Fried Potatoes with Eggs

A supper dish of the leftover-potato school, with no quantities beyond one egg per eater. The whole thing turns on the last clause: the eggs go in off the heat.

• ProportionsReckon roughly one medium boiled potato and one egg per person. Two to three tablespoons of butter will brown potatoes for two; add more if the pan looks dry, since cold potato absorbs fat readily.
• "The mess"Nineteenth-century usage, here meaning simply the contents of the pan or a dish of mixed food, without the disparaging sense the word usually carries today.
• Cold potatoes are not optionalPotatoes boiled the day before and thoroughly chilled have firm, dry surfaces that brown and hold their shape. Freshly boiled potatoes slump and steam in the butter rather than frying.
• The hinge: off the heatThe text allows no time on the fire once the egg is in, so take the pan off the burner as the beaten egg goes in (or the instant after) and stir constantly. The residual heat of the potatoes and pan is enough to set the egg into a glossy coating; a moment too long over flame and you have dry scrambled eggs with potatoes in them, which is a different and worse dish.
• Pan choiceA heavy pan, cast iron or carbon steel, well heated before the butter goes in. A thin pan loses its heat quickly once off the burner and may not set the egg.
• Egg donenessBy design the egg finishes barely set rather than fully cooked through. Anyone cooking for the very young, the elderly, pregnant women or the immunocompromised should use pasteurized eggs.
• SeasoningThe original gives none. Salt and pepper the potatoes as they brown, and salt the beaten egg before it goes in; chopped parsley or chives at the end is in keeping.
• YieldScaled per person. In practice the technique suits small numbers; in a crowded pan the egg sets unevenly and the potatoes steam instead of crisping.