Traditional British Breakfast Fare Ingredients

Barriehie

Barriehie

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Not far back there was a post showing tomatoes on a breakfast plate. They appeared peeled and whole. I've been searching around and some places say sliced and broiled??? I've got this 28 oz. can of Cento brand whole peeled Roma tomatoes burning a hole in my granite. How to fix???
 
There are (evidently) various opinions as to what constitutes a proper English breakfast, but I can assure you, from experience, that many Brits love plain ole tomatoes with their breakfast. Could be as part of a fry up (fried bread, sausage, fried eggs, chips, fried mushrooms and/or black pudding) or simply, on toast.I had them as a kid!
 
One of the classic Brit flavour combos is 'sausage and tomato' so in my view if you're having sausages on your plate as part of an English brekkie, tomatoes are more or less a must. I prefer a fried half of a tomato, but if canned turn up on the plate those are welcome too. I'm not sure if UK caffs are broiling (we say grilling) tomatoes, but rather they are pan fried on each side.

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karadekoolaid said:
There are (evidently) various opinions as to what constitutes a proper English breakfast, but I can assure you, from experience, that many Brits love plain ole tomatoes with their breakfast. Could be as part of a fry up (fried bread, sausage, fried eggs, chips, fried mushrooms and/or black pudding) or simply, on toast.I had them as a kid!
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Chips?! Some clarification maybe needed there 😆

Barriehie said:
Not far back there was a post showing tomatoes on a breakfast plate. They appeared peeled and whole. I've been searching around and some places say sliced and broiled??? I've got this 28 oz. can of Cento brand whole peeled Roma tomatoes burning a hole in my granite. How to fix???
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It's usually two (or maybe three plum tomatoes if you're a fan) heated through in a pan. Some people prefer to slit the bottom of the tomato before putting it on the plate so the contained juices don't soak everything else.

A 28oz tin would do many breakfasts. I'd be more inclined to make a ragu or similar with the rest.

For us a traditional full monty English breakfast is Bacon, Sausages, Black and White Pudding, Eggs usually fried sometimes poached, fried mushrooms, beans cooked for long enough to soften well, sauté potatoes and toast.
Lazy versions might skip the puddings and occasionally use hash browns instead of sauté potatoes but that’s not really the preference.

Tomato wise I find if having a full english out real tomatoes are hit n miss, sometimes not cooked for long enough and being out of season they're hard so in that scenario I prefer tinned.
My favourite tomato for a full English are fresh tomatoes that have been cooked low and slow on a tray to concentrate the tomato flavours, a semi sun (oven) dried tomato, tastes like grilled but concentrated.

Accompanying sauces were traditionally red or brown and some english mustard. Now I see a lot hotter sauces (tabasco on the egg etc) being used.

I rarely do fried bread because with all the other items for us it's too much.

Because there are so many components to get on the plate and the timing matters (it is a dish that can go cold quickly so heating the plates is advisable) it's common for people to choose this for breakfast in a cafe or restaurant, let someone else do the sweating 😆

I have some lava bread in my freezer at the moment, waiting to try a Welsh breakfast. I don't have high hopes of falling in love with it because I think if it was great it would have travelled across the border long ago!
 
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karadekoolaid said:
There are (evidently) various opinions as to what constitutes a proper English breakfast, but I can assure you, from experience, that many Brits love plain ole tomatoes with their breakfast. Could be as part of a fry up (fried bread, sausage, fried eggs, chips, fried mushrooms and/or black pudding) or simply, on toast.I had them as a kid!
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I rather like tinned whole skinless Italian tomatoes. Cheap as anything. The worst thing is the sad half a tasteless semi hard tomato, semi grilled (broiled) or possibly briefly fried on the cut side. It used to often be seen on café breakfasts. These days you are more likely to see a better class of tomato or even little baby tomatoes, fried or grilled.
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
Chips?! Some clarification maybe needed there 😆
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You're probably right.
I worked at a paper mill when on holiday from uni; 12 hour shifts. By 8.30am we were starving so off to the canteen for 2 eggs, 2 sausage, beans, (tinned) tomatoes and... chips.
Unfortunately, the rather bland, frozen hash brown triangle has invaded the plate :facepalm:
 
I'm a sausage fan so that'll happen; thank you VP for the interesting crisp option. Wow SSOAP, that's a *lot* on the plate! I can manage sausage, eggs, potatoes, and tomatoes but all the rest would put me back asleep, or at least immobile for awhile.

What kind of beans? I regularly stock black, red, pinto, mayacoba, black eye, great northern, lima, garbanzo, field peas, and split peas.
 
karadekoolaid said:
You're probably right.
I worked at a paper mill when on holiday from uni; 12 hour shifts. By 8.30am we were starving so off to the canteen for 2 eggs, 2 sausage, beans, (tinned) tomatoes and... chips.
Unfortunately, the rather bland, frozen hash brown triangle has invaded the plate :facepalm:
Click to expand...

I've honestly never been offered or seen chips as the potato option with a full english. I can see that would be much easier than sauté potatoes in a canteen setting.

Barriehie said:
I'm a sausage fan so that'll happen; thank you VP for the interesting crisp option. Wow SSOAP, that's a *lot* on the plate! I can manage sausage, eggs, potatoes, and tomatoes but all the rest would put me back asleep, or at least immobile for awhile.

What kind of beans? I regularly stock black, red, pinto, mayacoba, black eye, great northern, lima, garbanzo, field peas, and split peas.
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It is a lot, that's probably why for most people it's a breakfast they have on a day off usually later into the morning or if you're a manual worker you would have been up n at it for a while before going for breakfast.

A full english is the sort of breakfast that's fantastic if you have a minute or two to digest but have a long day ahead e.g. travelling.

I used to find it the only thing that could sustain me on a long shift.

Beans are as Jas posted bog standard Heinz (or similar) baked beans in a tomato sauce. I like to cook them a little longer than usual or put them in a pot on the plate so the tomato sauce doesn't disappear from the beans.
If you have time though homemade ‘baked beans’ are the absolutes dogs! They have a lot less sugar and are so worth the effort.
I sometimes serve these ⬇️ beans for breakfast with a poached egg. It’s a firm breakfast favourite.

I use Rachel Phipps ‘Student Eats’ recipe. It’s a nice one.
I think this is the same as in the book -
Chorizo Baked Beans
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
I've honestly never been offered or seen chips as the potato option with a full english.
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I have…twice. Once was at one of those highway service points on the main A-road from London to the Cotswolds (A423?) and the second time was in the Virgin Atlantic first class lounge at Heathrow.

The only tomatoes I’ve ever been served with an FEB were the midsized ones (like a Campari tomato), halved and either pan-fried or grilled/broiled until the cut side chars a bit. Very nice, and I’ll do that at home when I’m thinking of it.

Not English, but as a kid, we had tomatoes every morning as part of breakfast, when they were in season, giant ones sliced fresh and piled on a plate. Out of season, Mom would sometimes put out stewed tomatoes, heated through, but she was the only one who’d eat those, usually.
 
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