Full English Breakfast
Sausages, bacon, eggs, black pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans and toast, all arriving hot at the same moment. The entire skill is timing.
Photograph credit: Full English Breakfast, Mature Cheddar & Vine Tomatoes Toasties, by Monella, Hove by Andy Li · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Make Ahead and Storage
Not a make-ahead dish. Leftover components make an excellent breakfast hash the next day.
How to Make Full English Breakfast
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Heat the oven to 120°C / 250°F and put a plate in to warm. Everything cooked goes here to hold.
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Start the sausages in a cold pan with a teaspoon of oil over medium-low heat. They need 15 to 18 minutes, turning every few minutes, and rushing them splits the skins.
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After 5 minutes, add the tomato halves cut-side down to a second pan with a little oil. Season and cook 4 minutes, then turn and cook 6 minutes more until collapsing.
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Add the mushrooms to the tomato pan with a knob of butter and the thyme and cook 6 to 8 minutes until golden.
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Warm the beans in a small pan over low heat.
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When the sausages are nearly done, move them to the warm plate and cook the bacon in their fat for 2 to 3 minutes a side until the edges crisp. Move to the oven.
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Fry the black pudding in the same fat for 2 minutes a side until crisp at the edges.
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Toast the bread and butter it generously.
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Last of all, fry the eggs in the remaining fat over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, spooning the hot fat over the whites until set with a runny yolk.
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Plate everything at once, with the beans in a corner so they do not run into the rest.
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A Few Pointers
- Cold pan, slow start for the sausages. High heat splits them and leaves the centre raw.
- Use two pans. Trying to fit a full English into one is how everything ends up lukewarm.
- Keep the beans separate on the plate. This is a matter of some national feeling.
Why the Method Is What It Is
Everything here is a matter of sequencing: items are started in order of how long they take and how well they hold, with eggs last because they are the only component that deteriorates within a minute. Cooking the tomatoes and mushrooms in the bacon and sausage fat gives them a savoury depth that oil cannot.
Serving Ideas
A large mug of strong tea · Serve with brown sauce or ketchup, and more toast · Follow with a walk
What's in a Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .