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Breakfast, the forgotten meal. We all know we should eat breakfast and we do think about it, as we pick up a coffee and croissant at Starbucks. We may, may actually make breakfast or brunch on weekends. Sometimes.

The best breakfast cookbook ever, in my humble bacon-and-biscuit opinion, is this gem from 2002. A Real American Breakfast is another of the masterful works Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. This productive team has almost 20 cookbooks dedicated to barbeque, Southwestern, and American comfort foods.

They are a talented pair offering wonderful, well-tested recipes and superior writing. You’ll find the recipe headnotes entertaining and educational. For example, when did crab cakes first appear in our cookbooks? Not until 1897 in a book, of course, from Baltimore in a recipe that used red pepper. Nowadays, you may flavor your crab cakes with Old Bay Seasoning, another product of Baltimore and the inspiration of a German Jewish immigrant. That’s the detail that goes into every recipe in this volume. All 275 recipes in this very thick document.

The best reason to read this book is Chapter 1: The Best Meal of the Day Any Time of the Day. There isn’t a single recipe in this chapter. It’s a brilliant survey of breakfast from an American perspective. And a bit of a plea to bring breakfast back to our lives. Less Starbucks, more eggs and pancakes and stratas and other breakfast treats.

The Jamisons approach their breakfast survey, not from the usual nutritional perspective, but from a cultural viewpoint. Our ways of breakfast, particularly the ones that have entered after World War 2, have taken a toll on us. We are, in their words, sacrificing enjoyment. That big morning meal, besides providing needed calories for a society that was working in fields and factories and not behind keyboards, that morning meal was a most social experience. We could start our days at a less intense pace, linger for some conversation and planning, and leave the family table rewarded both socially and nutritionally.

We may not know it, but we all really do miss breakfast.

How to get us back to the table? The Jamisons want to take us back to basics, skipping the quick packaged foods that dominate the “breakfast” sections of our supermarket. The recipes here are real food, made from scratch, dedicated to offering you the same culinary satisfaction as dinner at a fine restaurant.

There are many, many breakfast ideas offered here. Many traditional American from the earlier centuries and some from other parts of the world including Mexico and Europe. The chapters include:

  • Break an Egg
  • Dairy Delight
  • Pancakes, Waffles and Special Toasts
  • Morning Meats
  • On the Waterfront
  • Heavenly Hashes
  • Stratas and Other Morning Casseroles
  • Breakfast Sandwiches
  • Home-Crafted Cereals
  • Fruitful Beginnings
  • Potatoes, Tomatoes, Grits, Greens and Beans
  • The Breadbasket
  • Morning Cakes, Cobblers and Other Sweet Treats

For the items you already know, like pancakes, the recipes here are perfected and extended. Instead of pancakes, why not enjoy buckwheat cakes? Few of us, unless we are on a camping trip, enjoy fish for breakfast but a breakfast trout cooked in bacon fat makes for a happy morning.

I love a Western Omelets but the strata chapter offers new treat ideas like

Artichoke-Goat Cheese Strata

Almond-Cinnamon Toast Featherbed

Crab and Egg Casserole

Red Chilaquiles

The fruit chapter has ideas that are very quick but truly elevate your fruit experience:

Spiced Fresh Blueberries with lemon, cinnamon, and cloves

Baked Apples with Sausage Stuffing

Honeyed Oranges with Jalapenos

If there is one recipe chapter that I’m going to focus on next, it’s the Heavenly Hashes. The word “hash” comes from a French verb meaning to chop or mince. And traditionally, a hash was made from leftovers, the French versions more a gravy-thickened stew of meat, potatoes and other meal scraps. Americans have evolved the dish, the gravy disappearing and the range of veggies extending. There are lovely recipes here including:

Classic Corned Beef Hash

Ham and Sweet Potato Hash

Capitolade of Chicken with chicken, mushrooms and a bread crumb topping

Shrimp and Pork Hash

Chicken and Wild Rice Hash

Turkey Hash with Kentucky Corn Batty Cakes of cornmeal and buttermilk

Hashed Crab

Oregon Salmon Hash

Tamale Hash

A Real American Breakfast brims with ideas to keep you at home for a little extra time and a lot of extra flavor. Your day can begin with a fast coffee sipped on the run or you can dip your fork into a lovely vegetable strata or some shrimp and pork hash. It’s time to stay home, pick up A Real American Breakfast, and start cracking eggs.

It’s really good food you can enjoy any time of the day.