Cavendish Full English Breakfast
The complete English plate: fried eggs, grilled bacon, sausages, sautéed mushrooms and tomatoes, baked beans and buttered toast. A wall of calories to last until lunch at the college canteen.
The complete English plate: fried eggs, grilled bacon, sausages, sautéed mushrooms and tomatoes, baked beans and buttered toast. A wall of calories to last until lunch at the college canteen.
You see, we didn't have the patience to cook — our minds were wholly on the molecule. So in the morning we'd wolf down whatever the landlady or canteen put in front of us: eggs, nice crispy bacon, a thick toast that soaked up the yolk. My trick was to keep one sausage aside, stuff it in the bread and take it to the lab. You never think as well as on a full stomach, believe me.
- •Fresh eggs — 2 per person (heart of the plate)
- •Bacon (smoked streaky bacon, sliced) — a few rashers (salty smoked)
- •Sage pork sausages — 2 per person (protein)
- •Mushrooms — a handful (sautéed umami)
- •Tomatoes — 1 cut in half (grilled acidity)
- •Thick sliced bread — 2 slices (buttered toast)
- •Butter — to taste (fat)
Cavendish Full English Breakfast
The complete English plate: fried eggs, grilled bacon, sausages, sautéed mushrooms and tomatoes, baked beans and buttered toast. A wall of calories to last until lunch at the college canteen.
Why this dish? Watson and Crick started their mornings in 1953 with the customary hearty breakfast at Cambridge: eggs, buttered toast, before dashing off to build their metal models at the Cavendish Laboratory.
You see, we didn't have the patience to cook — our minds were wholly on the molecule. So in the morning we'd wolf down whatever the landlady or canteen put in front of us: eggs, nice crispy bacon, a thick toast that soaked up the yolk. My trick was to keep one sausage aside, stuff it in the bread and take it to the lab. You never think as well as on a full stomach, believe me.
Ingredients (period version)
- Fresh eggs — 2 per person (heart of the plate)
- Bacon (smoked streaky bacon, sliced) — a few rashers (salty smoked)
- Sage pork sausages — 2 per person (protein)
- Mushrooms — a handful (sautéed umami)
- Tomatoes — 1 cut in half (grilled acidity)
- Thick sliced bread — 2 slices (buttered toast)
- Butter — to taste (fat)
Ingredients
- Eggs — 2 (fried)
- Smoked bacon — 3 rashers (salty smoked)
- Pork sausages (Cumberland type) — 2 (protein)
- Brown mushrooms — 60 g (sautéed umami)
- Tomato — 1 (grilled)
- Baked beans in tomato sauce — 100 g (soft side)
- Country or white bread — 2 slices (toast)
- Butter — 20 g (fat)
Method
- Grill the sausages over medium heat for 10 minutes, turning, keep warm.
- In the same pan, sear the bacon until crispy, then set aside.
- Pan-fry the mushrooms and half-tomato in the rendered fat, season with salt.
- Warm the baked beans.
- Cook the eggs separately, sunny-side up, to keep the yolk runny.
- Toast and butter the bread. Arrange all elements side by side on a large warm plate.
How it was made : In post-war Cambridge, rationing had only just ended (it finished in 1954). The cooked breakfast, served in boarding houses and colleges, remained the institution that started the day for students and researchers alike.
The contemporary twist : "Laboratory plate" presentation: arrange the elements in two strands that coil like a double helix, with the egg yolk as the base pair in the centre.
Sources : James D. Watson, The Double Helix, 1968
James Watson & Francis Crick · Charactorium