Difference between English fry and Irish fry?

Eutow · 05-10-2014 11:34pm

miss no stars wrote: »

My personal favorite is an Irish-ulster-English mix made with Irish ingredients.

Fried bread
Tatty bread
Sausage (olhausen)
Rashers (nice back bacon)
White pudding (clonakilty stuff)
Grilled tomato
Egg poached or scrambled
Sautéed mushrooms
And a nice bit of spinach sometimes

I like spinach, but it has no business being in a fry, nor any other bits of green.

Beefy78 · 06-10-2014 12:46am

Quintessential English fry-up I'd say would be bacon, fried egg, pork sausages, baked beans, hash browns and tomato. Maybe mushrooms. A couple of slices of toast on the side and obviously a cup of tea (Twinings if possible)

If it is a real greasy-spoon style place they'd swap hash browns or toast with fried bread but honestly I can't remember the last time I've seen that on a menu.

fleet_admiral · 06-10-2014 12:53am

Quality

Our food is superior to english grub

mallards · 06-10-2014 12:58am

The best Ulster frys also have vegetable roll. Sliced like black pudding but it's a kind of peppery pork with finely chopped bits of veg in it. Pork was made for this!
http://www.homebutchers.com/sausages-puddings/traditional-meat-puddings/n-irish-vegetable-roll.html

dubscottie · 06-10-2014 2:27am

Wonder if many people are aware that the "breakfast" pudding you get in many Spar/Centra type deli rolls is in effect Haggis?

Absoluvely · 06-10-2014 3:47am

Tarzana wrote:

All sausages contain rusk.

'cept gluten-free sausages.

Tarzana · 07-10-2014 3:23am

Absoluvely wrote: »

'cept gluten-free sausages.

Aye. They probably contain some other kind of filler though. Otherwise, why you're eating a burger!

suicide_circus · 07-10-2014 5:37am

Ye can get up the yard with yer poxy potato farl an all!

Egginacup · 07-10-2014 9:45am

True Irish fry would be rashers, sausages, black and white pudding, fried eggs (preferably what I like to call a "dirty" egg because it's got all black speckles from the burnt grease in the pan), fried or grilled tomato and tea and toast. You only get fried potatoes in the evening, tea-time fry.

English fry tends to have ancillary items such as beans and mushrooms. Many bristle at the thought of this but I'll vouch that a good English fry is a delight also. Especially if you get one in a good greasy spoon cafe in the East End of Laaandon and if they've got those good fat Cumberland sausages. English rashers are inferior to Irish rashers and while I like chef brown sauce, I have found myself giving a grudging acceptance to the English HP sauce they put on their fry.

Hoop66 · 07-10-2014 9:49am

Right, I've been researching this for some time now.

Irish fry - you 'll get both puddings (although in Scotland you can also get fruit pudding which has currants in it). You'll get toast or potato/soda farl.

English fry - you'll get beans, you'll only get black pudding (which will have big lumps of fat in it) and you'll get "fried bread" which is a hideous greasy brown thing, passed off as a bit of bread.

Give me beans on a Irish fry and I'm a happy man. Generally the quality of the sausage & bacon are mucg better on an Irish fry.

Egginacup · 07-10-2014 10:04am

cml387 wrote: »

Who mentioned the American breakfast?

Crispy bacon, pancakes and syrup.

I may not agree with all their views, but they can do a good breakfast.

I was in a place in Long Island called Holidays Cafe. They had a breakfast special called the "Grand Slam" it was 3 sausages, 3 strips of bacon, 3 eggs, 3 pancakes, 3 slices of toast, 3 wedges of hash brown potatoes, a side of cornedbeef hash and coffee

for $3.33

I reckon if you were homeless and could panhandle 4 bucks a day you could live off that meal.

I had it a couple of times but could only force down one pancake. They sit in your belly like a ball of dough for days.

fryup · 07-10-2014 10:15am

Beefy78 wrote: »

Quintessential English fry-up I'd say would be bacon, fried egg, pork sausages, baked beans, hash browns and tomato. Maybe mushrooms. A couple of slices of toast on the side and obviously a cup of tea (Twinings if possible)

you were going fine until you mentioned hash browns, hash browns are an american import and have no place in a english fry old boy

eyeball kid · 07-10-2014 10:31am

purplepanda wrote: »

So what's the difference between an ulster farl & boxty?

Not being from northern stock I haven't a clue what goes on anywhere up north, Ireland or England!

Think the Ulster farl would be made from already cooked mashed potatoes while boxty is made from raw grated spuds. Boxty is far nicer.

Beefy78 · 07-10-2014 10:35am

fryup wrote: »

you were going fine until you mentioned hash browns, hash browns are an american import and have no place in a english fry old boy

I know but there's definitely been a move from fried bread to hash browns in recent years in England. It's a move I welcome too!

Fallschirmjager · 07-10-2014 10:44am

I remember fried bread as a kid in breakfast. The best description I could give is its crispy oily bacon flavoured bread.

Didn't Frazier have a hilarious description of fried breakfast and grits

He wanted enough liquidity in his blood after eating all the fat so that the clot could go straight to his brain...lol

Also, slightly related, anyone else remember bread dipped and fried I n the leftovers of your Sunday roast?. Man that was fantastic.

FTA69 · 07-10-2014 10:48am

Egginacup wrote: »

English fry tends to have ancillary items such as beans and mushrooms. Many bristle at the thought of this but I'll vouch that a good English fry is a delight also. Especially if you get one in a good greasy spoon cafe in the East End of Laaandon and if they've got those good fat Cumberland sausages. English rashers are inferior to Irish rashers and while I like chef brown sauce, I have found myself giving a grudging acceptance to the English HP sauce they put on their fry.

Most greasy spoons over here do utterly sh*te quality sausages and rashers, real bottom-of-the-bin, out-of-the-freezer type stuff; probably why the breakfasts only cost around £4.

daveyeh · 07-10-2014 3:04pm

Tarzana wrote: »

All sausages contain rusk.

Thank you sausage advisory council.

Beefy78 · 07-10-2014 5:09pm

FTA69 wrote: »

Most greasy spoons over here do utterly sh*te quality sausages and rashers, real bottom-of-the-bin, out-of-the-freezer type stuff; probably why the breakfasts only cost around £4.

Wetherspoons pubs actually do a good breakfast.

FTA69 · 07-10-2014 5:10pm

Beefy78 wrote: »

Wetherspoons pubs actually do a good breakfast.

It's edible for what you're paying.

purplepanda · 07-10-2014 6:03pm

Nothing worse than cheap nasty bacon & sausages, my old Dad used to send me back out to the shops if I bought cheap bacon for his breakfast , usually the back stuff was the worst, he could smell it straight away & no way would he eat that. :pac:

Teyla Emmagan · 07-10-2014 6:07pm

God I hate beans in a fry.

fryup · 07-10-2014 6:12pm

fryup wrote: »

you were going fine until you mentioned hash browns, hash browns are an american import and have no place in a english fry old boy

Beefy78 wrote: »

I know but there's definitely been a move from fried bread to hash browns in recent years in England. It's a move I welcome too!

hash browns have no place in an english or irish fry

its sacrilege to have it on the plate

Lingua Franca · 07-10-2014 6:57pm

Hash browns have no place in a fry but they do make an excellent hangover breakfast, just a few of them and a couple of fried eggs and a healthy shake of salt.

Tarzana · 07-10-2014 8:42pm

Egginacup wrote: »

True Irish fry would be rashers, sausages, black and white pudding, fried eggs (preferably what I like to call a "dirty" egg because it's got all black speckles from the burnt grease in the pan), fried or grilled tomato and tea and toast. You only get fried potatoes in the evening, tea-time fry.

English fry tends to have ancillary items such as beans and mushrooms.

Nah, mushrooms are as common in fries in Ireland as in the UK. Beans, not so much. We tend to recoil at them in fries.

Tarzana · 07-10-2014 8:44pm

Hoop66 wrote: »

and you'll get "fried bread" which is a hideous greasy brown thing, passed off as a bit of bread.

Fried bread done right is lovely.

Cienciano · 07-10-2014 9:07pm

fleet_admiral wrote: »

Quality

Our food is superior to english grub

I'm with you on this. Loads of irish frys have what people are saying belongs on an english fry and vice versa. But the one thing I notice on frys in both countries is the quality here is better. Sausages, rashers, black and white pudding is much better in ireland. Could also be what you're used to/brought up with.

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

God I hate beans in a fry.

If they're served in a ramekin they're great. Not a fan of them dumped on everything.

oppenheimer1 · 07-10-2014 9:08pm

Sclosages wrote: »

What is the difference between the two traditional breakfasts?

I'm thinking myself it is the black and white pudding?

There is no difference between an English fried breakfast and an Irish one apart from the name.

Ireland was so poor for so long that it would have been highly unusual to have meat for breakfast until relatively recently. The fried breakfast was called an Irish breakfast because no greasy spoon in Ireland would write English breakfast on the menu if they wanted to stay in business

csallmighty · 07-10-2014 9:10pm

Had a full Irish this morning. Consisted of 2 rashers, 2 sausages, 1 black + 1 white pudding, fried egg, hash brown, fried tomato, beans and toast.

Heroditas · 07-10-2014 9:17pm

miss no stars wrote: »

My personal favorite is an Irish-ulster-English mix made with Irish ingredients.

Fried bread
Tatty bread
Sausage (olhausen)
Rashers (nice back bacon)
White pudding (clonakilty stuff)
Grilled tomato
Egg poached or scrambled
Sautéed mushrooms
And a nice bit of spinach sometimes

This brand of sausage can't be emphasised enough.
By far the best brand. Superquinn/Super Valu ones pale in comparison and are disgracefully overrated.

Pretzill · 07-10-2014 9:22pm

The addition of beans seems to be sneaking on to the Irish Fry menu - whereas before they were only found on the English fry - I don't know how that happened but I suspect most purveyors of the fry up don't realise the horror a clump of beans with it's bean juice sliding under a rasher or a rogue sausage or worse still reddening an egg white can cause.

Irish Fry: Best quality ingredients IMO

2 rashers
2 pork sausages (high meat content)
black pud
white pud
fried egg
mug of tea
additions not always included;
toast
hash brown or chips
mushrooms
fresh fried tomato half

English Fry

1 bacon
2 Cumberland Sausages (herby breadcrumy things)
black pud
beans
tinned tomatoes (yuck)
fried egg
weak tea
other additions;

toast/hash brown/fried bread (for an Ulster Fry add fried soda bread and for a Welsh twist the abomination that is bubble & sqeauk)

A mis spent youth in b&b's, hotels and little chef's I rarely eat fry's now but the Irish fry wins hands down for quality ingredients.

Difference between English fry and Irish fry?

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