Pati's Mexican Table

Pati, voice-over: These two sisters in Mrida may not always see eye to eye... [Laughs] [Speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: But together, they make their versions of the famous spice pastes known as recados that Yucatn is famous for, and they use one of them, the Recado Blanco, to cook a steamy Relleno Blanco.

[Speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: Then, in the fertile fields of Hacienda Uxmal, I'm challenged to an habanero duel.

[Speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: The winner gets to try another kind of spice paste, the Recado Negro... [Pati speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: baked underground in Rosa's to-die-for Relleno Negro.

Mm!

This is perfection.

Pati, voice-over: In my kitchen, I'm making you little presents wrapped in banana leaves... that are so beautiful.

Pati, voice-over: Black bean and pibil pork tamales infused with the soul-warming magic of my favorite Yucatecan seasoning paste, the Recado Rojo.

Mm, mm, mm.

[Birds chirping] [Child shouts] Tan bonisimo.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Super sweet.

Woman: [Speaks Spanish] Yeah.

Tan rico.

So breathtaking.

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Pati, voice-over: Recados are the soul of Yucatn cuisine.

Visit any market, like this one in Mrida, and you'll see blocks of spice pastes in different colors used to season food.

[Speaking Spanish] [Speaking Spanish] [Woman speaking Spanish] [Laughs] [Speaking Spanish] [Pati and Mara Elide speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: Two cooks famous for their recados are sisters Mara Elide and Delfina Castillo.

[Speaking Spanish] [Laughter] Pati, voice-over: Mara Elide and Delfina are teaching me a classic Relleno Blanco recipe, a stew made with chicken and delicious pork meatballs stuffed with egg, using their signature Recado Blanco spice paste.

Pati, voice-over: The Recado Blanco, which is the base for all other recados, combines black pepper, allspice, oregano, salt, garlic, and cloves.

[Laughter] Pati, voice-over: The sisters are as spicy as their recados.

Pati, voice-over: The Recado Blanco is now in paste form and is applied to the chicken and the ground pork to prepare the Relleno Blanco.

Pati, voice-over: Mara Elide learned to cook at 36 when she lost her job but had 4 kids to raise.

Her mother began teaching her how to prepare spice pastes to sell, and in just a few years, the sisters have grown so popular they've started getting international attention, having recently been invited to cook at a Cinco de Mayo event in New York City.

She's giving me the honor of adding salt to her stew.

Pati: OK. Mm.

Mm.

Pati, voice-over: Now it's time to bring the heart of Yucatn into my kitchen-- the Recado Rojo, or pasta de achiote-- and prepare some pibil pork and black bean tamales.

Recados are the quintessential way to season anything in the Yucatn.

So, recados are seasoning pastes, as I was learning with the ladies from Semillas de Los Dioses.

And there's white, there's brown, there's black.

My favorite is the red.

And oh, my God, the smell is just-- annatto seeds and citrus and spices.

And I'm gonna use this Recado Rojo to make the most delicious black bean tamales with a filling of pibil pork.

Whenever you hear the word "pibil," this is what gives it its irresistible signature taste.

So, I'm eyeballing about 3 tablespoons.

You know, when you get achiote paste, or red recado, you need to make sure that you get it in the form of a paste, not a sauce.

Like Play-Doh.

Super soft and malleable.

So, this is gonna make the sauce.

I'm adding 3 cups of chicken broth.

You could use vegetable broth.

You could use water, too.

I love using chicken broth.

It just adds another layer of flavor.

Here in my blender.

Then I'm gonna add two tablespoons of white distilled vinegar, and then I'm going to use a quarter teaspoon each of ground cumin and ground allspice.

And then I want to add a tablespoon of Yucatecan oregano.

I'm gonna puree these.

[Whirring] This smells so good.

This is such a Yucatecan smell.

I love it.

It's the achiote paste that's now coming back to life.

I have a pound of pork loin from my local butcher who always gets me these amazing cuts of meat.

And I have the pork loin with its fat because the fat is just going to melt as the meat cooks.

And I'm gonna cut these into about one-inch chunks.

So, you know, pork fat is what turns into lard.

So, I don't need to add any oil to my pan because I'm judging by the amount of fat.

I'm going to season with salt and pepper.

So, like, one teaspoon salt and, like, half a teaspoon pepper, and rub it all over.

Then I'm gonna throw these in my pan, which I've been preheating, and here we go.

OK, I'm gonna brown my pork here for about 4 to 5 minutes.

I'm not gonna flip it or move it until it starts creating a crust.

Let me rinse my hands.

I'm going to add one onion.

OK, now look at the pork.

Oh, beautiful.

So, this is what I want.

I want to flip it once it's browned.

I don't want to completely cook the pork.

I just want to brown it.

I'm gonna reduce my heat to medium.

Now the onion is going to cook in that rendered fat.

So, I'm making sure the onion is all covered in this beautiful fat.

So, I'm gonna let the onion cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

I'm adding half a pound of diced tomatoes.

[Sizzling] I'm gonna stir that.

And then I'm gonna add one habanero and I'm gonna finely chop it.

Smells like citrus and I'm keeping all the seeds in.

[Laughs] As I'm chopping, I can feel the heat.

I'm adding the habanero right in here.

Gonna stir that.

[Sizzling] Mm.

It may look like it's a lot of sauce, but it's not a lot of sauce, because I want this pork to be super saucy.

And as this cooks, it's gonna thicken.

It's gonna season.

Now, the only thing we need to do is wait for it to come to a simmer.

Then I'm gonna cover it.

I'm gonna reduce the heat to medium and then I'm gonna cook it for about a half an hour to 35 minutes.

Pati, voice-over: In the ancient city of Uxmal in the southern Yucatn, nestled below one of the most important archaeological sites in ancient Mayan culture, I'm learning about one of the most important dishes in Yucatn--Relleno Negro, which uses a black recado made with charred chiles and spices.

Originally an hacienda from the 1600s, Hacienda Uxmal has been converted into a resort and farmland.

They grow much of the same food the Maya have cultivated for thousands of years.

Obviously, I couldn't waste the opportunity to drive Bersain Velazquez's 1950s Land Rover.

Natural experience.

I love it.

Old-fashioned.

[Laughs] [Speaking Spanish] [Speaking Spanish] Uh-huh.

Pati, voice-over: Bersain manages the operations at Hacienda Uxmal.

Pati, voice-over: Chaya has been used in traditional Maya cuisine for centuries and is packed with nutritional benefits.

But there is a catch to this ancient shrub.

Pati, voice-over: The hacienda grows dozens of other crops, like cabbage, cilantro, soursop, sour limes, and bitter oranges.

But to a spice lover like me, the star of the show is one of the world's hottest chiles, the habanero.

Pati: Uh-huh.

OK. [Laughs] [Laughs] Let's see how far we can go, OK?

[Laughs] Mm.

It's a challenge.

[Laughs] Pati, voice-over: Hopefully, a drive across the property gives time for the feeling to return to my tongue, and I'll need it because we're headed to visit local chef Rosa Chelmas to learn more about recados and Rosa's famous dish-- Relleno Negro.

[Speaking Spanish] [Speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: We begin by preparing a Recado Negro, which starts with a pound of dry, charred, pulverized chiles de rbol.

We add cloves, peppercorn, oregano, cinnamon, raw garlic, salt, and red onion.

Pati, voice-over: Add masa diluted in water, and our recado becomes a beautiful black marinade for our turkey.

Pati, voice-over: The Relleno Negro bakes underground for several hours using the smoke from the pit to infuse layers of mouth-watering flavor to the meat.

Mm!

Mmm.

We're gonna make the masa for tamales.

Grab a large mixing bowl.

I have a pound of masa harina.

You can use masa harina for tortillas or for tamales.

2 3/4 cups of chicken broth.

And I'm gonna add two teaspoons salt.

Gonna start mixing.

OK, so, I have the masa harina, the chicken broth, the salt.

I'm gonna add a cup of vegetable shortening.

You could use lard instead of the vegetable shortening if you wanted, or butter.

You want to make sure that the fat is really well mixed.

So, now that my masa is all nice and mixed, I'm gonna add one cup of black beans cooked.

Here, I'm also adding a quarter cup of fresh cilantro that I'm chopping.

And so, this way, the masa of the tamal, even before the filling, is like a fascinating masa.

OK, so, my masa is ready.

My pork pibil is about to be ready.

And now we need to get my banana leaves ready because this is where I'm gonna wrap my tamales.

When you get them, you will get them in a big plastic bag.

And when you open them, there's just these gigantic banana leaves that are so beautiful.

But in order to prepare them, you have to rinse them, which I already did, and then you have to pass them through the flames.

So, we're gonna do that.

So, I already cut banana leaves in pieces of about 10 inches in width.

And then after you rinse them, you just turn on your burner over low heat and then you're gonna pass your leaf through the fire.

What this is going to do is it's going to make the leaf malleable.

It kind of cures it.

You can see how the color changes.

So, now, wherever you may be, you're making the tamales, you're in the Yucatn.

Oh, did you see how that looked?

That looked super cool.

Ah, this is perfection.

You know how I know?

Because all the fat has risen to the surface and has created the puddles of fat that have the achiote color in it.

OK. You can see the meat is cooked, falling apart, but I want it to fall apart in the sauce in that bowl because I want it to cool a little bit before I added my tamales.

I'm gonna pour the rest of the sauce in here.

I mean, look at this beautiful thing!

OK, I'm gonna let the pork cool for a little, and then I'm gonna start shredding it.

So, to get your tamalera ready, you just need to fill the bottom part with enough water so that it's right under the steaming basket.

You don't have a tamalera, just get a steaming basket.

And then you add your steaming basket.

We have the prepared banana leaves so that the tamales are not only cooking in the banana leaves, but in a banana leaf environment.

These look good.

OK, and you want the outer layer on the bottom or outside, which is the darker part.

And then I'm gonna add anywhere from a third of a cup to a half a cup of the masa.

And then you want to make a rectangle of sorts.

Then I'm gonna make an indentation in the middle.

I like my tamales just like my tacos, with a lot of filling.

The filling has to be saucy but not super wet or it's just gonna run over the tamal.

And then you just wrap it like this.

Then you close it like this and you have your first tamal.

Then we continue.

I'm going to now cover my tamales.

So, see, that's why it's good.

When you add extra banana leaves on the top, then you just go like this.

And then you add more.

You turn the heat high.

Wait for your water to boil.

Once you start seeing steam, you add your lid, reduce your heat to medium, and let these tamales cook for an hour.

And then you let them sit for 10 minutes before you take one out so that they can really settle.

Oh, yeah.

This smells crazy.

And this is such a beautiful sight.

I know it sounds silly, but, you guys, don't eat the banana leaves.

Ready?

Mm, mm, mmm.

Mm.

With the soft black beans in the masa and the fragrance of the cilantro and then that pork pibil, I mean, yum.

It's so rich and tomato-y and achiote-y.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Pati: For recipes and information from this episode and more, visit PatiJinich.com and connect.

Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest @PatiJinich.

Announcer: "Pati's Mexican Table" is brought to you by... Announcer: La Costea.

por sabor!

Men: Avocados from Mexico Announcer: Stand Together, helping every person rise.

More information at StandTogether.org.

[Nationwide theme playing on guitar] Announcer: Here, the typical arroz con pollo or not.

Unfollow la Receta.

Mahatma Rice.

Announcer: Levenger-- nearly 40 years of craftmanship for readers, writers, thinkers, and doers.

Announcer: Proud to support "Pati's Mexican Table" on public television.