Jamon Iberico, Egg and Chips - Heaven!
by Ben Curtis
This might like look like another Spanglish culinary mash-up, but beleive me, there is no shame in ordering a plate of Jamon Iberico, egg and chips on your travels around Spain. In fact, sumptuously salty ham, sticky egg yolk, and plump chips fried in olive oil go so well together that you might very well ask why, with this on a menu, you would ever order anything else! On a recent trip to Malaga we became so enamoured by this dish that my father and I ate it two nights in a row, washed down with a nice glass or two of vino blanco.
When we returned to the city a week later we headed straight for the same meal, discovered that the restaurant that served it had Sunday nights off, and spent the rest of the evening feeling mildly depressed (well, until we decided to go and have supper in the Parador instead 
)
More on Malaga, Paradores, and our trip down south, soon…
Posted: August 2nd, 2007 under Spanish Food and Drink.
Comments: 17
Comments
Comment from Cant_give_my_name
Time: August 2, 2007, 9:48 pm
It is a sin to mix jamon iberico with eggs and chips.
Please, dont englishify everything that we hold dear.
Comment from leftbanker
Time: August 2, 2007, 11:00 pm
This dish looks like it would please the Homer Simpson in all of us, except Homer would substitute the vino blanco for a glass of gravy. As far as the charge of englishifying [sic] a Spanish sacramental dish, I profane Valencian paella on an almost weekly basis—much to the horror of my friends who are used to their mothers’ versions of this local specialty. I treat it like I do fried rice; it is sort of how you clean out the refrigerator every week. Because I am from the USA and we have no traditions of our own, I feel no need to hold sacred the traditions of others. Sorry for that but I am also an American who can cook up a storm. About the only thing I miss about the USA is Mexican food as I have no access to the ingredients I need to make such delicacies as pozole and sopa de tortillas.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: August 3, 2007, 1:27 am
It is a worse evil to resist diversity. I might put a little catsup on the fries (chips).
Comment from Jules
Time: August 3, 2007, 8:10 am
je je je .. You can trust two Englishmen on their own at a seaside resort to return to basics. Can’t wait to try it myself next time I’m in Malaga — but where? Certainly not the Parador which of course has its own particular delights.
Comment from Ben
Time: August 3, 2007, 8:36 am
@cant_give_ - this was a very Spanish restaurant, nothing to do with the english!!
@Jules, I’ll post the address next week in a Malaga article.
Comment from Edith
Time: August 3, 2007, 9:59 am
I like fusion cooking, but fries for breakfast? Nah… 
I’ll stick to the bocadillo con jamón.
Comment from Ben
Time: August 3, 2007, 11:18 am
This was dinner, not breakfast!!
Comment from Carl
Time: August 3, 2007, 4:27 pm
Hey Leftbanker - My mother was from North Dakota and she made amazing, and I would even say traditional, apple pies, among many other dishes. We have “traditional” dishes from ever corner of the country. But I know what you mean, we do not get overly concerned when they are “adjusted” and many times improved to make new dishes.
Comment from rod
Time: August 3, 2007, 5:11 pm
Looks delicious except for the eggs and the chips 
Comment from Lenox
Time: August 3, 2007, 5:53 pm
There’s a new version of this - first seen in Murcia - where the fried eggs are put on top of the fries and, as the waiter arrives at your table - the whole thing is smashed by that worthy so that the broken egg goo dribbles into the patatas.
There are few things in this life more delicious…
Comment from richardksa
Time: August 4, 2007, 10:18 am
My favourite meal in Spain is Huevos Estrellados, which is really no more than egg and chips ( which in the restaurants of La Latina is known as “El Classico”) and a further option is to have it with jamon Iberico. Although usually the pototos are sliced rather than “chipped”. So there is nothing new here. Ben, que aproveche!
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: August 4, 2007, 3:44 pm
Jamon iberico sounds great with this dish. I bet chorizo would be a nice variant, and Spanish too ;).
Pingback from Things to Do in Malaga - Notes from Spain: Travel, Living in Spain, Podcasts, Forum and Photos
Time: August 13, 2007, 9:43 am
[...] 3. Not sure where to have dinner? Everywhere looks a bit toursity? Have a plate of Jamon Iberico, fried eggs and chips, at Restaurante Mariano, tucked away in a corner at Plaza de Carbon 2 (see map). There’s more about this heavenly culinary experience in a previous post. [...]
Comment from Allan Hawdon
Time: August 19, 2007, 12:10 pm
Locals eat that across here in Sanlucar de Barrameda. Nothing touristy about it at all.
You’d be surprised how popular chips are aound the
world. Strange thing, at least here, is that you only
ever seem to get chips with meat. Hardly ever with
fish. And this is a very fish obsessed town.
Allan
Comment from Allan Hawdon
Time: August 19, 2007, 6:43 pm
Just another couple of centimos. Those chips were
probably fried in sunflower oil (girasol) rather than
olive oil. It can be heated to a higher temperature
and is cheaper. With a bit of luck the egg was fried
olive oil. Few things nicer.
Allan
Comment from Rigoberto
Time: December 9, 2007, 1:04 am
Screw the english chips, replace them with tostones 
Pingback from Jamon Serrano and Jamon Iberico - What’s the difference? - Notes from Spain: Travel, Living in Spain, Podcasts, Forum and Photos
Time: February 17, 2008, 10:18 am
[...] Tastes so much better… alone, with morsels of bread, even with “is-this-nirvana?” jamon, egg and chips. - Tends to be cut by hand, sliced thinner and in smaller sized pieces, and therefore: - Is less [...]
Write a comment
(No Anonymous Comments Accepted - Valid Email Required)