The world famous English breakfast.

We already gave you some tips and tricks to get rid of your hangover. But every country has its own traditional dishes to make the process go faster. We like to give you a taste of the international anti-hangover cuisine. Now the next dish we have postponed long enough. It’s probably the most well known hangover cure in the world. From the United Kingdom we give you: the English breakfast. And while we’re at it we just as well share the secrets behind the slightly different Irish breakfast, Ulster fry, Welsh breakfast and Scottish breakfast with you.

Now I don’t believe we really have to get into the British drinking culture. There isn’t a country in the world that has no experience with tourists or football fans from the United Kingdom. Basically they drink till they drop. Their dedication to kill their livers and numerous brain cells is simply impressive. And with whiskey, gin and some good ales and ciders they have given the world a lot of good stuff.

Now in general a lot of the traditional British food is quite greasy and therefor pretty useful as a hangover cure. However there is no cure as famous or effective – besides a Bloody Mary cocktail perhaps – as the good old full English breakfast. Although in England you’ll just find it on the menu as breakfast, where toast and marmelade are called “continental breakfast”. It’s actually quite easy to make, even with a banging head ache. Always have your breakfast with a good pint of beer and you will feel better in no time.

Ingredients (for 1 full breakfast):
2 sausages
2 slices of bacon
2 eggs
100 grams of mushrooms
150 grams of white beans in tomato sauce
Ketchup
Worcester sauce

Preparation:
Now best is a metal cooking plate like used in burger restaurants, but a large frying pan will also do the trick. First you heat up some oil and then put on/in the sausages since they have to go longest. After some minutes you can add the mushrooms, bacon, eggs and beans in that order. Make sure the ingredients stay more or less seperated. Once it’s all properly cooked you can serve this dish with toast and use the sauces to add the real English flavor.

Irish breakfast:
This dish has all the main ingredients of an English breakfast, but with some additions. A traditional Irish breakfast also contains some (leftover) cooked potato’s, a tomato and black and white pudding.

Ulster Fry:
This recipe is from Northern Ireland and therefor kind of simular to the traditional Irish breakfast. Compared to the English breakfast the mushrooms are missing. However an Ulster Fry comes with tomato, soda or potato bread and black and white puddings.

Scottish breakfast:
Now the Scottish cuisine is probably the most notorious of the whole UK. And indeed dishes like haggis and deep fried mars bars are not very common in the rest of the world. Well the traditional Scottish breakfast has everything an English breakfast has and more. A potato scone, grilled tomatoes and black pudding are added, as well as a bowl of porridge. In some places you might even find some cold smoked herring (kippers) on your plate.

Welsh breakfast:
Yes, also the Welsh claim that their breakfast is quite different from their neighbours. And indeed it is. A traditional Welsh breakfast is basically and English one served with Penclawdd cockle and laverbread cake.

Micky Bumbar

More dishes in the Hangover Cures Dossier