eaten at any time of the day and is often consumed by hung over party goers on a Sunday afternoon as a very effective cure for over enthusiastic alcohol consumption during the previous night.

Not surprisingly, ingredients play a crucial role in this recipe and there are very strict rules to follow when preparing the meal and maintaining it's absolute authenticity:

It's often a good idea to tidy up the kitchen area before engaging on such an ambitious project as the 'Full English'.

Get the sausages and black pudding cooking under a hot grill.

Turn the sausages and black pudding over after 10 minutes and add the bacon and hash browns to the grill and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes being careful not to burn the sausages.

Chop the veg, open the can of beans and cook in separate pans on the hob. The mushrooms are fried in butter with the tomatoes.

Toast some bread ready to be flash fried after the eggs have finished.

The egg must be cooked in a clean frying pan with fresh vegetable oil. The oil should be no hotter than the boiling point of water (100 degrees C). The egg should be kept in one piece and the white part free of bubbles or other defects.

By now the meat and hash browns should be cooked at it's time to serve up. When serving, traditionally the egg is served last but here we're going to serve it second to last just before the fried bread. The toast is flash fried at high temperature whilst everything else is kept warm under the grill.

The egg is normally placed on top of some of the other ingredients, but none of the other ingredients should be on top of one another and side plates/pots etc are not allowed. Basically, it's all about getting as much on one plate as possible and if your plate is not big enough - get a bigger one!

Once served, your breakfast may attract the attention of dogs and other humans so it's best to eat it straight away.