The emblematic one-pot stew of La Rioja in northern Spain: potatoes simmered with chorizo, onion, garlic, and pimentón into a thick, brick-red sauce. The potatoes are not sliced cleanly but cracked apart, so they shed starch and thicken the broth. The defining seasoning is the pulp of the dried choricero pepper, scraped from the rehydrated skins. It is eaten hot from a deep dish as a hearty main, traditionally with bread, and is often named among the candidates for a Spanish national dish.
A dish of humble, 19th-century origins, eaten by field laborers and shepherds across La Rioja who cooked cheap potatoes with home-cured chorizo. Its fame spread by a well-known anecdote: in 1979 the French chef Paul Bocuse, in La Rioja to cook for the centenary of the CVNE winery, tasted the version made by the house cook Pilar Grandival and is said to have praised it lavishly and asked for repeated servings. Potatoes only became common in Spanish pots after the early 19th century, which dates the stew in its present form to that period.
A thick, almost spoon-coating stew, the broth stained orange-red by pimentón oil rendered from the chorizo. The potato pieces are soft at the edges where they have crumbled into the sauce but hold a tender core. Each bite carries the smoky, faintly sweet warmth of the choricero pulp against the salty, paprika-rich bite of the sausage. Served piping hot; eaten with a spoon, the bread used to wipe the dish.
Two techniques carry the dish. First, the potatoes are cracked rather than cut: a shallow cut is started, then the piece is snapped off, tearing the cell structure so it leaches more starch into the liquid (the technique is called cascar or chascar, the same crushed cut as Galician cachelos). The freed starch gelatinizes and thickens the broth without any flour. Second, pimentón and the soaked choricero pulp are bloomed in warm chorizo fat so their fat-soluble carotenoid pigments and aromas dissolve into the oil, coloring and flavoring the whole pot; the paprika must not scorch, which turns it bitter.
Variations
Some cooks add a dried guindilla chili for heat; others slip in a bay leaf or a splash of white wine. Where choricero pulp is hard to find, a heaped spoon of sweet pimentón stands in. The closely related patatas con chorizo is the same idea across northern Spain, while patatas a la importancia and the Castilian patatas a lo pobre are different potato dishes entirely.
On the Palate
Where Patatas a la Riojana sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 130 min
Soak 2 dried choricero peppers in warm water for 30 minutes, then scrape the soft pulp from the skins with a spoon and discard the skins.
- 25 min
Cut 700g potatoes by sinking a knife partway in and snapping each piece off, so the edges are torn and ragged.
- 38 min
Warm 3 tbsp olive oil in a pot and gently sweat 1 chopped onion and 2 cloves garlic until soft and translucent.
- 45 min
Slice 200g cooking chorizo into coins, add to the pot, and cook until the fat runs orange.
Watch outCook the chorizo until its fat runs bright orange and slicks the bottom of the pot.
- 51 min
Off direct heat, stir in 1 tsp sweet pimentón and the choricero pulp and let them bloom in the warm fat for a few seconds without scorching.
Watch outStir the paprika in off the heat for just a few seconds until it smells sweet, never letting it darken.
- 63 min
Add the cracked potatoes, a bay leaf, and enough water to barely cover; season with salt.
- 730 min
Bring to a simmer and cook gently for about 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the broth has thickened, shaking the pot rather than stirring hard.
Watch outThe stew is ready when the potatoes are fork-tender and the broth has turned silky and thick.
- 83 min
Rest a few minutes off the heat and serve hot in deep bowls with bread.
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