Breakfast

Čimbur s mesom is a Bosnian dish consisting of ground meat and eggs. The meat is saut&eacute;ed with onions, ground paprika, and (optionally) tomatoes or tomato sauce. After that, whole eggs are cracked on top of the meat, and they are then slowly baked until set. Occasionally, a mixture of ground paprika and melted butter can be drizzled over the eggs. This traditional dish can be served as a filling breakfast or the main course. It is usually enjoyed with bread on the side. Čimbur s mesom is also known simply as čimbur, but it should not be mistaken with an egg-based dish that shares the same name.

Čimbur s mesom

American-style cinnamon rolls are characterized by the pillowy, soft dough and their much larger size and softer texture when compared to their European cousins. They are made with yeasted dough that is rolled into a rectangle, spread with butter, then sprinkled heavily with a mix of sugar and cinnamon and rolled into a log that is cut into slices. The slices are arranged on a baking tray very tightly and baked. While still hot from the oven, the cinnamon rolls are usually topped with icing or a glaze, most notably powdered sugar icing or cream cheese frosting. There are many variations, either when it comes to the topping or the filling, which can include nuts like macadamia or raisins. Cinnamon rolls are usually eaten for breakfast or as a snack.

Cinnamon Rolls

Vietnam

Cơm tấm sườn is a classic dish from South Vietnam. It consists of grilled pork served on top of broken rice. The combination is often topped with a mix of stir-fried onions and pickles, and it's accompanied by fish sauce for dipping. The pork is typically marinated in lemongrass, pepper, garlic, and fish sauce before it's grilled. This dish is usually served in the morning for breakfast.

Cơm tấm sườn

Corned beef boxty is an Irish dish made with mashed potatoes and raw grated potatoes, eggs, flour, salt, pepper, and corned beef. The ingredients are shaped into a thick pancake that is browned on both sides in a frying pan. Traditionally, boxty pancakes are served as part of the Irish breakfast, typically accompanied by eggs, grilled vegetables, and black and white pudding.

Corned Beef Boxty

The Italian cornetto is a popular crescent-shaped pastry, similar to a croissant but with key differences. The dough is less laminated than that for a croissant and enriched with sugar, eggs, and butter, resulting in a cornetto with a slightly softer and less flaky texture when compared to a croissant and a sweeter and richer flavor. It is also usually less curved and slightly larger than a croissant. Cornetti (plural for cornetto) can be enjoyed plain or filled with sweet fillings like crema pasticcera (pastry cream), jam, Nutella, or almond paste, and are sometimes dusted with powdered sugar or glazed. Typically enjoyed as part of an Italian breakfast, cornetti are often paired with a cappuccino or espresso, making them a beloved staple in Italian caf&eacute;s. Although it's best known as cornetto, the same pastry in North Italy is typically called brioche.

Cornetto

Cornsilog is a traditional dish originating from the Philippines, consisting of garlic fried rice, fried eggs, and corned beef, also known as salt-cured brisket of beef. The corned beef is boiled in a bit of water, then fried in oil, often with onions and garlic, and arranged on a plate with garlic fried rice and sunny-side-up fried eggs. The dish is traditionally served piping hot for breakfast, and it's sometimes accompanied by sliced tomatoes. The name of the dish contains all three components: corned beef (corn), sinagang fried rice (si), and itlog fried eggs (log).

Cornsilog

United States

This simple dish was once a dinner staple for the Cajuns. The combination of wet yellow cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and water is typically fried and steamed until it becomes dry. The dish is traditionally served with milk, cane syrup, figs, or even with pork cracklings. In order to get the true flavors of couche couche, many believe that one must use a heavy iron skillet.

Couche Couche

Creamed eggs on toast is a traditional dish that pairs eggs with white sauce over a piece of toast. Said to have its roots back in the Depression era, this dish typically consists of toasted slices of bread that are topped with a mixture of a creamy white sauce and chopped hard-boiled eggs. Parsley, chives, and paprika are often sprinkled on top for a more vibrant-looking dish, while typical accompaniments include vegetables, fruit, bacon, or sausages. There are numerous variations on this simple dish including eggs &agrave; la goldenrod, which calls for separating the yolks from the boiled eggs and using them mashed as a topping, using crispy biscuits instead of toasted bread, making the sauce thinner or more gravy-like, or adding pieces of meat to the sauce, such as ham, bacon, or sausages. This classic dish is usually eaten for breakfast or dinner, especially around Easter since it is a convenient way to make use of all those colored and decorated eggs.

Creamed Eggs on Toast

France

The crêpe complète is the savoury galette of Brittany: a thin buckwheat pancake cooked on a cast-iron bilig, filled with ham, grated cheese and an egg, folded into a square with the yolk showing in the centre, and eaten with a bowl of cider. Strictly it is a galette, since in Brittany the word crêpe is kept for the sweet wheat-flour kind, but crêperies across France list it as the complète and most customers order it by that name. The "complete" is the ham-cheese-egg trio; adding a fourth item makes it a super-complète, and every crêperie has a page of variations built on the same base with mushrooms, onions, andouille, tomato or spinach. It is the standard lunch of the Breton crêperie, in Rennes and Quimper and in the hundreds of Breton-run crêperies around Montparnasse in Paris, and it is judged by the galette underneath far more than by what sits on it.

Buckwheat batter is the thing: blé noir flour, water, coarse salt and sometimes an egg, mixed the day before and rested, with no milk and no sugar, so it is dark, grey-brown and slightly sour rather than pale and sweet. A ladle is spread thin across a well-seasoned bilig at high heat with a wooden rake, the rozell, and cooked on one side until the edges lift and the underside is lacy and crisp; the galette is flipped, a slice of ham and a handful of grated Emmental or Comté go on, and an egg is cracked into the centre and spread or left whole. The heat is lowered so the cheese melts and the white sets while the yolk stays liquid, which takes two or three minutes, and the four sides are folded in to make a square frame around the egg. Salted Breton butter brushed over the top as it goes out is the finishing touch; a serious crêperie uses nothing else.

Judge the galette first: it should be thin, dark and even, crisp and slightly brittle at the folded edges, soft where the filling has steamed it, and taste clearly of buckwheat with a faint sourness and salt. The egg should have a set white and a yolk that runs when cut, the cheese should be melted into the ham, and the whole thing should be hot and arrive on the plate within a minute of the fold. Mark down a pale, floppy galette that was cooked on a cold plate or made with a wheat-heavy batter, a thick one that eats like a pancake, a hard or broken yolk, cheese still in cold shreds, pre-cooked galettes reheated with filling, which show as dry edges and a steamed centre, and any version made with processed ham or pre-grated cheese that has turned to rubber. It is eaten with a knife and fork, the cider is part of the meal, and a sweet crêpe afterwards is the custom.

Crêpe complète

Cr&ecirc;pes sal&eacute;es, often called savory cr&ecirc;pes or galettes in some regions of France, especially in Brittany, are thin pancakes made from a batter that typically contains either wheat flour or buckwheat flour, which gives them a slightly nutty flavor and a darker color. Unlike the sweet version (cr&ecirc;pes sucr&eacute;es) which uses various "sweet fillings", cr&ecirc;pes sal&eacute;es are filled with savory ingredients that may include cheese (often Gruy&egrave;re, Comt&eacute;, or Emmental), ham or various types of cured meat, eggs, mushrooms, spinach, caramelized onion, or various herbs and spices. Savory cr&ecirc;pes are a versatile food that can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or as a snack, and are often accompanied by a side salad or served with cider, which is a traditional beverage choice in Brittany.

Crêpes salées

Butter folded into a yeasted dough in dozens of thin layers, shaped into a crescent or a straight log and baked until the outside shatters and the inside pulls apart in a honeycomb: the croissant is the test piece of every French bakery. Its ancestor is the Viennese kipferl, a plain crescent roll that arrived in Paris with Austrian bakers in the late 1830s; the version made from puff-style laminated dough is a French development from the second half of the nineteenth century, and the first recipes for it appear around 1900. In France a croissant au beurre is by law made with butter and is traditionally straight, while the croissant ordinaire, made with margarine, is curved so customers can tell them apart at the counter. Outside France that rule is unknown and most croissants are curved whatever is inside them.

The dough is a lean, lightly sweetened bread dough with a modest amount of yeast, rested cold, then wrapped around a slab of cold butter and rolled and folded three times, each fold tripling the layers, with a rest in the fridge between folds so the butter stays solid and the gluten relaxes. Twenty-seven butter layers is the usual target. The sheet is cut into long triangles, rolled from the base without stretching too hard, shaped, and proved slowly at a temperature below the melting point of butter, which is the step most kitchens rush. Egg wash, then a hot oven, around 200°C, for fifteen to twenty minutes: the water in the butter turns to steam and forces the layers apart, and the sugar and milk in the dough brown the outside. A croissant is finished when it is deep gold and feels light for its size.

Judge a croissant by cutting or tearing it across the middle. The crumb should be an open web of thin, translucent layers with large irregular holes, not a dense bready sponge; the outside should flake into shards on the plate. It should smell of butter and taste of it, with a faint tang from the slow fermentation. Mark down a greasy surface or a buttery film on the fingers, a soft and bendy exterior, a compact centre, and any hint of margarine, which leaves a waxy coating on the palate. Weight is a clue: a good one is light. Flat, pale croissants were under-proved or baked too cool; collapsed ones leaked butter during proving. Day-old croissants reheated in an oven are acceptable in a café, but they lose their shatter, and a croissant served still slightly warm from the morning bake is the standard to measure against.

Croissant

Curd and treacle is a popular Sri Lankan sweet treat that is mainly enjoyed for breakfast. The dish consists of a creamy curd (meekiri), mostly made from buffalo milk, which is drizzled with sweet treacle&mdash;in Sri Lanka known as kithul peni and traditionally made from the sap of the fishtail or toddy palm (caryota). The combination of curd and molasses is often sold by street vendors, but it is also regularly served for breakfast and on various special occasions.

Curd and treacle

Big pao is a variety of baozi, the famous Chinese steamed buns. Consisting of a soft delicate bun and a delicious savory filling, they are similar to other steamed bun types, but are usually larger in size. The pastry is made with yeasted dough, which develops a tender, springy texture when steamed. The filling is usually a delicious mixture of minced meat, mainly pork or chicken, shiitake mushrooms, and green onions, all doused in a fragrant sauce infused with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Some versions might include Chinese sausage, while quarters of hard-boiled eggs are a welcome addition, usually positioned inside or on top of the meat filling. Big pao buns are typically served as an afternoon snack or a hearty breakfast. They are mainly prepared at home or eaten as a takeaway meal, and similar varieties can be found in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Taiwan.

Da bao

Daingsilog is a traditional meal and a part of silog dishes that are commonly served for breakfast. The dish consists of fried fish, garlic fried rice, and fried eggs. The fish used for daingsilog is usually bangus, which is marinated in vinegar and spices, then pan-fried until golden brown. Cold cooked rice is fried with garlic in oil, and the eggs are fried sunny side up. Daingsilog is assembled by arranging all three components on a plate, and if desired, it can be accompanied by pickled papaya. The dish is sometimes served with a spicy vinegar dip on the side.

Daingsilog

India

Dhuska is a traditional dish from the Indian states of Jharkhand and Bihar. It is a popular snack or breakfast item made from a batter of rice and chana dal (bengal grams). The batter is seasoned with spices and then deep-fried to make crispy, golden-brown pancakes or fritters. The fritters puff up slightly when fried, giving them a light and airy texture. Dhuska is often served with a side of aloo chana (potato and chickpea curry) or with ghugni, a spicy yellow pea curry. It can also be enjoyed with pickles or chutney.

Dhuska

Trinidad and Tobago

Doubles is a staple of Trini street food, a sandwich that consists of two fried flatbreads (bara) filled with curried chickpeas (curry channa). It is believed that doubles were invented in 1936 in Princes Town, and nowadays they are consumed for breakfast or as a late-night snack. The dish can be additionally enriched with ingredients such as pepper sauce, tamarind sauce, or green mango pickle with amchar masala, known as kuchela. In Trinidad and Tobago, doubles are typically sold wrapped in paper.

Doubles

China

Doupi is a breakfast dish from the city of Wuhan in Hubei province. It is often sold as a street snack. Stuffed between the top and bottom layer is a filling made from rice, and usually no more than three extra ingredients - typically pork, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. The layers are either tofu skins or pancake lookalikes consisting of mung beans, flour, milk, and eggs. Once assembled, doupi is pan-fried until golden, cut up into small pieces, then sprinkled with chopped scallions and served in small bowls. The invention of the dish in 1931 (which was only an improvement of the pre-existing one) is a credit of a local chef who later opened his own restaurant. Often titled as san xian doupi, this delicious dish is sold in almost every Chinese city.

Doupi

Doushabao is a soft and sweet Chinese steamed bun filled with smooth red bean paste. Falling in the category of baozi, they were created in China but due to the popularity of traditional Chinese cuisine, they can be found in numerous countries around the world nowadays. The flavorful combination of white steamed dough and the sweet red bean filling make doushabao an excellent everyday snack, a nutritious breakfast, or a filling dessert.

Doushabao

Dresil is a sweet rice dish originating from Tibet. It&rsquo;s served on special occasions and festivities throughout the year, and it&rsquo;s eaten for breakfast on the first day of the New Year. Dresil is usually made with a combination of rice (usually basmati), butter, sugar or honey, raisins, cashews, and droma, a tiny root that grows on Tibetan grasslands and has a sweet-potato-like flavor, but it&rsquo;s not really accessible outside of Tibet. The rice is cooked in water, mixed with the other ingredients, and then served in individual bowls. Dresil is often enjoyed with sweet tea or butter tea (po cha) on the side.

Dresil

Drop scones, also known as Scotch pancakes, are small, thick pancakes, made by dropping spoonfuls of batter onto a hot griddle or a frying pan. Originally invented in Scotland, these fluffy treats quickly spread throughout the British Isles - Queen Elizabeth herself is very fond of drop scones - allegedly, she even prepared them for President Dwight Eisenhower during his visit to Balmoral Castle in 1959. Drop scones make a perfect breakfast, and they are best enjoyed warm. Although drop scones are very simple, when drizzled with honey or paired with cream and sweet fruits, they can easily be turned from a simple breakfast to an irresistible dessert.