By Adrian McGrath
A traditional Irish breakfast, often called a Full Irish Breakfast, was, and still is, a very large meal indeed. In the past it was eaten on working days; but today it is more of a special occasion meal, morning or night. You may wonder how this huge and very filling dish came about? And why I decided to make my own unusual version of it?
My father, whose background was half Irish and half German, grew up in a small town in Wisconsin on a little dairy farm. He told me that when he was young the family would get up very early every day; and before going to work on the farm, they would have a huge meal. It could consist of eggs, breakfast meats like bacon or ham, pancakes, biscuits, jam, butter, maybe toast, coffee, and maybe oatmeal -- but certainly not grits. He only later in life discovered grits (a ground cornmeal gruel) when he came to Louisiana and specifically to New Orleans just before World War 2. He was serving in the US Army then during the Louisiana Maneuvers, a very large military exercise to train US soldiers to fight Nazi Germany.
My father's large, farmer's breakfast may have had some fruits and vegetables too, but I am not sure. Being on a dairy farm, his family most likely had lots of dairy products -- milk, eggs, butter, etc. Even during the Great Depression when he was young, they could have traded or bartered dairy products for other food items.
So why did they eat so much food for breakfast in rural Wisconsin ? For the same reason the Irish farmers and workers would eat a huge breakfast. A person working in an agricultural or agrarian culture burned a tremendous amount of calories each day. There was intense physical work to do all day long. The farmers needed enough fuel to keep going without stopping. Hence, they needed a large, varied, and nutritious breakfast. Lunch and dinner were less important than breakfast.
On top of this, sometimes mornings could be chilly or cold in Ireland as in Wisconsin. Although winters in Wisconsin could be much colder than in Ireland with frequent freezing weather and even sub zero weather. A large, hot breakfast could help fight off the cold and chill.
Ireland was for a long time an agrarian or agricultural society. So, Irish farmers and workers needed hot, nutritious fuel to eat in Ireland like my father did in rural Wisconsin.
But the Irish people, of course, are essentially an exiled people. Much like the ancient Israelites, they have traveled and found new homelands across the globe. Most people with Irish blood in them live today mainly in one country -- and it is not Ireland. It is the United States. They live mostly in the North East, but they also live in every state in the union. They have adapted Irish ways to their new surroundings.
In that sense I have taken as an experiment this occasion to make my own version of the Full or Traditional Irish Breakfast adding foods from my part of the country -- New Orleans. The original cuisine of New Orleans was called Creole, which is a mixture of the French and Spanish cultures. Nearby New Orleans to the south and west is Acadiana which is usually called Cajun Country. This is a French Canadian culture which developed in the swamps and prairies of south Louisiana when the French Canadians were driven from Nova Scotia by the British during the French and Indian War. (In fact, Cajun history resembles Irish history in many ways.)
So, I took the basic ingredients of an Irish breakfast and added a few Creole and Cajun items and removed a few traditional items too.
Full Irish version Breakfast Photo from Wikimedia Commons From Gus-DLC and Creative Commons |
The basic Irish version is made of the following although it varies, of course, from place to place and cook to cook: fried eggs, rashers (Irish style bacon, something like what is called Canadian bacon in the USA), sausages, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, baked beans, and perhaps some type of potato, and maybe Irish soda bread.
The typical drink is hot tea and perhaps orange juice. Additionally, the Irish use something most other cultures do not have called "black and white pudding." This is not pudding like in the USA, but it is more like a type of sausage patty. Black pudding is made partly from animal blood, usually from pig, plus meat and spices. White pudding is a soft sausage sometimes containing oatmeal or some other grain.
Breakfast meats for my version of the Irish breakfast -- L to R, Boudin, ham steak, turkey bacon, Andouille Photo by Adrian McGrath |
More ingredients for my version: baked beans, mushrooms, tomatoes Photo by A. McGrath |
Boudin is actually related to the Irish white pudding; both are soft sausages that contain grains. Boudin has cooked rice inside its casing along with meat and Cajun seasonings. Irish white pudding usually has oats.
Instead of soda bread, I used New Orleans French bread. Instead of tea, I used a French roast New Orleans coffee. I also added some strawberry preserves -- strawberries being very plentiful and popular in south Louisiana. This produces a nice sweet and savory taste.
I kept in the tomatoes and the mushrooms, and I believe that is a very good Irish idea to include vegetables. I should have included some type of potato too, but I already had way too much on my plate. If I do it again, I will likely add some mashed, creamed potatoes with butter. Or perhaps add Champ or Irish Potato Cakes.
And that is it.
Why not give it a try or use whatever local ingredients you have wherever you live to create your own version of an Irish breakfast.
It is not traditional as in Ireland; but just as the Irish people adapted as they went to new lands, so too Irish foods can adapt and become something exciting and new as well.
Sources and further reading:
An article on the Traditional Irish Breakfast at discoveringireland.com; Full Breakfast article at wikipedia.com.