Before La Martinuca, it seemed that everything had been said in the world of tortillas. There are sincebollistas and those who fight, tooth and nail, for them to take it. Others fill them with almost anything. Until vague tortillas triumph , just as the master Sacha does them, who does not mean anything other than to make it as simple as possible, so easy, that it is not even necessary to turn it over.
But no, there was still something that could surprise us and it was, specifically, a potato omelette. And you will say, what is so special about having conquered us? well what is it one of the best we've tasted in a long time . It's called La Martinuca, it's sold at home, it's a hit on Instagram and it's really crazy.
“Nights of debauchery, mornings of Martinucas and ibuprofen”.
To tell us the secret of its success, we have chatted with Víctor Naranjo, the creator of this great feat . How did this idea come about? “Like many others, during confinement . He had been working in the family business for eight years, dedicated to the distribution of food and beverages. But he gave me time to think and I wanted to do something else, undertake ”, he explains. Thus, at the end of the year he left the company and devoted himself body and soul to what was going to be his new project, drawing up a list of possible themes. In the end, everything was reduced to betting on a single product: potato tortillas.
And why the potato omelette? It is here where his grandmother, Martina, comes into play , which has always "prepared the best tortillas in the world," says Víctor. The objective of La Martinuca? “Have tortillas where and when you want” , he emphasizes. Taking advantage of the first walks that could be done with the de-escalation, he told the idea to a friend , who had also tried his grandmother's famous omelette. The time had come.
The eggs that give life to the tortillas are from El Barranco.
The next step was find raw material and producers with whom he was going to work, prioritizing, above all, quality. “My grandmother told me: 'if you want to have the best tortilla, you have to look for the best ingredients to prepare it, that's key,'” she recalls and continues “I had to search a lot, I wanted to find something that would give homogeneity to the tortillas, the same taste..."
For this, he traveled the country in search of the key elements to make "the Martinucas", always betting on producers that respect the environment and do not use additives , to be able to make tortillas 100% ecological.
"As for potatoes, we tried varieties such as sour, kennebec... in the end we settled on monalisa de melendez ”, He clarifies. The onion they use is the slug from Llanos del Caudillo, while the eggs are brought from El Barranco. They even thought of an oil and salt that would add something special to the result of the product, so They use the EVOO of the Arbequina variety from Castillo de Canena and the salt is organic from Santa Pola.
Homemade and traditional 'Delivery'.
With all the ingredients chosen, it remained to be seen who would come up with the perfect recipe. Following Grandma Martina's instructions, They had Joaquín Serrano, the chef of the now defunct Madrid restaurant Efímero . “We took it out the first time. We did many more tests, but like that one, none. I thought it was going to take us longer...”, recalls Víctor.
The result? A sublime potato omelette , juicy and where the potato is noticeable, because they fry it a lot and keep that addictive crunch in three fixed versions: without onion, with onion and with onion confit, as well as some seasonal ones.
Another challenge they encountered was figuring out how to send it home so that it would arrive (almost) freshly made and not suffer along the way. To do this, they had the packaging by Klimer , specializing in the sale of items for the hotel industry, which has made a strong commitment to take-away and delivery lines.
The onion they use is the Llanos del Caudillo slug.
When you order a Martinuca, comes home hot, in a box similar to that of a pizza and inside a mold that protects it. Each tortilla carries a card with an explanation of how the tortillas are made and what ingredients are used, so that the customer knows the value of what they are going to eat.
The simplicity and good work of the team made this project start on June 7, in which, above all, there is feeling and a lot of quality. “ I believe in the single product. I want to raise it to that point where you go to dinner at a house with friends and ask for an omelette. One of the challenges was to get a gap between the things that are ordered at home”, recalls its creator.
Your biggest promotion channel? Instagram. “Growth in networks has been completely organic. With this we have created a corporate identity that part of the grandmother Martina, which in fact appears on our Instagram in black and white and then, with a friend's grandmother, to whom we took some very cool photos ”, he explains.
The grandmother of one of the friends of the owners of the brand is the image of the campaign.
And although it is a single product, evolution is constant. They just brought out a seasonal omelette, the truffle one. But do not think that they make it with substitutes or truffle oils, but with real truffles, which they also sell at market price, being totally honest with the customer. “We are working on future tortillas like the one with boletus, another with morels...” , he anticipates us.
Of course, to accompany the Martinucas they also sell a farmhouse sourdough bread and a selection that they have called La Martinuca's pantry . “I looked for accessories that can coexist with the tortilla on a table, such as cured meats from Joselito, preserves from La Brújula, kombuchas... All healthy and free of added sugars”, concludes Víctor Naranjo.
It's a pizza? No, it's a Martinuca.
The next? “Entering the hospitality industry, collaborating with friendly chefs, to be able to send some of their flagship products along with the tortillas, incorporating desserts...” And that's where we can count for now. Stay tuned!