Paul McCartney's Favorite 2-Ingredient Comfort Dish Is Deliciously Simple

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The old-school cookbook "Favourite Foods of the Famous" from 1974, includes an endearingly simple contribution from celebrated Beatle and vegetarian, Paul McCartney. McCartney has long been an advocate for meatless Mondays in British schools. He even released a cookbook called "The Meat Free Monday Cookbook: A Full Menu for Every Monday of the Year." The dish he chose is, of course, a vegetarian British classic — egg and chips. Over in Great Britain "chips" refer to what we in the United States call "fries," and they tend to make them thicker, like steak fries.

McCartney's chosen dish is a solid working-class breakfast, much like the American egg with homefries. The protein of the egg whites and runny yolk pair perfectly with the fried starch of the potatoes to keep you full and powered throughout the morning. This is a dish many Americans can easily appreciate, unlike some of these other British creations. This is not the musician's only simple, nostalgic dish he has reminisced fondly about. Previously, Paul McCartney named another classic British dish as his favorite snack — the sugar butty. Like egg and chips, a sugar butty is simple — it's just bread, butter, and sugar.

In the cookbook, the recipe calls for two eggs and one pound of potatoes per person. Cut into thick strips, the potatoes are briefly soaked in cold water and then allowed to fully dry out. McCartney then calls for the fries to be double fried; that should be no surprise, as twice-frying the potatoes is the secret to getting the crispiest fries imaginable. To do so you fry the potatoes to a golden color, take them out to let them rest, then fry them again at a higher temperature to get a perfectly crisp exterior.

As for the eggs, you can cook them to your liking. The recipe simply calls for "two fried eggs per person." If you follow our guide to perfectly fried eggs, you will soon have a hearty, delicious breakfast. The recipe is all about simplicity, but there are still ways to make this decadent. If you fry your eggs in heavy cream instead of butter you'll have richer, softer eggs, perfect for dipping your potatoes in. Grate some cheese on top of the eggs and potatoes for a breakfast take on the British cheesy chips dish. Once you sit down to eat, we recommend playing "Here Comes The Sun" for the full McCartney morning experience.