The Portuguese are said to have a different way to cook bacalhau, dried salt cod, for every day of the year, and this is the one many of them would choose first. It is credited to a tavern keeper in the Bairro Alto of Lisbon called Brás, and it remains a fixture of Lisbon taverns: salt cod pulled into fine flakes, cooked with onions and olive oil, tossed with matchstick fried potatoes and finished with eggs stirred just until creamy.

Salt cod needs a day of soaking, which is planning rather than work. The cooking itself takes about twenty minutes, and the dish is a triumph of texture: crisp potato, tender fish, soft egg. Estoril, the coastal town that hosted the Portuguese Grand Prix, is a short train ride from Lisbon, and this is exactly what a Lisbon family would eat on a race Sunday.

The salt cod

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450 g) dried salt cod (bacalhau)

The straw potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 lb (570 g) floury potatoes
• about 3 cups (720 ml) vegetable oil

Bringing it together

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large yellow onions
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 large eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pinch fine salt
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 12 black olives

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