Hake Omelette
Source: Anonymous, 1920
History
"Tortilla con merluza" appears as one entry in a run of filled omelettes in La Mejor Cocinera, Recetas de Cocina, a Spanish home-cookery collection issued by the Editorial (Saturnino) Calleja publishing house in Madrid; the earliest edition that can be firmly located is dated 1923. Our record carries no named author, and this is consistent with the book itself: the "Calleja" on the title page is the Madrid publisher, not an individual cook. The recipe is brief and practical. The hake (merluza) is first cooked or fried, then folded into an omelette "como en las anteriores" — made the same way as the preceding tortilla entries (which include tortilla con anchoas and tortilla con chorizo) — placing it within a small family of filled tortillas in the book rather than treating it as a standalone specialty. The printed text also offers substitutions: crab or langostino-tail meat may be stirred into the beaten eggs, or, for a ham version, pieces of fried jamón are added first. Beyond this printed appearance, the historical record does not document a specific regional origin, an inventor, or any social meaning for this particular recipe. The prior claim tying it to Galicia and to a class of eater is unsupported and has been removed.
Ingredients
- hake (merluza)
- eggs
- jamón (cured ham)
- crab or langostino (Norway lobster) tail meat
Instructions
- Prepare the hake (merluza) by cooking or frying it. Make the omelette according to standard method (as in preceding recipes). If using jamón (cured ham), fry small pieces and add them to the beaten eggs before cooking. Alternatively, meat from crab or langostino (Norway lobster) tails may be added to the beaten eggs instead of jamón.