♪ Pati narrates: If you could assign the perfect setting for farm land, it would look a little something like this.

Ocean to the West, mountain range to the East.

Rain falling on the mountains feeding into vast rivers running through a lush valley in between.

It would look exactly like Sinaloa.

There's a saying here, throw a seed, and a jungle grows.

And right here in the middle of this farming oasis, Culiacan, the capitol.

♪ Pati narrates: This city of one million people has lived through hard times.

The same lush farm land that supplies the entire country with almost forty percent of it's produce, was also used to grow the crop at the root of one of Mexico's biggest problems, opium.

Sinaloans have endured decades of hardship as a result, and yet... >> Hello!

Welcome to Sinaloa!

Pati narrates: I find myself here with a man who can't seem to wipe the smile off his face.

Miguel Taniyama is one of Sinaloa's most acclaimed chefs, and he's giving me a tour of his hometown.

From markets, to street food, to homestyle meals.

I'm getting a taste of everything Culiacan has to offer.

Pati: It's gorgeous!

Pati narrates: In my kitchen, recipes inspired by my day in Culiacan.

Everything that goes into this taquito has to be delicious.

Crispy taquitos dorados topped with crunchy greens and drowned in a spiced up broth.

Mmmm, they're getting better the more they soak.

And enchiladas del suelo covered in a rich chili sauce and topped with chorizo, queso, and a sea of fresh garnishes.

>> It's like a flavored tortilla Pati: Ya!

♪ >> Pati's Mexican Table is made possible by ♪ >> La Costena Over 40 years, bringing authentic Latin American flavors to your table.

Tropical Cheese.

♪ >> Avocados from Mexico ♪ >> BanCoppel your recipe for sending money to Mexico.

♪ >> Chilorio la chata ♪ (City bustling) ♪ Pati: You guys I'm with the Culiacan rockstar, the Sinaloa rockstar Miguel Taniyama and he's giving me his personal tour of the main, most traditional market of Culiacan.

Pati narrates: Miguel Taniyama is a chef and culinary ambassador.

Born and raised on the farm just outside the city, and really, rockstar doesn't even do him justice.

Known as Tani, he is adored here.

♪ (Greetings and market banter) Pati: He knows everybody!

Pati narrates: Tani knows what you've heard about his beloved Sinaloa, and he's trying to change the conversation.

Pati narrates: He believes that opening the worlds eyes to the abundance of resources is the first step on a new path for his fellow Sinaloans.

Pati: What's so special about the shrimp in Sinaloa, Tani?

Pati: Oh!

Rapido!

You guys!

You just had a free lesson on how to peel shrimp in two moves.

♪ Pati narrates: Sinaloa is known as Mexico's breadbasket.

The rich farm land here supplies fresh seafood and produce all over Mexico and the U.S. Pati: He's scaling the fish without even looking at it!

Pati narrates: Walking through the isles you can feel the pride.

They know they've got the goods.

Finding a good meal in here is a pretty safe bet.

For me, taquitos dorados with potatoes and carne drowned in a spiced up broth, a Sinaloa staple.

For Tani a hearty stew with meat, vegetables, and garbanzo beans.

Pati: Mmmmmm!

Even Mexicans from other parts of Mexico we're very ignorant about Sinaloa, what would you like people to know?

♪ Pati narrates: Tani calls himself a Sinaloenses in love with Sinaloa.

He credits his pride to his family's immigrant roots.

♪ (Birds chirping) Pati: You know as a Mexican I've eaten taquitos dorados all my life.

They're a thing, you can have them stuffed with beef, with chicken, but I had never eaten taquitos dorados that were drowned.

And that is a thing that I learned in Sinaloa.

I have three pounds of chuck roast, and I left all the fat You want to leave all the fat because this is going to cook for long time and the fat is going to render into the broth and it's going to flavor the broth and you don't want to miss out on that taste.

♪ I love using chuck roast because it is just a very resilient, sturdy, affordable, accessible, and versatile cut of meat.

It has a lot of flavor and it has a really nice bite and you can use it in so many ways but the one thing about chuck roast is that it has to cook for a very long time.

We're going to make some taquitos dorados that are going to be filled with this meat and we're going to chase and drown the taquitos in the meat broth so we want to make a really rich broth that will not overpower the meat, but that will compliment the flavor of the meat.

So I'm adding an onion that I cut in half, and I'm going to add a bay leaf.

Then, garlic cloves.

I have two quarts of water here.

And then a tomato.

Most of the tomatoes we get here in the U.S. come from Sinaloa.

I didn't even know that and that is why I love going back to Mexico again, and again, and again because every time that I go back I learn things that I had no idea existed and it is just so humbling.

I'm going to add two guajillo chilies.

Just open it like this with your fingers.

Don't rub your eyes when you're using them.

A tablespoon of kosher or sea salt And like a teaspoon of whole black peppercorns ♪ Two carrots cut into large chunks I'm going to let it come to a rolling simmer over high heat.

Once it does I'm going to cover it, let it simmer for about an hour and a half over medium heat.

Just going to let time do it's thing.

(Birds chirping) (Steam releases) Pati: Si!

this looks so beautiful!

(Broth bubbling) It smells like a broth that has healing powers.

We're going to add three Yukon gold potatoes.

And then, we're going to let this cook for another hour and a half.

♪ Pati narrates: Culiacan, the city in the heart of Mexico's breadbasket.

Chef and culinary ambassador Miguel Taniyama is giving me a tour and introducing me to new friends.

Pati narrates: Jaime's official title President of the Gastronomy Conservatory for Sinaloa.

Pati narrates: Jaime has a favorite street food stand nearby and I'm happy to follow a president of gastronomy to a street food stand.

Pati narrates: Cuevas is a Culiacan institution.

The fresh catch delivered daily from the coast is piled high in a chunky mountain and dressed with a house-special sauce.

Locals love their seafood stand so much that they've carved out extra time in the day just for them.

(Laughing) Pati: That's so funny!

Ok!

♪ Pati narrates: Cuevas specializes in that extra daily meal.

One of the local favorites is tribilin Cooked shrimp, octopus, raw shrimp, topped with onion, cucumber, and the spicy, salty, citrusy house sauce.

♪ Pati: Mmmmm!

Mmmmm!

It's gorgeous!

Frio!

It's so cold!

Pati: Salut!

♪ (Birds chirping) Pati: Oh say can you see?

How beautiful this broth is, this is just so gorgeous!

Look at the color, it's been an hour and a half that the meat and potatoes has been cooking.

I'm taking out the potatoes, I'm also going to take out my meat.

Oooh, si While the potatoes and meat cools, I'm going to strain my broth.

Oh it's so rich!

The color!

It's an amber color that wants to be brown.

I want to push through the tomato, and the chilies, and the carrots.

I'm putting it in a sauce pan, I'm adding a little bit more salt and then I'm going to continue cooking it down for about a half an hour so that the flavors intensify a little more and so that my broth thickens a little bit more while I make the taquitos.

(Gas element sparks) I'm going to pre-heat my comal, and I'm going to pre-heat my oil because these are taquitos dorados which means they are super crunchy and brown and to make my filling I have my meat which I'm going to chop We're doing the same thing with the potatoes I know I've told stories about my paternal grandfather who used to eat raw white onions as if they were apples, well a feast for him would be boiled potatoes, raw onion, radishes, and salt.

He loved that combination.

We're adding refried pinto beans.

I know it doesn't look that pretty and I know I'm making a bowl full of brown mush, but it is so delicious and tasty.

(Masher taps on bowl) If you have freshly made corn tortillas or store bought tortillas but you don't heat them before you roll the taquito, the tortilla will break.

Heat the tortillas in a comal or a skillet on both sides.

And we're going to add two tablespoons into the taquito.

You want to really pack these as you roll.

I like my taquitos to be really, really, chubby.

Use a toothpick and go through the seam like this, and you can do two taquitos at a time.

(Oil sizzles) So it's just like, a minute and a half or so per side.

The oil will let you know that it has done it's thing because the bubbles start to get a little bit slower.

♪ (Oil sizzles) Pati: They smell so good.

So I'm adding the cabbage.

Some pickled onions.

I'm going to crumble some queso We're doing crema And then, we're pouring the broth right in here.

(Taquito crunches) Pati: Mmmmm!

That transformation between crunchy and getting soaked in the broth, is delicious and you want to catch it right in between.

It's that experience of having the crunchy and the cream, and the cheese, and the pickled onion, and of course you want to add a little bit more of a little bit more of everything.

It's just everything that I like about Mexican food.

Can't wait for you to try.

(Taquito crunches) ♪ Pati narrates: My good friend Miguel Taniyama is showing me the best of what Culiacan has to offer.

Markets, street food, we're on the hunt for our next meal.

Following that four meals a day rule in Culiacan.

He says, he knows the owners of a good place nearby.

Pati narrates: Miguel's brother, Alfonso, owns La Kokoy which he named after his daughter.

Pati narrates: Cenadurias like La Kokoy are a staple of daily life in Sinaloa.

Family-owned and operated, think of them as part restaurant, part home kitchen.

Pati narrates: Food in a Cenaduria makes you feel right at home.

Gorditas, taquitos, but I've come for one thing.

(Suspenseful guitar strum) Pati: So enchiladas del suelo which translates to, "Ground Enchiladas" are made with these smaller tortillas.

They're so cute!

♪ Pati: Oh, salsa first?!

Yes.

Yes.

Ok, that's a different thing!

Usually you fry the tortilla and then soak it in the sauce.

Pati narrates: Piled on those tortillas, chorizo, and a handful of surprises.

Pati: I haven't seen this combination before.

Fresh lettuce, cooked zucchini.

This is called, "From the Ground" enchiladas, or enchiladas del suelo Pati: Mmmmm, delicious!

And this is so smart, with the spoon!

I'm just going to eat with a spoon everyday from now on, it's just easier to eat more food.

♪ (Table chatter) Pati: Mmmmmm!

This is my style of eating, super messy!

(Birds chirping) Pati: Enchiladas del suelo translates to enchiladas from the floor.

I know it's crazy, I had never heard about the enchiladas del suelo until I went to Sinaloa so to begin with you have to make the enchiladas del suelo sauce.

The water is already boiling I have five ancho chilies that I've already stemmed A very ripe, Roma tomato A garlic clove So this is the base for the sauce.

I need to have these cook for seven to eight minutes.

Meanwhile I'm going to fry my chorizo.

You want to chop the chorizo into chunks because Mexican chorizo, as it fries it tends to want to bind together.

And you want it in small chunks because you want the most, crisp, bites that you can.

And I already took the casings off.

Mmmm (Chorizo sizzles loudly) And as I let my chorizo fry, I'm going to make my sauce.

♪ So we have my blender here, I'm gonna add a tablespoon of white distilled vinegar.

A tablespoon of chopped white onion A teaspoon of dried oregano A teaspoon of salt And I'm adding a little pepper And now I'm going to add the tomato, the skin is coming apart so you know it's very cooked and very mushy Then I'm adding the five ancho chilies, the garlic clove, and I'm adding a cup from the cooking water which has a lot of the flavor and the color from the ancho chilies.

And now we're going to puree these until completely smooth.

(Blender goes to max speed) (Blender in background) Oh and it smells so nice, it smells so good!

Now I'm going to pour the sauce right in the pan where I cooked the chorizo because I have that rendered chorizo fat and flavor and we can't let that go to waste.

I'm not going to cook the sauce though, again, and you're going to see why.

One of the crazy things about this enchilada is not only the way it's built but how many vegetables it has.

I have a pound of zucchini that I sliced and I'm going to add a little bit of salt into this cooking water where the ancho chilies and the tomato cooked Just because I don't want to have this water go to waste, but you can blanche these in any salted boiling water.

I just wanted this zucchini to change from raw to barely cooked.

And now they won't taste raw, but they will have so much crunch.

And I'm going to add oil to about a quarter to a half-inch depth because we're going to do something crazy with these enchiladas.

We grab a corn tortilla, and instead of heating the tortilla first, you soak it in the sauce.

Completely drench it in the sauce.

And then, passing them through really hot oil.

Which makes a huge mess, and you have to be very careful.

♪ By doing it this way you are making the sauce cook while sticking to the tortilla.

We're adding lettuce, blanched, zucchini, cucumbers, tomato, and avocado.

You could do the chorizo right under the vegetables but I think my boys are around and they love chorizo so I'm putting it on top so they get excited.

The queso fresco >> I don't think so Pati: No this is the first time I make this for you.

>> What is it?

Pati: ok, try >> You have to guess what's in it.

Pati: Mhmmm!

>> Mmmm!

Pati: Mmmmm!

>> It's like a flavored tortilla Pati: Yes!

What else is different about this enchilada from other enchiladas that we've eaten?

>> It's usually folded, no?

Pati: Exactly!

>> It's like an open enchilada.

I was confused because I thought this was like a taco or something that we're going to have to fold up and I was thinking how am I going to hold this without getting too messy, but... Pati: I like eating from the same plate with you guys.

>> Well, Juju takes over though Pati: Si, you have to hurry Sami >> I know, he already finished the whole one Pati: Juju just ate one I wanna make you another one ♪ Pati narrates: For recipes and information from this episode and more, visit patijinich.com and connect, find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest at PatiJinich >> Pati's Mexican Table is made possible by ♪ >> La Costena A tradition of authentic Latin flavors and family recipes.

Tropical Cheese.

♪ >> Avocados from Mexico ♪ >> BanCoppel your recipe for sending money to Mexico.

♪ >> Chilorio la chata ♪ >> Proud to support Pati's Mexican Table on public television.

♪