The Full Monty

Nope, this not a post about nekkid English blokes. Sorry ladies.

Rather, its about one of my favorite aspects of Irish culture... well, other than the Guinness, and the pubs, and the music, and the scenery, and..............

I'm talking about the traditional "Full Irish Breakfast". If you've ever had bacon and eggs for breakfast, you've had the scrawny, watered-down, bastardized great-great-grandson of the Full Breakfast, but until you've had it over here, you don't know what breakfast is.

It starts, naturally with eggs. Typically fried, sunny-side-up or over-easy. Then add rashers. Rashers are the Cadillac of bacon. Not some brown, dried up scrawny little strips of mostly fat, rashers are wide, thick slices of lean cured pork meat, more similar to Canadian bacon than the anemic stuff we use in the States. Next up are the bangers. You'd recognize them as sausage links, but again they really aren't comparable in quality to their American counterparts. Juicy, fresh and whitish in color, they have distinct and wonderful mild flavor.

Now, what really sets the breakfast off as an full Irish breakfast are the black and white puddings. These aren't chocolate and vanilla, and your tastes will be in for quite a shock if you bite in expecting such. Black pudding is essentially a blood sausage, with congealed pigs' blood mixed with other fillers such as grains, suet and meat. White pudding is similar, but is made without blood, so it is whitish in color and milder in flavor.

I have to admit black pudding is a bit of an acquired taste. It may taste pretty disgusting the first time you have it, and only slightly better the second, third and fourth times.... But eventually you'll come around. Why bother trying something repeatedly that you don't like? Well, here's a short list of some of my favorite things, which I wouldn't touch if I hadn't made myself keep trying them until I liked them:

• Beer
• Coffee
• Hummus
• Guacamole
• Indian food
• Black pudding

After the puddings, the meal also generally includes a side of baked beans, fried tomato, or sauteed mushrooms. Toss in some white toast and/or Irish brown soda bread and a cup of tea or coffee, and you've got yourself a Full Irish Breakfast!

You may note that it doesn't include hash-browns or other potatoes. While it is occasionally served with them, more often than not, they are omitted. Funny for a country who's entire cuisine is believed to revolve around the potato!

One of my top goals when I get home is to find a place that will import black and white puddings, as well as real Irish rashers and bangers, for the occasional weekend treat.