Lomo a lo pobre

Lomo a lo pobre, bistec a lo pobre, or bife a lo pobre is a dish from Peru and Chile. The ingredients are beef tenderloin (Spanish: lomo) topped with one or more fried eggs and French fries.^[1][2] Unlike steak and eggs, lomo a lo pobre is eaten as a lunch or dinner.

There are variants that replace steak with other types of meat, such as beef tenderloin or fillet, chicken, or fish such as conger eel, salmon, or hake.^[3]

Etymology in Perú

There are several possible origins for the term a lo pobre ("poor man's style").

One is that it was named because of the irony of nineteenth-century Peruvian common folk eating similar dishes with an abundance of food and at a high price, despite their economic situation.

Alternatively, it may have originated due to the idea that poorer residents of Lima ate meat combined with carbohydrates, eggs, and rice, while higher-class individuals were associated with eating meat alone with a vegetable. Yet another possibility is that it is a derivation from au poivre ("with pepper") even though the preparations are quite different.

Today it is consumed in lower- and upper-class restaurants, and there is no negative connotation associated with the dish.

The term a lo pobre in Lima today may refer simply to the addition of a fried egg and is used in other dishes besides steak, such as grilled chicken breast (pechuga a lo pobre), rice (especially arroz chaufa), lomo saltado, salchipapas, or even hamburgers.

See also

• Bife a cavalo
• Steak and eggs
• List of beef dishes

References