Culinary Poll #57: Inspirational Breakfasts

Thank you, Rgov.

I don’t know if breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it is often my favorite.

These days my favorite breakfast consists of two eggs poached in Pinot Noir, served on a toasted everything bagel, topped with a slice of sautéed sweet onion, and a sauce made from reducing the wine, thickening it with a tan roux, and seasoning it with a bit of nutmeg, paprika, grains of paradise, and a bouquet garni. And, assuming that peaches are in season I like to serve it with a Bellini cocktail (peach puree and Prosecco).

Now I am making myself hungry . . .

All the best
Gamliel

Do you do the two-hour breakfast seven days per week?

Dear Chef J,

Although this is my favorite breakfast, it is not my usual breakfast, and I rarely make the dish more than once a month. Most days I make do with a bagel with butter or cream cheese, and a grapefruit.

Best,
Gamliel

I'm Old School when it comes to breakfast.

Hot black coffee; strong, stronger, strongest...and in a cup
Bacon, saugage or ham
Two eggs over medium
Hash Browns [Traditional style]
Two fresh baked biscuits
Orange juice
Water

Condiments:
Salt and Pepper
Tabasco Sauce
Jam and butter [for the biscuits]

Substitute hot buttered cheese grits for the hash browns, and Sourwood or Tupelo honey for the jam, and this is my favorite as well.

"Where" can be as inspirational as "what". We spent last night camping on a friend's property on the edge of the Clare Valley, along with about 40 others, to be part of a 60th birthday party. This morning ... not too early ... the host cooked up a huge amount of bacon, sausages, eggs and toast on the barbecue. Eaten out in the small paddock next to a hundred year old stone cottage, under the gum trees, clear blue sky above, with the honeyeaters whistling in the branches overhead and the geese, alpacas and donkeys foraging in the big paddock over the fence - bacon egg and sausage seemed better than usual. "We still have about half a barrel of that cider left to drink! Who wants one?" boomed the host. I don't think anybody took him up on the offer. (The cider was very good, locally made, with a kick like an old man kangaroo but ... thank goodness ... no headaches in the morning.)

The west coast of the U.S. is clearly under-represented on this thread, so I'll be its representative. My ideal breakfast in L.A. was chorizo and eggs, black beans and corn tortillas. It's been close to twenty years, and a wave of longing passes over me as I write this. I also remember my favorite diner in Silverlake which served something they called the Devil's Mess. Twenty years later I would learn that it was none other than our local Israeli speciality, shakshuka.

Here's an Illustrated Compendium of the World's Breakfasts:

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2010/05/breakfast-of-world-by-oliver.html

David, Hi....

Lovely photos - giving a realistic picture while simultaneously postmodern and deconstructionist. Would love to see the same photographer do French, Italian, German, and Israeli breakfasts.

Best
Rogov

France, is there Daniel. Didn't you see the cigarette? Is the Israeli lox and bagels or is that more in the USA?

LOL.. I missed the cigarette!!!!!!

As to Israeli breakfasts......bagels and lox are very American. The traditional Israeli breakfast (served only at hotels and kibbutzim) is a buffet of at least 2765 different items (I exaggerate a bit but only a bit). The average Israeli is a coffee, croissant or a few slices of toast. But then there are the mid-morning coffees and pastries or sandwiches; the pre-lunch coffees and pastries or sandwiches; etc. etc. etc.......

And somehow most of us manage to stay at least relatively slender!!!!

Best
Rogov