A healthy 'full English'...

Alan_Cross

I suspect this has been aired more than once before... but, just in case, I thought I would share with folk the results of my recent scheming.

Full English breakfast - images of greasy spoon cafes and the idea of a heart-attack-on-a-plate, right? Not necessarily. Here's what I've come up with:

Egg.......... poached
Sausage........ Linda Macartney veggie version (don't bother with any other type - they're all awful sawdust jobs)
Bacon........ no, Tesco bacon-style turkey rashers
1 medium Tomato...... halved or quartered
Baked beans.......Tesco low salt/sugar variety - actually still very tasty
Mushrooms........ full, halved, quartered, sliced according to taste
Bread......... toast, rather than fried bread
OJ 150ml......or other breakfast juice but not 'juice drink', to accompany

The only things that necessarily have to be fried as such are the tomato, the 'bacon' and the veggie sausage. The beans can be heated on the hob or microwaved and the cut up mushrooms with them.

Use a minimum of oil - ordinary 'vegetable' (i.e. rapeseed) oil is better than sunflower or olive.

This is actually a surprisingly healthy, low-ish fat breakfast which is pretty authentic and true to the taste of your traditional 'full English'. It also gives you 2 - 3 of your five-a-day straight off, amazingly. As a recovering heart patient I can now have this at least once per week without qualms.

Pollycat

I'd rather not have sausage than eat vegetarian ones. But that's just my taste.

Surely bacon & sausage can be grilled instead of fried.

I have a 'full English breakfast' once in a blue moon so wouldn't worry unduly about it being that healthy.

JIL

I do mine in the oven!
Oven goes on top quality sausages go in, with hash browns.
I then put a little oil in the wok, heat it and toss some mushrooms in it, these then go in the oven, I half tomatoes and they go in. I even put the baked beans in a casserole dish. I let this bake for 25 mins and then I put the bacon in the oven. I have been known to brush bread with a little oil and bake that, can't tell it's not fried bread.

My eggs are done by putting a little oil into the frying pan, cracking the eggs in, letting them cook a little then I add boiled water from the kettle, not loads just enough to create some steam lid on and they come out like fried eggs.

Then I just serve and it's all got and not greasy.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

I would never eat a cardbored snorker. As for the turkey rasher, reformed meat cannot beat best back!

Lolly_willowes

Cauldron fresh sausages are the nicest veggie ones I've found even though I haven't found them cheaper than nice meat ones. I wasn't overly keen on the Linda ones but will snack from the pack with cauldron.

Pollycat

JIL wrote: »

I do mine in the oven!
Oven goes on top quality sausages go in, with hash browns.
I then put a little oil in the wok, heat it and toss some mushrooms in it, these then go in the oven, I half tomatoes and they go in. I even put the baked beans in a casserole dish. I let this bake for 25 mins and then I put the bacon in the oven. I have been known to brush bread with a little oil and bake that, can't tell it's not fried bread.

My eggs are done by putting a little oil into the frying pan, cracking the eggs in, letting them cook a little then I add boiled water from the kettle, not loads just enough to create some steam lid on and they come out like fried eggs.

Then I just serve and it's all got and not greasy.

Oh yes, it must be high meat content sausages.
And (for me) plain pork for breakfast. I save the 'fancier' ones for other meals.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

I would never eat a cardbored snorker. As for the turkey rasher, reformed meat cannot beat best back!

And proper dry cured bacon, not the stuff that gives out that awful white foamy water.

kathrynha

For me, a healthy full English would be:
-Good quality butchers sausage - grilled
-Dry cured bacon medallions - grilled
-'Fried' egg - dry fried, done in a decent non-stick pan
-Mushrooms - grilled
-Tomato - grilled
-Baked beans


No veggie sausages or fake bacon. Good quality proper versions are a lot healthier than overly processed alternatives


If I'm wanting a treat, a slice of black pudding with it too. Once again the better quality stuff has less fat and more flavour, and it too can be grilled

Nick_C

But if course "the experts" are now coming round to the view that natural fats are not bad for you after all.

I often eat a full English - but with no bread. A high protein, low carb, diet has helped many people to lose weight and lower BP.

Slinky

Nick_C wrote: »

But if course "the experts" are now coming round to the view that natural fats are not bad for you after all.

I often eat a full English - but with no bread. A high protein, low carb, diet has helped many people to lose weight and lower BP.

Nearly what I was going to say. I've cut out most of the carbs, lost nearly 1.5 stones and weigh the same now as I did 35 years ago. Been high fat/low carbing for about 3 years now, as has my OH with similar results. I eat chocolate every day, except it's 74% cocoa and look forward to my weekly full English at my breakfast group.

Pollycat

kathrynha wrote: »

For me, a healthy full English would be:
-Good quality butchers sausage - grilled
-Dry cured bacon medallions - grilled
-'Fried' egg - dry fried, done in a decent non-stick pan
-Mushrooms - grilled
-Tomato - grilled
-Baked beans


No veggie sausages or fake bacon. Good quality proper versions are a lot healthier than overly processed alternatives


If I'm wanting a treat, a slice of black pudding with it too. Once again the better quality stuff has less fat and more flavour, and it too can be grilled

I've got my coat on and I'm on my way round to yours.

Re black pudding: I like a slice from the big pudding rather than a round from the little sausages - and it has to be from a 'proper' butcher.
My Christmas morning breakfast is a tomato sausage and black pudding sandwich with brown sauce (HP of course).

Re the thread topic, I go with the 'everything in moderation' principle.

buildersdaughter

A full English IMHO should be an occasional and proper treat. When we have it, it is the main meal of the day.
Personally I wouldn't spend any calories on Linda McCartney sausages & turkey 'bacon' but we all have likes and dislikes, and I share my ideas below in the same spirit.
Vege version in our house includes Glamorgan sausages done in the oven (see Delia, and they freeze well)
And one of my favourite 'quick snack anytime, go with anything' recipes (thanks to Rose Elliott where I found this recipe and have been making for 35 years!). Sweet corn fritters:
Separate 1 egg. Stir about 10ml cornflour into the yolk and add a drop of milk to make a smooth, thick batter. Season well - I often add a few chilli flakes.
Beat the egg white, it has to be frothy, but not as much as meringue
Stir all together with a small can of drained sweetcorn (grated courgette can be used during a glut, but need a lot of seasoning). Double for a large can.
Lightly oil a pan and drop spoonfuls on - they don't soak up much oil.

I too do tomatoes and mushrooms in the oven. We don't regularly feed vegans.