Milanesa a la Napolitana

Buenos Aires, Argentina — created at Restaurante Napoli in the 1940s; not related to Neapolitan Italian cuisine despite the name

Argentina's most-ordered restaurant dish is a schnitzel escalope topped with tomato sauce, melted mozzarella, and sliced ham — a Buenos Aires creation despite its Italian-Neapolitan name that has nothing to do with Naples. The milanesa (breaded and fried beef escalope) arrived with Italian immigrants as cotoletta alla milanese; the 'napolitana' topping was invented at a Buenos Aires restaurant in the 1940s as a way to revive milanesas that had been cooked ahead. The result is a hybrid that is quintessentially Argentine — the schnitzel texture contrasted with the baked molten cheese and acidic tomato sauce. It is baked in the oven after assembly, never pan-sauced, so the breading retains partial crunch beneath the topping.

• Parent dish milanesa directly descends from Wiener Schnitzel via Italian cotoletta alla milanese; the 'napolitana' topping parallels American chicken parmigiana (also a diaspora invention); the escalope technique appears across all European traditions

Served with papas fritas (french fries) or puré de papas (mashed potato); a cold glass of Malbec or Quilmes lager pairs with the richness; the dish is a complete meal — protein, starch, dairy, and acid — requiring nothing else