Breakfast in Spain: Tortilla!

Tortilla de patatas, or tortilla española is an art form with many practitioners and fans. It is what you must have for breakfast in Spain, if you are lucky enough to find it. Tortilla de patatas is often translated as a potato omelet, which fails to do the dish justice. It is like saying that a croissant is a butter roll. It is technically true, but it fails utterly to capture the nature of the food. A tortilla has heft, like a cake. It stands tall, like a cake, and is made with high quality potatoes, eggs, salt, olive oil, and onions. (More about the onions later).

The tortilla is a homecooked food, made without a recipe. It is learned in the kitchen. I will tell you what I do, and if you need more detailed instructions in English, the best recipe I have seen is by José Andrés. This is not a precision dish. If you have one potato more or less, or use a bigger or smaller onion, it will still come out wonderfully. Even the number of eggs you use is subject to your personal taste and style.

The potatoes are peeled, sliced, and fried in a generous (perhaps shocking) amount of olive oil, which covers the potatoes. The potatoes are stuffed tightly in a frying pan to prevent browning, and they remain there, together with the onions, until the potatoes are cooked. The size of the frying pan will determine the size of the tortilla, and one uses enough potatoes to fill the frying pan. The potatoes are then drained, and traditionally the oil is saved for other frying needs. Many eggs – six or more – are then beaten in a bowl and the drained potatoes and onions are added to the eggs, mixed, and salted.

After the potatoes, eggs, and onions are well-mixed and salted, it is time to heat the frying pan with oil, enough to cover the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, with the burner on medium-high, add the potato mixture, spreading it evenly and flat. Then one must wait two or three minutes. The tortilla is then flipped onto a plate, and slid back into the pan, so the omelet is now reversed in the pan. Wait another couple minutes, slide the tortilla back onto the plate, and it is ready to be eaten, either hot or at room temperature.

A note about the onion. There are two opinions about the onions – yes or no. I am firmly in the yes camp. Unless one has some special condition which does not permit onions, I cannot understand not using them. Opinions, as I said, vary.

The tortilla should not be dry. The eggs should not be overcooked. If the eggs seem slightly undercooked, it is better. All the best tortillas are not fully set. Don’t let your tortilla be fully set.

In Spain, one orders this as “pincho de tortilla.” This is one triangular slice of tortilla, with a piece of bread, to be taken together with a café con leche. See you in Spain!