An English Breakfast

An English Breakfast


What you put on the plate is entirely up to you, there are so many different possibilities with an English Breakfast that everybody has a different idea of what the plate should be full of, though one thing that most people agree on is that the plate should be FULL.



So I’m gonna list a few favourites and tell you how I cook them, the rest is up to you…


1. Bacon
Everybody likes bacon kinda specific to their own tastes. For me it has to be un-smoked Middle Bacon, with the rashers cut thick, the thicker the better! The result I’m looking for with my bacon is that it stays limp on my plate.
A generous amount of oil in your frying pan, and cook over a low to medium heat for I would say about 10 minutes, but remember, if your idea of low – medium is different to mine we’ll get a different result, I guess the key is to cook to taste.
As your bacon cook you will see a reddy-brown residue on the pan, the trick with this is to ‘clean it off’ with the bacon. Using a wooden spatula push the cooking bacon over the residue, rubbing fairly firmly, this residue will make the cooked bacon look and taste great. Turn the bacon often during cooking.


2. Sausage
Sausages are wonderful things but these more than anything else in your English Breakfast are reliant on good quality buying. I would always say get a good quality sausage, preferably from a butcher that you trust, but the choice is yours, whatever you are happy with is what you should buy.
The sausage will generally take longer to cook than anything else so should go in the pan first. I’ve always preferred ‘reconstituted’ meat (sausages, burgers etc) to be fairly well done so I usually get my sausages thoroughly cooked before putting anything else on, then keep them warm in the oven for the last 5 or 10 minutes.
Cook them over a medium heat, turning them often, and don’t prick them it’ll only cause the skin to split.


3. Egg
Ah now in my house the egg makes the breakfast. We very rarely have scrambled egg with an ‘English’, for us it has to be fried, there are many ways to kill a fried egg but the good news is that like most things if you do it right it’s really easy to get it spot on.
Cooking has always been about time and temperature and the balance between the two, and when you get something that can be done very quickly (like a fried egg) the balance becomes very fine.
Fry your egg last, do it in a non-stick pan, one where the non-stick really works. Make sure the oil is not too hot before putting the egg in it, if it’s too hot the egg will start to bubble and the oil will spit as soon as the egg goes in it.
Crack your egg, then hold the un-opened egg over the pan, close to the oil. Tease the shell apart (thumbs at the top), as it begins to open it should be ‘rolled’ towards you through 90 degrees a point where the thumbs are almost straight in front of you, this way the yolk ‘rolls’ out and there’s less chance of breaking the yolk.
Use a spatula to prevent the egg spreading too far, when it has gone white around the outer edge it has found its shape, try to control any ‘overflowing’ with the spatula.
Once the bottom of the egg has solidified and gone white (there may still be clear stuff on top of this but don’t worry) it’s time to splash a little! Take your spatula and VERY GENTLY flick the hot oil onto the top of the egg, aim for the yolk. After a few flicks you should see the yolk turning kinda ‘misty’, what’s happening is that you are cooking the thin film of white on top of the yolk and firming up the yolk while you’re at it.
Once the yolk is sealed with the white the egg should be done, but remember it will take time and practise to get it just how you like it.


4. Mushroom
I have a big problem with Mushrooms, my problem is that I can’t stand them but my Wife loves them. Thing being as they are, this means that mushrooms end up on pretty much every plate in our house. Oh to be a man!
I think that the cutting of a mushroom is very important, I like them to be around 5mm thick, and I cook them fairly quickly over a medium heat so as to make sure they still have a bit of ‘body’ and don’t go soft and floppy.
When doing an English I usually do the mushrooms in the bacon pan at the same time as I’m doing the eggs, by using the same oil as the bacon you’ll ensure a nice golden brown colour to the mushrooms.


5. Tomato
Personally I like to use tinned plum tomatoes, open the tin, empty into a pan and stick it on.
If you want to use fresh tomatoes, slice them into halves and fry them with the mushrooms, or as I would prefer, grill them.

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6. Beans
Not much to say about doing the beans, a tin opener and a pan is about it, but make sure you have them on early enough so as not to need to rush them at the end.


7. Hash Browns
Wonderful things these are, grated potato lumped together with a few bits and bobs. The way you cook them depends on their size I guess, all I would advise is that they need to be reasonably well done otherwise they become soggy.


8. Diced Spud
Not considered by many people, but when done properly they add a great bit of texture to any fry up.
Get a spud, dice it into cm squares


9. Fried Slice
Ah the much maligned fried slice. Get a slice of bread and fry it off over a reasonably high heat, I usually end up turning it a couple of times.

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So there you have it, the perfect English breakfast will be found in a combination of some of those things listed above. My perfect combination is Bacon, Sausage, Egg, Tomato, Hash Browns and a couple of slices of fresh bread.

how to cook a turkey

Cooking a Turkey


This is one of the tasks that really causes stress in ‘new’ households, but it really needn’t be a problem, all we have to do is to follow a few simple and common sense gudelines.


Ok, straightforward stuff to start with. Buy a good one, fresh is best but y’know supermarket packaged or even frozen will do the job too. I think it’s fair to say that the better the bird, the better the feed.


If you get a frozen bird, make sure it is properly defrosted (don’t underestimate the importance of this!), if your bird was frozen or packaged it may come with little bags of innards and stuff stuck down its neck. Get your hand down there and make sure it’s all out before you prepare it for cooking.


Ideally your bird should be at room temperature when it goes into the oven, which generally means it should have been left overnight, this will mean a bit of planning depending on whether it was a frozen bird or chilled or fresh, but it’s worth taking the time to get it organised.


Right, here’s how I do it…


1. Stuff the Turkey. Make your stuffing, fresh of from a packet it’s up to you. Place about a third of it in the neck of the bird between the meat and the skin, and stick the rest in the body cavity keeping the stuffing fairly loose.
2. Blather the bird in Butter. Spread softened butter all over the breast, legs and wings. Don’t be shy, give it a real good coating.
3. Cover the breast with Bacon. Most people say this should be done with Streaky Bacon but either way will be fine, finally give the whole thing a quick scattering of salt and pepper.


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The Foil – Seal the bird in foil but leave a good bit of space between the foil and the skin. I would recommend a couple of sheets crossed under the bird and pinched and folded at the joins.


Then we chuck it in a hot oven (gas – 7, 425f, 200c) for about 40 - 45 mins to give it a good blast of heat, before turning the oven down low (gas – 3, 325f, 175c) to cook it through. Then to finish it off, take it out of the oven, remove the foil and clear the bacon, give it a good basting with the juices, get it back in a medium to hot oven and cook uncovered for another 40 mins.




Perfect!