Step by step: the Great(ness) fry up

Whilst some of my lovely readers would have made a fry up many, many times, some of the newer cooks will find it all a little bit daunting.  It is true that it is not hard but there is quite some juggling which does make it more tricky and practice really does make perfect.  A timeline will help you feel in control and keep things ticking along.

Victoria has, as always for this section, been my no 1 tester and her first ever attempt at a fry up went so well and I was so happy that hers is the cover picture you see, The only thing she really did wrong was put too much milk in her tea, otherwise it looks perfect. Victoria, congratulations, you’re cover girl.

I almost called this the full English but since my 'fry up' rarely contains all of the component parts for a Full English that felt wrong.  So what does the full English consist of?  Well truth be told it can contain all or most of these; bacon, sausages, eggs, tomatoes, black pudding, toast or fried bread, potatoes, mushrooms and baked beans, all washed down with a cup of tea.

First thing is to first decide on exactly what you would like your fry up to consist of and work out a little timetable.  Hash browns, sausages and tomatoes take the longest and so should be where you start.  I find that most sausages suggest grilling or frying on the packet instructions, personally I prefer to cook them in the oven as they cook evenly and don't split open.  Thin sausages take 20-25 mins, thicker sausages 25-35, the time difference will be down to your oven, some ovens just cook that little but more efficiently than others. 

The way you cook your eggs is entirely up to you but the most popular way would be fried, poached or scrambled.

Fit what you are cooking into a timetable like this:

Feeds 2 (easily changed for 3, 4, 5, 6 etc. people)
Preparation 10 mins
Cooking time 50 mins

Ingredients
4 sausages (2 per person)
4 tsp oil
Salt or seasoning
4 hash browns (2 per person)
½ tsp sugar
2 medium large tomatoes or 6 cherry tomatoes (1 medium, 3 cherry per person)
½ tsp thyme or dried thyme
Freshly ground black pepper
150g mushrooms
2 slices of black pudding (1 per person, increase to 2 pp if you like)
6 slices of streaky bacon (3 per person) or 4 slices of back bacon (2 per person)
4 tsps butter
2 eggs (1 per person, increase to 2 pp if you like)
2 slices of bread ((1 per person, increase to 2 pp if you like)
1 x 200g tin of baked beans
1 tsp white wine vinegar (only needed if making poached eggs)
Tea bags
Milk

Method
Heat your oven to 190c.

Get a baking tray with a lip or oven dish and put a tsp or two of flavourless oil into it.  Move and jiggle your pan so that the oil moves around and covers the bottom.  Put your sausages in to the pan and sprinkle with a touch of salt or seasoning.  Put your hash browns onto a baking tray.

Take your tomatoes and cut them in half horizontally.  Place on a baking tray and drizzle with a little oil, some salt or seasoning, a touch of sugar, some freshly ground black pepper and a very small amount of thyme or dried thyme if you have. 

Cut your mushrooms, if they are small just halve or quarter and if slightly bigger than cut into slices, I like my slices to be around 1cm because the mushrooms go golden as they cook and remain juicy.  Put the mushrooms to one side for the moment.

Put the sausages, hash browns and tomatoes into the oven.

Cook the sausages, hash browns and tomatoes for 10 mins if you having black pudding, 15 mins if you are not before starting the next step.

Take a frying pan and put in 1 tbsp oil and place on a medium heat.  Put your black pudding in and fry for 2-3 mins per side.  Jiggle your sausages so that each side goes golden and put the black pudding into the oven with your sausages.  While you are in the oven, turn your hash browns over.

Wipe out your pan with a piece of kitchen roll and now turn to your bacon.  If you are using back bacon put 2 tsp of oil into the pan, if streaky then I don’t use any.  I lay out the bacon in a frying pan flat and then if I have more bacon than room in the pan I place another layer of bacon over the first layer just going the other way - so it looks like a lattice.  Turn the heat to medium.  As the bacon cooks it shrinks so you can then reposition it so every rasher it is all in contact with the bottom of the pan.  Cook for 5-10 mins until the fat it is nice and crispy (here the look of the bacon is more important than time so if it is not crispy just be patient and keep it cooking).  When you are happy, transfer the bacon rashers ,to the oven on top of your tomatoes.

Turn off your oven and put your plates in.  Now to keep everything hot, don't open your oven again until you are ready to dish.

Don’t wash out your pan, we are going to use the gorgeous bacon fat for the mushrooms.  Put 1 tsp of butter into the pan and over a medium high heat melt the butter into the bacon juices and tumble in your mushrooms, season with a little salt (remembering that the bacon is salty) and a touch of black pepper.  The pan will for a while be dry so just stir and move the mushrooms in the pan for a few mins.  The mushrooms will eventually release moisture, your aim is to cook the mushrooms until the moisture goes and they turn golden - this will take roughly 5 mins.

Meanwhile turn your attention to your eggs.  If you want poached eggs then get the water on.  I like to take my eggs out of the shells and into ramekins so when I start to cook it is easy to transfer quickly but if you want to skip this step do.  I also like to remove the watery white part to leave only the firm white as it looks much nicer but again this can be ignored.  Get a few small ramekins or tea cups and if using a tea strainer to remove the watery white then get a small bowl and balance your tea strainer on to the bowl.  Crack your eggs one at a time into the tea strainer, the watery white will be strained off after a few seconds and you can then carefully transfer the egg into the ramekins.  Alternatively just crack your eggs into the ramekins.

Don’t forget your mushrooms, stir from time to time.

Boil your kettle for your tea and get your cups and tea bags ready. 

Pop your bread into the toaster.

If you are having beans start to warm these by putting them into a saucepan and cooking on a medium heat stirring from time to time. 

If you are having poached eggs then once your water is boiling, turn down the heat to medium, add a splash of vinegar and gently drop in your eggs and simmer for 3-4 mins.  Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon on to a few folded sheets of kitchen towel. 

If you are frying your eggs then in a small frying pan put 1 tsp oil and 1 tsp butter in the middle of the pan and carefully place your eggs around the edges and put on a medium heat.  Cook for 3-4 mins, just jiggling your pan from time to time to encourage the eggs not to stick. 

Finish your tea and butter your toast.

Meanwhile take your plates carefully with a tea towel (they will be very hot) and start to plate everything up.

When your egg white is set take some of the buttery oil in a dessert spoon and pour over the top of the egg yolks so that any white just sets.  Sprinkle with some salt or seasoning and a grind of black pepper. When you dish your eggs be careful, using a fish slice very very carefully run around the edge and underneath as you do not want to break the yolks.  If you like your yolks more set then very carefully flip them over, turn off the heat and leave for a min while you finish plating.

And there you have it, one stress free fry up, perfect for a lazy brunch that will tide you over until your main meal.