ADVANCED (C1) LEVEL ARTICLE
The Full English breakfast
By Liz Matthews
Look again at the front cover of The Full English magazine. It’s varied, interesting and
eye-catching.
That’s what a Full English Breakfast looks like when it is on the plate, on the table in front of you. There's so much to choose from. What will you tuck into first? The rasher of crispy bacon? The dark brown sausage? The runny yellow yolk of the egg? Then there are the juicy fried mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and, for a truly Full English Breakfast, a slice of black pudding and a piece of fried bread.
Alongside this colourful plate of tasty food, are slices of crunchy toast, butter and marmalade and a pot of scalding hot English Breakfast Tea. Well, I suppose you could have coffee if that is what you prefer!
Yes, The Full English Breakfast uses a variety of foods which include proteins, carbohydrates and fats so that, by the time you’ve finished your plate, you are well-nourished, and all set for a busy day.
Cooking a Full English Breakfast is not difficult. You can do all of it using just one frying pan and frying each type of food separately, using a small amount of cooking oil.
Keep your oven on at the same time so that you can put the cooked items in there to keep warm while you fry up the rest of the ingredients. And you can warm up your plates in there too, ready to plate up the food when it’s ready.
Here are some of the ingredients you could include in your Full English. I have listed them in the order I would cook them, but you may discover better ways of doing this.
Choose a few, several, or all of the items:
Some people also like to include:
If you want to cut down on the calories a bit, you can place the sausages on a grill pan and grill them on their own for maybe 10 or 15 minutes, and then add the mushrooms, tomatoes and bacon to grill alongside the sausages (make sure the sausages are fully cooked - the insides must no longer be pink).
The eggs can be beaten with a tablespoon of milk and then scrambled in a knob of melted butter in a small saucepan on the hob.
We English do love our food to be hot. I think the most important skill you need to successfully cook a Full English Breakfast is organisation – to get all that yummy food cooked and served up on a warmed plate ready to serve while it’s still piping hot requires practice, so you could be eating this most weekends!
Traditionally a full breakfast like this was eaten daily because it is so full of nourishment that a person could then do a good day’s work without getting too hungry. Nowadays, the Full English Breakfast is considered something of a treat to be enjoyed maybe about once a fortnight.
Phew! After all that writing, next time I will tell you about the breakfast I managed to prepare today. Much simpler, but still colourful, pretty and very nutritious.
That’s what a Full English Breakfast looks like when it is on the plate, on the table in front of you. There's so much to choose from. What will you tuck into first? The rasher of crispy bacon? The dark brown sausage? The runny yellow yolk of the egg? Then there are the juicy fried mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and, for a truly Full English Breakfast, a slice of black pudding and a piece of fried bread.
Alongside this colourful plate of tasty food, are slices of crunchy toast, butter and marmalade and a pot of scalding hot English Breakfast Tea. Well, I suppose you could have coffee if that is what you prefer!
Yes, The Full English Breakfast uses a variety of foods which include proteins, carbohydrates and fats so that, by the time you’ve finished your plate, you are well-nourished, and all set for a busy day.
Cooking a Full English Breakfast is not difficult. You can do all of it using just one frying pan and frying each type of food separately, using a small amount of cooking oil.
Keep your oven on at the same time so that you can put the cooked items in there to keep warm while you fry up the rest of the ingredients. And you can warm up your plates in there too, ready to plate up the food when it’s ready.
Here are some of the ingredients you could include in your Full English. I have listed them in the order I would cook them, but you may discover better ways of doing this.
Choose a few, several, or all of the items:
- Mushrooms (these leave the pan very black, so clean it out before continuing).
- Fried Bread (this mops up all the tasty fat left in the pan. Fry it till it’s very crisp).
- Eggs (clean out the frying pan before you fry the eggs so that they are not covered in little black bits from the mushrooms or the other foods).
Some people also like to include:
- Potatoes, sliced or chopped (these would need to be fried first and kept warm).
- Baked beans.
If you want to cut down on the calories a bit, you can place the sausages on a grill pan and grill them on their own for maybe 10 or 15 minutes, and then add the mushrooms, tomatoes and bacon to grill alongside the sausages (make sure the sausages are fully cooked - the insides must no longer be pink).
The eggs can be beaten with a tablespoon of milk and then scrambled in a knob of melted butter in a small saucepan on the hob.
We English do love our food to be hot. I think the most important skill you need to successfully cook a Full English Breakfast is organisation – to get all that yummy food cooked and served up on a warmed plate ready to serve while it’s still piping hot requires practice, so you could be eating this most weekends!
Traditionally a full breakfast like this was eaten daily because it is so full of nourishment that a person could then do a good day’s work without getting too hungry. Nowadays, the Full English Breakfast is considered something of a treat to be enjoyed maybe about once a fortnight.
Phew! After all that writing, next time I will tell you about the breakfast I managed to prepare today. Much simpler, but still colourful, pretty and very nutritious.
Here are some questions on the text:
- There:
a) is only one way to make a Full English breakfast.
b) are many ways to make a Full English breakfast.
- A Full English breakfast is:
a) very good for you.
b) not very good for you.
c) good for you from time to time.
- Which of the following is not usually included in a Full English breakfast?:
a) potatoes
b) eggs
c) bacon
d) onion
- To cut down on calories is to:
a) increase the amount of energy you get from a meal.
b) decrease the amount of energy you get from a meal.
c) keep the amount of energy you get from a meal the same.
- The most difficult thing about cooking a Full English breakfast is:
a) cooking the sausages properly.
b) timing.
c) fitting all the ingredients into the frying pan.
