Ingredients
Shoestring potatoes
- 600 gfloury potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 mm matchsticks
- 800 mlsunflower oil for frying
- fine salt
Scramble
- 8large eggs
- 250 gcooked ham, cut into 5 mm strips
- 1large onion, finely sliced
- 40 gbutter
- 2 tbspsunflower oil
- 100 gpeas, blanched, optional
- salt and plenty of white pepper
- 2 tbspflat parsley, chopped
Directions
- Rinse the cut potatoes in cold water until it runs clear, then dry them thoroughly in a cloth. Wet or starchy matchsticks steam and clump instead of crisping.
- Heat the oil to 175°C (350°F) and fry the potatoes in three or four small batches for 2 to 3 minutes each, until pale gold and rigid, lifting them out just before they take full colour. Drain on a rack and salt lightly.
- Beat the eggs loosely with a fork, just enough to break them up, and season with salt and a generous amount of white pepper. Do not add milk or cream.
- Soften the onion in the butter and oil in a wide non-stick pan over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, until translucent and sweet but not brown.
- Turn the heat up, add the ham strips and fry 2 minutes so their edges curl and catch, then stir in the peas if using.
- Pour in the eggs and lower the heat straight away. Drag the setting egg from the edge to the centre with a spatula, keeping the curds large and soft, for about 90 seconds.
- When the eggs are still visibly wet and glossy, tip in the fried potatoes and fold twice, no more. The residual heat finishes the eggs and the potatoes must stay crisp in places and soften only slightly in others.
- Slide onto warm plates, scatter with parsley and serve at once, with bread and a glass of cold white wine.
Technique
- The dish is named for Colonel Artemio Gramajo, aide-de-camp to President Julio Argentino Roca in the 1880s, who is said to have asked for it late at night. Whether he invented it, or a chef named it for him, is disputed, and no contemporary recipe survives.
- The whole dish turns on timing. Potatoes fried too early go soft, eggs cooked 30 seconds too long go grainy, and a good revuelto is baveuse, loose enough to spread on the plate.
- Porteno bodegones serve it as a main course, but it began as a late-night dish and is still eaten after the theatre.
Substitutions
- Ready-made straw potatoes from a packet are used in plenty of Buenos Aires kitchens and are an honest shortcut; add them off the heat at the very end.
- Swap the ham for 200 g of sauteed mushrooms and asparagus for the meatless version served as revuelto de verduras.
Variations
- Gramajo con crema adds 50 ml of cream to the eggs, common in older restaurant versions.
- A Cordoba variation stirs through grated Reggianito and finishes the plate under the grill.
History
A dish combining scrambled egg, thinly cut fried potato, ham and often pea, developed in Argentina during the early 1900s, generally credited to Colonel Arturo Gramajo, an Argentine military officer said to have requested the dish’s specific combination of ingredients from a Buenos Aires restaurant chef, giving the dish his name. Its combination of egg, potato and ham reflects a straightforward, hearty comfort food developed specifically within Buenos Aires’s early 20th-century restaurant and café culture, distinct from Argentina’s more internationally famous beef-centered dishes. Revuelto Gramajo remains a beloved traditional Argentine dish, commonly ordered for breakfast, brunch or a light dinner.
Frequently asked questions
What is Revuelto Gramajo?
Revuelto Gramajo is a main from Argentina: scramble of eggs, ham and shoestring fries, porteño brasserie dish. A dish combining scrambled egg, thinly cut fried potato, ham and often pea, developed in Argentina during the early 1900s, generally credited to Colonel Arturo Gramajo, an Argentine military officer said to have requested the dish’s specific combination of ingredients from a Buenos Aires restaurant chef, giving the dish his name. Its combination of egg, potato and ham reflects a straightforward, hearty comfort food developed specifically within Buenos Aires’s early 20th-century restaurant and café culture, distinct from Argentina’s more internationally famous beef-centered dishes. Revuelto Gramajo remains a beloved traditional Argentine dish, commonly ordered for breakfast, brunch or a light dinner.
How long does Revuelto Gramajo take to make?
Revuelto Gramajo takes 20 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Revuelto Gramajo?
Yes, within limits. Ready-made straw potatoes from a packet are used in plenty of Buenos Aires kitchens and are an honest shortcut; add them off the heat at the very end. Swap the ham for 200 g of sauteed mushrooms and asparagus for the meatless version served as revuelto de verduras.
What is the most important thing to get right in Revuelto Gramajo?
Rinse the cut potatoes in cold water until it runs clear, then dry them thoroughly in a cloth. Wet or starchy matchsticks steam and clump instead of crisping.
