Americans have perfected the art of boozy brunch, and you can enjoy sprawling breakfast spreads at diners across the country, but there’s one morning meal you’ll rarely find on restaurant menus in the United States: a full English breakfast.
The components of a full English breakfast may vary slightly depending on who’s making it and what’s on hand, but you can generally expect fried eggs, breakfast sausage, bacon, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, and black pudding, a blood sausage. This assemblage is rich and delicious, with the right amount of acidity from tart tomatoes to balance out all the fat from the sausage and bacon.
The easiest way to try this British classic in the United States is to make it yourself — if you can’t find black pudding, don’t worry, you can do without it — but I’d recommend switching things up and trying your hand at making Gordon Ramsay’s handheld version of the dish, which he calls the “perfect breakfast sandwich.”
How to make Gordon Ramsay’s full English breakfast sandwich
When celebrity chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay shared how he makes a full English breakfast sandwich on social media, the clip caught my attention for two reasons.
First, breakfast sandwiches are my favorite morning meal, and the idea of turning this traditional platter into something handheld deeply appealed to me. Second, Ramsay successfully recreates the flavor profile of a full English breakfast in a sandwich format while omitting a few ingredients, so you spend less time and money making the dish.
The Hell’s Kitchen host forgoes the black pudding, baked beans, and mushrooms to keep his sandwich streamlined. However, you will need a few condiments — balsamic vinegar, sriracha, and Worcestershire sauce — in addition to the expected bread, eggs, breakfast sausage, bacon, and cherry tomatoes.
Ramsay starts by searing the sausage links and a few slices of bacon together in a cast-iron skillet. He seasons both with only pepper because they already have plenty of salt, and adds a pat of butter to the pan. Once the meat has rendered some fat, the chef adds the cherry tomatoes. As soon as the sausage starts to take on some color and the tomato skins begin to break down, Ramsay moves the cast-iron skillet into a hot oven to finish cooking.
While the meat and tomatoes are in the oven, it’s time to fry the eggs. Ramsay has previously shared his technique for frying eggs, and he appears to be using his usual method here: cooking the eggs in both butter and oil, basting them with the hot fat as they fry, aiming for sunnyside-up, and seasoning them with salt, pepper, sriracha, and Worcestershire sauce once they’re done.
The chef sets the eggs aside and cuts two slices off a large loaf of bread, drizzling a bit of the hot fat from frying the eggs over each slice. (He doesn’t specify what kind of bread he prefers, but I’d suggest sourdough if possible.) Next, Ramsay removes the cast-iron skillet from the oven and transfers the sausage and bacon to a paper towel to drain briefly, then lightly crushes the tomatoes with the back of a fork and drizzles balsamic vinegar over them.
From there, the only thing left to do is assemble. The celebrity chef slices the sausages lengthwise and lays them flat-side down on a slice of bread. Bacon goes on top of the sausage, followed by tomatoes and fried eggs. Finally, Ramsay places the second slice of bread on top, and the sandwich is ready to devour.
Although he doesn’t toast his bread, you certainly could if you want. Instead of drizzling some of the leftover fat from the eggs onto each slice, you could fry the bread directly in the skillet until one side is golden brown. And while Ramsay skips the mushrooms in his sandwich, they would make a great substitute for the bacon and sausage if you want to make a vegetarian version. Just make sure you cook them in plenty of butter and oil, because any rendition of this dish should be decadent.
