Ulster Fry
Northern Ireland's cooked breakfast, made unique by soda farls and potato bread fried golden in the pan.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Total
- 40 min
- Makes
- 2 servings
- Difficulty
- Easy
The Ulster fry shares bacon, sausages and eggs with the full English, but what makes it Northern Irish is the bread: a soda farl and a slice of potato bread, both fried in the bacon fat until crisp and golden.
The trick is timing: cook in order and keep everything warm in a low oven.
Ingredients
- 4pork sausages
- 4rashers of back bacon
- 2slices of black or white pudding, optional
- 2tomatoes, halved
- 4mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 1soda farl, split in half
- 2farls of potato bread
- 2eggs
- a little oil or butter
Equipment
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Method
- 1
Heat the oven to 100°C / 80°C fan to keep things warm. Fry the sausages gently in a little oil for 15–20 minutes, turning often, until browned and cooked through.
- 2
Add the bacon and pudding to the pan and fry for 3–4 minutes each side. Move the meat to the oven.
Photo: Joy · CC BY 2.0 (cropped) - 3
Fry the tomatoes cut side down and the mushrooms for about 4 minutes, then keep warm.
- 4
Fry the soda farl halves and potato bread in the bacon fat, adding a knob of butter if the pan is dry, for 2–3 minutes each side until crisp and golden.
- 5
Finally fry the eggs to your liking and serve everything at once, with a pot of tea.
Tips
Make your own soda farls and potato bread: both are quick griddle breads.
A large, heavy frying pan lets you cook several things at once.
If it goes wrong
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Farls greasy | Fat not hot enough | Heat the pan until the fat shimmers before the bread goes in |
| Sausages burnt outside, raw inside | Heat too high | Cook sausages low and slow; they take longest, so start them first |
Guides for this recipe
More Northern Irish Food recipes
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Champ
Creamy mashed potato beaten with scallions and milk, served with a pool of melting butter.
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Potato Bread (Potato Farls)
Soft, thin griddle bread made from mashed potato and a little flour, cut into farls and fried for the Ulster fry.
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Soda Farls
Quick griddle-cooked soda bread, cut into quarters and ready in 30 minutes: the other half of the Ulster fry.