Pati's Mexican Table

Pati, voice-over: Nuevo Len is a treasure chest of culinary magic, but you need to know where to look.

And if there's someone who knows, it is Hugo Guajardo.

The white flower, that's the one that you can eat.

Pati, voice-over: Today, I'm spending the day with Hugo, owner of El Jonuco restaurant, to learn how he's finding traditional ingredients all over Nuevo Len and turning them into irresistible dishes.

[Coughing] Whoa.

It's strong stuff.

Pati, voice-over: First up is his go-to place for the best carne seca in the state.

Pati: So, this is dried and salted.

This has been the way of preserving meat since forever.

You ready for the sauce?

Pati, voice-over: Then I'm invited to his home to learn how he makes his most popular dish--black chicken.

This is, like, your alchemist's lab, norteo dream.

Wow.

The best chicken wing ever.

[Laughs] Pati, voice-over: And finally, I get to experience his critically acclaimed restaurant, where each dish comes from a different town in Nuevo Len.

Mm.

Pati, voice-over: In my kitchen, Hugo's chicken inspired my norteo-style roast chicken, rubbed in the flavors of Nuevo Len.

The oregano from Nuevo Len, which is so beautiful and lovely and adorable.

Pati, voice-over: And served with a super greens green salad, bathed with a to-die-for oregano vinaigrette.

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... Man: La Costea-- por sabor!

Woman: Traditional recipes, authentic flavors and ingredients, a taste of Mxico in 90 seconds.

SOMOS--food from the heart of Mxico.

Singers: Avocados from Mexico Over 40 years, bringing authentic Latin American flavors to your table.

Tropical Cheese.

Woman: Stand Together, helping every person rise.

More information at StandTogether.org.

Woman: Here, the typical arroz con pollo... or not!

Unfollow la Receta.

Mahatma rice.

Woman: King Arthur Baking Company.

Find out more about our Masa Harina at KingArthurBaking.com.

[Nationwide theme playing on guitar] Man: Cozilumbre-- cookware, bakeware, and kitchenware for cooking up tradiciones in your cocinas.

Man: Gobierno de Monterrey.

Pati, voice-over: Hugo Guajardo is chef and owner of El Jonuco, a restaurant in his hometown of Apodaca, about a half-hour east of Monterrey.

It's known for its fresh takes on traditional local ingredients.

The white flower, that's the one that you can eat.

Pati, voice-over: His research takes him to every corner of Nuevo Len, seeking the best sources and new ideas.

Outsiders think that we only consume you know, like, steaks and cabrito Si.

and that's the only thing.

Yeah!

But actually, I think that we have a lot of more things to offer.

Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: On my day with Hugo, the first stop is the town of Doctor Gonzlez, where he gets his carne seca, a local type of dried beef, from El Caminante, a restaurant that has been perfecting the process for more than half a century.

Mm.

Mm!

This has been the way of preserving meat since forever, no?

How did you find his godfather?

Pati, voice-over: Just as I'm about to sit down for their famous machacado, eggs with dried beef, I get a surprise from the founder, who I was told was not well enough to join me.

Pati, voice-over: Edelmiro Salinas learned to make carne seca from his family, who did it as a way of preserving meat before the time of refrigeration.

Pati, voice-over: The most popular way to eat carne seca in Northern Mexico is in a breakfast dish called machacado, which is carne seca with eggs.

Mm!

Pati, voice-over: Next up, Hugo's home, where he transforms his research into rich and complex dishes.

This is, like, your alchemist's lab.

You test things and then you go to your restaurant and share it with the world.

This is like a norteo dream.

Ha ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: Today, he's teaching me how to make his most popular chicken dish.

I'm just hoping that the recipe isn't as difficult as the name.

[Laughs] Hugo: Ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: Let's just go with black chicken.

It all starts with the key to the dish--the sauce.

There is a secret ingredient in there.

Like, they use chicken liver.

I love chicken liver.

Oh, really?

Oh, I love chicken livers so much.

Well, then I think you'll like the sauce, too.

Wait, so, the chicken has a chicken liver sauce?

Yeah.

The actual principal ingredient will be the chicken liver, salt, garlic, black pepper, some cumin that we're gonna toast, fresh oregano, [speaking Spanish] Wait.

I had never seen the flow-- the oregano flowers.

You eat the flowers?

Mm!

Oh, my gosh.

It tastes like oregano.

Strong.

Very intense.

Mm-hmm.

Super.

Pati, voice-over: Then everything is toasted on the open fire.

As you can see throughout Nuevo Len, This is the north's signature way of cooking.

Pati: On the fire.

Hugo: It gets like a kind of bitter flavor that is actually good with some, some dishes.

Pati, voice-over: After marinating the chicken overnight in a salty, garlicky, citrusy brine, it's hung over the fire to add some smoky flavor before being finished off on the grill.

Then Hugo finishes the sauce with some corn masa for a silky smooth texture.

Now for the spices that give the dish its name-- black chicken.

[Coughing] Whoa.

It's strong stuff.

Mm!

This is, like, the best chicken wing ever.

[Laughs] It's, like, very complex, but like, so subtly layered.

What a treat!

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Mm-mm.

Ha ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: You have to visit Hugo to get his crazy delicious chicken, but I'm giving you a recipe that you can make anywhere.

My northern-style roasted chicken served on top of a super greens green salad with an oregano vinaigrette.

Rotisserie chicken is such a thing in Mexico.

We love them.

And, of course, everybody has their favorite place where they get it, and I've always wondered what does it take to make the best rotisserie chicken, and it's all about the sazn and the high heat.

So, I'm gonna give you my take to make an irresistible pollo rostizado that you can make in a snap.

For the marinade, I'm going to combine some ingredients that you would think don't go together but they go together so well.

So, I have 10 cloves of garlic that I already peeled.

I'm throwing in here.

So, I added two teaspoons of the salsa inglesa, one tablespoon of the soy sauce.

And then I'm adding Dijon mustard, a tablespoon of oregano from Nuevo Len, which is so beautiful and adorable.

And then I'm adding the cumin seeds.

One teaspoon.

Two teaspoons of the chile pequin.

So, in they go.

I am missing salt.

I'm doing 1 1/2 teaspoons.

One teaspoon of black ground pepper.

One whole serrano chile.

I'm gonna help my blender out by just coarsely chopping these.

3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice and then about a quarter cup of olive oil.

And then I'm gonna puree this until completely smooth.

[Whirring] [Whirring stops] Gonna pour it right in here.

Yum.

And my chicken here.

You want to separate the skin from the meat.

Just use your hands and go between the skin and the meat.

See?

Like this.

And you're just making room for that marinade 'cause you want the marinade to season the chicken under, over, in between, everywhere, and I want to put some of the marinade in the chicken cavity, too.

Use a tablespoon and then rub it with my hands.

So, going in the cavity and then just rubbing it all over.

I'm adding the marinade in between the meat and the skin.

Massage the chicken everywhere.

And I'm gonna stuff my chicken with celery, about a quarter of a white onion.

Gonna grab some parsley.

Gonna break it into pieces.

I'm gonna cut a piece of twine.

Stuff that parsley in here.

You want to put your chicken with the breasts upside up.

Gonna tuck the wings under the back of the chicken so that the tips of the chicken wings don't burn.

And then I'm gonna tie the legs and I have my oven at 450.

Stick it in the oven anywhere from 45 to 55 minutes and that's it.

An extra sprinkle of salt, and then I'm just going to put it in the oven.

So, as my chicken is roasting, I came up with this super greens green salad with oregano vinaigrette to satiate my thirst for green fresh things.

I'm gonna add the oregano and the cumin, but here I'm gonna toast them.

So, I have a teaspoon of oregano and I preheated my small skillet over low heat.

A quarter teaspoon of cumin seeds.

So, we just want to start getting the aroma and we want a slight change in color.

So, I have oregano and cumin, nice and warm, and I'm just gonna coarsely chop these.

OK, so, I'm gonna add the oregano and the cumin right in this bowl.

And then I'm gonna chop a garlic clove.

I'm gonna also chop two tablespoons of capers, then one teaspoon of the Worcester sauce, two teaspoons of the soy sauce, one teaspoon of salt.

Black pepper.

I want to add about half a teaspoon.

Half a cup of freshly squeezed lime juice, a quarter cup of olive oil, and some piloncillo, about a teaspoon.

It is so deliciously charming.

One shallot.

Once it's all mixed, add the shallot, and the vinaigrette is ready.

You want your chicken to rest for at least 10 minutes before you carve it, and I'm going to finish assembling the rest of my salad.

I'm gonna start with my arugula and I'm just gonna break it into pieces.

I'm gonna tear it just like that.

And then I'm going to do watercress, which I love the leaves of watercress.

They have a beautiful name in Spanish--berros-- and I love that name because it has the double R, and I love using the double R. Two cups of spinach and here I have the baby leaves but I can also tear them into smaller pieces.

And this spinach just has a sweeter taste.

And I'm gonna do about a cup of the leaves of basil.

So delicate and tender.

And the mint, because it is a little more intense, I am gonna chop it a little.

About a quarter cup.

OK.

So, we are at the parsley, and I'm gonna get about a cup, and it has such a nice, like, resistant bite to it.

Cup of the cilantro, which is definitely more citrusy than parsley.

Radishes, but also the radish leaves.

Not many people know that you can eat them.

I have my chicken that rested.

I'm gonna start cutting away at the legs.

So, you want to cut along the natural lines of the chicken.

It looks so pretty.

Mm.

Mm-hmm!

And it's so satisfying to eat the chicken with so much sazn.

And if you make it all for yourself and you have some leftovers, you can make one amazing torta, too.

Mm.

Pati, voice-over: "Jonuco" means "the room under the stairs," a place where forgotten treasures wait to be found.

Much like the name, Hugo finds ingredients around Nuevo Len that have always been there but are waiting to be discovered.

With his sister and business partner Katia, they show me some of the treasures they have found.

First up, a frosty light beer with a rim of chile Ancho salt and garnished with El Caminante's carne seca.

[Glasses clink] Mm-hmm!

Pati, voice-over: Next, a wedding rice from the nearby town of General Zuazua, made with raisins and a salty, sweet sauce, then topped with quail egg and fried pork belly.

Pati, voice-over: The guacamole is covered with the fried flower buds of the red biznaga cactus that grows in the desert town of Aramberri.

Super bold... Pati, voice-over: But in all of Hugo's searching around the state, the treasure that is closest to his heart is the one that he found right at home.

OK. Pati, voice-over: Abuela's pear cake with cream cheese, pecans, topped with homemade vanilla ice cream and a touch of dehydrated chamomile.

Mm!

Pati, voice-over: Now I want to share with you a dessert that maybe you can pass down, too.

I'm gonna show you how to make hojarasca, which is a Mexican cookie that's just super delicious and it has a base of piloncillo syrup and canela, cinnamon.

So, I'm gonna start by making the piloncillo syrup.

I'm gonna use one cup of water.

About 7 ounces of piloncillo.

So, I'm adding it right in here, and then I'm gonna flavor it with canela, and I'm adding the cinnamon in here and then I'm just raising the heat to medium-low.

So, I'm gonna use two kinds of flour.

1 1/2 cups of masa harina.

And I can also see here that the piloncillo is starting to dilute into the water.

Let me give it a stir.

Now I'm going to just keep the lid off and continue simmering these down over medium heat for about 10 minutes.

I want it to thicken.

And now we come back to adding two cups of the all-purpose flour.

I love combining both because you get the polvoron, the kind of sweet, dusty kind of a crumble, but then you get the earthy, nutty taste of the masa harina.

A quarter of a teaspoon of salt and I'm just combining two in here.

Oh, and it feels so nice.

So, I have my syrup that's simmering here and getting thicker, but you don't want it to simmer so much that it starts boiling in some places, or some bakers use only butter.

Some use only vegetable shortening.

I like to combine the two because then you get the benefit of both.

You get the flavor from the butter and then you get the resiliency of the vegetable shortening.

A half a cup of butter, a half a cup of vegetable shortening, and now I'm gonna beat over medium speed until it gets all creamy and almost fluffy.

[Whirring] I'm gonna add one egg and continue beating a little.

[Whirring] I'm gonna alternate adding my dry ingredients in a quarter cup of milk.

[Whirring] [Whirring stops] And the last thing I'm gonna add is my piloncillo syrup, and I'm gonna strain it here into this cup... [Whirring] [Whirring stops] and take it out of here.

And once you can gather it onto a ball, I'm gonna wrap it in plastic wrap, put it in the fridge, and this goes in there anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours.

OK, before I roll out my hojarasca dough, I'm gonna combine my sugar and cinnamon.

Then I'm gonna cut my dough into 4 pieces.

And I'm gonna dust my countertop with flour.

And this is a dough that it appears to crack very easily but you just continue rolling it.

Once you get to, like, a third of an inch, you're set, and then just make whatever shape you like.

Now I'm gonna completely coat the cookie.

Keep the sugar on there.

When the cookies bake, the cinnamon sugar will stick to the cookie, so, don't shake it off.

I have my oven at 350 and I'm gonna bake these for about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle cinnamon sugar before and after baking.

[Crunch] Mm.

You can never add too much cinnamon sugar to these, and the combination between the cinnamon sugar and that masa harina in the cookie dough is so rewarding.

It's nutty, it's earthy.

It's, like, so pleasantly sweet.

Not too sweet.

So, go ahead and add more cinnamon sugar, too.

Pati, voice-over: 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... Man: La Costea-- por sabor!

Woman: Traditional recipes, authentic flavors and ingredients, a taste of Mxico in 90 seconds.

SOMOS--food from the heart of Mxico.

Singers: Avocados from Mexico A tradition of authentic Latin flavors and family recipes.

Tropical Cheese.

Woman: Stand Together, helping every person rise.

More information at StandTogether.org.

Woman: Here, the typical arroz con pollo...or not!

Unfollow la Receta.

Mahatma rice.

Woman: King Arthur Baking Company.

Find out more about our Masa Harina at KingArthurBaking.com.

["Nationwide" theme playing on guitar] Man: Cozilumbre--cookware, bakeware, and kitchenware for cooking up tradiciones in your cocinas.

Man: Gobierno de Monterrey.

Man: Proud to support "Pati's Mexican Table" on Public Television.