Tortilla de patatas

[Joniwrite1]

I still love the Asturiano version best, however, I will include my family's American adaptation (try it with ketchup and make Wela cringe)

1/2 lb sliced bacon cut in 1/2" pieces
2-3 large potatoes in 1" pieces
1 small onion diced (or sliced thinly)
6 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup olive oil

In a 8-10" skillet (cast iron if you have one)cook bacon pieces. Drain and set aside. Add oil and heat on medium heat. Sprinkle potatoes with salt and pepper, then cook turning as needed to cook evenly. Before they start to brown add the onion and continue to cook until potatoes are fork tender, about 10-15 minutes. Drain oil and add bacon.

Scramble eggs and pour over potatoes stirring lightly to distribute. Cook on medium until set and brown on the bottom, 5-6 minutes. Working over the sink place a plate larger than the skillet (I use a pizza pan and potholder) flip tortilla onto plate and slide back into pan. Cook until browned.


For the American version cook bacon, potatoes and onions as above.

In a large bowl whisk 6 eggs, 1/2c milk, 1/3c flour, 1/2t baking powder until well blended. Stir in 1/2c cheddar cheese and potato mixture. Oil a round casserole or return to cast iron skillet. Top with more shredded cheddar and bake 2 minutes at 325 degrees, or until browned nicely and a knife comes out dry.

I've substituted ham, other cheeses and added bell pepper to either version. It's a simple, one pan meal.

[Maestro Tomberi]

I've got to say this is a very good attempt for a tortilla, altough to my taste the quantity of bacon is like the double of my ideal.

What I do consider one of the main attractives of the tortilla (I never liked too much the "omelette" word ), is the intermediate cooking point of the egg: neither too liquid nor too done. Of course, for a more foamy one, some people add baking powder (I'm not fond of that however). Yet, the result of adding flour would be more of a pie... sort of.


For the traditional version goes very well to add half cup of milk; not more, to the shaken egg mixture. There I add too a bit of black crushed pepper and salt.

My tricks to get a wonderful tortilla are:

1) starting with a good heat, decreasing it afterwards and pour in the pan both the potatoes, the onion finely diced, salt and a couple of garlic cloves: the onion will get sweet and tender while it's cooking itself along with the potatoes. Once the garlic gets tender, retire from cooking, smash and add to the egg mixture.

2) Smash the potato inside the pan once you can with a wooden fork. Seriously. With no fear. This is the alpha and the omega for the task: it will get deliciously golden and with all the chunks with an overall similar size.

3) since I make the potatoes in 2 rounds (with the very same quantity of ingredients you use, btw), I let the 1st round of potatoes to temper themselves out of the pan before adding them to the egg scramble. This won't pre-cook it. The 2nd can well be added immediatly once it's done, since afterwards the whole mix will be cooked .

Last time I made one, I added to it bacon and chorizo, and the result was tremendous. Yet, tortillas admit an endless kind of variations.

[Joniwrite1]

Thank you! I'd almost forgotton adding chorizo.

I've always loved the browned potatoes. There were three schools of thought in our family.

1) very browned potatoes
2) just cooked
3) American cooked, then baked.

I always considered the first traditional, and it was my grandfather's favorite. I've never tried adding garlic. It sounds great!