“Civilisation is represented by Merlyn, who lays the table in his cottage in the woods for the perfect breakfast: peaches, melons, strawberries, a brown trout piping-hot, grilled perch, ‘chicken devilled enough to burn one’s mouth out’, kidneys and mushrooms on toast, fricassee, curry, boiling coffee and best hot chocolate with cream. There is a mustard pot that struts from place-setting to place-setting, lifting its lid as if tipping a courteous hat.”

Laura Freeman, The Reading Cure: How Books Restored My Appetite

It’s Mother’s Day today…and we’re celebrating it here with the above beautiful equine addition, just a couple of days old.

Many treat their mum to breakfast in bed on this day, so here on Saucy Dressings we thought we’d offer a round up of the goodies that can be assembled on the tray…along maybe with a vase of daffs and grape hyacinths heralding the spring.

Here’s our round up of mother’s day breakfast suggestions.

Eggs

Number 1: boiled eggs

Think boiling an egg to perfection is easy….? Think again. It’s a very fine line between under and over-cooked. Between perfectly oozing and rubbery. Follow this link for the secrets you need to know.

Number 2: poached eggs – traditional, or with turmeric and chard

Poaching an egg to perfection is also an art. Follow this link to learn how, and also to see why a swirling poached egg looks like the beautiful Kate Moss. You can serve your mother’s day poached eggs plain, on Marmite toast; or go Indian, as in the image above, and serve them with turmeric butter and rainbow chard.

Number 3: the full English – fried eggs, bacon, tomatoes, black pudding

There are thousands of experts who can make a damn-good Full English, and curiously most of them are men so I make no apology for not offering a link for this one. Every expert has their own ‘take’ on how to do this, their own tips and secrets.

And their own particular mix of ingredients. In our household, in addition to the essential eggs, we include tomatoes, streaky bacon, black pudding (follow this link for more on black pudding), and a pinch of oregano.

“And the great, glorious English breakfast, a meal that would knock out the insipid continental version with a single punch…. It’s a meal enjoyed by every class of society, from builder’s bacon butty to aristo’s grand country sideboard groaning with bacon, eggs, sausage, kedgeree, devilled kidneys, smoky fleshed kippers, cold grouse and black pudding.”

Tom Parker Bowles, E is for Eating, an Alphabet of Greed

Number 4: the full Irish with fresh soda bread

In Ireland they also produce outstanding fry-ups. And with them they serve freshly baked Irish soda bread. Dead simple, no kneading – follow this link to find out how to make this on mother’s day.

Number 5: eggs Benedict

Essentially, eggs Benedict is a poached egg atop a muffin, doused in Hollandaise sauce – follow this link for how to make one of those.  There are lots of variations – add spinach and they become eggs Florentine. Add crab and this breakfast becomes eggs Chesapeake. Add black pudding and it’s eggs Hebradian. Add smoked salmon and it’s eggs Hemingway, or eggs Royale.

Number 6: omelette for mother’s day

Producing a fabulous fluffy omelette also takes skill. Timing is everything to achieve an omelette baveuse – still a little runny, a little frothy. Follow this link for some tips on that. Like eggs Benedict, the omelette offers endless potential for variations – you can throw in fines herbes, cheese, mushrooms. Or, assuming your mother isn’t too concerned about her health, you can go all-out and conjure up an omelette Arnold Bennett with  béchamel, Hollandaise, and double cream.

“Breakfast in an exotic garden of West Bank’s Al Moudira Hotel Luxor, where they rustle you up delicious omelettes while small birds enviously circle your croissant, is a pretty high bar.”

Alexandra Shulman, The Telegraph, January 2021

Number 7: scrambled

James Bond liked scrambled eggs – ’nuff said! The key with them is not to allow them to set like concrete. They need to be lush and creamy, still a little liquid.  My mother taught me how to make them, and her technique is still the best of any I’ve tried. Follow this link to find out how.

Number 8: fried eggs and stringy, puffy mozzarella on higgledy piggledy soldiers

This is a sort of soft, Italianised version of the fiery Moroccan dish of fried eggs and tomatoes known as shakshuka. The mozzarella becomes stringy as you would expect, but it also puffs up and becomes a bit airy. This recipe uses gentler, chocolatey Urfa pepper flakes… goes well with thick Spanish hot chocolate – see item 10, below.

Other ideas

Number 9: devilled kidneys

There was a time when devilled kidneys would have appeared on every breakfast sideboard of every country house in England. But these days they’re a rarity. If your mother likes offal, and she likes her food hot and spicy this will make her feel special. Here’s how to make devilled kidneys.

Number 10: thick Spanish hot chocolate with buttered toast

In Spain they produce the most fabulous, thick hot chocolate – it’s like molten chocolate mousse. It’s so rich, just a couple of slices of plain buttered toast is all you need as an accompaniment. Here’s the link for how to make it.

Number 11: homemade yoghurt and chestnut honey

The best homemade yoghurt I have ever tasted was served for breakfast at The Pig On The Beach. This breakfast is a bit of a cheat in terms of effort unless you actually make the yoghurt yourself. I’ve tried many times, never with success. Go to The Kitchn blog if you want to have a go.

The honey is obviously key. I always use a bitter chestnut honey, but find a good supplier and visit them for a tasting to discover which best suits you.

“Ten minutes later she brought out breakfast on a silver tray: small bowls of home-made yoghurt and dark honey, warm bread rolls, a large cup of aromatic coffee with a jug of milk on the side, a glass of spring water with a slice of lemon in it, and two fresh apricots.”

Deborah Levy, Things I Don’t Want to Know

Number 12: mother’s day kefir with berries and toasted cereal and seeds

If your mother is health-minded (particularly about her gut) then this mother’s day look no further than kefir. Print out this post and add it to the breakfast tray. Add a few raspberries and some toasted oats and seeds to make it extra special.

Number 13: the bacon and mushroom butty

Has your mother been out on the town? If so, she’ll thank you for a medicinal bacon bap, and a strong cup of coffee. Here’s how to make the bap.

Number 14: granola

Granola can be absolutely wonderful….but usually only if it has a good quotient of maple syrup or honey so bear in mind it’s not necessarily as healthy as you might hope… have a look at our recipe for granola, here.

Number 15: kedgeree

Kedgeree is a dish traditionally scoffed in the early hours after a ball…. but it also used to take its place, along with the devilled kidneys mentioned above, on Victorian breakfast buffets. It keeps well, so your mum can simply reheat on Monday, and have a ready-made breakfast two days running. Here’s how to make kedgeree.

Number 16: gravad lax with mustard-dill sauce and cumined rolls

Hard to go wrong with this, serve her gravad lax (excellent sourced from Ikea…. the method was perfected in Scandinavia) with a mustard-dill sauce and hot, crusty, cumined rolls (coat with a little olive oil to give something for the cumin seeds to stick to, and warm gently). However, to show you really care you could make your own… here is a wonderful version made, fittingly, with mother’s ruin and beetroot.

Breakfast quotes

Breakfast is a personal ritual that can only be properly observed alone, and in a spirit of genuine excess.

Hunter S. Thompson, Lapham’s Quarterly

“I once went out with an Italian for breakfast. He looked at his plate with wide-eyed astonishment.

‘Aha,’ he said, ‘This is where dinner went? People I’m staying with gave me hot cheese on bread with a cup of tea last night. That was obviously breakfast. Of course, never seeing the sunshine, you must all lose track of your meals.’”

A A Gill, Breakfast At The Wolseley

More breakfast ideas

For more ideas for breakfasts take a look at Michael Zee’s Symmetry Breakfast. For more about how Zee came to write his book on breakfasts,  go to this post.

This post is dedicated to my daughter and to my son.

Music to listen to as you cook

Songs My Mother Taught Me, by Dvorak, played by Yo Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott

Breakfast in Bed by Dusty Springfield