Latest news with #EnglishBreakfastSociety
The Guardian
07-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘Deeply wrong': would you use a barbecue to cook a full English breakfast?
Name: Breakfast barbecues. Age: Our ancestors cooked with fire at least 780,000 years ago; they must have done it in the morning at some point. Appearance: A bit burnt, probably. What kind of breakfast can you cook on a barbecue? A full English breakfast. Who does that? According to a recent survey, 16% of Britons have cooked bacon and eggs on a barbecue. Why? Because of power cuts? It's unclear. How would it even work? Wouldn't the eggs fall through the bars of the grill? Again, that's unclear. Presumably some kind of intermediating pan or griddle is involved. Then it's not true barbecuing. Perhaps not. And the scorched result wouldn't be a true full English, in my opinion. The English Breakfast Society agrees with you. Good. Sorry, the what? The English Breakfast Society. Its chair described the barbecued full English as 'deeply wrong'. Chair? Guise Bule de Missenden, to give him his full English name. He calls the dish 'a proper sit-down meal that deserves a bit of ceremony. Not the smoky, feral chaos of a barbecue.' I confess I was not aware of this organisation. It's a non-profit fellowship 'dedicated to the history and heritage of the traditional English breakfast', according to the website. A pressure group fighting against innovation and improvement? Not at all – last year, it recommended adding grilled pineapple to the full English for 'variety'. Sorry, the plate is full. Bule suggested swapping out the tomato or the mushroom to make room. Sacrilege. Who put these people in charge? On the other hand, the EBS previously opposed the encroachment of hash browns on to the full English roster. I like hash browns. It wanted them to be replaced by the more traditional bubble and squeak. I support their campaign in spirit, if not in practice. Full English debates have raged online for years – you can always start an argument simply by suggesting that the baked beans should, or shouldn't, be quarantined in a ramekin. I prefer the beans ramekined – it makes them easier to bin. Fighting words. How old is the full English, anyway? Depends whom you ask. The EBS claims it has its roots in the Norman Conquest and began to take its present shape in the 14th century. And everybody else? Well, the food writer Felicity Cloake says the first printed mention appeared in 1933. Do say: 'Here's your barbecued full English – would you like any rain on that?' Don't say: 'Can you replace the baked beans with jelly beans?'
Daily Mirror
28-04-2025
- General
- Daily Mirror
Expert claims key ingredient doesn't go in cooked breakfast for harsh reason
The Full English breakfast is a British staple, but the 'proper' way to cook it always fires up debate - and an expert has now claimed that one key ingredient 'has no place' in the dish Diving into a Full English is a treat like no other when you've got an appetite (or perhaps nursing a bit of a hangover) - yet folks can't help but argue over the 'right' way to whip one up. Adding fried bread may feel like a touch of indulgence at breakfast time, and even though it's not exactly health food, its tempting crunchiness is hard to turn down. But does this crispy delight truly belong in the ranks of Full English essentials like hash browns – which some have criticised as a "lazy" pick – or is it an absolute must? Opinions among the pros don't line up. The English Breakfast Society sings the praises of the crunchy component, but Steven Moore, the historical advisor for The English Manner, begs to differ. "Fried bread is a very old staple of the tradition and absolutely should be included" insists Guise Bule of the English Breakfast Society. Extolling its virtues he added: "It's a wonderfully traditional English breakfast ingredient that is really easy to make and adds a wonderful crunchiness to the breakfast plate, and tastes like heaven when combined with egg and bacon." Conversely, Steven from The English Manner has a strong opposing stance: "Fried bread is one of those items added by hotels to use up leftovers disguised as adding 'value'. It has no place on an English breakfast, in our opinion. "The English breakfast emerged from the Country House Weekend, and the only place you'd find fried bread on one of those tables was under roasted game." For those craving a fried bread fix with their morning brekkie, never fear - BBC Good Food has a straightforward recipe to achieve the perfect, crispy finish. You'll only need a couple of ingredients: two tablespoons of neutral-tasting oil like sunflower, or 40g of lard, alongside two slices of thick, fluffy white bread. To make, the steps are as follows: "Heat half the oil or lard in a frying pan over medium-high heat. "Once hot, fry the bread for 1 min 30 seconds until golden, then add the remaining oil or lard, turn the bread over and cook for another 1 min 30 seconds, until golden on both sides". Easy peasy - with a seriously tasty outcome. However, one revelation sure to ruffle some feathers is the English Breakfast Society's recent acceptance of fried bread in a traditional brekkie spread. Notably, this comes off the back of them giving hash browns the thumbs down. The organisation reasoned that hash browns should give way to the British staple bubble and squeak, given its richer history. They even attributed the rise of hash browns to American food giant McDonald's, concluding: "Somebody had to put their foot down. Otherwise, we'll find kebab meat in our English breakfast before long."
