I think I’m spotting a trend. The humble little Irish sausage and the “full Irish breakfast” — and I do mean “full” — seem to be spreading. I’ve been seeing Irish breakfast items at Greek and Ecuadorean coffeeshops and German butcher shops.
When I was a mere slip of a colleen growing up in Chicago, you could get Irish sausages, or bangers, only at Irish import stores. You bought them and took them home to fry.
They were juicy and addictive. Their spicing was mild — they didn’t assault your palate with sage and salt and hot pepper. Compared with the coarse texture of American breakfast sausage, their pork was finely ground.
Irish sausages are the star of their extended family, the Irish breakfast, also known as “the full fry.” (Other than fettucine Alfredo, it is the only meal I have heard called a Heart Attack on a Plate.)
It usually consists of the aforementioned bangers; Irish bacon (a k a rashers); white pudding (the second light-colored sausage on the plate); black pudding (a dark sausage made of pig’s blood); fried eggs, and baked beans.
Oh, and grilled tomatoes. You’ve got to have some roughage.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Chicago Sun-Times.