The Society studies the English breakfast: its history, its ingredients and the traditions that surround it. These guides set out what we have learned.
The English breakfast is one of the few meals in the world known by the name of its country. These guides cover the meal itself: where it came from, what belongs on the plate and what does not, the bacon at the centre of it, and the dishes that have grown up around it. Start here if you want to understand why a proper breakfast is cooked the way it is, and how to cook one yourself.
The story of the English breakfast, from the breakfast tables of the country gentry to the working man's plate, and how it became the most famous breakfast in the whole world. This is the place to start.
Not every plate of bacon and eggs is an English breakfast. Here we set out what has to be on the plate, what should never be allowed near it, and how to tell a proper breakfast from a poor imitation.
British bacon is not like anybody else's bacon. Find out what makes a rasher of back bacon so special, which part of the pig it is cut from, and why we think it beats streaky bacon every single time.
We have been curing and eating bacon in these islands for a very long time indeed. This is the story of how it was made, who made it, and how it ended up right at the heart of the English breakfast.
Fried up leftover potato and cabbage sounds humble, and it is, but it is also one of the great joys of the breakfast plate. Here is the story of a dish born from making good use of what was left over.
A slice of white bread fried in bacon fat until it is crisp and golden. It is the naughtiest thing on the whole plate, and we explain exactly how to cook it so that it is light and never greasy.
Everything you need to cook a full English breakfast in your own kitchen, with the right ingredients and a clear method, so that you can sit down to a proper plate without ever leaving the house.
Our traditional recipe for bubble and squeak, the simple fried cake of potato and cabbage. It is the best possible use for the leftovers from a Sunday roast, and it comes out of the pan crisp and golden.
No part of the breakfast varies more from county to county than the sausage and the pudding. Every region of England once had its own recipe, shaped by the local pig, the local butcher and the spices that reached the local port. These guides set out the main styles, the history behind them, the rules that protect some of their names, and how each one should be cooked.
What is it that makes a sausage British? We look at the meat, the rusk and the seasoning that set our sausages apart from everybody else's, and explain why they matter so much to a proper breakfast.
Why on earth do we call our sausages bangers? The answer involves two world wars, a shortage of meat and a great many exploding frying pans. This is the story behind a much loved national nickname.
The long, coiled, peppery sausage of Cumbria has five hundred years of history behind it and is now protected by law. Here is its story, the rules that define it, and the trick to cooking one in its coil.
Coarse cut pork and plenty of sage make this the classic English breakfast sausage. We tell its story, and explain how the butchers of Lincolnshire fought for years to protect its name and lost.
Fancy making your own breakfast sausages? It is a good deal easier than you might think. This is our recipe for traditional Lincolnshire style bangers, with the seasoning mix that goes into them.
Love it or hate it, black pudding has been with us for thousands of years, and it once started a furious religious argument. This is the full story of the blood sausage at the heart of our breakfast.
Black pudding's gentler sibling is made with oatmeal and no blood at all, and it began life as a sweet. Find out why the Irish and the Scots love it so much, and how to fry it properly at home.
The peppery white pudding of Devon and Cornwall is one of England's best kept breakfast secrets. We explain what goes into it, how it is eaten, and why somebody once went to prison for stealing it.
Scotland, Ireland, Ulster and Wales each have a cooked breakfast of their own. They share bacon, sausage and eggs with the English breakfast, and each adds something that belongs to its own country: a square sausage, a second pudding, a griddle bread, a seaweed from the shore. These guides explain what goes into each one and how it differs from the English plate.
Square sausage, tattie scones and Stornoway black pudding. We take a friendly look at the breakfast they eat north of the border, what goes on to the plate, and how it differs from a full English.
Rashers, sausages, black and white pudding and proper soda bread. Here is what makes an Irish breakfast Irish, the story of Clonakilty, and the humble breakfast roll that went on to top the charts.
Northern Ireland's pride and joy is built around soda farls and potato bread fried in bacon fat. We explain what goes into a proper Ulster fry, and what the purists will never allow anywhere near one.
Seaweed and cockles for breakfast might sound like a dare, but laverbread fried in bacon fat is a revelation. This is the story of the Welsh breakfast and of the people who gathered it from the shore.
The bread that goes with an Irish breakfast is raised with soda and buttermilk instead of yeast, and nothing is better with a pile of rashers. Here is its history, and how a proper loaf is made.
The fried breakfast is only part of the tradition. For a century and more the British breakfast table also carried smoked fish, spiced rice, kidneys in a hot sauce and the plain boiled egg, and the working day began for many people with bacon in a buttered roll. These guides cover the dishes that sit beside the full English breakfast and deserve to be remembered with it.
Smoked herring was once as much a part of the British breakfast as bacon and eggs. We tell the story of the kipper, where the very best ones are still made, and three easy ways to cook one at home.
Rice, smoked haddock and eggs, gently spiced. This lovely dish travelled from India to the Victorian breakfast sideboard, and we give you its long history and a proper recipe to make in your own kitchen.
Lamb's kidneys in a fiery mustard and Worcestershire sauce, piled on to hot buttered toast. This was the breakfast of the Edwardian gentleman's club, and it takes about ten minutes to make at home.
Hot bacon in soft buttered bread is Britain's favourite sandwich. We cover what to call it, which bacon and bread to use, the great red or brown sauce debate, and what the scientists at Leeds found out.
A soft boiled egg with fingers of buttered toast for dipping, and the first breakfast most of us ever loved. We explain where the name came from, and how to get the yolk exactly right every time.
Sausages baked in a crisp, puffed up batter, with one of the strangest names in all of British cooking. We look at where the dish came from, and at what on earth a toad has to do with any of it.
