Irish Country Kitchen - Recipes: Breakfast (1 of 4)

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TRADITIONAL IRISH BREAKFAST

For the French, breakfast might be only a glass of jus d’orange, a croissant and a cup of café au lait. For the Irish, breakfast means a serious break of the overnight fast, and to prove their seriousness, they indulge themselves in a full meal. This typically means fruit juice followed by hot or cold cereal, and then a big grill or fry of rashers (strips of bacon), sausages and an egg or two, garnished with slices of tomato and served with toast and plenty of soda bread lashed with butter and accompanied by a pot of strong tea. Some details of the traditional breakfast:

ORANGE JUICE
Though oranges are not native to Ireland, we’ve become very partial to them. Fixing fresh orange juice is simple.
Serves: 1
Ingredients:
1–2 large oranges
2 teaspoons sugar (optional)

Method: Cut the orange in half. Using an orange squeezer, squeeze out the orange juice. Strain juice into a glass. Add sugar if desired. Chill and serve.

RASHERS, EGG, SAUSAGE AND TOMATO

Some people call them rashers, others say bacon. At home in my County Wexford we always called them back rashers. They had plenty of lean meat. When we fried eggs at home we would always prick the yolk with a fork to spread it out over the egg white. When the egg was set we would turn it over and fry the other side for an extra minute or so. Most city people fry the egg in a few teaspoonfuls of fat, taking care not to break the yolk. When the egg white is set they spoon the fat over the yolk until the yolk is firm. This makes for a richer appearance. I find myself using both methods.
Most children love sausages. When we were young my sisters and I would get up at about eight on a Sunday morning when all the other members of the family had gone to Mass. We had the house to ourselves and could prepare our breakfast in our own way. One of us would go out to the dairy for the milk and butter. Another would set the table and the oldest of the three would put the big black heavy pan on the cooker. There was always plenty of fat in the pan. We cooked six sausages until they were golden brown all over, and served them up with plenty of fat from the pan, and with slices of mother’s soda bread spread thickly with butter.

Serves: 1
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 8–10 minutes
Ingredients:
2 slices of bacon, rinds removed if necessary 2 sausages
fried egg(s)
1 tomato, sliced in half
finely chopped parsley (optional)

Method: Preheat the grill to maximum. Set the rashers and sausages under the grill. Cook rashers until as crisp as desired on both sides (4–5 minutes on each side). Cook sausages until golden brown all over, making sure to cook on all sides. Place tomato halves on grill after turning rashers onto the second side. Fry the egg and set it in the centre of the plate; arrange rashers, sausages and tomato around the edge. Garnish, if you like, with finely chopped parsley. To vary: Fry the rashers and sausages. If frying, cooking will ideally be done a bit more slowly.The best way is to begin by putting the rashers or sausages onto a cold lightly greased frying pan over a gentle heat. As the fat is released from the rashers or sausages, gradually increase the heat.

PORRIDGE

Serves: 2
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10–15 minutes
Ingredients:
20 fl oz water | 575ml | 2 1/2 cups
pinch of salt
2oz oatmeal 100g | 3/4 cup

Method: Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan. Add the salt and sprinkle in the oats, stirring continually to prevent lumps from forming. Boil and stir for a few minutes. Cover and simmer for 10–15 minutes. Pour into individual bowls and serve with sugar and milk.

From the Appletree Press title: An Irish Country Kitchen by Mary Kinsella.
The recipes for Irish Breakfast continue here

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