The Great British Breakfast

There is a famous quote by Somerset Maugham about the British breakfast.  He said, "If you eat well in England, you must eat breakfast three time a day."  We are very fond of eating breakfast for dinner and while we do love pancakes at supper, the traditional British breakfast can top that.  While the actual items on the plate vary, breakfast usually consists of the following:

fried eggs

sausage

black or/and white pudding

bacon

mushrooms

baked beans

potatoes

toast 

tomato

A nice marmalade on the table for extra toast is a must.  In fact, this edition of The Great British Breakfast was published in association with Frank Cooper, who most probably made the marmalade on the table.

Jan Read and Maite Manjon have written a good bit about wine, food and history, but in The Great British Breakfast they take a historical view of the English breakfast.  If there was a prime period of breakfast, it was during the nineteenth century when country houses were flourishing.  During the end of the century and into the very beginnings of the twentieth century, many cookbooks were published specifically for preparing breakfast.  Some ideas for a proper breakfast for gentlemen included a menu of:

Kedgeree of Cod

Devilled Pheasant

Broiled Ham

Mutton Chops

Eggs aux Fine Herbs

While men might never pass on a breakfast option, women were much more particular and required a lighter fare such as:

Broiled Salmon

Roast Larks

Eggs

The Great British Breakfast is one of our favorite kinds of food books.  It has a bit of history, a bit of story, and some recipes all mixed together. While the English loved a scone, a slightly different version existed in Scotland.  While their potato scones featured boiled potatoes there was push for cooks to invest in a patented potato steamer.  Steamed or boiled, potatoes are the key.

Potato Scones
1 lb (450g) potatoes, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
1 oz (30g) butter or margarine
3-4 oz (80-110g) flour

Boil, drain and sieve the potatoes,  Add the salt and butter and knead into a stiff dough with as much flour as it will absorb.  Roll out to about 1/4-inch thick on a floured board, cut into triangles and prick with a fork.  Bake on a hot greased griddle for about five minutes each side until browned.

A far cry from the usual breakfast of  -- coffee!

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Southern Living Christmas Cookbook

Every year or two, Southern Living puts out another Christmas Cookbook. In 2008 they published Southern Living Christmas Cookbook: All-New Ultimate Holiday Entertaining Guide. It is filled with a lot of recipes that feature canned soup, like the one below and they have a certain inconsistency in recipes. On Amazon, several people complained that the recipes didn't work and the timing was off. That may be the case in one or two recipes, but if you cook several recipes and they seem to all be off, then I would suggest that it is far more likely that your oven is calibrated wrong. Instead of buying a cookbook you might want to buy an oven thermometer.

Still, if you want an easy, general Christmas book, Southern Living keeps churning them out.

I make a variation of this recipe in a large pan and love it. My recipe features NO mushroom soup, just milk. I am certain you can eliminate the canned soup by just adding a bit more milk. Though in individual coffee mugs this should be a sow-stopper.

Mini Sausage-and-Egg Casseroles

1 1/2-oz. sourdough bread slices, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Vegetable cooking spray
1 (12-oz.) package pork sausage
2 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1. Divide bread cubes evenly among 10 (8- to 10-oz.) ovenproof coffee mugs coated with cooking spray, placing in bottom of mugs.Top evenly with sausage which has been cooked in a nonstick skillet until browned and then, crumbled. Whisk together 2 1/2 cups milk, eggs, and Dijon mustard. Pour evenly over bread mixture in mugs.

2. Whisk together buttermilk and cream of mushroom soup. Spoon over bread mixture in mugs; sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Place coffee mugs on a baking sheet.

3. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until casseroles are set and puffed. Serve immediately.

Note: Unbaked mugs of casserole can be covered with plastic wrap, then foil, and frozen up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Bake as directed.

This is such a "Southern" suggestion, to wrap them and freeze them for a month! Seriously, it takes longer to thaw them than to make the recipe from scratch. Southerner women are notorious for keeping a casserole in the freezer "just in case someone dies."

Don't freeze them, (unless you are anticipating someones demise in the near future)bake them today.

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