Not to sound ignorant, but what exactly is an Irish Breakfast? Will be in Dublin this summer, where will I find the best Irish Breakfast?

From Fodors Ireland 2006: A typical Irish breakfast includes fried eggs, rashers (bacon), black and white puddings (black pudding is made with pork, porkblood, cereals and seasoning; white pudding is similar but without the blood), sausage, tomatoes, beans, soda bread and a pot of tea. The B&B's usually include them with the cost of the room.

Aaaaah the Irish brekkie!!! Sets u up for the day - you wont be hungry for hours after! You either love it or hate it I suppose but either way, its very yummy and highly fatty! Rashers, sausages, black and white pudding, fried eggs, fried bread, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes.... endless list of gorgeous fatty food to try to digest!! We love all day too! But don't worry - you can usually have bread, coffeee, etc. if you prefer but do try the brekkie!! Kingfisher Parnell Street is supposed to be King of Brekkies!

Dublincalin, I usually have coffee, orange juice, and a bran muffin. Will my body shut down if I consume your breakfast??

I like the Irish Brown Bread many places serve with their full Irish Breakfast or, you can have toast. One egg (to order), Irish bacon, Sausage, Black & white pudding (black pudding AKA Blood pudding; white puddine = suet), fried tomato (slices), maybe some mushrooms, tea or coffee and usually some fruit juices. It doesn't include hash browns or home fries.

Most places will also have cereals but you won't find many pastries. As for the best Irish Breakfast, your hotel or B&B should provide an adequate Irish breakfast: It don't take much to prepare what they call a 'fry breakfast.'

I usually have the Irish breakfast at around 08:00 and then a Carvery lunch around 3:00 PM - maybe some 'pub grub' in the evening. When in Rome, be a Roman!

rogfam, I found this site on another message board and bookmarked it. Take a look cause is is kind of fun: http://www.irishbreakfast.0catch.com/

You can do a Google search and click on images for photos of Irish breakfasts. Yum!

We are going to Dublin in April for five days. I plan to have porridge and Irish soda bread every morning for breakfast. Rashers and blood pudding would make MY system shut down. Oh yea, and strong Irish tea...Maybe some shortbread cookies. That's about it.

I don't care for rashers or blood pudding myself. My favorite B & B's are the ones that offer scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, and brown soda bread with wonderful Irish butter. And good strong tea, of course.

So far everything sounds great except for the blood pudding. What does it taste like?

I don't eat meat and get bread, muffins, fruit etc. Some more upmarket places have a larger choice. Try it once and see if you like it.

Or go to a shop and get a breakfast roll (Yuck!) its a hogie roll, bacon, sausage and brown sauce or ketchup. I am sure most of the Irish crowd here has heard the Jumbo Breakfast roll song by Pat Kenny...too funny!

It's Pat Shortt - can't imagine Pat Kenny singing it - now that WOULD be funny!

To be honest, the Irish breakfast would be a rare treat. Some places do a nice take on it - not as stodgy and greasy. But it can tend to sit in your stomach all day. Bewleys on Grafton Street does some lovely breakfasts - nice granola, porridge, bagels, etc.

Don't worry - your body will be in eternal gratitude to you for filling it with the Irish Brekkie! I love it though have to keep it to special occasions or else.... The pudding, once not dwelt upon too much, is delicious. Have seen many tourists enjoy the pudding hugely - until someone gives them the details of its ingredients!! But really unless you are a veggie its all in the mind. But the smell of the food, the sheer extravagance of consuming such a big feed early in the morning, its a real Irish feast! Don't miss trying it at least once. Sure its part of our culture - any excuse eh?

The best Irish breakfasts are all in the North - or at any rate in Ulster.

I've never found soda or potato farls (almost universal in the North) outside Ulster. And they set off the beans and tomatoes far better than the loaves more common in the other three provinces.

Almost as good as fried Staffordshire oatcakes.

The Full Irish breakfast is usually Rashers, Sausages, Fried Eggs, Black/white pudding ( disgusting), Fresh tomato. The addition of beans and mushrooms is not really traditional Irish Breakfast these things have just been added over the years, by roadside cafe's. The older generation would have eaten most of the above but now these days most Irish people wouldnt eat that kind of breakfast on a regular basis, only maybe when away for a weekend in a hotel. Most Irish hotels serve a buffet style breakfast including, fruit cereals, yoghurt,breads cold meats, and so on.

Rogfam, to me, the white pudding tastes like the swedish meatballs my mother used to make. Kind of bland but with a distinct taste of their own. The black pudding tastes like a milder sausage but not as spicy as what you might find here, just a grainier texture. I really like both and everyone I've taken with me to Ireland has tried it and liked it, so don't be put off by other's comments based on what it's made of. If you eat sausage at home, it's nothing you're not already used to.

Black pudding is delicious.
With all the full breakfasts, English/Scottish/Irish, there's no law to say that you have to have the full monty.
Quite often there'll be a menu and you can just opt for one or two items.
Definitely have the bacon. American bacon is a very inferior product IMHO.

Thanks everyone for all the comments. Blood pudding still doesn't do it for me...sounds like something out of medievel Europe.

Outside of eating in a hotel, what should I expect to pay?

I once had a "Dublin breakfast" of a dozen oysters and a pint of Guinness. Paid quite a bit for that. Gave me a peculiar feeling about 11:00 a.m.

Blood pudding is also commonplace in Spain & Portugal (Morcilla). I think it may be a cultural link: some Celts who came to Ireland from Iberia around the third Century B.C. brought it with them along with the Gaita (Bagpipe) Gallega.

Celts, my foot!
Black pudding is very much a Yorkshire thing too.
I should imagine that it is made wherever people keep pigs.
Remember that you can use every bit of a pig apart from his squeak.