Traditional American breakfast: features, best recipes and menus

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The question of what Americans eat for breakfast is a rather complex one, since even offhand, several options can be offered as an answer. American-style breakfast can include both heavy and light dishes, and can also combine two different ones. Foods typical of this meal can also be served for lunch, dinner or simply as a snack.

On the other hand, a large number of Americans skip breakfast entirely or simply snack during the morning hours. However, some patterns can still be identified.

What foods are included in a traditional American breakfast?

In most cases, breakfast will include coffee, tea, fruit juice (mostly orange, grapefruit or tomato) or milk as a drink. Of the other products, the following options prevail:

• Bread base: toasted bread, bagels, pretzels, English muffins, bran muffins. As a rule, flour is smeared with butter, jam, jelly or cream cheese.
• He althy food elements: fruits, cottage cheese or yogurt.
• Cold Grain-Based Appetizers: cereal-based breakfast cereals drenched inmilk and optionally with pieces of fruit such as bananas, strawberries, raspberries, etc. Granola is also a popular choice. Children's breakfast cereals can be heavily sweetened.
• Hot cereal-based snacks: oatmeal, wheat or rice porridge, often with milk added. They can be made from scratch, or purchased prepackaged in sachets ready to be heated in the microwave. Oatmeal is often flavored with cinnamon, apples, raisins or nuts.
• Eggs: fried, scrambled or soft-boiled.
• Pancakes or waffles, usually topped with maple syrup.
• Smoked fish: salmon, sturgeon, trout, herring. It is served cold along with bread, capers and onions. This is a rather sumptuous breakfast that is almost never seen on a daily basis.

A hot American breakfast usually consists of the following items:

• Sausages and meat products: bacon, ham, sausages, small steak, corned beef.
• Vegetables: potatoes (french fries, fried potatoes, hash brown), baked or fried beans, corn (cornmeal porridge popular in the south). As a rule, such a side dish is combined with cookies and buns.

Elements of an American breakfast in a restaurant

Some elaborate egg dishes are served at festive morning banquets or in restaurants. They include Eggs Benedict (a poached egg on an English muffin or toast with a slice of Canadian bacon topped with a thick hollandaise sauce) and Florentine Eggs(covered with fresh spinach in cheese sauce).

Huevos Rancheros is also known in America, a Mexican national dish, which is an omelette with onions, tomatoes, chili peppers and garlic. It is served in a spicy red sauce.

An American omelet may include various ingredients. Common toppings include cheese, mushrooms, onions, chopped green or red bell peppers, diced ham, bacon, chili peppers, and various other diced meats and vegetables. Fast food restaurants like McDonalds offer for an American breakfast, a special menu: egg, sausage, cheese sandwiches in English pastries. Many Americans prefer similar egg sandwiches with plain bread or pita bread, especially as a quick breakfast on the go.

American Breakfast Main Course Recipes

Description would be incomplete without recipes for some popular products. First of all, we will talk about pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon.

American pancakes

American pancakes are made from batter made from flour, baking powder, milk and eggs. Adding buttermilk to the dough is an American classic. Pancakes can be served with any filler of meat, fruits and vegetables. In addition, they can be drizzled with butter or syrup, sprinkled with berries or other chopped fruit, garnished with whipped cream, or even topped with a scoop of ice cream.

Pancakes alsoare a traditional product, and their difference is in thickness. They are more like Russian pancakes than pancakes. Both flour products can be made from cornmeal. By the way, waffles are prepared and served in much the same way. Pancakes are made at home both from scratch and from popular dry mixes. You can make your own waffles using a waffle iron and similar dough. However, toasted frozen waffles are also extremely popular.

Bacon

It's impossible to imagine an American breakfast without fried bacon. These meat strips feature in many famous films. Traditionally, bacon is pan-fried until moderately crispy. However, modern housewives prefer to do it in the microwave (it is believed that such food is he althier). There is also another way to cook bacon - in the oven. To do this, lay the bacon strips on foil, and then bake for several minutes.

Muesli

Muesli is one of the best options for a he althy breakfast. Americans use a little oil when making this snack. It makes muesli more tender and satisfying. How to cook a delicious American breakfast with them?To do this, add some dried apples to store-bought muesli and mix well. In addition, you can add any nuts - pecans, almonds, walnuts, and so on. This concoction is especially delicious paired with Greek yogurt or cold milk.

Omelette

American omelet breakfastdiffers in that it does not contain milk and other additives. To make it, you'll need a non-stick frying pan with a thick bottom and slanted edges to heat the eggs evenly and prevent them from burning in the corners. You need to beat the eggs very thoroughly so that not a single streak of egg white remains. Then add a pinch of s alt and grated cheese. In addition, you can add any food you like to the filling: canned corn, peas, chopped vegetables, ham, bacon, and so on. You can mix several types of toppings and get a delicious hearty meal.

As you can see, the American breakfast menu is easy to put together.