>> Pati Narrates: Do you ever just sit back and wonder, "how did I get here?"

For me, the answer is easy: a deep love and respect for food.

Cooking, eating, travelling, meeting fellow food lovers, sharing those experiences with my boys.

I turned my passion for food into a way of life.

Sometimes I like to go back and revisit a few special moments that remind me just how lucky I am, and that's just what I'm gonna do.

>> It's looking beautiful!

>> Pati Narrates: Through three very personal recipes, an Orange and Chocolate Marble Pound Cake, just like the first cake I made for Danny's grandma.

Sopes with a roasted salsa, the first recipe I ever cooked for a cooking class!

>> In Mexico, we have no taco salads.

None at all.

[laughs] >> Pati Narrates: And one that represents everything I love about cooking today - a one pot wonder.

Simple and delicious brisket.

My story through food, with recipes that make my family happy.

>> That's why I love doing what I do.

♪ ♪ >> Pati's Mexican Table is made possible by: >> Some things are always there for you.

Like your alarm clock, right on time.

Your parking space.

Seriously?

Girl's night, always there.

And avocados from Mexico.

They're always there because they're fresh all year round.

>> ♪ Avocados from Mexico >> La Costeña, por sabor!

Taste that transcends.

More information at mexicorico.com Over 40 years, bringing authentic Latin American flavors to your table.

Tropical Cheese.

>> The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.

Mexbest.

The National Agricultural Council.

♪ epic music plays ♪ >> I wanna take a little trip down memory lane today through some recipes, but I'm going to start with a recipe that is a huge hit in my house.

It is a caramelized Pasilla Brisket, it's a one pot meal, so you are gonna throw everything in one pot and it's gonna come out so incredibly delicious.

So I set this over high heat.

I'm gonna add about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

I asked my butcher to give me a 3 - 4 pound piece of brisket, and I asked him to trim most of the fat because you do want some fat because it's gonna give flavor to the final dish, it's gonna render into the sauce.

I'm gonna season both sides with salt and pepper.

I have really taken my passion for food and turned it into a career, but the thing that I love the most is cooking for my family at home.

I love bringing everything new that I learn back home into family friendly irresistible meals.

I'm gonna brown the meat for a couple minutes on both sides, I don't want to completely cook the meat, just want to really brown and crisp it on the outside.

I need 2 - 3 ounces of pasilla chiles which would be anywhere between 6 - 7 pieces.

You want the pasilla chile because we want the contrast between the bitter and chocolatey of the pasilla chiles, and the rest of the ingredients that we're gonna use.

I'm removing the stems and the seeds.

I'm gonna toast the chile, and I'm gonna start a process of waking them up and rehydrating them.

It's looking beautiful!

So you can see how the chiles are reacting, the skin is crisping, the fumes totally normal, and you can see how the color from inside of the chile which was a little bit more red is turning to black.

So we're gonna add the chiles, everything's happening right in here.

Now I'm gonna add 1.5 pounds of tomatillos.

I learned the combination of pasilla chiles and tomatillos in the state of Michoacan.

They use this combination all the time for salsas and stews, I love recipes like this because I can bring back home all these new flavor combinations that I learn on the road, and put them into a pot and make it family friendly and accessible.

Now I'm gonna add 1 large onion cut into chunks, 10 cloves of garlic, a half cup of grated piloncillo, and one more teaspoon of salt.

Then I'm gonna cover it all with 4 cups of chicken broth.

This is something that I'm very passionate about, you know, showing all that Mexicans, Latinos and immigrants can bring into the American table.

It's just a fabulous feeling.

Now that it's coming to a simmer, I'm gonna cover it and put this in the oven which is at 350 degrees anywhere from 3 - 3.5 hours until the meat is falling apart.

Now going back in time to when I knew nothing about cooking, this is the first recipe I tried to bake for Danny.

Well actually, I baked it to try to impress his grandmother.

It's called a Tiger Pound Cake.

I'm gonna start with 2 cups of unsalted butter.

So I call this a tiger pound cake because instead of being chocolate and vanilla, it's chocolate and orange, so it has those stripes.

I'm gonna beat this butter until completely creamy and smooth.

Now I'm gonna add 2.5 cups of sugar, I'm gonna add it little by little.

So we're gonna beat the butter and the sugar until it is very fluffy.

We have 8 eggs.

When Danny and I first met, he wanted to introduce me to his Grandmother.

They invited me to dinner, and of course I wanted to bring something, so I asked my Nana who's the one who used to make the pound cake, how she made it, like, the precise instructions, and I wrote it all down, and Danny's grandmother was so impressed when she cut into it and it was perfectly marbled, she didn't believe that I made it myself.

Now I'm gonna add the eggs, trying to do one or a couple at a time.

Now I'm gonna mix my dry ingredients.

To 3 cups of all-purpose flour, I'll add 1 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda, and a pinch of salt.

I'm going to alternate my dry ingredients with a cup of sour cream, and this is gonna make for the spongiest pound cake ever.

Danny's grandmother did not believe I had baked the cake.

She started quizzing me, asking questions, like "how did you make it so puffy?

", and "how did you accomplish the marbling?"

I passed the test because I had made that pound cake for the very first time, so I won her over.

I'm adding 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

This is a very meaningful recipe because it really marked an important step in my relationship with Danny.

Whenever I make it, it brings back good memories.

Now this is the base of the batter for the pound cake, and I'm gonna flavor part of it with chocolate and part of it with orange.

So I have half a cup of cocoa powder here, and now I'm going to add half a cup of boiling hot water.

I'm adding boiling water because this will make the flavor from the cocoa powder really bloom.

I love the marble pound cake to have a really intense chocolate flavor in the chocolate parts.

If not, I feel cheated.

Now I'm gonna take a third of the batter and fold it with the cocoa.

It's like addictive to do this, I can't stop now.

Okay, I'll stop, I'll stop.

There!

[Laughs] And then we're gonna turn this into orange batter, so I'm adding 2 tablespoons of orange zest, and I'm adding about half a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice.

To really enhance the flavor of the orange, I'm going to add a teaspoon of almond extract.

This is such a beautiful pound cake.

Now we're gonna build it up.

So we have the bundt pan that I already buttered.

I'm gonna start with the orange.

Now of course you could do the traditional marbling technique, where you would add the light-colored batter in the bottom and then add the dark-colored batter on top and then swirl it, but my friend Audrey showed me a new technique, which is using scoops to add the batter, and it layers it differently, so it goes to show you never stop learning new ways of doing things.

Then you go with the chocolate, and then you go again with the orange and you try to go on top of the chocolate.

All of my favorite recipes have a family connection, or they get connected to a family story in one way or another.

See how pretty it looks?

I'm gonna use the thick part of the skewer to do the shapes, not too crazy.

I'm gonna put the pound cake in the oven which is set at 350 degrees for an hour.

So it's been 3.5 hours and the meat should be completely cooked and - mmm!

Do you see that?

It's so tender!

It's like succulent.

What I'm gonna do now while the meat rests, I'm going to put all of the contents that were in the casserole in the blender.

We have the pasilla chiles that were toasted, they're completely rehydrated.

We have the tomatillos that are completely cooked and mushy, you can see all the seeds, so tart.

It smells sweet and barely spicy.

We want every last bit of that sauce.

I'm gonna start really low.

I want to taste a little.

Mmm!

There's no chocolate in it, but it's very chocolatey because of the chiles.

Now what I'm gonna do is slice the meat into serving pieces and put it back in there.

It is coming apart, it is so soft.

I'm separating the meat a little, and letting the sauce go in between the slices.

Now I'm gonna add 1.5 pounds of baby potatoes, and 1.5 pounds of carrots.

Notice I'm adding a lot of potatoes and carrots because they're just as good as the meat!

And I don't want the boys fighting over the potatoes or carrots, which they love.

I'm gonna cover and put it back in the oven for half an hour, so now the potatoes and carrots are gonna cook along with the sauce and meat.

After 55 minutes, check your cake.

If a toothpick comes out moist but not wet, it's ready, take it out, let it cool.

>> Pati Narrates: I have to tell you about another hugely important moment in my life.

What you're looking at is a video from my very first cooking class at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington D.C.

This is kind of where this whole TV thing all started for me.

Look!

We even called it Mexican Table on the very first tape.

>> I'm going to Mexico in December, and I'm used to smuggling lots of ingredients.

>> Pati Narrates: Looking at this now, all I can think is "What was I thinking?

What made me think I could get up in front of a room full of people and teach them about cooking?"

I think you can hear the nerves in my voice.

>> Dried chiles are a main ingredient in Mexican cooking - >> Pati Narrates: Calm down Pati!

Don't burn anything.

>> In Mexico we have no taco salads.

None!

None at all.

[Laughs] >> Pati Narrates: But I do know what got me up there.

I love my culture.

I love the food of my home country, and I wanted everyone in that room to love it all just as much as I did.

I'm still doing that today.

>> It's been half an hour since I put my brisket with potatoes and carrots in.

Now for another 30 minutes, I'm just gonna remove the lid so everything browns even more.

It smells incredible!

So now I'm gonna make some sopes, but first I'm gonna make a quick roasted salsita to drizzle on those sopes, and I have a pound of tomatillos which I husked and rinsed, 2 jalapeños, a thick slice of white onion, and just one garlic clove with skin on.

I'm gonna put this in the oven for 8 - 10 minutes, until they're charred and mushy.

Now I'm gonna make sopes.

I have 2 cups of masa, or corn flour, which you can buy at the store, and I have 2 cups of lukewarm water, or water at room temperature.

I'm gonna first add 1.5 cups of water.

So sopes are the very first thing that I made for my very first cooking class.

When I started the culinary program at The Mexican Cultural Institute, the director had invited me to put together a program.

I was really nervous because I thought that I was going to teach to maybe 8 - 10 people, and it turned out the director really wanted a live big class for like 100 people, and I had never spoken in front of a big audience like that before, so you know what I did?

For 3 months before I put the boys to sleep at night, instead of telling them bedtime stories, I would practice my class.

I'm adding a little more water because you really want the masa to be very moist.

You have to feel it, it has to be like play-dough.

I'm gonna cover it with a kitchen towel so it doesn't dry out, it dries out really fast.

I'm gonna make balls that are about 2 inches in diameter, and then you're gonna put it in your tortilla press.

You put one piece of plastic in the bottom, and one on the top, and then you're gonna put your ball right in between and I'm gonna press down until I get about a quarter-inch of thickness.

It's like a minute per side.

You know when to flip a sopes or a tortilla when you can actually flip it, when it doesn't stick to the pan, like pancakes.

When they have browned on both sides, before being completely cooked, you take them out and, using a clean kitchen towel or napkin, you go around the rim and pinch.

You add them there for another minute to finish cooking in this shape.

They're nice and thick, I'm gonna put them in this tortilla holder which will keep them nice and warm.

I'm gonna keep them warm until I'm ready to eat them.

The tomatillos are about to burst.

They're so charred and super mushy.

The roasted onion.

I'm gonna remove the stems from the chiles.

I'm adding a half teaspoon of salt, and a half cup of cilantro, and I'm going to coarsely chop it.

I'm gonna peel the garlic.

I'm gonna puree, but not smooth, I want it chunky and rustic.

[blender whirs] >> And I'm gonna taste for heat.

Mmm.

Mmm!

It's definitely spicy enough.

Okay, so now you can see why I decided to make this, because this is so much fun!

You have the little sopes which are irresistible.

I have my refried beans... lettuce and onion... some salsita... and some aged Mexican cheese, it's super crumbly, salty and tangy.

I mean, it's a party!

Mmm.

So we have the masa, you can taste the browned parts on the bottom and top, and then the refried beans that are so flavorful.

You get the fresh crunch from the white onion, and the lettuce is so welcoming.

This simple little recipe say so much about Mexican cuisine.

You're tasting the earthy sort of nurturing base which is the sopes.

The salsita has the tomatillo roasted flavor, it has a little bit of a kick, and this was my way to make an introduction to my Mexican home.

Oh, oh, oh!

This looks gorgeous, it looks like the perfect messy one pot dish that I love to eat and make at home.

The potatoes and the carrots.

I like to serve this with a little green salad, just greens mixed with fresh squeezed lime juice, a little olive oil and salt.

Ah, the meat is just - I mean, I don't even need a knife!

It's so soft.

And the outside of the potato has soaked that sauce.

Mmm.

Mmm!

Best brisket recipe ever.

The flavors of the meat really get complimented with the sauce, and it makes the sauce taste a little meaty which is funny.

It's not even spicy, but like, it wants to try to be spicy, so it's just - mmm!

Always a hit in my house, I always wish that I'd have leftovers to build a sandwich the next day but I never have leftovers.

I'm sure this is gonna be a huge hit in your house too.

I'm just gonna flip the pound cake, give it a shake.

Woah!

[Laughs] It just makes me happy, how gorgeous can this be?

This is making me even happier.

Look how it's shaking when I'm trying to cut it because it is so spongy!

How beautiful is that?

Mmm!

The chocolate part is so chocolatey, and the orange part is like orange with a little almond, so delicious, and look at how spongy!

So soft.

This will keep covered for days, and it doesn't dry out.

Great to send with your kids in their lunchbox, this will serve, like, 20 people.

Look at how big and tall it is!

It is just delicious.

All these recipes are such a great way for me to share my culture.

They make my family so happy.

That's why I love doing what I do.

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

Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest @PatiJinich.

>> Pati's Mexican Table is made possible by: ♪ epic music plays ♪ >> The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.

Mexbest.

The National Agricultural Council.

A tradition of authentic Latin flavors and family recipes.

Tropical Cheese.

>> La Costeña, por sabor!

Taste that transcends.

More information at: mexicorico.com >> Some things are always there for you.

Like your alarm clock, right on time.

Your parking space.

Seriously?

Girl's night, always there.

And avocados from Mexico.

They're always there because they're fresh all year round.

>> ♪ Avocados from Mexico >> Proud to support Pati's Mexican Table on public television.