"A Breakfast Fit For A King"

My Dad, Lloyd Pipes, is pictured at the left.

I got a good start being born into the family of Lloyd and Charlotte Pipes. I was a chubby by the time I was three (but lean by the time I was 12). Always fresh in my memory is the food of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, at home in Indianapolis. Dad gave Mom, my brother, Jerry, and I the jump on each day, every day at 7:00 a.m. sharp! Each day’s start was as regular as the clock. Dad served his family bacon and eggs every morning it seemed like 365 days a year. “When Dad hollered, “Come and get a breakfast fit for a king!” you'd better be on your way to the table.

Dad got up at 5:30 a.m. every morning. The first thing he did was to get down on his knees and pray. Then he would sit in his easy chair and read his Bible. I know this to be true because I was curious and I sometimes woke up and toddled my waif down the dark hall and sneaked a peek into the living room. And what did the little boy see? His dad was either on his knees praying or sitting in his big chair reading the Bible.

After his devotions, I saw Dad in the kitchen. The first thing on the agenda was to fix a pot of coffee. My Dad loved his coffee—“Oh my boy, you want to drink your coffee HOT and black!” he would intone. 

Dad started cooking breakfast while the coffee was brewing. He methodically poured each of us a glass of orange juice and put them in the freezer (he wanted the juice to be ice cold when we came to the table). Then he carefully fried 12 perfect slices of bacon. If slices turned out not to be as good as he expected, he fried replacement slices. He wanted breakfast to be perfect 7 days a week.

When the fixings were close to being done, Dad would go their bedroom and gently wake Mom, give her a little smooch and tell her that her breakfast was ready. This meant that her place was set and a glass of near frozen orange juice was waiting for her (the juice wouldn't be frozen, but there would be ice crystals in it). Bread was in the toaster, ready to be toasted.

Dad then ran back to the kitchen, got her bread toasting, fried and plated two perfect eggs, arranged three strips of bacon and her hot toast on the plate, and I swear, finished his presentation just as she was entering the kitchen, when he deftly slid the plate in front of her. 

Can you believe this? God knows I’m telling it like it was, day after day after day—except for the days when Dad bad sick, including the weeks he was laid up with fractured vertebrae as a result on falling down our icy steps with my heavy newspaper bag hanging on his back to help me deliver my papers. He was the king. 

After serving mother, Dad would run back and stand in the hall between our bedrooms and holler, “Okay you boys, you come to the table right now for a breakfast fit for a king!”  And we knew, we had better bolt out of our beds and be in the kitchen pronto. 

From the beginning, Dad taught me to cook breakfast and to do it right!ent Harrison’s Home in Indianapolis

Lloyd Pipes breakfast fit for a king

Ingredients: Per Dad (but I’ve made some additions which are included.)

• Orange juice: We had plenty of orange juice.
• Bacon, Oscar Meyer bacon, carefully selected to include a nice blend of lean meat and fat.
• Eggs, Farm fresh and large
• Potatoes, I’ve added hash browns to Dad’s menu. You’ll need boiled potatoes, bell peppers, onions, sliced thin (mushrooms are optional).
• Toast, including raisin, sunflower, and wheat. My wife, Nancy, has added a variety of home-baked breads.
• Preserves: A variety of the best available.
•  Coffee: They didn’t have gourmet coffee then, but we do now and added it to Dad’s menu.
• Fresh fruit: Dad loved fruit. We always had fresh fruit in the house to eat whenever we wanted it. In later years Dad made fabulous fruit salads for us and for the church.

We had plenty of milk and coffee. It is a very good idea to have cereal (to be politically correct), but we didn’t eat much cereal. Grains were for farm animals when I was a boy.

Dad never put cream on the table for coffee, except for company. He didn’t believe in putting crème in coffee.  “What? You put cream in your coffee? Well, what’s happened to you son! Oh my—black coffee is the best.”

Instructions: (Per Dad, with our additions.) 

The bacon—Fry bacon slowly in an electric skillet at 325 degrees. “Don’t walk away or take your eyes off the bacon, boy! Stand there and keep turning the bacon so it cooks evenly, until it is a beautiful golden brown. That’s the secret—fry slow over low heat and keep turning the slices. Don’t you burn the bacon. Do it right, son!”

“Move the fried bacon to paper towels to soak up any remaining grease. Then put three slices on every plate.” Dad arranged the plates on the counter next to the electric skillet. He pour the grease out of the skillet into an empty can. Don’t pour grease down the drain. That’s why you see the plumber at the neighbors.”

The toast—“Do it right now boy. Stand there in front of the toaster. Don’t walk away from the toaster. Keep your attention focused on what you are doing! Have your butter soft and ready to spread the instant that toast is cooked. Put 2 slices of buttered toast on each.”

The eggs—Press the end of a stick of butter on your skillet and move it around as the butter melts to evenly coat the skillet with a minimum of grease. It isn’t good for your health to over butter! Have the electric skillet set to 325 degrees (just below medium on a range burner). Carefully break the eggs into the skillet. Fry a  single serving of 2-3 eggs at a time. Don’t turn them too soon.  Don’t burn those eggs. When the first side is perfectly fried, turn them over with a big, thin Teflon spatula with a sharp beveled edge. You got to scoot under and pull those eggs up so’s not to break the yokes. You’ll soon learn the perfect time to turn the eggs. Don’t walk away from that stove. Keep your eyes on the eggs!”

About a minute later you going to be ready to scoop them eggs up—and flip them eggs back over onto the plate—the original side up is the prettiest way to lay them eggs out. Now just keep frying’ eggs and as each plate is done you serve them immediately. Have those folks at the table drinkin’ their coffee and ready to eat so's you can put that plate of hot eggs in front of them. I must say that dad always had a pad of paper towels in hand and he turned those eggs out onto the pad to take up any excess grease—Dad would never serve you a greasy plate of eggs. I use such a small amount of butter that I turn those eggs out onto the plates.

Broken yokes?—Dad saved those for himself because he only served perfect eggs to guests and family. Don’t you serve your guests or family any broken yokes boy!

Hash browns — Fresh shredded potatoes are hash browns and they are only fried one way. Right! Keep the fire down to 325 degrees. Pour a little Crisco vegetable oil over the potatoes. Keep your eye on the potatoes and turn them often. Fry them up to a golden brown and serve them hot—with some ketchup, salt, and pepper there on the table to season them up. I decided it is more than okay to toss in some chopped onion, green pepper, and mushrooms. 

If you’re serving hash browns—cook them first before you start your bacon and then put them into the oven a low temperature to keep them warm. Keep an eye on them and cover them if necessary to keep them from getting too brown. I prefer the Simply Fresh brand of hash browns which are ready to fry.