Every city has a dish it makes at midnight from whatever is in the kitchen, and in Buenos Aires it is revuelto Gramajo. Thin matchstick potatoes, fried until they crackle, are tossed with ham and onion and bound with eggs scrambled just until they set, so that each forkful is part crunchy, part soft. It is a fixture on the menus of the city's bodegones, the old style neighborhood restaurants with wine in carafes and portions built for sharing, and an easy supper at home.

Who Gramajo was is a matter of lively dispute. One popular story credits Artemio Gramajo, an aide to General Julio Argentino Roca in the late nineteenth century; the historian Félix Luna, whose novel spread that tale, later said cheerfully that he had made it up. Another names Arturo Gramajo, a well known man about town in early twentieth century Buenos Aires, ordering something simple after a long night out. Montevideo has a claim of its own. The dish, meanwhile, has never been in doubt.

It is a lesson in timing more than technique: fry the potatoes ahead, then bring everything together in two or three minutes and get it to the table.

Papas pay (shoestring potatoes)

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450 g) starchy potatoes such as russet or Maris Piper
• about 6 cups (1.4 liters) sunflower or other neutral frying oil
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt

The revuelto

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) heavy cream or whole milk
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons (30 g) butter
• 1 medium onion
• 5 oz (140 g) thick sliced cooked ham
• 1/2 cup (70 g) frozen peas
• 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley

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