Pati's Mexican Table

Pati Jinich, voice-over: Mexico City is a place where history and flavor collide in the most magical ways... [Speaks Spanish] Pati: but to me, it's so much more.

It's my hometown.

Hola.

Hola.

[Speaks Spanish] Pati, voice-over: With historian Erika Zuniga, I take a stroll through history, from the ruins of Templo Mayor to the grandeur of Bellas Artes, pausing for churros at the beloved El Moro.

Cheers.

OK.

Mm.

Pati, voice-over: Then it's off to Central de Abastos, the largest market in the world, with journalist Enrique Acevedo.

Pati, so good to see you.

Pati, voice-over: He shares his perspective on Mexican culture as we navigate the hustle and bustle of this chaotic market.

Just as we try to survive Mexico City.

Ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: In my kitchen... This is gonna be feisty, Juju.

Pati, voice-over: Juju and I simmer beef tongue in a rustic salsa to make tacos de lengua the way it's been done for generations... That's got to be, like, one of the crazier things we've ever cooked together.

I think.

Pati, voice-over: and for dessert, I bake a dulce de leche coffee cake... That's the secret ingredient right here.

crumbly, comforting, sweet, and inspired by the flavors from the churros of El Moro.

[Birds chirping] Pati: Mm!

Mm-hmm.

This is so beautiful.

That's fabulous.

[Laughter] Mm.

Est delicioso.

[Birds chirping] [Bell rings] Announcer: "Pati's Mexican Table" is brought to you by... Announcer: La Costea.

Por sabor!

Announcer: From the flavors of the Caribbean to the tastes of Latin America, on the menu with Marriott Bonvoy.

Men: Avocados from Mexico [Acoustic guitar plays Avocados from Mexico jingle] Announcer: Over 40 years bringing authentic Latin American flavors to your table-- Tropical Cheese.

Eggland's Best, available in your grocer's egg aisle.

Visit egglandsbest.com.

[Acoustic guitar playing Nationwide jingle] Pati, voice-over: Since starting "Pati's Mexican Table" 14 years ago, I've always wanted to come back to my hometown to film an entire season of the show.

It feels like a return to my roots, to the city that made me who I am.

I have a lot to catch up on, so I'm connecting with local historian Erika Zuniga to explore the original home of the many cultures that have helped shape modern Mexico.

Erika, I'm so happy you're meeting me here because, even though I've come to the Centro Histrico so many times, I never came as a tourist.

I came as a chilanga, just coming to the places my family loves, but I want to learn.

Erika: A long time ago... [Laughter] it was the year 1325 when Mexicas, who were a group of people that migrated from the north of Mexico from a place with the name Aztlan.

Pati, voice-over: Nobody knows exactly where Aztlan was, or if it even existed, but according to legend, the Mexica came south, guided by their deity.

Erika: He had a prophecy, and he said to the Aztecs that they had to begin a migration for finding a place with an eagle... Pati: Yes.

standing on a cactus with a snake in the beak and in that place to build a city.

Pati, voice-over: But there was one problem.

The basin was covered in lakes.

They built the city right in the middle, an incredible feat of engineering, and while that brilliance gave rise to a legendary city, parts of it continue to sink to this day.

Less than two centuries after seeing the mythic eagle and founding their city, the Aztecs were conquered by the Spaniards.

For 300 years, the Spanish built and ruled the colony of New Spain right on top of the ruins of old Tenochtitlan.

When the Spanish army destroyed the city Tenochtitlan, they recycle all the stones of the Aztec temples for the construction of the new buildings, mainly for the construction of the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Pati: So you have all these layers.

You have the Indigenous, the original Indigenous tribes and pillars, that they were fighting amongst each other, but then you have the Old World, the Spanish that came... Yes.

but we have the French, we have the Africans, the Caribbeans... Yes.

Lebanese, the Jews.

There's just so many layers... Many influences.

but we Mexicans, I feel like, just like in food... Yes.

you know, we have pasta, we have churros, we have sushi, but we have a way of giving it the Mexican stamp... Yes.

and, like, embracing it in a Mexican identity.

Pati, voice-over: One of the most iconic foods Mexico has embraced came with the Spanish conquistadors in the 1600s.

Churrera El Moro, the oldest churro shop in the city, now serves this traditional anytime treat with different toppings, like cajeta, chocolate, and guava.

[Speaking Spanish] [Speaking Spanish] Man: [Speaking Spanish] Pati: Wow.

[Speaking Spanish] [Speaking Spanish] S.

Cheers.

OK.

Mm.

Pati, voice-over: Road trip snacks ready to go, we're heading down Madero Street to the Zcalo.

This bustling, 6-block pedestrian walkway was one of the first streets the Spanish rebuilt over the ruins of Tenochtitlan, making it home to many churches and mansions from colonial times.

I want to try with chocolate.

I think my favorite is cajeta.

Yes.

It's delicious.

This one is delicious.

Why do you think we Mexicans love the Zcalo so much?

Oh, this is because in this place, we celebrate everything but mainly the Independence Day on September 15 and 16.

The president goes out on the balcony in the middle, and he or she shouts, "Viva Mexico!"

waving the flag, and this is full of people.

This plaza is representing the Spanish invasion with the new religion, the new government, and the city called-- -Like, the mixing of cultures.

-The mestizaje.

Yes.

Increble, all the layers of history, and I think all of us Mexicans should learn more about Mexico.

Thank you for teaching me so much.

No.

Thank you.

It was pleasure.

Pati: The churros of El Moro with their warm, sweet cajeta have me inspired to make a twist on an old favorite.

I love a good coffee cake, and I really think everyone should have a really good coffee cake up their sleeve, and I'm giving you my best one and my favorite one, which is fluffy, it's crumbly.

It's also moist, and it has Mexico's dulce de leche, or cajeta, at the top.

I'm gonna first mix my wet ingredients, which have 3 eggs.

I have 1 1/4 cups of sour cream and add a tablespoon of vanilla extract.

Let's whisk.

You wanna mix until it's all incorporated, and then we go with the dry ingredients-- 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 1/4 teaspoon each of baking soda and baking powder, and 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt, and then I'm just gonna mix that.

OK.

I have my mixer, and I'm gonna add 10 tablespoons of unsalted butter, and I have it all ready at room temperature, so I'm going to start mixing it until it becomes really soft.

OK.

I'm gonna reduce the speed to add the sugar so it doesn't fly all over the place, and I have 1 1/4 cups sugar.

I'm going to start incorporating my dry and wet ingredients, but I'm going to alternate, so a little of the dry and a little of the wet and the last of the dry... and the batter is done.

Now I'm gonna mix the crumble that is also going to be the topping.

I have 3/4 cups of pecans that I already chopped, a third of a cup of sugar, two teaspoons of cinnamon.

I'm gonna mix that.

I'm gonna add a tablespoon of flour because that helps keep that crumble a little bit isolated from the filling, so that keeps the pecans kind of a little bit separated.

That's a secret ingredient right here, so I have my pan, and this is a 9-by-9 square cake pan that I buttered in the bottom, and on the sides, I put parchment paper, and notice how I left overhanging pieces of parchment so that when the cake is ready, I can just lift the cake out, so I'm gonna add half of the batter.

You wanna gently spread it.

Then we're gonna spread half of the crumble.

OK, and then I'm gonna add the rest of the batter on top, making sure you don't make a mess with the crumble.

Now I'm just caressing the dough, really, OK, and the rest of the crumble, and this is gonna fluff.

I have the oven at 350.

I'm gonna bake it for 40 minutes.

Then I'm gonna quickly take it out, drizzle some of the cajeta, put it back in for 5 minutes, and the difference between dulce de leche and cajeta is that they're both caramel, but dulce de leche from Argentina is made typically with cow's milk, and cajeta in Mexico is typically or traditionally made with goat's milk, but you can use both.

Mm.

So the coffee cake went in for 5 more minutes, and it's just perfect, and now I'm gonna let it cool.

Pati, voice-over: The beating heart of Mexico City isn't at the historic Zcalo... Man: [Shouts in Spanish] Pati, voice-over: or in the expat bubble of Colonia Roma or Condesa.

[Speaks Spanish] Pati, voice-over: It's here at the Central de Abastos in Iztapalapa.

Covering over 25 square blocks and hosting almost $9 billion in transactions annually, it's the largest market in the world.

Roughly 80% of all the food in Mexico City first passes through here.

That's over 30,000 tons of fresh produce and meat every day.

This morning, I'm meeting renowned Mexican journalist Enrique Acevedo.

Pati, so good to see you.

Pati, voice-over: Enrique anchors Mexico's most popular news program-- "En Punto."

Like me, he spent his career on both sides of the border, giving him a unique perspective on Mexican culture.

Enrique: This is one of the ways people know Mexican culture, everything that happens in this small city, right?

Over 300,000 people walk through these hallways every day.

That's insane.

It's like a small city and just as complex.

Oh, yeah.

We have to move around because people are, you know, just-- [Speaks Spanish] [Speaks Spanish] I was trying to come up with the right translation for "diablito."

Diablito, little devil cart.

Central de Abastos is the second place in the city with the highest money transactions... [Speaks Spanish] Like, the amount of money in cash that gets moved here every day.

[Speaking Spanish] Pati: Oh, my gosh.

It reminds me of when I used to put my kids in carts in the US when I went shopping.

Hola, buenos dias.

Hola.

[Speaking Spanish] [Speaks Spanish] [Speaking Spanish] Ha ha!

Enrique: Mexico can be in many ways explained through its contrasts, right?

We have some of the wealthiest people in the world and also places where there's still extreme poverty, and you see it here, as well, because this is the engine behind every taco stand... Yeah.

and also every high-end restaurant in the city.

Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: He does TV, and we're trying to do TV, but... Man: [Speaking Spanish] I know.

Yo s.

Muchas gracias.

That's very generous, but I have the opportunity of just talking to people every night on our newscast, and we tell them the story of what's happening in the country every night, and we have that conversation, so it's not like people come up and say, you know, "Can I take a picture?"

It's more like we know each other... Yeah.

and they're like, "You know that thing you said "last night, man, let's talk about it.

"You know, what do you think?

Is it really like that?"

And it's very personal.

People trust you.

I hope so.

I love taking the pulse of where Mexican food and culture go, you know, throughout the hemisphere, but then you come back to Mexico, and you can see the classic Mexico, but there's also the Mexico that's evolving all the time.

I feel like the creativity of Mexicans is endless.

Like, I love that about our culture.

Mexico's not just one thing, and sometimes we want to oversimplify it to what we see in the news, but Mexico is also this-- Yeah.

its culture, its people, people that come up to you and give you a hug and say, "Hey, Pati, welcome to Mexico.

I'm so glad you're here."

I think it's privileged to have a life of going back and forth from Mexico to the US and hopefully serving as a bridge of understanding, in many ways.

Just as you have through culture and food and the amazing storytelling that--that you deliver on your show, we're trying to do that through a different lens, which is, you know, everyday news.

Yeah.

I go soft with tacos.

You go hard with the reality of life.

Con las flautas.

Yeah, exactly.

I think, hopefully, it's just that, as we get out of the way and we try to survive la Central de Abastos just as we try to survive Mexico City.

Ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: It's never too early for tacos, so we're stopping at the center of the market for breakfast at the famous Taco San Judas.

All day long, Leonardo and his team show off their impressive knife skills and dish out truly stellar bites for the over 300,000 daily visitors here.

[Speaking Spanish] Man: [Speaking Spanish] S.

S, s, s.

[Speaking Spanish] Man: [Speaks Spanish] Pati: Chiquita.

[Speaks Spanish] [Speaks Spanish] S?

Enrique: I couldn't wait to sit down... I know.

to start digging in.

I already had a bite.

That's the way to do it.

Yeah.

Oh, this is so good.

[Speaking Spanish] [Speaks Spanish] Enjoy.

Mm.

Pati: I feel like so many more people outside of Mexico want to eat the real, raw, true Mexican food, which is not the fried, cheesy, greasy, butter, vegetables, grains.

Yeah, and we are more conscious than ever about what we eat, the nutritional value of our decisions, and I think it applies also to information and news.

We got to be very careful about in this environment what we're consuming, where we're getting it from.

I'm just saying, be as conscious as you are about food with the information you're consuming every day.

But people want more, and people want better, and I'm very grateful for your work... You know, I appreciate that.

for giving people better.

I appreciate that, and, you know, we want to make the newscast sort of a modern kitchen.

Just like you can take a look at, you know... What they're making.

the tacos and what they're making with the tortas, we hope that people can peek in and see that every night in our newscast, as well.

Juju: Hola.

Ha ha!

I'm so excited.

We're cooking tongue.

I know.

I mean, I can tell.

[Laughter] Because you know I love taco de lengua, and I think there's many reasons why people don't cook tongue, but if you cook it right, I think it can be the most sumptuous, rich, satisfying cut of meat... Yeah.

so this is how you get it from the butcher.

Yeah.

You know, I've never seen it whole like this.

So I'm gonna rinse it with cold water.

You want to make sure you rinse it really well.

OK.

First, we're gonna boil it, and it's gonna cook here low and slow for, like, 4 to 5 hours.

Let me rinse my hands.

So 3 techniques we're gonna use.

First, boil long and slow, 4 to 5 hours.

Then we're gonna clean and slice, and then we're gonna do a quick sear.

That's gonna make the fat part of the tongue come out and caramelize and give it a lightly crispy finish, and then we're gonna do a quick braise, so we're just doing everything we can to make this the most incredible thing.

If you look at this compared to the finished product, you wouldn't think they're even the same thing.

I agree.

I think that a lot of people are intimidated by cuts of meat that they're not familiar with... For sure.

but, you know, Mexico is not the only country that celebrates and loves the tongue and sees it as a delicacy.

There's many cultures around the world that eat tongue.

Yeah.

OK, so we have onion.

I'm gonna add 3 bay leaves, a teaspoon of black peppercorns, a teaspoon of marjoram, thyme, and oregano, and then you can add in the garlic, and then we're gonna do one tablespoon salt, so these would need to cook for anywhere from 4 to 5 hours.

I have a tongue that I've been cooking there for a while.

Whoa.

That's got to be, like, one of the crazier things we've ever cooked together.

I think, I think.

Oh, my God.

It almost looks like a ginormous, like, chicken leg.

Or like a ginormous snail, but so you have to peel the tongue after you've boiled it when it's hot, so the minute that we can handle it, we should peel it because if not, the skin sticks, and it's really hard to peel.

Look at how easy this is.

Like, I go like this.

Oh, my God.

See, now, that's kind of the color I'm used to.

You're used to seeing the meat.

Yeah.

You know, the tradition in Mexico is to eat the entire animal, whatever animal it is.

Yeah, yeah.

It's like peeling a banana.

Oh, my God.

Is it crazy?

It's crazy.

Use a paring knife or a sharp knife, and whatever isn't meat you just discard.

Mila is dying right now.

She wants to eat our tongue.

Mila, down.

Down.

No.

She's like, "No down.

Give me tongue."

As it cools, we're gonna make the salsa martajada.

OK.

You know what "martajada" means?

No.

Martajada is just mashed, so it's chunky, coarse, not completely smooth, and we're gonna make a salsa mixta, so we have-- Help me put all of the tomatoes and tomatillos.

We have a quarter-pound tomatillos, a full pound tomatoes, one jalapeo, one serrano, one garlic.

And the onion.

Let's do--yeah.

How much onion?

A quarter and cut it in chunks.

I'm gonna put this under the broiler then, so now we're gonna slice the tongue.

Now you can see the meat.

Yeah.

Whoa.

I'm gonna slice it in half, and I'm removing any funky bits that you see that you wouldn't want to eat, and then these we just slice... [Speaks Spanish] So you go against the grain... Yeah.

so that it'll be even more tender.

So put it all in the bowl?

Uh-huh.

I think we've lost a few viewers by now.

Ha ha ha!

What are we doing now?

We're checking for the ingredients to see if they're roasted.

You want them exactly that way.

Yeah.

This looks-- [Speaks Spanish] This looks perfect.

Look at the juices.

Yeah.

So you want them almost falling apart, and we're not taking the skin off because that add-- That's the best part.

Yeah.

We have one whole chipotle in adobo in the sauce.

Let's do a teaspoon of salt.

To make a salsa martajada, you either mash it in a molcajete or you puree it in a blender, but you leave it chunky.

Oh, I love chunky.

You can see the chunks of onion.

You can see the chunks of tomatillo and the seeds.

Wow.

Smell.

I'm ready.

I'm ready.

[Coughs] Spicy.

This is gonna be feisty, Juju, and then we're gonna do super high, super fast sear... Right.

and that's gonna get whatever is left of the fat in the tongue.

It's gonna come out and, like, brown a little bit and bring a layer of flavor, so I'm gonna add the oil, so now I'm adding it to the hot oil.

[Sizzling] We're gonna do a quick braise.

OK.

Now let's pour the salsa.

Salsa?

Yeah.

I'm gonna reduce the heat because this is super hot, and just pour the entire thing over.

[Sizzling] OK, so we're gonna let this cook for a minute.

Do you want to do the tortillas, I'll do avocado?

Yeah.

We're gonna do one and one to begin.

I'll definitely eat more than one.

You can slice the avocado in whatever size slices you think.

Oh, this is so stunning, Juju.

I mean, that's pretty much ready.

There's one for you, one for me.

OK.

Mm.

I love... You want some?

tongue so much.

Yes, please, and then you add cilantro, and the fresh pile of onion, it gives such a delicious crunch.

Yeah.

Ready?

Juju... Yeah, yours-- look at the beauty.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Mm.

Mm.

Wow.

Mm.

It's like, the softest tongue I've ever tried.

Mm.

It's like street food right at home.

Yeah.

I've been smelling something sweet.

You know, the coffee cake we make all the time?

Yeah.

Well, this time, I took it up a notch, and I've been testing it, Juju.

It's so good.

OK.

I'm gonna clear.

Whoa.

So easy.

Cut the paper.

Juju, this cutting of this coffee cake is so ridiculously satisfying.

[Chuckles] Oh, my.

Just enough crumby crumbs all over the place in the middle.

Yeah.

That's it at the bottom.

How is it?

Mm.

Oh... Mm mm.

A classic... A new take on a classic.

and a new take on a classic.

Yeah.

Mm.

Gracias.

Mm.

Hmm hmm hmm mm hmm hmm.

I love cooking with you.

Me, too.

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

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

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

Por sabor!

Announcer: From the flavors of the Caribbean to the tastes of Latin America, on the menu with Marriott Bonvoy.

Men: Avocados from Mexico [Acoustic guitar plays Avocados from Mexico jingle] Announcer: A tradition of authentic Latin flavors and family recipes.

Tropical Cheese.

Eggland's Best, available in your grocer's egg aisle.

Visit egglandsbest.com.

[Acoustic guitar playing Nationwide jingle] Announcer: Proud to support "Pati's Mexican Table" on public television.