The institution of the great British cafe, the working mans eatery, found in every city, town and village throughout Britain. The only place to eat the Great British Breakfast, the early morning feast that most truckers, builders and tradesmen fuel themselves with to sustain their day. Each cafe has it's own unique method of cooking and serving the list of ingredients that constitute the traditional meal.
Grilling, frying and toasting, enhancing the flavours with a clever use of the fats and juices from the bacon, sausage even black pudding to bring the breakfast plate alive. Accompanied by a large mug of tea and some fresh bread and butter to mop up the juices that remain on the plate. It is a skill, an art form to make every item a flavoursome treat.
Each establishment may have its unique methods but only a percentage can boast about being a great Cafe. Supermarkets, department stores and even public houses serve the breakfasts far too clinically, with the ingredients cooked well, but can never emulate the flavours of our so called and misleadingly so, “greasy spoon” joints.
The Great British Breakfast varies in each country of Britain and Ireland. The base products of the breakfast are fried eggs, bacon and sausage and usually baked beans or tomatoes. In Ireland you'll find varieties of black puddings and white puddings and soda bread. In Scotland black pudding, flat or square sausage, known as Lorne sausage and potato cakes are common.
In Wales a seafood element appears with the addition of cockles and laverbread made from seaweed, something I have yet to try but I'm sure will very soon.
Black pudding and sausage vary from county to county and country to country. Just experiencing these items make eating breakfast interesting when traveling around the U.K. And Ireland. Of course, it's not just about the fried breakfast, there are cereals, smoked fish like kippers and salmon, even champagne can be a part of breakfast, but here we are looking mainly at English Breakfast. Everything from “bubble & squeak” to the heavenly fried slice needs to be enjoyable. Not one item will be welcome on a breakfast plate if it is not prepared with love and attention. Over cooked eggs, hard baked beans, bubble not made from leftover mash and cabbage, pre-cooked bacon, grilled flavourless bacon and poor quality sausages are just a few of the things that ruin the reputation of the business and are totally unacceptable. Anemic bacon, waiting for you to arrive, supermarket style, with eggs that been sitting so long next to the bacon in a Bain Marie that they have turned to rubber then mushrooms that look as though they have been boiled until they taste like cardboard! Tinned tomatoes are an industry standard but must be cooked correctly and not just heated and plonked on a plate! However, fresh grilled tomatoes should be an option, seasoned and flavoured from bacon fat, Tinned or frozen mushrooms are a definite NO! And toast made from cheap sliced bread! Forget it. I understand and hear what many of you are thinking! It's unhealthy, but sorry! That's what makes it taste good. I would rather have one good cafe breakfast a month than a healthy cooked imposter everyday. Like with most food, the experts on how a good breakfast should taste are the customers that eat it and rely upon it. The skill of the cook is to learn to understand the needs of the customer, understand the flavours and create it. No point in serving Black pudding if you over cook it or cut it too thin and no point in serving Bubble if it is not crisp on the outside and adequate amounts of yesterday's cabbage is important too. No point in serving toast or bread if you don't serve ample amounts of real butter either! One portion of butter for 2 slices of toast! Never go back there! Good quality tea and coffee, usually instant, no poncey stuff here, are an essential too. Halved raw tomato, sprinkled with dried herbs! Keep it for the canteens! Spotless white eggs with perfect yellow yolks that look as though they have never seen a frying pan! Forget it! Then! The ultimate NO! A sprig of Parsley mounted on top of the eggs!! If you've never eaten in a Great British Cafe then in my humble opinion you have never experienced the true Great English Breakfast. I learned my craft from being a Great English Breakfast consumer for 35 years. Before a days graft, plastering, a trade that trust me, gives you a chance to burn it off, I consumed a Breakfast at some of the best cafes in London! And believe me, some of the worst! I understand flavours, I also understand the need to eat healthily and I believe that we have the best balance we possibly can without ruining the traditional concept of the most important meal of the day.