When in Ireland, savoring the Irish breakfast

'Will you be having the full Irish?"

This was the question we heard each morning as my daughters, sister, and I visited five bed-and-breakfasts during a nine-day road trip around Ireland last summer. And each morning, we were only too happy to tuck into plates loaded down with fresh eggs, sizzling meats, fried potatoes, tomatoes and mushrooms, homemade jams, scones, and breads, accompanied by juice and tea.

Originally meant to serve as a hearty send-off for Ireland's farmers, miners, and other day laborers, these hearty breakfasts are no longer the norm in most Irish households, perhaps being prepared only on Sundays or holidays. They remain an important part of the country's identity, though.

"It's a great thing when you're on holiday. And it's so substantial, it can take you right through into the evening," said Darina Allen, whose renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork offers a half-day course on breakfast preparation.

The Irish breakfast also plays a crucial role in Ireland's B&B industry - after all, it represents one of the two "B"s in a hospitality niche long associated with the Emerald Isle. Visit one of Ireland's 1,500 licensed B&Bs and you're likely to find yourself, as we did, sitting in someone's formal dining room, often with white tablecloths and extensive tableware, indulging in a meal that will leave you most satisfied. The components of the "full Irish" may vary by region, tradition, or household, depending on what's available locally or the B&B owner's skill and ambition.

"They can be something absolutely wonderful, or something very mediocre and mundane, depending on the quality of ingredients," Allen said, noting that the more elaborate Irish breakfasts may include kippers (herring), sliced ham, yeast or fried breads, homemade porridges, and granolas.

It need not be fancy. It can be as simple as the homemade scones from her mother's recipe featured in her cookbook, 30 Years at Ballymaloe (Kyle Books) or the free-range eggs we were served at our final stop on the B&B trail, at a farmhouse in County Kildare. I visited the night before with the chickens that laid those eggs.

At our first breakfast, at a B&B in Connemara, west of Galway, we got more standard fare: fried eggs, fried tomato, sausage and bacon, (referred to as rashers in Ireland and more like cooked ham,) sliced toast, and prepackaged jellies.

Things started improving at our second stop, a B&B near the top of the Cliffs of Moher, where our innkeeper had added two items to the bountiful plate: black-and-white pudding. No, not the creamy custard we eat for dessert here. These were crispy rounds of meaty fritters. The puddings are a sausage mix of pork meat, oatmeal, and spices that are sliced and fried. The black pudding gets its coloring from the addition of pig and cow blood.

By our third B&B, west of Limerick, we were starting to crave a little variation, and our innkeeper, Eileen Murphy, must have read our minds. "I'm wondering if you might be getting a little tired of the usual fried eggs and meat day after day?" she asked when we arrived in the late afternoon, after inviting us to tea.

The next morning, she treated my sister to poached eggs, and me and my daughters to her grilled omelets, prepared in a manner similar to Ballymaloe's Irish frittata, starting on the stove top to cook the eggs, vegetables and cheese in a skillet, then popping the pan under the broiler for finishing. Murphy takes pride in the large variety of breads and cakes she bakes for her guests each week, including her buttery scones and Guinness cake.

She also puts out a creative assortment of homemade jams and marmalades, like the courgette (zucchini) and lemon jam she concocted last summer, after reaping a bumper crop of large squash. "I use making jam as my therapy," she said.

Murphy has been running the Orchard B&B out of her 100-year-old farmhouse in Newcastle West for 26 years while her husband, Pat, takes care of the family's 75-acre dairy farm. Her mother ran a B&B for 28 years in Kenmare, where she helped make breakfasts and dinners. But she doubts her daughter Eimear, a 22-year-old nurse in London, will take over the Orchard when she is ready to retire. "Nobody new is coming into the business," Murphy said, voicing a widespread concern.

Facing competition from online hotel bookings and private room-rental services like Airbnb (where, despite the usurped name, you're lucky to get a tea bag, never mind a full breakfast at most locations,) Ireland's B&B business is shrinking. According to a 2015 report by the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation, Ireland lost about 1,200 licensed B&Bs between 2008 and 2014, though the number of unlicensed accommodations has dramatically increased.

Like Murphy, Breda and Padraig Breen are part of the aging population of B&B operators who aren't likely to be replaced. For the last 23 years, they've run Blackstones House B&B out of the country farmhouse Padraig's family built at the foot of Carrauntoohil Mountain in 1935, one of the loveliest B&Bs we stayed in during our visit to Ireland. For Breda, her joy comes from sharing a remote part of Ireland with guests from around the world.

"I like to inform our visitors about the history and culture of our country," said the elfin redheaded innkeeper, who offered up her homemade brown bread and orange marmalade along with the full Irish breakfast during our stay. Though they're both in their 60s, the Breens have no plans to retire soon, according to Breda.

"We hope to continue doing bed-and-breakfast as long as our health and spirit permits us," she said.

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Makes 1 loaf, or 8 to 12 servings

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2 cups brown flour (red whole wheat or whole meal flour, preferable stone-ground)

11/2 cups white flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

12/3 cups buttermilk

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1. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk, using one hand to stir it into mixture until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.

2. Turn it onto a well-floured board and roll it around with floured hands just enough to tidy it up. Sprinkle a little flour onto a baking sheet and place the rounded dough, flattened to about two inches high, on the sheet. Cut a deep cross in the top of the round.

3. Bake in a preheated 450-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees and cook for 20-25 minutes more. The loaf is done when it sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool on wire rack.

- Adapted from Breda Breen, Blackstones House B&B, Glencar, Ireland

Per serving: 146 calories, 5 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams sugar, trace grams fat, no cholesterol, 191 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber.EndText

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Makes about 41/2 pints

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2 pounds of courgettes (zucchini)

41/2 cups sugar

Finely grated zest of two lemons

Juice of one lemon

1 cup water

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1. Peel and deseed the squash, then slice it thinly, using a food processor with the slicing blade if available.

2. In a large saucepan, stir the sliced squash, sugar, and lemon zest together, and let it stand overnight.

3. The next day, add the water and warm mixture over medium heat until any remaining sugar crystals dissolve. Add the lemon juice and turn up the heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Cook until it thickens, or reaches the set stage on a candy thermometer (220 degrees F.)

4. Pour into jam jars and cover.

- From Eileen Murphy, the Orchard B&B, Newcastle West, Ireland

Per two-tablespoon serving: 49 calories, trace protein, 13 grams carbohydrates, 13 grams sugar, no fat, no cholesterol, 1 milligram sodium, trace dietary fiber.

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Makes 4-6 servings

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8 large eggs (preferably free range)

Salt and fresh ground pepper

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

1 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves

2 teaspoons chopped basil or marjoram

3 ounces Gruyere, grated (can also sub cheddar)

1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese

4 ounces mushrooms, sliced and sautéed

2 ounces cooked bacon, chopped

1 to 2 tablespoons Irish butter

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1. Whisk eggs in bowl, add salt, pepper, herbs, cheeses, mushrooms, and bacon.

2. Melt the butter in a 9- to 10-inch oven-ready, non-stick frying pan until it bubbles. Add egg mixture, cooking it at a low heat and gently shaking the pan and prodding the eggs until the under layer sets. Top should be slightly runny.

3. Put the pan under a preheated 500-degree broiler for about one minute, watching for the top to set but not brown.

4. Slide frittata out of pan onto a large plate and cut into wedges.

- From Darina Allen of the Ballymaloe Cookery School, Shanagarry, Ireland

Per serving (based on 6): 242 calories, 18 grams protein, 2 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram sugar, 18 grams fat, 282 milligrams cholesterol, 484 milligrams sodium, no dietary fiber.EndText

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Makes 9 to 10

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3¾ cups flour

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1½ heaping teaspoons baking powder

6 tablespoons butter

2 organic eggs

1 cup milk

For the glaze:

1 organic egg

Pinch of salt

Granulated sugar, for the topping

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1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Sift all the dry ingredients into a large, wide bowl. Cut the butter into cubes, toss in the flour, and rub it with your fingertips until the mixture resembles very coarse bread crumbs.

2. Make a well in the center. Whisk the eggs with the milk in a pitcher. Add to the dry ingredients and mix to a soft dough.

3. Turn onto a floured board. Don't knead; shape the dough just enough to make it round. Roll out to 1-inch thick and cut or stamp into scones. Stamp out the scones with as little waste as possible; the first scones will be lighter than the second rolling. (If you cut them into squares or triangles with a knife, as my mother did, there is no need to roll again.) Transfer the scones to an ungreased baking sheet.

4. Make the egg wash by whisking 1 egg with a pinch of salt. Brush the tops with the egg wash and dip each one in granulated sugar. Bake in the hot oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown on top. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

5. Serve split in half with homemade jam and a dollop of whipped cream, or with just butter and jam.

- From 30 Years at Ballymaloe (Kyle Books)

Per serving: 273 calories, 9 grams fat, 69 milligrams cholesterol, 139 milligrams sodium, 160 milligrams potassium, 40 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram dietary fiber, 4 grams sugars, 7 grams protein. EndText