Pati, voice-over: One bite of piloncillo, and I'm carried away to my childhood in Mexico.
Pati: This is like the piloncillo I had tried before, like, times a million!
Pati, voice-over: Piloncillo is made with only one ingredient-- the juice of sugarcane.
It's wonderful in a hot day.
Mm.
It's delicious.
Pati, voice-over: I have used it in my kitchen for so many years, and I'm so excited to finally taste it directly from the source as the Garza family in Allende fires up their century-old sugar mill.
Pati: It's smoky, it's barnyardy.
It's, like, yum!
Pati, voice-over: Then just a few hours north in the magic town of Bustamante, I meet the Casso de Luna sisters, who have been using the sweet, raw flavor of piloncillo in their pan dulce recipes for more than 50 years.
Pati: Wow!
The secrets that you find.
Pati, voice-over: Plus, they surprise me with a puffy, cheesy, crunchy delight dripping with tomato sauce that makes me want to make my own Nuevo Len-inspired pie.
All: Salud!
Pati: Oh, that looks beautiful!
Pati, voice-over: In my kitchen, I'm making an irresistible orange and piloncillo adobo pork roast pizza that your family's going to love.
Ready?
Yeah.
Mm.
Oh!
It's so good.
Doesn't stop.
Mm!
Mm mm mm!
Ha ha ha!
Mm!
Man: I am going to give you a secret.
Yes.
I love secrets.
Pati: Mm.
Mm.
Mm.
It's like nothing I've tasted before.
Announcer: "Pati's Mexican Table" is brought to you by... Announcer: La Costea-- por sabor!
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Pati: Tucked under Cerro de la Bandera, or the Mountain of the Flag, on the edge of the River Ramos is the Garza family's vineyard.
The land in the city of Allende has been in the family for nearly a century.
As much as I like their wine, I'm here for something much sweeter, an event they hold once a year when brothers Edwin and Alexis fire up their antique mill, dating back to 1903, to make piloncillo with their family and friends.
Pati: I use piloncillo, I love piloncillo, but I've never seen how it's made.
OK. Pati, voice-over: All over Mexico and Latin America, you'll see piloncillo in the shape of small, truncated cones similar to these.
So the name of the base is pilon, so that's why it's called piloncillo.
Pati, voice-over: It's used in so many ways like in pan dulce and desserts, but in some cases, you can eat it by itself.
Pati: Ooh.
And the consistency.
Mm!
Oh, my God!
Ha ha ha!
This is like the piloncillo I had tried before, like, times a million!
It's tart, it's sweet, it's grainy, it's a little sour, it's, like, rustic, it's smoky, it's barnyardy.
It's, like, yum!
Pati, voice-over: The process is simple but not easy.
First, it requires a lot of sugarcane.
Pati: This is a lot of pressure.
OK. Mm!
It's like a sugary water, but it's a little...
It's wonderful in a hot day.
It's delicious.
Pati, voice-over: Next, the cane is grinded to a pulp in the mill, and the sweet, earthy juices are separated and collected.
After the juice has boiled for a few hours... it's time for the fun part.
Now I know why the Garzas only do this once a year and invite a lot of people.
The miel must be stirred hard and fast for about 20 minutes to get the proper consistency.
Yes.
OK. Ha ha ha!
When it gets colder, it gets a lot heavier.
Ah!
So as it cools down, it's harder to stir.
So that's a little secret.
OK!
Pati, voice-over: It's hard to imagine that a plant, some heat, and strong friends are all you need for this magical rustic treat as natural as Mexican sunshine.
Mm!
This is...such a huge amount of indulging.
It's insane.
So good!
Ever since I can remember, I've been charmed by the beautiful taste of piloncillo.
This one I got straight from a mill in Nuevo Len, and today, I'm gonna use it to make an orange and piloncillo adobo pork roast.
So I'm just putting this piloncillo that smells like...heaven-- I'm putting it right here so that it can melt into this hot, boiling water, and it turns into syrup, and in this adobo, I'm gonna combine the melted piloncillo with guajillo chilies and some of the spices of the region and of course orange juice.
I'm using guajillos, which of course by now you know and of course I know you have in your pantry.
You just need to remove the stem, remove the seeds.
You just break them open just like this, and my guajillos are toasting.
You want to toast the guajillos until they toast and transform.
You can see they're smoking, they're letting out the fumes, which is great.
It's gonna make your kitchen really come alive, and we're gonna let these chilies cook in the water, rehydrate and simmer for about 8-10 minutes just until they completely soften, and once the piloncillo fully dilutes into the water, I can turn it off, and I wish you could smell the sweet tang from the piloncillo syrup.
You can see the color.
OK. We're gonna set this aside so it cools a little, and I'm gonna get my pork ready.
Here I have a 10-pounder.
It's what is called a pork picnic shoulder, which means that it comes with the bone and with the skin, and every part of it is gonna be so delicious.
So the skin and the fat that's over the meat, it's actually like your pork belly or like a thick bacon or what we use in Mexico to make chicharrn.
To get it ready for the adobo, I'm gonna score it, and I want to cut through the skin and the fat, but I don't want to score the meat because if not, it will dry.
I cut into the fat.
OK. Now I made my lines vertically, and now I'm gonna go horizontally.
So I finished scoring the skin and the fat of my pork picnic shoulder, and I'm gonna tuck it in here, and I preheated my oven at 450.
OK. Let's make the adobo.
I am using of course all of the guajillo chilies that I just rehydrated.
Then I'm gonna pour about a couple cups of the cooking liquid in here.
Then I'm gonna pour my piloncillo syrup in here, which is a thing of beauty.
Just look at the color.
I'm adding orange juice.
And I'm adding coarsely chopped white onion, 4 cloves of garlic peeled and raw, about 8-10 whole cloves, but I'm removing the stem because the stem is too hard and too bitter, but you can just crumble.
And then I'm adding about 1/2 a teaspoon of allspice peppercorns, which in Mexico they go by pimienta gorda.
So cute and round and chubby.
1/2 a teaspoon of black peppercorns.
A teaspoon of coriander seeds.
A teaspoon of dried oregano.
Looks so pretty from where I'm looking at it, and then a teaspoon of cumin seeds and a tablespoon of salt, which is 3 teaspoons.
It's gonna work so well together, and now I'm gonna puree until completely smooth.
Oh, yum.
Oh, yum!
It is so intense.
OK.
So I'm gonna pour the sauce all over the meat... [Sizzling] and I'm gonna add the two bay leaves... and I'm gonna put this in my oven, which is at 450, and I'm gonna roast it for one hour uncovered.
[Timer ticking] OK.
This is gonna be the first flip of my orange and piloncillo adobo pork roast, and it looks so beautiful!
Now the top super-crisped, and this is why I wanted to score it so that all of the adobo goes inside of the meat and...the fat from under the skin starts rendering, and so you get that pork belly kind of a thing.
I'm gonna flip it.
It's a little tight in my pan, so now I've flipped it.
Now I cover it.
I'm gonna reduce my heat to..350, and I'm going to roast it for another two hours.
This pork is going to be so irresistible.
It's gonna be falling off the bone.
Pati, voice-over: A two-hour drive north from the Garza's piloncillo mill brings us to the magic town of Bustamante, home to a famous bakery that uses the sweet, rustic flavors of piloncillo in their soul-warming pan semita chorreadas and pumpkin empanadas.
Sometimes, food is a reflection of the people who make it.
At Casso de Luna, sisters Yolanda, Dolores, Olivia, and their nephew Lalo are as sweet and warm as the bread they bake in their adobe oven.
Pati: Ay!
Wow!
Wow!
Pati, voice-over: The pumpkin empanadas start by baking a pumpkin to make the filling.
Mm.
Mm, mm.
Mm-hmm.
Pati, voice-over: The Casso de Luna sisters started the bakery more than 50 years ago at the encouragement of their father, who was concerned about them being mistreated if they worked elsewhere.
Their father planted wheat and pumpkins, and their mother and grandmother built the adobe oven.
S.
Pati, voice-over: Next the pumpkin is boiled in a copper pot with piloncillo, cinnamon, and anise seeds for about an hour until it thickens and dries.
Then the fun part-- mixing all the flavors in the soft dough.
Ah.
The secrets that you find.
Pati, voice-over: Then the dough is shaped, stuffed with the spiced pumpkin filling, and set aside on a rack, a rack that's held one too many empanadas.
S.
Pati, voice-over: Next, they share their secrets for their famous pan semita, a sweet and fragrant bread thought to have originated from the Sephardic Jews who settled in the region during the 16th century.
Pati: Ah!
Wow!
Ah!
Pati, voice-over: The pecans used in the pan semita come from the trees in their backyard, a wild species known as criolla, which is unmanipulated and has a richer, sweeter flavor than what you're used to getting at the store but a little smaller and harder to crack.
Mm!
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm!
Mm!
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Pati, voice-over: The sisters actually have one more secret.
Their nephew Lalo has been in the back baking pizzas for my team.
They're so cheesy and delicious, they inspired the pizzas I'm making in my kitchen right now with my boys.
The generosity of the Casso de Luna family has been warm, sweet, fun, and so comforting to the soul, and so has their bread.
My pork roast is continuing to get just the most succulent pork roast ever.
I'm gonna make dough for pizza, and it is gonna be chewy on the inside, crisp on the outside because I'm using double zero flour for pizza, which I hadn't used before, and it makes such a difference.
So I'm using two teaspoons of instant yeast, and this pizza dough recipe is so easy and fast.
You mix it all together and then just let it rest.
I'm adding one teaspoon of sugar.
That's just gonna help the yeast wake up and react fast.
I'm adding one cup of lukewarm water, two tablespoons of olive oil.
You can do normal olive oil or extra virgin olive oil, whatever you have at home.
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.
I'm using kosher salt.
Gonna mix it all so that when I'm adding my flour it's gonna mix together much more easily.
Then I'm gonna add 3 cups of double zero flour, and I'm gonna just level it with a knife, but don't pack it up.
Double zero flour is extra fine, and it just makes-- the pizza dough when you bake it, it makes it kind of chewy in the middle but extra crunchy on the outside, so it makes it really irresistible, that game of textures in there.
And then I'm just gonna mix with my hands and then see how it's coming all together.
It feels really nice.
It's gonna be a little sticky.
That's OK.
So now I'm just gonna knead it for a second.
If it were really sticky, I would use some flour to continue kneading it, but it's not very sticky, so I just want to make it all come together until it gets a little springy, and I'm gonna add a little bit more olive oil, and I'm just gonna spread it with my hands all over because you want the dough to sit and rest in a greasy, oily space.
I'm gonna cover it, and I'm gonna put it there in the back, and it's gonna rest for a couple of hours.
[Ticking] I said it was a 10-pounder.
It's a 10-pounder.
Oh, it smells so good!
Its final and last flip, and we want every piece of this roast to be, like, ridiculously irresistible.
I'm there, I'm there.
I got it, I got it!
Putting the lid one more time, and it's going in the oven for its final cooking, two more hours.
And it puffed.
So delicious.
Splitting it into two.
Kind of wrap it around itself and let it rest.
Now we have two.
It's gonna be a half-hour.
Gonna wait for my pork roast, and then I'm gonna make my pizza sauce.
OK. Yum!
And the meat looks so beautiful!
We're going to take the fat that's risen onto the surface, and we're gonna cook the pizza sauce with it, and then I'm gonna add some of the adobo sauce, gonna mix it with the pizza sauce, and so the pizza, the sauce, and the topping, are gonna be married altogether.
So see this is the fat rendered from the pork but that has been cooking in here for 5 hours, which is so worth it.
I'm gonna get out the pork roast.
It is truly falling apart.
Yum!
It is falling into pieces.
As it should.
You can see how it's just-- just falling apart.
I'm reserving 1/2 a cup of the adobo because I'm gonna use it to make my pizza sauce, and then...
I'm gonna put all the meat that I just shredded back in there so it can continue to soak in the adobo sauce.
So worth it!
Yum!
Gonna make my pizza sauce here over medium heat.
The fat from the roast, 3-4 tablespoons.
I have 1/4 cup of finely chopped white onion.
I'm going to add a can of 28-ounce crushed tomatoes.
You could use fresh tomatoes and crush them or puree them, but I'm using a large can.
I prefer crushed because then you've got the chunks.
Then I'm gonna add my orange and piloncillo adobo sauce right in here.
A little bit of salt.
Pepper, teaspoon of dried oregano.
I'm gonna crush it.
It's just gonna cook and season for 4-5 minutes, and then the pizza sauce is ready, and then I'm gonna get all my ingredients to top the pizza.
I have the pork, I have the pizza sauce.
I need to get some cheese, I need some pickled jalapeos, and I need to shape my dough.
I'm gonna make two pizzas because I'm gonna have my boys join me, which is making me so happy!
So touch.
Ooh.
That actually is so soft.
I know!
So I figured out the best method is to have, like, a lot of flour on the surface, and then it's really fun because you start from the center, and you start, like, massaging the dough.
Do you want to help me press?
Yeah, sure Go for it.. Like, you stretch this out, and it stretches, like, back in.
I'm very happy with how this turned out.
Juju, this is, like, really good.
We can bake this one in the oven.
[Ticking] Oh, that's beautiful!
Perfect!
To make the pizza, we have the pizza dough, we have the pizza sauce with the adobo sauce, we have the piloncillo pork roast.
...cheese that I shredded.
...cheese.
I have some here, but I have some more here.
I have pickled jalapeos, I have red onion.
Sauce.
Sami: The sauce is so good.
This looks so good.
What do you think?
Enough cheese?
Alan: Mm-hmm.
I think that looks good.
Ready?
Yeah?
Yeah.
Mm.
Juju: Oh.
That looks so good.
Before you continue adding the pork, do you want to try a piece?
Juju: I want to try a piece.
Yeah.
I want to try.
Ooh.
You want to put some right here?
Oh, no, no.
Ahh!
Alan!
Alan!
Oh.
That's so good.
Mm!
So soft.
Pati: They both look yum.
Let's put them in the oven.
Sami: Let's do it.
[Ticking] Pati: Oh!
That looked beautiful!
Ready?
Sami: Yeah.
[Alan speaks Spanish] Mm.
Ohh!
Mm!
Mm!
Oh, man.
It's so good.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
That dough is so good.
Yeah.
Mm!
So soft.
Mm-hmm-hmm.
It's so good.
Yeah.
It is pretty spicy.
But it has, like, the heat in the sauce and the heat in the...adobo pork and then the heat in the jalapeos and then the heat in the piquin.
I love the tomato sauce.
Oh!
The tomato sauce.
So good.
From the adobo, a little sweet from the piloncillo.
It's like it wants to be, like, a combination of Mexican and barbecue and Italian.
Like, I was crazy surprised of finding a pizza in the middle of Bustamante.
For next time, you guys have to come with me, guys.
Were the empanadas this good?
The empanadas were pretty phenomenal, but the pizza was beyond.
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!
Announcer: Traditional recipes, authentic flavors and ingredients, a taste of Mxico in 90 seconds.
Somos--food from the heart of Mxico.
Men: Avocados from Mexico A tradition of authentic Latin flavors and family recipes.
Tropical Cheese.
Announcer: Stand Together, helping every person rise.
More information at StandTogether.org.
Announcer: Here, the typical arroz con pollo... or not!
Unfollow la Receta.
Mahatma rice.
Announcer: King Arthur Baking Company.
Find out more about our Masa Harina at KingArthurBaking.com.
[Nationwide theme playing on guitar] Announcer: Cozilumbre-- cookware, bakeware, and kitchenware for cooking up tradiciones in your cocinas.
Announcer: Gobierno de Monterrey.
Announcer: Proud to support "Pati's Mexican Table" on Public Television.
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