Patatas Bravas Are a Way of Life
Is this Spain’s most iconic tapa dish?
Cheerful music’s playing somewhere in the background. The kind that makes you want to get up and dance. Shade from the hot Spanish sun. A glass of very cold beer in hand. Good people, good company. The sound of birds chirping, folks talking, dogs barking, cars zipping by …
What’s missing from this picture, you may be thinking to yourself?
The fries, of course. Which, by the way, the Spanish have perfected to a dish they call patatas bravas. (That’s one more for the bucket list.)
Many Spaniards consider patatas bravas to be the ultimate form of tapas. You will find this dish in every bar throughout Spain. And while every cook has a recipe that they call their own, all patatas bravas have one thing in common — they’re made with a lot of love and pride.
In their simplest form, patatas bravas are potatoes, baked or fried, accompanied by a hot smoky sauce the locals call salsa brava. Some base their salsa brava on puréed fresh tomatoes. Others, solely on pimentón ahumado (smoked paprika).
The patatas are dipped in the salsa and eaten alongside toasted baguette halves with diced tomatoes or dried ham, extra-virgin-olive-oil-preserved anchovy fillets, anchovy-stuffed green olives, and portion-sized…
