The Real Deal Irish Breakfast Recipes

Steps:

• Heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the sausages and fry for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Add the bacon and fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until crisp and golden, dabbing off any milky liquid with paper towels. Add the black and/or white pudding slices to the pan and fry for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until beginning to crisp; the white pudding (if using) should turn golden. Remove the sausages, bacon, and pudding slices from the pan and drain on paper towels.
• Place in an ovenproof dish in a low oven to keep warm.
• Meanwhile, add a dash of oil and pat (knob) of butter to another frying pan over medium heat. Add the button mushrooms and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, until softened and turning golden. Season with salt and pepper, then remove from the pan and keep warm (adding to the dish with the sausages and bacon). If you are cooking a large flat mushroom, then add the oil and butter to the pan and fry the mushroom for 8 to 10 minutes, turning halfway through, until softened and browned.
• Season the cut side of the tomato halves with salt and pepper and drizzle over 1 tablespoon of oil. Gently fry them, cut side down first, for 2 to 3 minutes, then turn over and fry for another 2 to 3 minutes, until just softened.
• Alternatively, cook the large flat mushroom and/or the tomatoes in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C/Gas mark 6). Drizzle 2 teaspoons of olive oil over or add a pat (knob) of butter to the mushroom and season with salt and pepper before roasting for 12 to 15 minutes, until softened. If you are using the oven, begin roasting the mushroom and tomatoes a few minutes before frying the sausages and bacon. Once cooked, decrease the oven temperature to low for keeping everything warm as it is cooked.
• To fry an egg, melt a pat (knob) of butter in a small, clean frying pan over low heat. Carefully crack the egg into the pan and allow to fry gently. For an over-easy egg, fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until it begins to set, then flip over and fry for another 1 to 2 minutes. If you prefer your egg sunny side up, then fry gently for 4 to 5 minutes, until the yolk has filmed over. Remove from the pan and serve immediately with the other cooked ingredients.
• For scrambled eggs, crack the eggs into a bowl, add the milk, season with salt and pepper, and beat together. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to a small saucepan over low heat. Immediately pour in the eggs and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring continuously (I find a wooden spatula best for this), until the butter has melted and the eggs are softly scrambled. Remove from the heat immediately so that the eggs don't become overcooked. Serve with the other cooked ingredients.
• While the egg is cooking, put the slices of bread in a toaster or toast under a preheated broiler (grill) for a few minutes (and on both sides, if using the broiler/grill) until golden. Butter the toast and cut the slices in half.
• To serve, arrange everything on a warm serving plate, with the hot buttered toast on the side and with some tomato ketchup or relish.

Steps:

• Lay the bacon slices in a single layer in a large skillet. Fry over medium heat until it begins to get tinged with brown. Fry on both sides. Remove from pan, but save grease.
• Melt butter in skillet. Crack eggs into pan, being careful not to break yolks. Place tomato slices, mushrooms, and bread in pan. Fry gently, stirring mushrooms and tomatoes occasionally. Keep everything separate. Turn bread over to brown on both sides.
• When egg whites are set, but yolks are still runny, dish half of everything onto each of 2 warmed plates, and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Combine 2 quarts of the pork stock with the pork steak, onions, 2 1/2 teaspoons red pepper, minced garlic, and 1 tablespoon of the salt in a Dutch oven or large saucepan.
• Bring to a boil over high heat; continue boiling for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally (turn the meat periodically if not totally submerged in the liquid) and adding more stock or water near the end if needed to keep the meat covered with liquid.
• While the meat is cooking, assemble meat grinder and prepare the casings: Choose long pieces of the casings so that you have more control over the size of the links that you wish to make.
• Soak the casings in cool water about 5 minutes (more soaking will make the casings very tender and prone to bursting) about an hour in advance of stuffing to remove the salt on the outer surface.
• Rinse under cool running water.
• To remove excess salt from the inside, hold one end of a casing in place on a faucet nozzle and turn on cold tap water to fill the casing with liquid.
• If you spot any holes in the casing at this time, discard or cut the damaged bit off.
• Remove from faucet and squeeze out water; cover the rinsed and drained casings and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Transfer cooked meat to a bowl to cool, leaving the pot with the boiling stock over high heat.
• Add the liver to the pot and cook about 3 minutes, turning meat once if it's not completely submerged in the stock.
• Remove pot from the heat, remove the liver and set aside.
• Strain the stock, reserving it and the strained onions and garlic separately.
• Cut the pork meat and liver into about 2" cubes, discarding the bones.
• Grind the meat and fat in a meat grinder, using coarse grinding disc (about 3/8" holes).
• In a large bowl or pan, combine the ground meat, rice, reserved onions and garlic, green onions, parsley, garlic powder, 1 cup of the reserved stock and the remaining 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt; mix thoroughly (mixture should be moist and taste peppery. If red pepper taste is not clearly present, add a little more. If not moist, a little more stock or water may be added, but take caution that the mixture isn't runny).
• Stir in pork blood, mixing well.
• While the mixture is still hot, fill the casings and make links by twisting the sausage two or three turns at the points where you wish them to be (a 4-inch link is a good snack or lunch size, but smaller ones make good hors d'oeuvres).
• Carefully place the sausages in a large saucepan or Dutch over.
• Cover with reserved 2 cups stock, adding water if necessary to cover.
• Heat over high heat until water reaches 180F (just below a simmer, keeping at that temperature to prevent the sausages from bursting) and continue cooking until the sausage is heated through and the flavors blend, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Drain and let rest about 15 minutes before slicing; serve immediately.
• If you don't plan to serve the boudin right away, immediately pack it in Ziploc bags and give it a rapid cooling in an ice water bath for about 90 minutes or until a thermometer reads 40F or less.
• Poaching the boudin before the rapid cooling will give it a longer life.
• To reheat, poach in 175F to 180F water as directed above.

Steps:

• 1. Mix all ingredients together to form a soft ball. 2. Roll into small balls and press with down with a fork. Place on an un-greased cookie sheet. Or the dough may be pressed into a 9" round or 9" square, lightly oiled, pan and then after baking sliced into bars or triangles. 3. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for about 12 min. Shortbread should not brown, but just begin to slightly loose the whiteness.