English Breakfast Sandwich

Serves: 2
Approx cost: €6
Approx calories (per sandwich): ~1100
Approx preparation and cooking time: 45 mins

Ok, this post isn’t so much a recipe as it is a celebration of that rather mighty dish commonly known as a “full English”. In it’s purest form it is about as far from being “healthy” as you can get – extremely high in saturated fat and salt – but eating one of these every now and again certainly isn’t a bad thing. Obviously, I, like most other people, greatly prefer the plated, hot version of this dish – first thing in the morning, still sleepy from a Saturday night on the tiles, and you have a huge, steaming mug of tea or coffee in front of you, and this – bacon, egg, sausage, fried bread, hash browns, a great big puddle of beans and fried mushrooms – breakfasts don’t get much better than that!

However – there have been some times when eating a hot breakfast like this isn’t convenient, and yet still you need something which is going to keep you going for quite some time – perhaps you’re out really early in the morning, going on a long trip, whatever. If this applied to you then read on – this is the sandwich for you! If you’re really daring (and have a huge mouth), you could even try and squish in some hash browns and baked beans in to this bad boy! I just hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

– 6 slices White Bread
– 6 – 8 rashers Streaky Bacon
– 1 Black Pudding (or 4 slices of “English-style” black pudding)
– ~4 English Chipolata Sausages
– 2 Eggs
– 4 slices Hamburger Cheese
– Sunflower Oil for frying
– Ketchup
– Mayonnaise

Instructions

1. Start by lining a baking a tray with aluminium foil and laying out the bacon and sausages on top. Place under the grill and grill the bacon on each side for around 3 minutes, or until brown and crispy. The sausages will take longer, so just leave these under, turning periodically, until these too have browned. Remove from the grill and set to one side. If you intend on packing the sandwich up to take out with you, it’s important that the various components have sufficiently cooled before the sandwich construction takes place!
   
   
   
   




2. If you’re not a fan of black pudding then you may want to skip this step! In France, I’m able to buy … something which isn’t entirely dissimilar in taste and ingredients to what I know of in England as Black Pudding. The “Boudin Noir” in France however is very different in consistency. It has the colour and texture of a … well, I won’t say what it looks and feels like but I’m sure you can hazard a guess :p If using black pudding, get 2 good slices and fry on both sides until done. If using boudin noir, cut into slices, and fry. As it cooks it will get looser and will break apart. After trying to keep the slices intact one time I found it’s just easier to break it all apart with a spatula so you end up with something you can spoon out onto the sandwich.
   
   
   
   




3. Heat some oil in a large pan and fry the eggs. Once cooked on one side you may find it useful to flip the egg and fry on the other side too. This way you will avoid the annoying situation where you make the sandwich, cut it into two halves and then the yolk runs everywhere!
   
   
   
   




4. Heat a little more oil in the pan and add in a slice of bread for frying. Once the bread is in the oil, immediately flip, to ensure both sides get an even oil coating, before flipping back to fry the first side. Fry for a couple of minutes until brown before flipping and repeating. Repeat the process with the second slice of bread.
   
   
   
   




5. By now you should have all your ingredients ready and cooling (or cooled already) on your work surface. Now we’re ready to start constructing the masterpiece of a sandwich!
   
   
   
   




6. Lay out two slices of bread, put a squirt of ketchup on each one and spread around. Arrange one cheese slice on each piece of bread. Chop the bacon rashers in half or into three pieces and arrange the bacon between the two slices of bread. Chop the sausages into strips and place these on top of the bacon.
   
   
   
   




7. Place a slice of fried bread on top of the sausages and press down gently. Spoon out some of the “boudin noir” (or cut the fried black pudding up and arrange on top of the fried bread) and then arrange the fried egg on top.
   
   
   
   




8. Finally, place a squirt of mayonnaise on the last slice of bread and spread around. Place a slice of cheese on the mayonnaise and place the “lid” on top of the egg and press down, quite firmly, but being careful not to squish the bread. Using a large, sharp knife, cut the sandwich in half and either enjoy immediately, or wrap in aluminium foil for a great meal on the go. Goes perfectly with a big cup of tea or coffee and some orange juice to cut through the grease! So there we go – the unashamedly unhealthy, greasy, but oh so awesome, almost-full English Breakfast in a handy, portable sandwich format… Enjoy!