The Spanish omelete, or locally known as “tortilla de patata” (potato omelet) is a typical gastronomic item of Spain (not Latin America): such an easy dish and so tasty at the same time. Every single Spaniard, and this is a true fact, has a female figure in his or her family (aunt, mother, grandma, great grandmother, etc.) who makes undoubtedly “the best tortilla in the whole world”, so as you can understand for us, Spaniards, “tortilla de patata” is not just a potato omelet, but a matter of national and personal pride.

Generally, in order to make this simple, but somewhat tricky dish, you need just a few simple elements such as eggs, potatos, and onion... Well, actually, onion, as an ingredient of “tortilla de pata” is in itself a subject for long and profound discussions for Spaniards. I usually say that we can be divided into two kinds: those who like their omelet with onion and those, who like it without. Like in anything else in the world, there are always those who happily enjoy benefits of both "worlds", but even in this case a Spaniard will always chose one over the other. For example, I like both, but if you ask me, I will always tell you I prefer it with onion (oooh! that taste of a light sweetness that onion leaves behind mmmm).

“Tortilla de pata” or simply “tortilla” is such a popular thing, that you will find it in any bar or restaurant, and if they do not have it, most likely they ran out of it, as it is a highly popular item, be it in “pincho” (mini-sandwich) or “bocadillo” (sandwich). Don’t be surprised if you see loads of people in the early morning in bars drinking coffee and having their torilla. It is a very well know Spanish “bar breakfast”.

That being said, we have to thank the Americas for bringing us the potato, without which such an amazing popular dish would have never existed. But remember, our “tortilla” must never be confused with the Central or South American “tortilla”, which is very nice bread made with corn – something completely different.

If you are coming over I encourage you to try Spanish “tortilla”, and if you join any of our Madrid Private Gastronomic Tours, don’t worry, we´ll make sure that you do.

CURIOUS FACTS
Many homes in Spain have a pan exclusively and specifically for making torillas (non-adherent works better). In old times in order to avoid the omelet sticking to the pan, you would put quite a thick base of salt and cook it on top of it. Although it would come out rather salty. We also have special plates called “vuelve tortillas” (omelet turners), used to flip the tortilla over in the pan to cook it from the both sides. Every family has its own recipe, and they are loyal to it.

HOW TO MAKE IT
Easy:
Get two or three potatoes, peel and wash them
Around 6 or 7 eggs
Onion (only if you are into it)
Virgin olive oil

First you need to pre-fry the potatoes. Potatoes are better cut in cubes, or in small irregular pieces. Put on your pan a generous amount of olive oil and start heating it. Do not wait for it to be too hot or you will deep fry the potatoes, we just want them to be golden. Once they are already golden, take them out of the oil, and let them dry resting on a plate covered with kitchen paper, so the paper absorbs most of the oil.

Now fry the onion until it is also golden and soft. Meanwhile you can crack the eggs and start whipping them until they are liquid with a bit of foam. Remove most of the oil from the pan (the deeper the pan the better), Mix fried onion and potatoes and put them in your whipped eggs. Low the fire and put everything in the pan. You will see how little-by-little the laterals are getting cooked, so use spatula to separate the cooked parts from the walls of the pan and bring the liquid egg from the center of the pan to the sides.

Once you see that the egg is drying out take your “vuelve tortillas” (just a plate big enough to cover the diameter of the pan) and flip the pan over, leaving the contents on the plate. Now you have the omelet in your plate facing you with its cooked side. Now slowly slide it back into the pan again with the uncooked side at the bottom. You can keep flipping the omelet over until the eggs look golden brownish! Leave it for a while outside on the plate before eating, around 10 to 15 mins.

That´s it, enjoy your tortilla de patata, my friend.