La-clave-de-unos-buenos-huevos-rotos-con-jamon

The key to fantastic ‘broken’ fried eggs and ham

La-clave-de-unos-buenos-huevos-rotos-con-jamon

There are few delicacies as cheap and simple to make as huevos rotos (broken fried eggs). If you serve them, not only with potatoes but also ham, you’ll get a spectacular dish that will make your mouth water just thinking about it.

Although the New York Times insinuated on its Instagram account last May that broken eggs came from the Canary Islands, it is fair to say that it is a widespread recipe throughout this country and we’d find it hard to pinpoint exactly where it originated. A few eggs, some potatoes and olive oil have produced many a lunch or dinner in homes all across our land. However, it is true to say that it was a restaurant in Madrid, Casa Lucio, that gave this simple recipe worldwide fame. Since the 1970s, Lucio Blázquez has been serving up his famous broken eggs to the cream of world society.

Simply, just with potatoes, or adorned with chorizo, wild mushrooms, truffles or  foie, our recommendation, which will come as no surprise, is to serve them with a few thin slices of PDO Teruel ham. And, although it seems like an easy “survival” dish (if you’ve ever shared a flat, you’ll know what I mean), here are our recommendations to make this a real delicacy.

Pick and cook your potatoes well

In Spain alone, there are around 150 varieties of potato each with its own characteristics. The best potato for perfect fried potatoes to go along with our broken eggs is the  Galician Agria. In any case, if you can’t find this specific variety, any white potato will do (the widespread Monalisa is very versatile as one example) but avoid using red potatoes for frying.

The secret to cooking perfect potatoes for our broken eggs is to start by cutting them in the traditional Spanish way, meaning long and fat. After immersing them in plenty of water to remove the starch and stop them sticking to each other, fry them at a moderate temperature. Make sure that they are soft and not crunchy, so that they absorb the egg yolk properly. One trick to do this (as well as obviously not turning up the heat too much on the oil) is to add salt while you are making them, and not at the end as we do when we want crunchy potatoes.

Fry the egg at a high temperature

Although it sounds obvious, use good quality eggs that are as fresh as possible.

As opposed to the potatoes, the egg must be cooked as quickly as possible to stop it absorbing too much oil. If you use the oil left over from frying the potatoes, it’s best to increase the temperature, drop the egg in and when you see that the edges are starting to brown, take it out before the yolk is completely cooked.

Once fried, put it on the potatoes that you have just cooked and break it up with a spoon or a fork so as not to damage the potatoes and let gravity do the rest, letting the yolk reach every corner of the plate. Now, it’s time for the garnish.

The key: not too salty ham

It’s true that broken fried eggs are always good, even on their own. However, as we mentioned above, and although there are many ingredients that go well with this dish, for us there’s no better garnish than a little PDO Teruel ham. Why? Because we’re talking about a ham that is not very salty so when it goes on the plate with the potatoes and the egg, the heat of the dish melts the fat and enhances the overall flavour without making the ham saltier.

And now, all you have to do is take a bite. You’re bound to have eaten them before and they were bound to have been delicious. But we’re also sure that after reading this, no matter what time of day it is, you’re going to be dreaming about eating broken fried eggs with PDO Teruel Ham. Enjoy!

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