Patatas Bravas
ITALIAN · ITALY

Patatas Bravas

Patatas bravasSnack

Cubes of potato fried twice so they come out shatteringly crisp, then drowned in a smoky, sweet-hot brava sauce and garlicky alioli. This is the tapas-bar classic, done the way a Madrid bar does it: nothing polite, everything spoonable.

Total
50 min
Heat
3/5
Serves
4

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Flavour profile

Heat
Funk
Acid
Richness
Umami
  • Crispy
  • Garlicky
  • Smoky
  • Spicy

The real deal

Region
Spain, claimed by both Madrid and Barcelona. The Madrid bar version is the one most copied.
Technique
Double-frying potatoes: a first low fry to cook them through, a rest, then a hard fry to blister the crust.
We kept
Smoky pimentón brava sauce with a flour-thickened body, garlic alioli on the side, no ketchup, no cheese.

Ingredients

4 Serves

potato

  • 900 g · peeled, cut into irregular chunks
  • 1 tbsp
  • 1 pinch
  • 2 tbsp · for frying, mild olive oil
  • 600 ml · for the first fry

brava sauce

  • 1 · finely chopped
  • 4 cloves · sliced
  • 400 g · chopped, drained
  • 2 tsp
  • ½ tsp
  • 2 tbsp
  • 1 tsp
  • 200 ml
  • 1 tbsp
  • 1 · optional

alioli

  • 1 · at room temperature
  • 2 cloves · grated or pounded to a paste
  • 1 tsp
  • 180 ml · or half olive oil if you like it bitter

finish

  • 2 tbsp · optional · chopped

Method

  1. Peel and cut into rough chunks of about 3 cm, twisting the knife so each piece has jagged, broken faces. Ragged edges are where the crust grips the sauce. Put the potatoes in a pan of cold salted water, bring to a boil and simmer for 8 min, until a knife goes in with a little resistance left in the middle. Drain well and let them steam dry in the colander for 5 min.

    Don't cut them neat. A smooth cube fries smooth and the sauce slides off.

    Wet potatoes spit and turn limp. Steam them dry properly, or the oil will never crisp them.

  2. Warm 2 tbsp in a wide pan over medium heat. Add and cook for 10 min, until soft and sweet, not coloured. Add and cook one minute more, just until it smells sweet. Stir in and cook it out for a minute, then add , , , , and 200 ml . Add the if using. Simmer gently for 15 min, until it darkens and thickens to a loose ketchup consistency, then fish out the bay and blend smooth.

    Pimentón burns bitter in seconds. Add it off the heat or with the wet ingredients, never into a dry hot pan.

  3. Pound to a paste with a pinch of in a mortar, then work in . Drizzle in a few drops at a time, whisking constantly, until it emulsifies into a thick, glossy alioli. Loosen with and taste for salt.

    If it splits, start a fresh yolk in a clean bowl and whisk the broken mixture into it, drop by drop.

  4. Heat 600 ml to 140 °C in a deep pan. Fry the potatoes in batches for 6 min, until pale gold and completely tender. Lift out onto a rack and let them rest for at least 10 min.

    This first fry only cooks them. If they colour deeply now, the oil is too hot and the middle will be raw.

  5. Bring the oil up to 190 °C. Fry the rested potatoes again in batches for 3 min, until deeply golden and blistered, and they rattle when you shake the basket. Drain on a rack, never on paper, and salt immediately.

    Fry them twice, always. Once-fried potatoes taste fine for a minute and then go limp under the sauce.

  6. Pile the hot potatoes into a shallow dish. Spoon brava sauce generously over the top and drop spoonfuls of alioli alongside, or swirl them together if you like. Scatter if using and eat straight away.

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