It’s not a heart attack on a plate; it’s a heart attack, high blood pressure, diabetes and a stroke on a plate.
When I lived in Colorado Springs I used to love going to Jack Quinn’s, a terrific Irish pub. Jack Quinn’s has an excellent assortment of beers on tap, along with a top-notch selection of Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky. And the menu features all the good stuff: corned beef and cabbage; shepherd’s pie; fish and chips; lamb and barley soup; bangers and mash.
But my favorite item on their menu is a traditional Irish breakfast. Here’s what their menu has to say about it:
Full Irish Breakfast: Two eggs, bangers, rashers, black & white pudding, baked beans, sautéed mushrooms, Celtic potatoes, grilled tomatoes, soda bread toast & honey butter.
Oh, is that all?
Lemme translate that and also list other options for an Irish breakfast. To start with, it’s important to note that this should all be prepared together in a large skillet, because almost all the ingredients are fried in butter.
- Fried egg (or eggs), sunny side up.
- Rashers: a “rasher” is British slang for a slice of bacon. Irish bacon if you can find it—Irish bacon has more meat and less fat (don’t worry; you’ll get plenty of other fats in an Irish breakfast!)
- Pork Sausages: A non-negotiable. Irish pork sausages are the best!
- Hash Browns or some other version of spuds. Thick oven-baked fries are a popular choice too.
- Soda Bread: Here’s my Soda Bread recipe.
- Black or White Pudding: White pudding is a sausage made from cereal grains and animal fat. Black pudding is sausage made from pork or occasionally beef blood, with pork fat or beef suet, and a cereal, usually oatmeal. If you can’t find either one locally, you can order either from Jolly Posh or a couple other stores for about $10 each (don’t go to Amazon; it’s $80 for an 8oz sausage!).
- Grilled Tomatoes: I always have Roma tomatoes in the fridge, but any other tomato is fine. Slice it into thick coins and put ’em in the skillet with everything else.
- Beans: Just good old baked beans, homemade or store-bought.
- Button Mushrooms sautéed in Irish butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.
- Irish Butter for cooking in the pan and to butter the soda bread: Kerrygold is my go-to. Regular butter is fine too.