The Bogotá breakfast: milk let down with water and brought to the boil, eggs poached whole in it, spring onion and stale bread.
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AI-generated image, not a photograph of the dish
Straight milk would curdle the white and mute the flavour, so half water lowers the protein content and lets the egg poach clean. Some Bogotá households swap the bread for almojábanas, small cheese rolls.
An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.
Neat milk is too high in protein: it curdles against the egg and its flavour swamps everything else. Half water, half milk keeps the broth light enough for the white to set cleanly around the yolk while staying creamy.
The liquid must barely tremble, never boil hard. Crack each egg into a cup and slide it onto the surface, then leave it alone while it cooks. Stirring at that point is what shreds the white.
Its job is to soak up the broth without turning to slush, which is what fresh bread does within seconds. A dense, dry crumb such as day-old country bread holds together to the bottom of the bowl. In Bogotá, almojábanas are used the same way.
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