Original subtitles

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In Mexico, we have a saying--

(Speaking in Spanish)

And what that means is "you leave the beans in the stove,

all day and all night."

I'm going to show you a pinto bean.

I don't know if you've ever had the chance to admire its beauty.

It looks like the whole cosmos is around there, hey?

And "pinto" means "dotted."

In Mexico, beans are so important,

that there is usually a designated pot

to cook the beans.

And in my family, mi abuela used to cook the beans

on a pot named after my grandpa, Hilario.

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(Sizzling)

I like to use a lot of lard in my beans.

Perhaps it's my grandma's teaching of how to cook beans.

Perhaps was the fact that lard was the only type of fat

that was available in Mexico in the old days.

Just imagine waking up in the morning,

to the smell of refried beans,

with onions, lard, and a little bit of epazote.

Oh, man, the whole house would smell so beautiful.

Chicken stock is gonna help the beans

to be very nice and creamy.

Epazote is a plant that grows near mushrooms,

and is very earthy.

I think in English it is called "wormseed."

If you could imagine, almost-- you know when there is rain?

You know, like, the dew in the morning, and then you smell

that sort of, freshness from the earth?

That's what epazote smells like.

The dish I'm making is Sopes Tapatios,

and for that, you need corn masa.

You can make tamales with this,

you can make tortillas with this,

and we also are gonna make sopes.

This is a tortillero, it's a Mexican tortilla press.

This was my grandma's, actually.

According to her, it was made in the early 1900s.

There's a thickness that I am looking for.

Now, if you're like most of my friends,

you would not happen to have one of these.

I'm going to show you a little trick.

You can use a book.

If you're like my father, he would kill me for doing this,

because he loves books.

But if you put a piece of plastic on top of it,

you don't run the risk of ruining the book, or the dough.

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You could not tell that one was done on a press,

and that one was on a book.

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So, just like the beans,

we are going to be cooking the sopes in a lot of lard.

Now, you want to wait until you hear that sizzling sound.

(Sizzling)

So you want the sopes to be dancing,

moving around the pan just slightly,

'cause you want to be sure that they're not sticking to the pan.

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Sopes have a little ridge,

to keep the ingredients inside.

Now, this is something that is very traditional in Mexico.

This is street food.

Anywhere in Mexico City, or rather, in the whole country,

you would find sopes.

Instead of having a hot dog stand,

you would have sopes stands.

I like to put a tomatillo salsa, which is a little tart.

It goes very well with the earthiness of the beans.

And this is what the sopa looks like.

We're going to add quail egg into it.

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Man, I feel like I'm back in Mexico with this.

This is my favourite cheese, it's called cotija.

If you do not have cotija cheese,

you can use feta cheese.

It is delicious.

Do a little bit of cilantro.

Kids in Mexico love these.

Mmm...

That is delicious.

It just takes me back to Mexico.

The creaminess of the beans...

the cheese, the saltiness is just perfect.

You don't need to add anything else to this.

Now I have beans for sopes, I'm thinking beans with breakfast.

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There's nothing better than waking up to the smell

of bacon and refried beans in the morning.

The bacon fat, with the refried beans,

it's going to be delicious.

We're going to add a bit more.

The smell of this dish reminds me of my childhood.

My mother used to cook this, and it was like an alarm.

Just to wake up to the smell-- to the scent of the beans,

and the pork, and the lard just crackling together...

it brings good memories.

I'm going to grab a bit of chicken stock,

'cause I want my beans to be a little creamy.

And we'll let them simmer, as well,

so the flavours from the bacon get infused with the beans.

Mmm.

I'm making one of the most famous dishes in Mexico,

called Huevos Rancheros.

Super simple dish.

You just need beans, you need eggs,

tortillas, and salsa.

So, salsas are traditionally made in Mexico,

with just garlic, onions, tomatoes, jalapenos.

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This is a serrano pepper.

I'm going to be adding this to add more heat into the salsa.

Now, this time, we're going to be adding the seeds as well,

'cause I want it to be spicy.

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I wish you guys could smell this.

Oh, this is going to be spicy!

The story of this dish dates back to when farmers

in the northern part of Mexico would have a big breakfast,

before they would herd all the cows, and lambs, and goats.

They would wake up, have beans with bacon,

sunny-side up eggs,

spicy tomato salsa, tortillas...

you know, enough to get them through the day.

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So, we just want to toast the tortillas, just a little bit.

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And this is where you get to play.

You can put a little bit, you can put a lot.

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There we go! Huevos Rancheros 101.

Oh, man, I can just imagine being a cowboy back then.

Waking up to this.

So, here you want to get it all messy, you know?

Like, the beans, the bacon,

the tortilla...

This is really, really, really good.

It's sort of spicy--

but for that, cafe con leche is always good.

Ahh. Delicious.

Man, the beans are phenomenal with the sauce.

You could start your day with this no problem, eh?

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This dish I'm making is hundreds and hundreds of years old.

We're making a recipe with a lot of history.

In Mexico, it's called Caldo de Frijoles Negros,

which means "black bean soup."

And believe me, this dish will warm and touch your soul.

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I have my aromatics here. Very simple.

Carrots, onions, garlic.

To these...

we are going to be adding these beautiful,

beautiful peppers called "morita."

You can get them anywhere.

They are often grown in the southern region of Mexico.

And they're sweet.

They're not as spicy, it's not like the jalapenos,

or the serranos that we had before.

It's just a sweet pepper,

with a bit of burned sort of quality to it,

which is going to be delicious for the beans.

These are black beans.

They look like little pearls, eh?

So these beans are also known as "turtle beans,"

because of the hard shell.

I call them "super black beans,"

because they're full of iron.

They're delicious, and very nutritious for you.

70% of the beans that are consumed in the world

come from Mexico.

From my land, eh? High-five me, everyone, you know?

So, now we're going to add a little bit of love.

We're going to get a bit of cumin.

I love cumin, it's one of those spices that I really,

really, really, really like.

And we're going to be getting epazote,

which is probably my favourite spice.

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So, at this point, we can add water to this.

There is so much flavour in the pot itself.

Carrots, onions, garlic, beans, everything is just melting

together with that morita chili.

But I choose to add chicken stock.

Just for the extra kick of flavour here.

This soup, on a cold winter night,

it's just the best thing.

Now, we just have to wait a little bit

until the beans become a little soft.

If you want to have a cerveza, this is the time to have it.

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Mmm, I can smell my soup is almost ready.

I want to add a bit of cheese into it.

I have chosen this particular cheese,

it's called "queso fresco" in Spanish,

which means "farmer's cheese."

We're going to be adding texture to the soup with this.

The cheese won't melt with the heat,

and it has a bit of chew,

which is what we want for this hearty soup.

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Mmm, mm.

Delicioso.

Everything has just merged into one.

I cannot wait to try the soup.

Ahh... okay.

Isn't that amazing, how smell can bring back memories?

This just takes me back to my mother's house.

Now, we're going to make it a little more fancy.

I crisped up some of the tortillas that I had earlier.

And I'm just going to finish with a bit of cilantro.

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Mmm...

Man, that is delicious.

The spiciness for me, it's just incredible.

These chilies, even though they're sweet,

if you add a lot of them, they become a little spicy.

If that's the case, if your soup is a little too spicy,

just add a little bit of sour cream.

This is going to lower the heat.

Oh my, this is delicious.

Such a wonderful, wonderful soup.

The spiciness, too, of the morita,

just-- just lingers at the very end of it.

It's just perfect with a beer... or cerveza.

You know what...

I have some refried beans left over.

And I've got the perfect dish to follow.

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Enchiladas are a Mexican favourite.

But I love mine with silky refried beans,

spicy tomato sauce,

and a layer of cheese melted-- cheese, ah...

Now, the word "enchilada" means, in Spanish,

"to be covered with chilies."

Now, for my salsa,

I like spicy, spicy chilies.

These are serrano peppers.

The greener they are, the sweeter they get.

The redder they get, the spicier they get.

These ones, they're a little mild.

I'm going to keep the seeds,

because I want it to be spicy.

Tomatillos. They're delicious.

They're related to the tomato family.

Don't they look like a little apple?

Don't get confused, though,

because you bite into this thing,

and your eyes are gonna start crying,

because they're so tart and acidic.

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If you don't want your sauce to be very spicy,

you can take away the seeds.

Because that's what contains the spiciness.

And just remember, this is going to be our sauce

for the enchiladas, so we want it to be smooth.

And for that, I'm going to use a bit of chicken stock.

It's like if you're composing a symphony here.

You have the tomatoes, you have the spice,

you have the chilies, you have the onions and the garlic,

and everything is just merging into one.

And the chicken stock is going to blend them all together.

It's coming really nicely.

It's going to get so green,

because of the tomatillos.

A bit of cilantro.

One of my favourite herbs in Mexico.

Now this, ladies and gentlemen,

is our enchilada sauce.

Now, we have to start cooking the tortillas.

We can toast them, if we want to,

but for this particular dish, I want to cook them

in a little bit of lard.

I want to make them pliable.

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This is what I mean, you see that?

We can bend them.

They won't break anymore.

Now, I'm ready to build the enchiladas.

I'm going to use these silky beans.

You don't have to use beans, per se.

You can use chicken, or meat.

But I love-- I love silky beans for this.

And cheese.

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I'm going to put a bit of cotija cheese on top of it.

Watch out-- what happens to the cheese,

when it comes out of the oven.

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And just to finish with our enchilada,

a little cerveza. Salud!

Man, this is delicious!

The beans are smooth.

The tomatillo salsa is sharp, it's tart...

And the combination of the two of them-- oh.

Super tasty dish.

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