Ferran Adrià champions the classic tortilla and highlights the role of onion

Ferran Adrià has always been clear when it comes to whether a tortilla should be made with or without onion. For the co-owner of elBulli, ranked among the world’s 50 best restaurants, the potato tortilla is in any case a fundamental dish, just as it powerfully represents the identity of Spanish cuisine.

The Catalan chef has repeatedly argued in his public appearances and publications that fine dining begins with a deep understanding of the simplest traditional preparations, rather than with centrifuges or test tubes. At the presentation of his everyday cooking project, “El menú de la familia”, he set out that hierarchy plainly: “First you have to master the basics: know how to make a sofrito, clean a fish or make a good traditional potato tortilla. If you cannot do that expertly, you cannot claim to make creative or avant-garde cuisine.”

In his view, technical command of those fundamentals is the prerequisite for any innovation. Far from the image that could portray elBulli as a world removed from popular cooking, Adrià has placed the classic tortilla at the summit of gastronomy. At several forums held by the Sapiens project of the elBulliFoundation, he said: “For me, a well-made classic potato tortilla — soft inside, with the potato properly confited and the egg barely set — is one of the great peaks of world gastronomy.”

That attachment to the traditional recipe did not prevent him from breaking conventions in the late 1990s with his famous “deconstructed tortilla”, served in a glass. In TVE’s documentary “elBulli: Historia de un sueño”, he explained that the creation was not intended to replace the family recipe: “When we made the potato tortilla in a glass at elBulli, using crisps, eggs and onion, people were putting their hands to their heads. But the concept was not to replace grandmother’s version; it was to reflect: what are the ingredients of a tortilla? Potato, egg, oil and onion. If you use top-quality crisps, rehydrated with the egg, you get the essence of the flavour and a different texture in three minutes.”

For Adrià, a successful tortilla depends in particular on precise cooking times and thermal balance when confiting the potato. He also approaches one of Spanish gastronomy’s most famous controversies from a technical angle. In interviews given notably to El País Semanal, in connection with debates at events such as Madrid Fusión, he said that “the debate over whether tortilla should contain onion is a matter of personal taste, but from a culinary point of view, onion brings sweetness and moisture that help make the final result much softer.”

This analysis illustrates, according to the chef, the need for every ingredient to serve a precise sensory function in the dish.