On October 1, the XIV Spanish Potato Omelet Championship will be held in Alicante, which takes place within the framework of Alicante Gastronomic. A contest in which all ways of making potato omelette will be represented, from north to south. Its alma mater, organizer and president of the jury, Rafael García Santos, explains that this contest aims to “give visibility to all the types of tortillas that are in the territory, from those that are less curdled to those that are more curdled, from skewers to whole tortillas, the thinnest or thickest, etc.” In addition to García Santos (who created the contest in San Sebastián in 1999 and, after a few years of hiatus, resumed it in Alicante in 2021), the jury will be made up of RNE journalist Pepa Fernández; businessman José Gómez, general director of Joselito; the pastry chef Paco Torreblanca; and the chefs Kiko Moya, Fran Martínez, Carme Ruscalleda and Alberto Ferruz.
Despite being one of the great experts in potato omelettes, who visits establishments throughout the territory every day to try, evaluate and rate their tortillas (the result of this research can be read on his website), García Santos resists define the ideal potato omelet. “In Spain there are different traditions and tortillas are diverse depending also on how and where they are served. There is no ideal tortilla, but rather many ways of making it and we may want one or the other depending on many factors. Furthermore, here the question It is not choosing which is the best tortilla, but which is the best every day in the place it occupies.
García Santos reminds that to be admitted to the contest, the finalist tortillas must have a previous score of more than 8 and that various criteria are taken into account when scoring. “From territoriality to diversity, since there are different ways of preparing the tortilla and there are more modest establishments and others more gourmet and they all have a place in the contest.” The creator of the championship remembers that the queen of tortillas, as the list of finalists clearly demonstrates, continues to be the province of A Coruña, although he insists that “they are very good throughout the north, from Cantabria to La Rioja and obviously the Country.” Basque”. In Madrid, great tortillas are also made thanks, above all, to the weight of the Cantabrian community, which is reflected in the presence of a couple of establishments among the fifteen participants.
García Santos himself, president of the jury and probably the man who knows the most about potato omelettes in Spain, explains the particularities of each of the fifteen tortillas in the competition.
The one at Casa Miranda personifies, in the words of García Santos, “the popular school of Betanzos”, that of those tortillas with the uncurdled egg whose interior spreads over the plate when they are broken with the fork. It is a bite “of instinct, of intuition, of innate good taste, of race, of guisandera… That excites because it transmits sensitivity.” It is a traditional tortilla, as is this “endearing” food house, a totem of the tortilla route in Betanzos located on its Golden Mile, Travesía Progreso. “Brownish, toasted, succulent and, of course, with plenty of runny egg,” according to García Santos, this omelet boasts exceptional Galician potatoes “golden in one case, charred in another.”
That the Betanzos school is a benchmark in terms of potato omelette is demonstrated by the inclusion of several establishments from this town in A Coruña among the fifteen finalists. Mesón O Pote, which was the winner of the 2022 edition (sharing the prize with Tizona, which is competing again), has its most informal and popular version in the adjacent Raxeria de Pote. The same as in the inn, the tortilla is the undisputed protagonist of the raxería tables. Deserving of various awards over the years, it is among the best in Spain and is made with 12 free-range eggs that, in the words of its chef Alberto García Ponte, “some Paca ladies from the surroundings provide me and the rest comes from of the Campomayor brand, from chickens fed with corn”.
García Santos defines the Cañadío tortilla, in Santander, as “pure delicious creaminess.” We are looking at the classic tortilla with onion, which is served in the form of a skewer and arrives at the table as a “creamy scramble, without curdling.” It consists of a thin, uniform golden crust and has a creamy, melting texture, like that of a scrambled egg made in a bain-marie. It is slippery, very juicy, succulent and sweet. Although the establishment was born in Santander, García Santos points out that the six establishments it currently has in Madrid are largely responsible for the rise of this dish in the capital.
Euskadi also has several representatives in this championship. Located in the heart of Bilbao’s Old Town, this place represents very well the tortilla-making tradition of this community, and makes a tortilla “in line with the local palate, which the chef knows wonderfully,” as García Santos explains. It is made with agate potato, which has “a subtle impregnation of onion and Biscayan red onion, which gives it character and roots, very brownish and seasoned to the point.” Sorginzulo also has the Award for Best Pincho Bar in Euskalherria in 2018.
García Santos is clear: the potato omelette from this Madrid establishment is “called to make history.” Chef Alejandro Oliveira is passionate about this dish, which he prepares in the purest Betanzos style (since he lived in A Coruña), although with a very personal imprint. This omelette arrives at the contest through the front door thanks to “its golden potatoes soaked in egg, which slides yemosy and densely, enveloping and delicacy.” It is an omelette that is “shaky and sensual, with yolk and egg in a pure, sublime state”, as well as very technical and with a great personality.
It is a privilege to enjoy a free tapa of this tortilla when ordering a wine from 6 p.m. in this bar in A Coruña. Made in the purest style of the area, it presents small pieces of potato, between fried and poached, which give rise to a tortilla “subtly lubricated with oil, juicy without becoming obscenely sprawling,” according to García Santos. Without onion, “refined and tasty”, it boasts a very thin and uniformly yellowish layer that incites the skewer.
This bright yellow tortilla with a very thin outer layer and a delicious yolk sauce inside is a classic among fans of this delicacy in Madrid. With potatoes cut by machine into thin, uniform cubes, 2 cm on each side and 3 mm thick, Taberna Pedraza’s is an “intellectual” tortilla, far from other more intuitive ones on this list. It is “an extremely refined, artisanal and naturalistic tortilla”, for which sour potatoes are used (preferably from Chipiona), medium Coren eggs carefully selected from a variety of suppliers, high oleic sunflower oil and salt.
Antonio Bar’s famous potato omelette is unlike any other for several reasons. Due to its height, which ranges between 8-9 cm and reaches 5 kg in weight. Also because each one contains 4.75 kilos of potatoes, 30 eggs, 2 kilos of onion and 500 g of green pepper. The abundance of onion, the brownish tone, its eminently sweet flavor and the presence of green pepper make this tortilla “very difficult to evaluate given its overwhelming identity,” according to García Santos, who describes it as “iconoclastic, since it substantially breaks with the potato omelet without ceasing to be one”. And he concludes: “There will be those who discuss it conceptually, never carnally.”
“Tasty, honest, authentic… extremely convincing.” This is how García Santos defines the omelette of this food house in which well-fried potatoes are preferred, sometimes a little toasted. A very juicy, even slimy piece, “exultant with creamy egg, without excesses.” Another of its virtues is the texture, which García Vidal defines as “shaky and very alive.”
This establishment specialized in craft beers goes to the Spanish Championship with not inconsiderable credentials: having received the silver medal in the First Regional Potato Tortilla Championship (local phase). “It is a tasty and sensitive omelette, which is prepared with good potatoes, good eggs and a very good extra virgin olive oil for confit,” says García Vidal. Its main characteristic is that it “dominates the potato, noble, select and soaked in plenty of egg.” This sticks out palatally and “chews into beautiful, creamy pieces, falling apart delicately.”
The one who was the winner last year of the Potato Omelet Contest in the province of Alicante (together with Agus Gastrobar), organized by Alicante Gastronómica, is now competing for the Spanish championship with a classic omelette, without onion, not very curdled and thick. “My trick is to make it raw, not curdled,” says chef Carme Canals.
The tortilla winner of the Burgos 2023 Championship and now a candidate to win this state trophy “responds to the latest trends and displays extraordinary virtuosity: beautiful uniform yellow-orange hue, very fine sealing, very juicy, with the egg spreading, with the candied potato and toast and a great contrast of textures, conjunction and distinction of flavors,” summarizes García Santos.
You have to travel to Ponferrada to try chef Jennifer Pacheco’s signature potato omelette. It is an “immaculate” omelette, which treasures sensitivity and subtlety, with 60% diced fried potatoes and 40% delicately treated egg. For García Santos it is a “signature” tortilla that transmits personality.
Óscar Guantes is the creator of one of the best potato omelettes in Valladolid, not very curdled and with an added merit: it always comes out the same. It is made with potatoes from La Laguna or from a garden in Palencia and with eggs from free-range hens. Guantes recommends always eating it freshly made, and although they have a version without onion or with other ingredients to suit the diner, the classic one is exclusively made with potatoes and onions. Each omelette has between 9 and 10 eggs and, although it can be ordered whole to share, the skewer on the bar option is very popular among customers.
The champion of Spain 2022 together with Mesón O Viso returns to the fray this year ready to revalidate the award. And he does it with ambition and enthusiasm, two qualities that García Santos highlights in an establishment that exemplifies like few others the reason for being of the contest he directs. “Our goal is to revolutionize the world of tortillas, put it on the map and demonstrate that, as is the case of Tizona, a chef can go from having barely cooked tortillas to becoming the best thanks to determination and learning,” he explains. . His omelette, excellent, “requires a lot of work, intellectual and physical” and stands out for its “waste of eggs” and for being made with “an outstanding raw material.”
