Pati's Mexican Table

Pati, voice-over: Grilling is like a form of art in Mexico.

[Horn honks] But the small town of Temozn is obsessed with making it their own way-- smoked and exploding with flavor.

[Hiss, explosion] Oh, look at the juices!

[Speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: Then, I'm visiting my friend Chef Julio Ku Dominguez at Hacienda Tamchen... [Crunching] who is cooking up an irresistible Mayan dish with crispy pork belly.

The pork belly fat just exploded into my mouth and it was hot and delicious!

Pati, voice-over: Finally, I get creative with my own take on Yucatn's meat dishes, serving you a mouthwatering chorizo black rice and some crazy good pork belly tacos.

Ah, gorgeous.

[Birds chirping] [Child shouts] Tan bonisimo.

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

Super sweet.

Woman: [Speaks Spanish] Yeah.

Tan rico.

So breathtaking.

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

por sabor!

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Pati, voice-over: Yucatecans are proud of their culture, from its ancient history to its meteoric growth as an international hub.

Its rich history is a point of celebration wherever I go.

[Hiss, explosion] Pati.

Mich!

Pati, voice-over: Which is why I'm here with Yucatn's secretary of tourism Michelle Fridman, who wants to put the tiny town of Temozn on my culinary map.

You know I've been to Yucatn many times but I have never been in Temozn.

And what I'm amazed at is the pride.

Yes.

Everyone's proud of being Yucatecan.

If you think about it, the world where we live in began in Yucatn.

The big meteorite fell in our coast.

65 million years ago, and this is the world where we live in.

So, imagine how many stories have passed through.

Pati, voice-over: I'm interested in one story in particular that started in the 1960s and has made the town famous today-- carne ahumada, or smoked meat.

Michelle: It's sort of a barbecue.

Pati: Uh-huh.

We have the pork meat cooked in a very specific way.

Let's come see.

[Pati speaking Spanish] [Michelle speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: Delia Diaz's store is our first stop, and it seems we've struck gold.

[Speaking Spanish] [Michelle speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: First, a spicy and satisfying carnitas tamal.

Mm.

Pati, voice-over: Longaniza tacos packed with flavor... Pati, voice-over: and the scrumptiously smokey carne ahumada.

[Both speaking Spanish] Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Pati: Ahh.

Whoa.

Uh-huh.

Oh, look at the juices!

Pati, voice-over: Using local wood is what gives the meat such a distinct flavor.

Pati, voice-over: The flavor is unbelievable, but the air quality, not so much, so, let's head to my kitchen, where we'll make some sides that are perfect with a meat dish.

In the Yucatn, they have so many amazing different kinds of smoked and cured and aged and salted meats, and they always accompany them with one kind of pickled condiment or another.

I'm gonna show you one of my favorites, which is a pickled onion with fire-roasted chiles.

You can use these so many ways.

Right now, we're gonna eat it with a chorizo black rice and also some pork belly tacos.

So, I have my comal preheated at medium and I'm gonna-- I'm going to asar or char, roast, toast chiles and garlic here.

So, I'm gonna go get my chiles, 'cause I'm growing my own chiles.

I want to use--I'll take 3 of these.

These are blonde jalapeos... that you could be growing, too.

Gonna put these here.

I'm gonna throw these on my comal that I preheated.

It's at medium heat.

And then I'm gonna add about 4 garlic cloves with the skin on, and then I'm gonna slice a lot of onions.

I have 3 onions that I'm gonna cut into plumitas, or little slivers.

And then I'm gonna pour here in this saucepan two cups of white distilled vinegar.

I'm gonna add the onion to my vinegar, because the moment it boils, I need to turn it off, and that's it.

I'm done, I'm set, and so are you.

I am going to add two teaspoons of salt, a half a teaspoon coarsely ground pepper, two bay leaves.

My garlic is ready, but I need to peel it before I add it.

Chiles go in there.

OK, I'm gonna add the garlic in my vinegar.

OK, give it a stir.

And it was already simmering.

Once I see it come to a strong boil, which really, you have to count, like, 5 Mississippis, that's when you stop.

Just turn it off, and then you have to let it cool.

I'm gonna put it right here on this plate.

Now, of course you could eat it immediately, and they're irresistible from the moment they're born, um, but the more they sit, the better they will get, and, of course, this is, like, the perfect complement for anything that has smoked, salty, seasoned meat like the chorizo black rice I'm gonna make right now.

Pati, voice-over: To start, I'll add about a tablespoon of olive oil to a pan over medium heat.

I have one pound of Mexican chorizo.

And you know what you want to do.

OK, how cute are these?

So, as you know by now, 'cause you've done these with me for years, every time you use Mexican chorizo, you remove the casing, because Mexican chorizo different from Spanish chorizo.

Is raw.

So, just roughly cutting it into chunks to make the cooking easier.

OK, I'm gonna throw these in my pan.

[Sizzling] Let me rinse my hands.

OK. OK.

So, while my chorizo continues cooking, I'm going to chop some onion and chile.

I need about a half a cup.

And then I'm gonna add a couple of chiles.

I have--so, in Yucatn, they use xcatic chile, which is a blonde chile.

You can find it here in the U.S. as banana pepper.

It's a version of it.

But I also have blonde jalapeos that I have been growing.

So, I'm gonna finely chop it and I'm also going to mix it with my blonde jalapeo.

No need to just pick and choose one chile when you're cooking with chiles.

You can mix them.

Chiles love to be in the company of other chiles.

They kind of complement each other.

So, I'm gonna finely chop these... and this is just perfect.

It's beautifully browned.

And I'm making sure the fat stays in the pan.

So, now I don't need to add more oil as I cook my vegetables, because there's already the oil and whatever fat the chorizo had that rendered here into the pan, and look at the color.

It's just gorgeous.

[Sizzling] And...my chiles.

[Sizzling] Now I'm gonna add the broth from the beans in here, and I wanted to show you.

I cooked my beans in here with onion and epazote.

See the beans?

OK. All this earthy, inky, nurturing, homey taste is also in the broth.

So, I'm adding 3 cups of seasoned black bean broth.

I'm adding two cups jasmine rice.

And I'm gonna add half a teaspoon salt.

I'm gonna stir.

As it starts to simmer, I'm gonna add a couple sprigs of epazote, which has these just incredible, clean-- I don't know how to describe the taste.

It's just, like, very intense and high-pitched flavor that goes so well with the black beans and the chorizo.

Pati, voice-over: If you can't find epazote, use cilantro.

Once the bubbles are really, really strong, it's telling you, "Come on.

Cover me.

Let me cook."

I'm gonna reduce my heat to the lowest possible heat.

This is gonna take about 12 to 15 minutes.

I'm gonna chop a few leaves of epazote for garnish.

So gorgeous.

Turning off my rice 'cause it's ready and I'm also chopping some cilantro.

Oh.

OK.

I'm gonna remove the cooked epazote leaves.

I'm gonna fluff the rice.

Ah, it smells so good.

I'm adding the chorizo.

Let's combine that.

This looks beautiful.

Smells beautiful.

But now look at this.

[Whispers] It's beautiful.

Mm.

Mm, mm, it's nurturing and it's filling and it's so seasoned, but in a very subtle and layered way.

Yum.

Pati, voice-over: Let's head over to Hacienda Tamchen near Merida, where the true king of crunch Chef Julio, and his assistant Tere, are making an irresistible version of castacan tacos with a Mayan twist.

[Pati speaking Spanish] [Julio and Pati speaking Spanish] [Gasps] Pati: It's ridiculous.

Pati, voice-over: The word "castacan" literally means a mixture between the crunchiness and smoothness of the meat.

Just listen.

[Crunching] Mm.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

The pork belly fat just exploded into my mouth and it was hot and delicious!

[Pati and Julio laugh] Pati, voice-over: Julio is using the castacan in a traditional Mayan dish called huidzi bii wau, or pork belly pocket.

Uh-huh.

Pati, voice-over: First the filling, starting with the castacan-- chives and cilantro.

And a couple special Yucatecan ingredients, like bitter oranges... Pati: OK. Pati, voice-over: and ground pumpkin seeds.

Uh-huh.

Pati, voice-over: And now for a salsa tamulada to top the dish, starting with roasted tomato.

It smells like sazn.

Pati, voice-over: Next, a yellow habanero.

He's not adding the entire habanero because it's so spicy.

He's just adding the puntita, the little tip.

Mm-hmm.

Pati, voice-over: Meanwhile, Tere's been working on the masa.

[Tere speaking Spanish] [Laughter] Pati, voice-over: Now the last step-- cooking on the comal.

And that's it.

Huidzi bii wau-- a dish whose flavors truly honor the local ingredients and history of Yucatn.

OK. [Laughter] Do you like pork belly?

You're gonna go crazy with this pork belly, 'cause this pork belly is an habanero pork belly.

It's so good, and I got inspired because in the Yucatn, they eat so much pork belly and they call it castacan, which I love that name.

Too, you can call it castacan, you can call it pork belly, but this is the pork belly you're gonna want to make from now on.

So, I'm making the brine.

I have 4 cups of water.

I'm gonna turn these over high heat.

A half a cup of sugar... and a half a cup of salt and then I'm adding one bay leaf and quarter teaspoon of ground allspice.

And I'm adding an habanero right in the brine.

OK.

Here I have Yucatecan oregano from the state of Yucatn.

Teaspoon, but I'm crumbling as it falls.

Smells so good.

OK. OK, I'm gonna stir that.

Then you just want the sugar and the salt to dissolve into the water, and you want the spices to also mix in this brine.

So, it needs, like, a minute.

I'm going to score my pork belly.

I have two pounds, and it's so beautiful!

Now, I'm gonna go ahead and with a sharp knife, I'm gonna score in a diagonal pattern.

I don't want to make it too small or too big and I also want to make sure that I don't cut into the meat.

So, it's a good idea to use a sharp knife.

Oh.

That one.

That's simmering.

Turning it off.

So pretty!

OK. Want to put it here.

And because you have to add the brine, when it has cooled, I have a swap that I already made, and it's been cooling right here in the back.

'Cause you don't want to add a burning-hot brine to a lukewarm or cold pork belly.

I'm just gonna pour these over the pork belly.

Smells so good!

And then you're gonna cook this with plastic wrap because this does take time, OK?

You have to make the brine.

You have to brine the pork belly.

You want to brine the pork belly anywhere from 12 hours to 48 hours, and because I didn't want to make you wait, I have a swap of the already-brined pork belly, and this is great news for me, 'cause that means I have more pork belly for tomorrow.

I'm gonna put this in the fridge.

Don't want to spill this one.

I have this one, which had been sitting in my fridge for 24 hours, and it's been brining so beautifully and it smells so good.

I'm gonna drain the brine in my sink, but I'm gonna re--ha!

I'm gonna drain the brine but I'm keeping the habanero chile.

So...come with me as I attempt this without spilling.

[Whispering] The habanero that I saved from the brine is here 'cause now it's getting the roasting treatment.

I'm adding a cup of water because I don't want my pork belly to dry as it roasts in the oven.

I'm gonna cover it with foil tightly.

My oven is at 300.

It's gonna go in there anywhere from two hours to two hours and a half until the pork belly is falling apart and the fat will have melted into the meat and the bottom of the baking dish.

[Clock ticking] [Ding] Let's see what this looks like.

It is looking so good.

I'm raising the heat to 450 and I'm putting the pork belly in for another 10 to 15 minutes.

I just want super crisp at top.

[Clock ticking] [Ding] [Sizzling] So beautiful.

I think Chef Julio would be proud.

Now I'm gonna break it in two.

Oh, my gosh, that crunch!

Oh, that fat!

Yum.

[Crunching] Mm.

Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm.

OK, so, I have the comal over medium heat.

This is Monterey Jack cheese, but you can use Oaxacan, Mexican Manchego or Chihuahuan or quesadilla.

Then I'm gonna add the pork belly.

Ahh.

Gorgeous.

Look at this.

Look at this.

This is--this is ridiculous.

Avocado.

And then I'm gonna add some of those pickled onions that I made before.

I mean, look at this.

Mm, mm, mm.

It's crazy.

Crazy good.

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.