A full breakfast is a breakfast meal, usually consisting of bacon, sausages and eggs, often
served with a variety of side dishes and a beverage such as coffee or tea.
It is especially popular in the UK and Ireland and in UK-influenced cultures, including the
United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.
It is sometimes referred to as an English breakfast or a "full English breakfast".
Sometimes it may be shortened to "full English" or "fry-up".
The phrase "full breakfast" differentiates it from the European Continental breakfast,
traditionally consisting of tea, milk or coffee and fruit juices with bread, croissants or
pastries.
A full breakfast is regarded as a staple of traditional UK and Irish cuisine.
Many British and Irish cafés and pubs serve the meal at any time as an "all-day breakfast".
Other common names for the dish reflect UK and Irish locality and produce and include
the full Scottish, full Welsh, full Irish and the Ulster fry.
Common foods and dishes The ingredients of a full breakfast vary according
to region and taste.
They are often served with condiments such as brown sauce or ketchup.
Regional variants Britain and Ireland
Cornwall The traditional Cornish breakfast includes
hog's pudding and Cornish potato cakes, or fried potatoes alongside the usual bacon,
sausage, tomato, mushrooms, egg and toast.
In the past traditional Cornish breakfasts have included pilchards and herring, or gurty
pudding, a Cornish dish similar to haggis, not to be confused with gurty milk, another
Cornish breakfast dish made with bread and milk.
England
A traditional full English breakfast includes bacon, poached or fried eggs, fried or grilled
tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread or toast with butter, sausages and baked beans,
usually served with a mug of tea.
As nearly everything is fried in this meal, it is commonly called a "fry-up".
Black pudding is often added, as are fried leftover mashed potatoes with cabbage known
as Bubble and Squeak or hash browns.
In the North Midlands, fried or grilled oatcakes sometimes replace fried bread.
When an English breakfast is ordered with everything available it is often referred
to as a Full English, or a Full Monty.
Ireland
In Ireland, as elsewhere, the exact constituents of a full breakfast vary, depending on geographical
area, personal taste and cultural affiliation.
Traditionally, the most common ingredients are bacon rashers, sausages, fried eggs, white
pudding, black pudding, toast and fried tomato.
Sauteed mushrooms are also sometimes included, as well as baked beans, liver, and brown soda
bread.
A full Irish breakfast may be accompanied by a strong Irish breakfast tea often served
with milk.
Fried potato farl, boxty or toast is sometimes served as an alternative to brown soda bread.
The "breakfast roll", consisting of elements of the full breakfast served in a French roll,
has become popular due to the fact it can be easily eaten on the way to school or work,
similar to the breakfast burrito in the United States.
The breakfast roll is available from many petrol stations and convenience stores throughout
Ireland.
Ulster
An Ulster fry is a dish similar to the Irish breakfast and is popular throughout Ulster,
where it is eaten not only at breakfast time but throughout the day.
Typically it will include soda bread and potato bread as in an Irish breakfast, but omitting
the white pudding.
Between 2001 and 2007, the television channel BBC Two Northern Ireland used a station ID
during local opt-outs from national UK programming which featured the BBC Two logo eating an
Ulster fry.
Scotland
In Scotland, the full breakfast, as with others, contains eggs, back bacon, link sausage, buttered
toast, baked beans, and tea or coffee.
Distinctively Scottish elements include Scottish style black pudding, sliced sausage, and tattie
scones.
It commonly also includes fried or grilled tomato and/or mushrooms and occasionally haggis,
white pudding, fruit pudding or oatcakes.
As with other breakfasts it has become more common, especially within the home, to grill
the meats, puddings and tomatoes and to only fry the eggs and tattie scones.
Another more historical Scottish breakfast is porridge and may occasionally be served
as a starter.
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable refers to a Scotch breakfast as "a substantial breakfast
of sundry sorts of good things to eat and drink".
Wales The traditional Welsh breakfast includes laverbread,
a seaweed purée which is mixed with oatmeal and fried, this is served with eggs, bacon,
and cockles.
North America
The style of breakfast has carried over to the US and Canada, though continental breakfast
foods are also popular.
A full breakfast in these countries often consists of eggs, meat such as bacon, ham,
sausage, scrapple, pork roll, Spam, steak or country fried steak, and grits or fried
potatoes such as hash browns or home fries.
Accompanying the meal might be toasted white, wheat or rye bread, English muffins, bagels,
waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, fruit or fruit juice and beverages
such as coffee or tea.
In Canada, the meal may be known as a lumberjack breakfast.
In Quebec, the meal may include regional variants like crêpes, buckwheat galettes, boudin,
baked beans and cretons.
Food list Some of the foods that may be included in
a full breakfast are:
See also
Builder's tea Greasy spoon
English breakfast tea Irish breakfast tea
List of breakfast topics List of Irish dishes
References
External links The full English breakfast from the English
Breakfast Society.
Stress-free full English breakfast Ulster Fry and Eggs recipe
Why the great British breakfast is a killer(subscription required)