It's all about the Flip

Well this last weekend I got to spend the morning in spain! Obviously I wasn’t there literally, but I did get a “taste” of what it would be like.

I don’t know exactly why, but I was never in the cooking scene that much growing up. I imagine it was mostly due to my lack of interest and also the fact that my Mom is a fantastic cook and that there was always food available to eat. I served a mission stateside that was filled with members who were incredibly supportive and gracious which again, didn’t yield me many opportunities in which I needed to cook for myself.

So I spent Saturday morning with Byu’s Professor Rob Martinsen who currently teaches graduate spanish courses. Professor Martinsen served his mission in Spain roughly 10 years ago and has since returned 4 times for various reasons, one of which was to do some research as an grad student.

Rob showed me the art of cooking a spanish tortilla. When I first heard about it, in my mind I imagined that it would look at lot like the tortillas that I had in my mission, most of those being extremely flat and made out of flour or corn. This was definitely not the case with the tortillas that we made. These tortillas are a common food item that can be eating at any meal during the day. Rob ate these many, many times on his mission and also on his return trips which also allowed him to master the skill himself. When finished they look like this...

Freshly cooked spanish Tortilla! mmmhmmm

 These tortillas require simple ingredients, but have a few minor complex steps in the cooking process. Basically Potatoes, Onions, eggs, Salt, and oil is all that you’ll need.

In the picture above I am frying the potatoes to where they get to a point where they are very soft. Once that happens we take them of the pan and stick them in the bowl of eggs and mix it all together. Once mixed it goes back in the pan and continues to cook. This is right about where it gets really tricky! Once the one side is cooked, you cant just flip the tortilla over like you would a pancake. You actually have to cover the top of the pan and flip the entire pan. I have a video of Rob doing this. I started it a bit late so you don't see the actual flip, but you'll get the idea...

So after watching Rob give it a whirl it was my turn...I'll be honest, I was really worried! Holding a hot pan with food inside and then trying to flip it entirely over which was something I had never done before made me kind of concerned. Not to mention that  our breakfast was on the line...so yup, it made me nervous.

As you can see from the picture, I DID make the flip....just not quite with ALL  the food inside. If you glance at the floor in the picture you can see that a little bit of it squeezed out the side during my flip. Rob was nice as ever and assured me that everyone made that mistake at least once, rarely has someone learned this art without it happening to them according to him. I don't know if he was just trying to make me feel better or if that is how it goes, but I guess i'll just have to take his word for it!

I will have you know though that I did give it one more go afterwards and it was a much greater success. The tortilla was flipped over and there was no mess on the floor afterwards :). It felt great to actually do it!

So this was a saturday that I'm sure I won't forget. It wouldn't have been nearly as fun or fulfilling if i hadn't struggled a little bit and done some things which i had never done before. I find it extremely neat to think that the knowledge I learned was completely foreign to me , but i'm pretty sure it is second nature to many native residents who grow up and live in spain.