Spanish Cuisine
Tortilla de Betanzos
The famous tortilla of Betanzos, in Galicia. No onion, ever. Potatoes fried in olive oil and folded through egg, served golden outside and almost liquid within.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
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History & Origin
Betanzos is a small medieval town in A Coruña, Galicia, and it takes tortilla more seriously than anywhere else in Spain. The local rules are absolute: potatoes, eggs, olive oil, and salt, and nothing else. Above all, no onion. Fried hot and fast, the tortilla comes to the table deeply golden outside and nearly liquid at the heart, closer to a potato-laden custard than to the firm wedges sold elsewhere.
Taverns like Casa Miranda and O Pote made the style famous, and the town's annual competition now crowns the best tortilla in Spain. People drive hours for a slice. In the country's eternal civil war of con cebolla against sin cebolla, Betanzos is the sin cebolla capital, and locals will tell you, with complete sincerity, that adding onion produces a perfectly nice dish that is simply not a tortilla. I had a few words to say about that in my first blog post.
Personal
What separates a Nation? Politics? Religion? Language? Well yes, all those things - but in Spain one thing reigns above all others, onion in Tortilla. I am a firm believer that onion has no place in Tortilla and therefore this recipe does not contain it. You know I could add a variation below with onion or a one-liner about when and how to add it, but I won't go against what I beleve. If you want a recipe for Tortilla with onion, google something like a Quiche and it'll be close enough.
Ingredients & Instructions
- Warm the olive oil in a 24 cm non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the potatoes with a good pinch of salt and fry for 15-20 minutes, turning often, until completely tender with golden edges here and there.
- Drain the potatoes well in a colander set over a bowl, reserving the oil for another use. Let them lose their fiercest heat for a couple of minutes.
- Beat the eggs thoroughly in a large bowl with a generous pinch of salt. Fold in the warm potatoes and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes so the potato drinks in some egg.
- Wipe the pan, return it to high heat with a tablespoon of the reserved oil, and pour in the mixture. In Betanzos the pan runs hotter and the cooking runs shorter than anywhere else in Spain.
- Cook for barely 1-2 minutes, shaking the pan so nothing sticks, until the underside is golden but the top is still visibly wet.
- Place a flat plate (wider than the pan) over the top and flip the tortilla in one confident motion, then slide it back in for no more than another minute. The outside should be burnished; the inside must stay loose.
- Slide onto a plate and serve immediately. A true Betanzos tortilla slumps when cut and runs gently across the plate; that is not undercooked, that is the point.
Notes
The runny centre depends on very fresh eggs, so buy the best you can. If serving anyone wary of a soft middle, cook it a minute longer per side, but know that in Betanzos they would quietly take your plate away.
The flip is the only hard part. If it scares you, slide the tortilla onto the plate first, then invert the pan over it and turn the whole thing.