Chorrillana

Pilar Hernández’s chorrillana chilena is a sharing dish of fries, onion-scrambled eggs and meat strips. Her written version serves the meat above the eggs and potatoes, with tomato sauce as an optional addition to the onion.

The selected fresh potatoes are cut into thin batons, and frying oil is heated to the recipe’s stated temperature, checked with a thermometer. The meat is cut into long strips across the fibres and the onion sliced into feathers.

A tablespoon of oil heats in a large pan. Meat strips cook without overlapping, seasoned with salt, pepper and merkén on both sides, then move to a plate and are covered to keep warm. The potatoes fry separately for about ten minutes, with occasional stirring.

In the same unwashed pan, a teaspoon of oil and the onion cook together before the optional tomato sauce is mixed in. Eggs are added over medium heat and stirred; the pan is removed from the heat before they are fully done so its retained heat finishes cooking them.

The fries are removed to a bowl lined with absorbent paper and seasoned with salt and pepper. A bed of fries is topped with the onion-scrambled eggs and then the meat strips.