Bacon, sausages, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, and beans all on one plate: is a Full English breakfast the most ultimate breakfast ever? A full English breakfast aka a Full English or a fry up is a substantial cooked breakfast meal, often served in Great Britain and Ireland. The typical ingredients are  bacon,  sausages, eggs, black pudding, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, fried bread and a beverage such as coffee or tea. Hash browns are a common contemporary but non-traditional inclusion.

The tradition of the English breakfast has journeyed down a long road, it first began in the 14th or 15th century with the Landed Gentry and their grand hunt breakfasts, before then being adopted by the middle and upper class Victorians who refined the tradition into an art form. Then came along the the Edwardians who standardised the ingredients, giving us the English breakfast that we mostly eat today. Full English breakfasts contain: sausages, back bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, fried bread, and beans.

According to the internet, full English breakfasts need:

1. Sausages – I think everyone just goes with whatever sausages they like, but sometimes there are 2-3 kinds on a plate. We went with regular breakfast sausages and we also got a bit of black pudding, which seems like most people insist on having as well.
2. Back Bacon – This isn’t your regular bacon, which is made from pork belly, nope, back bacon is bacon that includes a little bit of the loin, kinda like a super thin pork chop but smoked. From what I can see, this kind of bacon isn’t really crispy.
3. Eggs – Pretty straight forward, all the full English plates I’ve seen have sunny side up eggs.
4. Tomatoes – These guys are cut in half along the equator and then seared in the pan and seasoned with salt and pepper. They aren’t really cooked, just given a little bit of color.
5. Mushrooms – Seems like a take or leave it item, but we’re going all out here so of course mushrooms are needed. They’re cooked in the usual way, nicely browned and caramelized
6. Toast – Don’t call it toast because I’ve seen some internet fights break out about the bread. You can’t just use a toaster and call it a day. The bread has to be FRIED, either with butter or oil.
7. Beans – You have to have beans! I mean, I’ve never really had beans at breakfast, but it’s classic. We went for Heinz because that’s what they do in England and because their teal cans are too cute.