Huevos rotos, broken eggs, is a Madrid tavern classic made famous by Casa Lucio, a restaurant near the old market streets of La Latina. Its founder liked to tell how his grandmother carried fried eggs out to workers in the fields of Ávila, and by the time she arrived they had broken all over the potatoes. Nobody complained then, and the whole of Madrid has been breaking them on purpose ever since.

It is a dish of three ingredients and one moment of theater: the plate arrives, someone cuts through the yolks, and everyone dives in with forks and bread. With the Spanish Grand Prix now in Madrid, it is the perfect late lunch after qualifying, and one of the few dishes where making a mess is the correct technique.

The potatoes

Ingredients

• 2 lb (900 g) russet or Yukon Gold potatoes
• 3 cups (720 ml) olive oil
• 1 teaspoon flaky or coarse salt

The fried eggs and ham

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) of the potato oil
• 3 oz (85 g) thinly sliced jamón serrano
• 1 pinch flaky salt
• 1 pinch sweet or hot paprika

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