Patatas Tres Salsas

What’s better than fried potatoes when you’re having a beer or a cider? Fried potatoes with something tangy to dip them in! And what is better than that? Three things to dip them in! Never ones for restraint, Asturians enjoy their patatas fritas – confusingly used for french fries, home fries, and potato chips – with a selection of sauces. Patatas tres salsas makes its way on to many a bar menu in Asturias. Here’s how to reproduce them at home.

I’m not gonna lie, this is a set of recipes that takes a little bit of work. You’ll be making three different sauces, and then frying up some potato chunks to put all the sauce on, but it is totally worth it. Spain might not be thought of as a sauce-making country like France. However, when it comes to dipping sauces, they really do have some great options.

You can make the salsa Cabrales with any strong blue cheese. I like it a lot made with Asher Blue from Georgia. Cabrales is relatively easy to find in the US, so check for it first before making substitutions.

Salsa brava is a Spanish classic, and super simple to make in the States. As a matter of fact, you will have an easier time making it to your liking there than I do here in Spain. The wide variety of dried chiles available in the US is something I miss a great deal. Be bold. Mix and match your chiles to suit your tastes. Try a fiery árbol paired with a sweet guajillo. Or how about a smoky chipotle and a fruity cascabel. You can be a bit bolder than normal because your fried potatoes will moderate the heat level somewhat.

Your salsa alioli is also a classic Spanish sauce, and one that gets people in some parts of Spain as exercised as Southerners in the States do about what makes a proper barbecue sauce. The version I give you here is as easy as it can be, and tastes superior to most of those made in Spain. The secret is in the easy access Americans have to truly neutral cooking oils. I had no idea canola oil would be one of the things I missed most when I moved abroad, but that is a story for another time.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg all-purpose potatoes. Yukon Gold is the reference potato for this type, and works really well for this or any home-fries type dish.
• Sea salt, to taste.
• Oil for frying. You will want to fry these in an abundant amount of neutral oil. I use roughly 5 liters (1.5 gallon) in a giant cast iron dutch oven on the stove.

Instructions

1. Wash, peel, and cube your potatoes. Peeling potatoes is heretical I know, but we are going for authenticity here, and no one in all of Spanish history has ever eaten a potato with the skin on.
2. Boil your potato chunks in heavily salted water until just soft enough to pierce easily with a knife. Approximately 5 minutes.
3. Drain the potatoes, and rinse gently under cool water. Let them sit at least until they are no longer steaming. If you can let them cool down to room temperature, all the better.
4. Heat your frying oil to 300C / 575F. Working in small batches, fry the potato chunks until golden brown, approximately 10 minutes. Remove them to a tray lined with something absorbent and salt them liberally. You can also add pepper, shake on paprika, or any other powdered spice you’d like at this stage.
5. When all of the potatoes are fried, arrange them on a serving platter. To serve them Asturian-style, pour your three sauces over them in broad stripes. Alternatively, serve with ramekins of your three sauces.

Notes

• Serve with Alioli, Salsa Brava, and Salsa Cabrales