What constitutes the perfect full English breakfast?

[Richard Roman]

When I get home later this month my first breakfast will include:

2 rashers unsmoked danish back  bacon, a good sized pork sausage, 2 fried eggs (easy over), button mushrooms, a half grilled tomato, 2 pieces of fried black pudding and fried bread. All washed down with a good mug of tea (with milk and sugar) - also English mustard for the sausage.

All followed with hot butterd toast and marmalade

here are some replies from the guardian on this most important of questions:

Two fried eggs, two rashers of smoked back bacon, a good quality pork sausage, a couple of slices of black pudding, buttered toast and a grilled tomato, mustard and ketchup to taste and plenty of strong tea. No hash browns, baked beans or anything else.

CaroleBristol

Can't speak for the full English, but in the 1970s, a greasy spoon near King's Cross station advertised "Full Scottish breakfast – 50p". This consisted of a mug of tea, a bacon roll, two "wee Regal" cigarettes and a copy of the Daily Record.

notinkansasnowtoto

When I walked the Pennine Way about seven years ago I ate a full English at each of my 17 stops. Each was slightly different in terms of ingredients. The variables included baked beans, mushrooms, fried bread, black pudding etc, around a core of bacon, eggs and sausages. The core also varied in terms of how the eggs were cooked (some days there was a choice, others not), the number of sausages and whether the bacon was smoked or unsmoked.

My conclusion was that the primary requirements were, that the breakfast is individually cooked with good quality fresh core ingredients with whatever else is available. Plus, of course, a good pot of strong tea and hot toast.

I have also walked long distance trails in Scotland and found a "full Scottish" has the same variety and same requirements for perfection.

John Bromhall, Balerno, Edinburgh

Seeing as the decline in the English character started when we stopped drinking beer at breakfast, a true full English should include a pint of bitter.

John Gresham, Waterloo, Merseyside

[Richard ridealgh]

Black pudding and beer then. I did try a few times like stated above, a pint of smooth and it wasn't half bad.

Kirkstall and cardigan road crossroads. Doubt its there now, but it was called Jim's Cafe!

[Richard Roman]

That's not Yorkshire Richard! More Home counties!

BTW - where was this place in Headingly?

[Richard ridealgh]

Perfection for me is a place near Headingly (Leeds) and it was 99p for all the trimmings, but they would scramble the eggs with slivers of salmon.

So here's my tip of the week. 2 beaten eggs and a dash of milk in a bowl. Chop some salmon up and mix together in a bowl. Throw it in the microwave and heat for about 1.5minutes. Then stir and do that again. If you like your eggs soft, perhaps less time, but this served over a bed of fresh toast and a cup of coffee is my ideal brekkie!

[Fin MacDonald]

When I was at the U, there was not one place in town where a great breakfast could be procured.  One had to drive out to the rural areas and find a greasy spoon.  Biscuits and pork gravy and coffee could be had for the change under the couch cushions.  Chicken-fried steak, a cube steak fried in batter, was also cheap and delicious.

[The Choonies]

The best English breakfast for a Scotsman would be Margaret Thatchers head on a platter.

[The Choonies]

Only one thing missing from the fried items above and that is potato scones. It's also very common to have baked beans on the side and to have the eggs scrambled or poached. 

In Scotland we also have porridge made from oats and water and plenty of salt for taste - a rare feast for ony wee laddie oan a cauld morn.

[Chris Knight]

Ahhh, but Jemma ... when in the company of a lovely young woman, you should always accompany her beauty with an equally beautiful wine.

[Jemma Morgan]

mad* eugh. damn my fat thumbs.

[Jemma Morgan]

You people are made. You don't have wine with breakfast, you have a BEER.

[Chris Knight]

Obviously, my son, you have never had an Osoyoos Cabernet grace your palate, slipping sensuously over the tongue and sliding gracefully down your throat.

Oh well, maybe some day, the wine gods will enlighten you.