The 8 essential steps to make the perfect potato omelette

The potato omelette is a whole world and even has a World Day: March 9. The tricks to do it depend on the final result sought. Many ingredients come into the debate about the ideal potato omelette, in addition to onion, which is the most controversial. It is also discussed whether to add a few cloves of garlic or not. If it should be honeyed, like a tortilla coulant, when cut with the knife or, on the contrary, it should be well cooked, like a sponge cake. We tell you 8 tricks to make a concrete one: with onion and very sweet.

To begin with, a potato omelet is not a quick recipe. As with all fried foods, there is a technique and procedures that must be taken into account, which basically require time, because no matter how much power is given to the fire, cooking a good potato omelette takes an hour. For the faster ones, maybe three quarters. For those who do not fry the potatoes (but rather boil them), perhaps half an hour, but then we will no longer be making a potato omelet as tradition dictates.

Armed with time, then, the first step is to have a good frying pan. There are cooks who have pans that they only use to make tortillas. They are the trout pans, expressly classified as such, where they do not put any other element than the eggs that amalgamate the ingredients that have previously been fried.

To continue, it is necessary to cut onion – Figueres or white – in a proportion that, for four people, would be one onion per 600 grams of potatoes. It is then sautéed in the pan with mild olive oil, and the cooking of the sauté varies according to taste. Some prefer it well caramelized, that is, when the onion acquires a brown tone. Others prefer to stop when the onion is transparent.

You can also add two cloves of garlic or a little paprika to the sautéed onion. But garlic and onion are precisely at the center of all the debates around potato omelette. Therefore, when deciding, it is best to think about personal tastes. To continue, while sautéing the controversial ingredients, the onion and garlic, put the potatoes in a bowl with water. With this step you will reduce the amount of starch they contain, and therefore also the glycemic index, in addition to the nitrates.

Break apart the potatoes. As the chef Josep Lladonosa would say, the definition of the word break off In Catalan it is very important to take it into account when cooking the dishes in our recipe book. Break off It means splitting a fibrous body according to the direction of its fibers. So with the knife make a small cut and then tear it. In another pan with plenty of mild olive oil, without skimping on it (because you can always reserve the excess for other fried foods), and with a very high heat, fry the potatoes. It may take thirty minutes for them to fry well, always making sure they don't burn or turn dark. Once fried, remove them with a slotted spoon and reserve in the pan where you have the cooked onion (and garlic, if you prefer that way). And now, save the leftover oil from frying the potatoes for another day.

In a bowl, beat the eggs with a pinch of salt. There is a theory that maintains that in a potato omelet you have to use as many eggs as there are diners, but another indicates that for 600 grams of potatoes and an onion, the appropriate amount is 6 eggs. Once well beaten, pour them into the pan where the potatoes and onion are, and with the help of a fork, mash the ingredients well so that they look like a dough. This way you will ensure that the resulting omelette is melty.

And now, in the pan intended only for the omelettes, pour a splash of the mild olive oil that you used to fry the potatoes, and when it is hot, pour the mixture that you have obtained of potatoes, onion and eggs. It must be cooked well inside if you do not want it liquid, and it is also very important to make sure it does not stick to the base. Therefore, with the help of a wooden spatula, you can loosen the tortilla around the pan while giving it a round shape.

Lay it down with a plate intended for this function, our loungers. It requires a quick movement with your hands, but also a very agile one, which must be precise so that the tortilla is completely collected and rests in the pan again. If you consider it necessary, you can lay it down a second time, but if you have already seen how the color turned out from the beginning, it will not be necessary. Serve on a flat plate and enjoy alone or with bread soaked with tomato and extra virgin olive oil.