Accross The Big Pond

UK Classic “The Great Big British Fry Up”

Bacon, Sausage, black pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans, fried eggs fried bread, toast, to finish with zesty marmalade or Jam.(Jelly) Orange Juice tea and coffee.

USA Classic “The All American Breakfast”

Bacon, sausage patties, tomato, fried eggs, hash browns, biscuits with sausage gravy or pancakes and maple syrup. Toast with honey or jams. Coffee Orange juice

They don’t sound too different but when you look close they are most definitely not quite the same.

Firstly, the bacon.

UK style bacon
Very lean middle cut is preferred.  Its closer to Canadian bacon but supplied uncooked.

USA style bacon
Very fatty, thin slices.  In the UK we would call this Streaky bacon.

Breakfast Meats

Traditional sausages in the UK are very mild pork unless you buy the high quality with a large meat content.  No patties unless you make them yourself out of pork sausage meat.

No sausage gravy served at breakfast (or at any other time in the UK).  You have to make it from scratch but it is easy to make.

The USA sausage has much a stronger taste and tends to be meatier and more spiced with a higher fat content.  Patties and sausages are widely available.

Black pudding v Blood pudding.  I have never seen this served in the USA for breakfast. It is hard to get hold of and I have not seen it for sale in supermarkets, only a local butcher on request. You can make your own  Readily available in UK

Pancakes & Biscuits

Pancakes and syrup are will never normally be served on the same plate as savoury food in the UK.

UK pancakes very thin, served traditionally with sugar and lemon rolled up but not served with a fried breakfast. Just like French Crepes, theses are always served on Pancake Day which is – Mardi Gras.

American pancakes are thicker and denser – similar to Scotch cakes.  You can make these very easily with the recipe on page 45.

UK Biscuits are a type of “cookie” served with a cup of tea. Definitely not taken at breakfast.

USA biscuits are similar to British scones.  Scones are mainly served for high teas around 4 in the afternoon, served with cream and jam.

Jam –V- Jelly

These are the same but jelly in the UK is a wobbly desert (jello) that is served with cream – not in sandwiches with peanut butter. You will find it’s not a common sandwich in UK even though my children still love them.

Baked Beans

In the USA The Beans have pork fat and lots of sugar added.  The only ones we could find that came close to British baked beans were Bushes Vegetarian beans. USA Heinz were much too sweet for our pallet. In the UK we don’t have any with added pork fat.

And the Rest

Tomatoes and mushrooms are readily available both sides of the pond. I prefer to buy vine ripened tomatoes as they have the very best flavour.

Fried Bread, this is traditionally fried in the bacon fat until it is crisp.  I make a healthier option but just as tasty.

Hash browns.  You can now get these in most supermarkets in the UK manly in the freezer department they are now getting more popular. You won’t find any Tater tots in the UK so you do have to make your own.

Eggs are Eggs the same on both sides of the Pond – In England we go to the Farm and buy the freshest Eggs.

Toast.  I found the bread to toast in the USA is Italian bread – not as much added sugar or eggs.  We tried and tried all the breads in the USA, until we found the Italian bread range. We did not even like the normal hamburger buns so we bought Kaiser Rolls.  These are just like our barm cakes (buns)   Americans in the UK should buy a cheaper supermarket bread (the “value” breads). These tend to be fluffy with added sugar, they’re not as refined as teh more expensive breads.

As you can see now there are so many differences, you always think a cooked breakfast is a cooked breakfast but not anymore.   With the recipes, you now can recreate your biscuits with sausage gravy, our eldest son Liam is addicted!  Alternatively, English pancakes are so easy to make in either country, maybe you would like to try them. You can be flexible and make recipes from both countries. British children love British pancakes so much why not make them in America?  You never know, they may catch on.  They are perfect for Mardi Gras instead of a King cake, then you will have the best of both traditions.

I am doing a whole host of recipes between the two countries – Watch this space x x