The full breakfast

What it is

The full English has back bacon, fried or scrambled eggs, pork sausages, grilled tomato, fried mushrooms, baked beans and toast or fried bread, often with black pudding, a blood sausage. The full Scottish adds a square sliced sausage, a potato scone and sometimes haggis. The full Irish has both black and white pudding and soda bread. The Ulster fry in Northern Ireland has soda bread and potato bread fried in the pan. The full Welsh may include laverbread, made from seaweed, and cockles.

Where it comes from

A large cooked breakfast was a feature of country house hospitality in Britain, where it was laid out on a sideboard for guests. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the habit spread through the middle classes and then to working people, who needed a heavy meal before a day of physical labour. Bacon and eggs became the national standard. As lighter breakfasts took over at home, the fry-up moved to cafés, hotels and bed and breakfasts.

How it works

The traditional place to eat it is the café known as a greasy spoon, where it is served from early morning and often all day. Menus list set breakfasts by size, and you can swap or add items for a small charge. Tea, strong and with milk, is the usual drink. Brown sauce and tomato ketchup are on the table. In a hotel you are asked how you want your eggs and whether you want everything.

How to do it

1. Find a busy café in the morning and take a table.
2. Order a set breakfast by name or number, and say how you want the eggs.
3. Choose tea or coffee. It is often included.
4. Try black pudding at least once.
5. Use brown sauce on the sausage and bacon, as many locals do.

Good manners

• Asking to swap an item you dislike is normal.
• In a café, pay at the till on the way out unless told otherwise.
• Do not plan a big lunch.

What is eaten

Black puddingA sausage made from animal blood, fat and cereal, cooked in a casingBaked beansWhite beans slow-cooked in a sweet or savory sauce, often served hot or on toastWhite puddingA sausage of oatmeal, fat and sometimes pork, without blood, from Ireland and ScotlandLaverbreadA soft, dark green seaweed paste from Wales, often served at breakfastSoda breadQuick bread made with flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilkHash brownsShredded or chopped potatoes fried crisp and golden for breakfast

Also part of it, and being written: Back bacon, Fried bread, Tattie scone, Lorne sausage.

Sources and further reading

• Full breakfast on Wikipedia
• Historic UK: The Traditional English Breakfast