Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Married (and Divorced) Eggs.

Huevos Divorciados is (as I understand it) a Mexican breakfast dish in which two eggs go their separate ways under two different coloured and flavoured sauces, their separation on the plate ensured by a row of chilaquiles (pieces of tortilla, cooked in salsa.) I love the sound of this dish, and am going to make a completely inauthentic Aussie version one day, when I get around to it.

I would love to know the origins of Huevos Divorciados. Is there a Spanish precedent? Or a similar dish elsewhere?

In the meanwhile, I give you Married Eggs, from Oscar Tschirky’s The Cook Book, published in 1896. I wonder how one arranges something ‘systematically’ on a dish?

Married Eggs.
Blanch eight artichoke bottoms, then cook them in some gravy. Make a preparation with four hard-boiled eggs chopped up very fine, mix in plenty of very finely-chopped fine herbs that have been parboiled in hot water, add three raw egg yolks, salt, a little cayenne pepper and a little tomato sauce; mix all together well and cover the artichokes with this, smooth the surface nicely with the blade of a knife, strew with breadcrumbs and melted butter and set them in the oven for four minutes. Arrange them systematically on a dish, and serve.

On the same topic, you can find recipes for Matrimony Pudding and Matrimony Sauce, and Matrimonial Cake, in previous posts.


Quotation for the Day.

My wife and I tried to breakfast together, but we had to stop or our marriage would have been wrecked.
Winston Churchill.

3 comments:

Marcheline said...

My favorite part is "cook them in some gravy". Just, you know, some gravy. Turkey gravy, jalapeno gravy, wavy gravy, just some old kind of gravy, whatever you have laying around the kitchen.

HA!

The Old Foodie said...

Marcheline - you mean you dont keep a selection of gravies in your pantry at all times? I am shocked. Deeply shocked.
:) J

Tsu Dho Nimh said...

The real reason for Huevos Divorciados is that it solves the "chile rojo" versus "chile verde" question, which has been known to cause real divorces.

It, and the chilaquiles (fried stale tortillas, simmered in salsa), is a good way to use up the bit of sauce left over from dinner. If you are ever in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Plaza Cafe makes excellent huevos divorciados.