Pati's Mexican Table

[instrumental music] [engine revving] [instrumental music] -[Pati V.O.]

I'm in the middle of this surreal road trip in Coahuila, and my next stop is totally unexpected.

The city of Monclova sits proud at the heart of the state of Coahuila.

The blood of this city once ran heavy with steel, as it once was the steel production capital of all of the Americas.

The tradition carried on to their baseball team, which carries the name Acereros de Monclova, or Monclova steel workers.

I arrived too early to catch the game, but not too early to devour their tacos de olla.

[música animada] Pati's Mexican Table is brought to you by... [música animada] Wells Fargo supports over 3 million small business customers.

[música animada] La costeña, por sabor.

Avocados from Mexico.

[música tranquila] Eggland's Best, available in your grocer's egg aisle.

Visit egglandsbest.com.

[birds chirping] [instrumental music] -[Pati V.O.]

Back on the road, I head north to the town of San Buenaventura, famous for its flour tortillas.

Hola.

Hola.

Pues me dijeron que aquí hacen tortillas de harina.

Sí.

-¿Tienes ahorita?

-Sí, tengo.

-¿Sí?

Voy.

-Okay.

-[Pati V.O.]

By this point, I realize that wherever I go in Coahuila, there's always more than meets the eye.

Here, behind the clip-clap of the tortilla-making process, something very special is cooking.

Pero mí me huele muy rico adentro.

Si.

A ver, enséñame qué estás cocinando.

-[Pati V.O.]

It turns out that Juani, Magali, Virginia, Arlette, and Elizabeth were also making tamales, guacamole, and jalapeño chile rellenos, which were fabulous stuffed in tacos.

Ya sé.

¿Qué tal que le pongo tantito guacamole?

Sí.

Y le pongo uno de queso de un lado y uno de picadillo del otro [risas] Bueno -[Pati] Entonces le voy a poner... Le voy a poner así, Medio de picadillo█ [laughs] █y medio de queso.

[musica instrumental] -[Pati V.O.]

I loved those chiles so much.

I'm gonna show you how to make jalapeños stuffed with picadillo at home.

Chile rellenos are a thing in Mexico.

We love chile rellenos.

It's something that screams homemade.

It's something that screams market.

It's something that screams deliciousness.

And everybody knows, at least in Mexico, chile rellenos, um, where you stuff poblano chiles or Anaheim chiles, chiles verdes del norte.

But chile jalapeño relleno, I hadn't seen.

I'm gonna show you how to roast them and stuff them with the most delicious, like, picadillo casero.

What I'm doing here now, which is toasting or roasting, in Mexico we say asar.

Los vamos a asar.

And it typically is directly over the fire, so fire-roasted, or on a comal, like this.

So I have my heat over medium heat, and I'm just gonna babysit them as I make the picadillo.

And what I want is for the jalapeño to transform, to cook.

So think s'mores, where you want the outside to char and blister and become smoky and roast, and you want the meat inside to transform, but you don't wanna burn the ingredient.

So I'm gonna add some oil, a few tablespoons.

[instrumental music] And then I'm just gonna start throwing things in the pan.

So first, the onion.

[onions sizzling] So I'm making a nice base.

Now I let the garlic take center stage.

[garlic sizzling] And now I'm gonna add my tomatoes, ripe Roma tomatoes.

[tomatoes sizzling] This is getting nice and seasoned.

Let's talk about the meat.

The meat that I'm using is called meatloaf mix, and it has a third of beef, a third of veal, and a third of pork.

[meat sizzling] And I'm gonna season it with salt and pepper.

Remember to babysit your chiles, flip them, 'cause you want them to get love all around, not just on one side.

Okay, the meat is starting to brown, and now I'm gonna mix it with the onion, garlic, tomato.

Adding potatoes, carrots.

Okay, I'm gonna add the broth.

So what the broth is gonna do is gonna help us harmonize all the ingredients and have them all a common denominator of flavor that they can all gather.

And as that cooks, I'm gonna chop a couple of pickled jalapeños.

Pickled jalapeños are, um, jalapeños, like those, that are pickled in vinegar, in spices.

And I love these, that I'm adding the pickled jalapeños into the picadillo, because the picadillo is going to go in the roasted jalapeños.

So I love combining the same ingredient that's been transformed in different ways.

I'm gonna add the peas.

You can use fresh peas or, um, thawed from frozen.

So now I'm gonna cover this.

I'm gonna reduce the heat, and I'm gonna cook it for, like, five minutes.

[birds chirping] It was like whoa.

Okay, so now this is gonna finish cooking, just a few minutes, just until this broth has evaporated and the peas finish cooking.

And the chiles are ready.

I mean, like portrait.

But now what I'm gonna do is I'm going to prepare the chiles to become chile rellenos.

Make a slit on the side of the jalapeño.

You do wanna take out all the seeds, just because you want to stuff them with as much picadillo as you can.

I'm leaving the veins because the veins have a lot of flavor and heat.

So now, let's grab some picadillo and stuff the chiles.

So look at this beautiful thing.

Gorgeous.

I'm gonna put the chiles that are ready.

We're gonna put them on this plate.

I mean, you can eat them like this with rice, and you have a whole meal in here.

Three different kinds of meat, vegetables, seasonings.

While I stuff the two that are remaining, I'm gonna start heating my flour tortillas.

These are homemade flour tortillas.

Chile stuffed with picadillo that has chili.

So Mexican.

We have the flour tortilla.

Gonna add some refried beans.

We're using asadero cheese, which translates to cheese that you can roast or toast.

And it's, I think, the most common cheese in Coahuila, and it's very similar to, like, a Monterey Jack.

¡Ay, mira qué belleza!

Excuse me.

[laughs] Mm.

Mm, whoa.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm-hmm-hmm.

Top 10.

-[Director] Really?

-Top 10 -[Director] No ... -from my kitchen.

No, seriously.

This is out of this world.

Como dice mi papá, "Fuera de este mundo."

De verdad, this is truly incredible.

[upbeat music] - [Pati V.O.]

Back in Coahuila, I finally make it to the city of Múzquiz.

Now I'm deep in cowboy country.

But since I arrived early, I'm able to do some exploring.

I stumble upon the workshop of Arturo and Alejandro Flores and learn that Múzquiz is known as the capital of saddlery because of the many artisans like them who make the most stunning horse saddles.

Oye, y les iba a preguntar, ¿Qué es, qué es la cosa más loca que les han pedido en una silla?

-[Alejandro] Pues no lo podemos comentar.

-[Pati V.O.]

In one of the town's cantinas, I meet Don Rafa, a true sage of the Mexican Revolution.

He shares so many stories about his favorite riders and bandidos.

-[Don Rafa] Ayutla.

-[Pati] Sí.

Ayutla de Ayala.

Posteriome del Plan de Guadalupe.

-[Pati] Ajá.

Es cuando Carranza hicieron el tratado para hacer el ejército constitucionalista.

-[Pati] Sí.

-[Don Rafa] Ah, no recuerdo la fecha, pero 1914, por allá, creo.

[glasses clink] -[Pati V.O.]

And the cherry on top, landing at El Jacal restaurant, quaint and unassuming.

The owner, Francisco Javier García, is sweet and hospitable.

Nos encanta estar en Múzquiz.

No, agradecidísimo con la visita.

Y platícame un poquito de la historia de tu familia, cómo llegaron aquí a Múzquiz, y eso tal vez me ayude a entender un poquito de quién llena Múzquiz.

Fíjate que algo muy importante para Múzquiz ha sido el regimiento, el cuartel militar.

Mi familia llegó como comandante al regimiento.

Mis papás llegan también, que venían de Guanajuato.

Mi mamá llega con la familia y se casan y ya se quedan acá.

A mí me tocó salir a estudiar fuera, pero luego ya regreso a Múzquiz.

Me caso aquí en Múzquiz con una muchacha de Múzquiz.

Formo una familia, formamos una familia muy bonita.

La verdad es que hemos vivido muy a gusto, muy felices aquí en Múzquiz.

-[Pati V.O.]

He and his team were eager to feed me and my crew and to show us the local favorites, choriqueso, sweet breads, and even some unexpected dishes.

-[Francisco] Algo que es también clásico de nosotros, de lo que presumimos mucho, es el arroz.

Aquí en el restaurante hacemos un arroz que le llamamos nosotros el arroz huérfano.

-[Pati] ¿Por qué?

-¿¿Por qué crees?

- Porque no tiene madre.

- Ándale, por ahí va.

[risa] Mira, Juan se está riendo.

A ver, tráete el arroz, Juan.

A ver si ya salió el arroz.

-[Pati V.O.]

In Mexico, saying that something no tiene madre means it's so exceptional that it must have been magically spawned.

And they kept bringing out more and more dishes until we could eat no more.

And before leaving, he gave me instructions for how to recreate some of these foods at home.

I wanted to learn a lot more about Múzquiz, so I met with the town's historian, Yolanda Elizondo Maltos.

-[Pati] Yolanda, ubícame en Múzquiz.

-[Yolanda] Pues Múzquiz es una ciudad muy antigua de Coahuila.

Tuvo su fundación en 1739, donde aquí habitaban indios coahuiltecos.

Pero vienen los líderes a conqui... colonizar, -Y eran familias vascas█ -[Pati] Ajá.

█de origen español, la mayoría.

Y bueno, pues es, es una tierra, -Eh, semidesértica█ -[Pati] Mhm █pero de hombres y mujeres muy trabajadores.

Eh, somos famosos con, por la ganadería y por la minería, que son bastiones -Económicos que nos dan vida.

-Y hablando de ganado y hablando de carne y la pasión que la gente tiene aquí por la -carne asada█ -Así es.

el chorizo de aquí es muy famoso.

No, riquísimo.

-[Pati V.O.]

People come from all over the country to buy the chorizo from Múzquiz.

So Yolanda took me to her favorite place to buy it, Luis Campos Butcher Shop.

Venimos por el famosísimo chorizo de Múzquiz.

-El famosísimo chorizo.

-[Pati] Sí.

Mire, -en medios kilitos.

-[Pati] Ajá.

Bien sabroso me sale el chorizito.

Okey.

¿Cada uno de estos es de medio kilo?

-Son de medio kilo, sí.

-Okey, nos llevamos un kilo.

-Un kilito.

-Sí, pero solo me lo llevo si me cuentas qué tiene.

Mire, trae mezclas de chiles.

Trae chile cascabel, trae chile pisado, pimienta, ajo, comino y, pues, bien preparado.

-Serían ciento diez.

-Ciento diez?

-¿Quieres algo más, Yolanda?

-No, mija no.

Una campechanita.

-[Yolanda] No, gracias.

-No, sí, una campechanita.

-[Pati] ¿Está buena?

-Sí.

-[Pati] ¿Está rellena de qué?

-De mermelada de piña.

-[Pati] No, pues sí.

-[Yolanda] Bueno.

-[Pati] Como una empanadita.

-[Pati] ¿Agarro una?

-[Cajera] Sí.

-[Pati] Sí?

-[Cajera] Si, ¿si quiere una bolsita?

-[Pati] No, ya nos lo vamos a comer.

-[Cajera] Ah, okey.

-[Pati] Mmm.

-[Pati] Mmm.

-Rellenas de, de piña.

-[Pati] Mhm.

Aquí también, aquí tenemos muy buenas pasteleras en Múzquiz también.

-Hay diversos negocios█ -[Pati] Mmm.

█familias que hacen pasteles riquísimos.

-[Pati] Mmm.

-[Pati] Platícame un poquito de la arquitectura de esa iglesia tan bellísima que está ahí.

-[Yolanda] Bueno, esta, la parroquia Santa Rosa de Lima es una de las inmuebles más hermosos de Coahuila.

Se inició█ se puso la primera piedra en 1938█ █Y se tardaron veintiocho años en terminarla.

-[Pati V.O.]

The story of all these Mexican northern towns is bound by these sites.

As the towns were established, people built zócalos or center squares and churches, not for themselves, but for their communities and the ones that would come after.

As my grandfather used to say, "The one thing that you leave behind when you are gone is your name and what that name stands for, about the legacy you build for others."

-[Pati] Bueno, Yolanda, yo aquí nomás después de esa campechanita.

-Te falta la raspa.

-No, me quiero quedar aquí con el vientecito tantito a ver cómo esa cruz se pone cada vez más -brillante y más azul.

-Sí.

[música relajante] [canto de pájaros] -[Pati V.O.]

The night was falling over Múzquiz and Yolanda and I kept sharing stories about food and recipes and our tiny contributions to the great book of the Mexican table.

This is my new egg breakfast obsession, and it is sunny side up eggs with a salsa de chorizo.

I have a comal that I've been preheating over medium heat and I'm gonna make a mixed salsa, but mixed salsa in every possible way, 'cause I'm gonna use ripe Roma tomatoes, so about a pound and a half.

And then I'm gonna use a lot of chiles.

I'm gonna mix a jalapeño with an habanero and with a chile de árbol.

So think about all the different tastes.

Jalapeño, it's grassy and bold, a little spicy.

Habanero, super feisty like this cute little thing is.

And the chile de árbol is also spicy, but it has like a smoky heat.

And I'm adding two garlic cloves with the skin on.

I'm gonna put the chile de árbol that is ready in here.

And I love charring ingredients.

It's a basic technique of Mexican cooking.

It really brings about like this inner hidden personality of the ingredient out to the surface.

So the tomatoes become juicier and sweeter, and the tomatillos become even more tart.

And the chiles, the flavor changes from the grassy and fresh to a more tamed, nuanced, like going from spring into winter, kind of.

And as I continue to char and roast, I'm gonna get started with my chorizo.

Let's talk about chorizo.

I think the first article that I wrote as I transferred from being a political analyst to a cook was one that talked about... ... all the Latin American chorizos in the US and their differences.

So I wrote about how the Mexican chorizo is different from the Argentinian, the Salvadorian, and how all the Latin chorizos are different from the Spanish chorizo.

But then I started traveling through Mexico and the different regions, and I realized that there's so many different chorizos.

And to my surprise, I found a new chorizo in Coahuila that is a chorizo from Múzquiz.

I mean, Múzquiz, what a town.

The chorizo from Múzquiz is very, very famous in Coahuila.

People love it.

They bring it as a gift and, um, I learned that it's a very peculiar taste.

They use chile cascabel, that rattle chile.

They're very proud about the meat that they use, but also there's different recipes in, in Múzquiz.

Like, there is a style, but the different, um, carnicerías or butcher shops or grocery stores have their proprietary recipe and they won't tell you what's in it.

Okay, and then let me tell you about the chorizo salsa that I ate in Coahuila, because I had never tried a chorizo salsa.

I mean, of course I've eaten chorizo in a thousand ways, but a salsa with a base of chorizo, that's completely new to me.

It's so packed with flavor because not only do you have the richness of the salsa, which as you can see, the salsa has so much going on, but it has the spices, the chiles, the meat flavor from the chorizo.

Ah, the chorizo is looking so good.

I need to chop the onion really fast.

And we want the onion to, like, completely bathe, like soak, like get drenched in that hot chorizo fat that has so much flavor.

And now I'm gonna mix this.

Let's see what this is looking like.

I have my chile de árbol that was toasted and ready.

The garlic looks like it's ready.

The habanero also ready.

Removing the stem.

Now I'm gonna peel the garlic cloves and then we also have the... Oh.

[laughs] The jalapeño that is ready.

So the garlic cloves, the habanero, the toasted chile de árbol, the jalapeño.

See, like, I'm putting all of the seeds of the jalapeño.

Okay, the tomatillos, then the tomatoes.

I'm gonna add some salt.

[blender whirring] And now what I wanna do is I'm gonna pour the salsa right over the chorizo.

So even though all of the ingredients from the salsa were cooked, now we're gonna give it another layer of seasoning and cooking in this chorizo fat.

And I just want this to cook for a few minutes while it seasons and it all marries and comes together and it becomes not a salsa and chorizo, but a salsa de chorizo.

Okay, so here we have freshly made refried beans.

Just cook the pinto beans with water, a piece of onion, until they become soft, like an hour, hour 15 minutes.

Add salt and then just mash away.

Beans are there.

Salsa de chorizo is almost there.

I'm gonna toast some freshly made corn tortillas too.

Gonna crack a couple eggs.

[egg cracking] Gonna cut an avocado because always.

[knife chopping] Es una camita.

It's like a little bed.

Ready?

Queso fresco.

Mm.

With everything, and then I like it con la tortilla, the tortilla correosita we call it, when it's, like, in between hot and completely toasted.

Si, con un poquito de todo.

A little bit of everything.

The chorizo salsa, these beans.

Who do you wanna impress?

Invite them for breakfast or brunch.

Make sure they're meat lovers and make them this, this salsa de chorizo.

Or, I mean, there is vegetarian chorizo, but chorizo de Múzquiz, like, the spirit of this dish... Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

-[Pati V.O.]

I'm headed to the town of El Nacimiento, which is not far from Múzquiz, but first I make a pit stop for is not far from Múzquiz, but first I make a pit stop for conitos de cajeta, little cones filled with goat's milk and caramel.

Ay, si, perfecto!

Si, ya me estoy llevando todos conitos.

I don't wanna show up at my host's door empty-handed.

Lala and her family are Mascogo.

Their ancestors were Black Seminoles, people of African descent who escaped slavery in the United States.

In 1850, they started crossing the border into Mexico looking for freedom.

Los Mascogos entonces vin, unos se vinieron a Estados Unidos, unos se quedaron en Estados Unidos.

Unos se quedaron e, huyendo, eh, también escondidos, porque el propósito pues era llegar a Texas, porque Texas pues era -territorio mexicano.

-Ajá.

El asunto es que Texas se convierte en territorio -norteamericano en 1848.

-Ajá.

Y ellos para cuando llegan a Texas, pues Texas ya era norteamericano, entonces tuvieron que huir otra vez, - Cruzar todo Texas█ - Ajá.

- ... para llegar a México.

- ¿Y ustedes llevan aquí cuántas generaciones?

-No... -Yo aquí hemos nacido.

Aquí, aquí, aquí naci, aquí soy nacido.

¿Y sus papás?

Dónde te diría que, que estarán ellos en la gloria, porque ya se fueron, - pasaron a mejor vida.

- ¿Y de dónde venían?

Yo, de donde hayan venido, pero ellos a mí me procrearon aquí.

-[Lala] Yo quiero regalarte esto, que te sirva cada vez de que vayas a un lugar, estás viajando constantemente, que vayas a alguna parte, que recuerdes que todo lo que pase, absolutamente todo lo que pase, es porque Dios lo permite.

Aun, aunque parezca que algo está mal, es porque Dios lo preparó y no está mal.

Es cuando realmente está mejor, porque pudo haber sido malo, pero en ese momento parece, pero no lo es.

Que precioso está.

-[Lala] Todo es un crecimiento, todo es un aprendizaje, pero sobre todo la voluntad de Dios.

Estás aquí porque Dios quiso, porque pudo haber sido tanta gente a donde pudiste haber ido.

Pudo haber sido tanto el bus en otras partes y estás aquí.

-[Pati V.O.]

I arrived with conitos de cajeta.

I leave with a special keepsake for a safe journey.

The Mascogo have called El Nacimiento, New Birth, their home for more than a hundred and seventy years.

As I make my way further north, I'm feeling so grateful for this journey.

For recipes and information from this episode and more, visit patijinich.com and connect.

Find me on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, Pinterest and YouTube @patijinich.

Pati's Mexican Table is brought to you by... [upbeat music] Wells Fargo supports over 3 million small business customers.

[upbeat music] La costeña, por sabor.

Avocados from Mexico.

[gentle music] Eggland's Best, available in your grocer's egg aisle.

Visit egglandsbest.com.

[birds chirping] Proud to support Pati's Mexican Table on public television.

[instrumental music]