Jorge Meraz: Hey, folks, on this episode of "Crossing South," from the skies to something sweet.

We step inside a top Tijuana flight school training the next generation of pilots.

We also hit Rosarito for authentic Italian gelato, and it's all coming to you right now.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Jorge: On the premises of the Tijuana airport lies a facility responsible for producing generation after generation of new pilots and flight attendants.

We're going in to learn the ins and outs of this school.

Jorge: Folks, I am inside the simulator room of the Centro Aeronáutico de Tijuana.

This is one of the most important aviation schools in all of Mexico, pumping out trained pilots and flight attendants that are right now practicing not only in Mexican Airlines but around the world in some of the most important airlines that you have probably flown already.

And the person's gonna guide us, the person--the visionary of this is the man standing right here.

[speaking foreign language] Aurelio Hernandez: Aurelio Hernandez.

Jorge: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: You know, think of that.

In just a few minutes, you learn something new.

Symmetrical and asymmetrical traction.

Imagine that.

They don't show us that in the movies, right, when they say, "Engine one is out."

Now you know that they have to adjust rudder and the thrust of the other engines to keep the plane straight.

When you fly like this, you learn to fly bare bones basics.

Small planes first, then you get to move on to the fun video game stuff.

Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: Well, as promised, this is the simulator.

Jorge: This is crazy.

This is like the best video game setup ever.

Jorge: So I was able to weasel in when a student named David was clocking hours in training.

He took me for a spin, but then I asked him if I could grab the reins.

Oh, boy.

Jorge: And then this?

David: You can--you control their line with feet.

So this is your air speed.

So it's on 60.

Jorge: Yeah, the dark surface was the runway.

Yeah, who needs the runway to take off, right, as long as it's flat.

Jorge: Let's just go.

Jorge: And rolling left while I'm at it.

David: And the E. Jorge: Oh, I need to go east, okay.

David: Yeah.

Jorge: It's very dangerous to just eyeball it, right, and not use--it could deceive you.

David: Yeah.

Jorge: Not perfect, but level.

This is my altitude, 3,900 feet.

What is the height?

David: Thousand--in this point, like, 1,000 would be great.

Jorge: And I crashed.

Jorge: That is one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Like, I wonder how much that setup cost.

That was really cool.

Jorge: So I jumped into their training Cessna, which is incredibly crammed, to be honest.

I'm a big boy.

Captain Aurelio showed me the basic controls.

Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: Controlling a plane is no small thing.

Your entire body and senses have to be engaged to control every aspect of this aircraft.

Jorge: Planes are small.

They're really cramped.

A little bit claustrophobic.

So these are the ones that we're using.

Wow.

[speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: You know, part of the basics in flight-related education that they provide in this school is maintenance as it's a vital part of aviation.

In their case, it keeps their machines safe and airworthy.

Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: Nineteen-year-old kid, one year into flight school already.

Good job, my friend.

Good job, good job, good job.

Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Aurelio: [speaking foreign language] Jorge: And, folks, we really went into aviation this time, but that's part of what's available and what's happening here at the Tijuana airport and its surrounding facilities.

Jorge: We now shift gears from the mechanics of flying to the mechanics of tastiness.

Jorge: You know, there's a lot of ice cream places in Baja.

But authentic gelato places?

Come with us, folks.

"Crossing South."

Don't go anywhere.

Okay, Andres, there's not a whole lot of gelato places in Baja.

So this is authentic gelato?

Andres Cruz: Yeah, it is.

Jorge: How can we know that?

Andres: My boss Richard, he sent me to Italy, to Bologna to learn how to make the gelato.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Andres: Yeah.

And then after some research, we started giving all the ingredients that we need from--let's say some pistachio from Sicily, hazelnut, yeah.

Jorge: Your pistachios are from Sicily?

You gotta be kidding me.

Really?

Andres: Yeah, they come all the way from there.

There's a few companies in here from Italy that comes here in Mexico to sell all their products.

And then we start buying to them, but then we have to play with many stuff like the ingredients that we cannot get from Italy like, you know, milk, cream, sugar.

Jorge: It wouldn't make it over here.

Andres: Yeah.

And then we have to make our own recipes, but we have to make it the way the Italians do it.

Jorge: Okay.

If you went to study to Bologna to make--that's amazing.

Very few companies would send, like, an employee all the way across the world, and they did.

Wow.

So can you briefly tell us what is the difference between preparing gelato than your conventional ice cream?

Andres: Yeah.

Usually, they call something overrun.

That is the air that is in the ice cream.

So in the gelato the air is, like, smaller bubbles than the ice cream.

When you scoop the gelato, it's more creamier.

That is why we have--yeah.

Jorge: Okay.

Andres: We have our displays at -12 degrees celsius because if we put in a convectional freezer it will go as hard as a rock.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Andres: Yeah, because it's, like, very dense.

And then when you scoop, you can have that creamier, smooth, and very soft way to taste it.

And then with that more density, it helps you to have more flavors.

You want to see it?

Jorge: For sure.

Andres: Okay.

This is what the Italian call pozzetti, which is like a--you just drop a bucket over there and then it helps you to keep, like--more distribute the airflow in the whole display.

Jorge: So it's creamier.

It's not icy.

Andres: Even in this one, those are made with water base, they don't look icy.

Jorge: It's true.

These are water-based?

Andres: Yeah, these four right here.

Jorge: Oh, wow.

Yeah, that looks super creamy.

Look at in there.

And the flavors, you've got raspberry, you've got lemon or lime, lemon.

Andres: Cold brew is a new flavor that we made--I made a few months ago.

And the cold brew, you know, the drink--the coffee drink.

So we made it based on that.

So that is very new.

Pink guava, woo, one of my favorites.

Then we have the milk base, which is the dark chocolate, coffee with orange, a little bit of orange zest in this one.

Then we have the hazelnut, pistachio, a classic one; and the strawberry ricotta, which is our most popular flavor here in-- Jorge: Strawberry ricotta.

Oh, that sounds amazing.

Andres: That is a top seller here.

Then we have the pumpkin just because the season.

Jorge: Pumpkin, yeah.

Andres: Then we have the salted peanuts.

Jorge: I love peanuts, so-- Andres: Tres leches.

This came out from a cake recipe, Mexican cake.

Jorge: Oh, the tres leches cake.

Okay, got you, got you.

Are these flavors, like, your standard flavors or are you changing them?

Andres: Every week we change flavors, but usually these five here we keep it all the time.

And the lemon because people love lemon.

Jorge: All right, right.

In Mexico, right?

Where do you get your clients from?

Where are you getting clients from?

Andres: It's always very mixed.

Sometimes it's a lot of locals.

Sometimes it's a lot of tourists.

Jorge: Got you.

What are the farthest they drive here from?

Andres: There was a guy who drive all the way from LA because somebody told them there was a very nice gelato, and I was like, "You drive for hours just to get a cup of gelato?"

Jorge: Wow, that's really cool.

That guy crossed out for gelato.

Fantastic.

A man committed to his ideals.

Andres: So in a different of the ice cream, so we use a spatula.

Jorge: Okay.

Instead of a scoop, it's a spatula.

Let's get some contrast in here, you know, for the audience.

Let's see some chocolate and pumpkin.

Let's see.

Andres: Let's go.

You have to take the spoon and then you just strip a little bit.

Jorge: Oh, wow.

Oh, man.

Yeah, mine doesn't look great.

Andres: There you go.

Then we go a little bit more.

So we have to have, like, a kinda mountain.

There you go.

Jorge: I'm kinda--would that be--look at the mess I made on the side.

Andres: Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry.

Jorge: Okay, let's see if I can do this.

Do you mean like this or like this?

Andres: A little bit-- Jorge: Like that?

Andres: There you go, and then-- Jorge: Oh, man.

Andres: It's real bad.

Jorge: And then what, twist it?

Andres: Then just pull it.

Jorge: Pull it?

Andres: Yep.

Jorge: I don't wanna mix them up.

It's ugly.

I'm not hired.

I'm not hired.

I kinda added a little bit more volume.

I'm kinda sculpting here.

Andres: There you go.

Jorge: Look at these.

I'm getting fired for giving too much product and for the mess, the absolute mess this is.

Okay.

Andres: Sometimes when we do make a kind of mess, you can just take the spoon, just-- Jorge: Oh, okay.

Andres: Push it.

Jorge: You kinda fix it a little bit in the delivery.

Here you go, sir.

Look at this horridness.

It's a horror movie.

Let's try this.

Oh my goodness.

Oh, this is so good.

Dude.

Good job, man.

Andres: Oh, thank you.

Jorge: Oh, this is phenomenal.

What a bold flavor.

Andres: So we're going to make a little bit of hazelnut gelato.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Andres: So we have a base, and this our hazelnut cream.

Jorge: Okay.

Andres: So this one we have to balance it with this base so we don't have too much fat content.

So I want to make 2 kilos.

So I don't want to go back and look again for the book, so I just have to close it to 2 kilos.

Jorge: You gotta close it 2 kilos.

All right.

Gelato's being made, folks.

[machine whirring] Jorge: We're making gelato.

Andres: Okay, so then we just drop it here in our batch freezer.

Jorge: That's gonna freeze it.

Andres: Yeah, it's mixing and freezing.

Jorge: Mixing and freezing.

Andres: This is gonna take, like, around 20 minutes, so-- Jorge: Okay, so we can leave that.

We can leave that one.

Andres: We can leave this one.

On this side we have the popsicles.

This one is like--have you ever tried, like, those kind of Magnum popsicles?

Jorge: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

Andres: Yeah, so it's very similar.

So you have the crunchy coating, and then they're very smooth in the inside.

Jorge: Oh, got you.

So is the ice cream inside of their gelato?

Andres: Yes.

Jorge: Oh, really?

So you said gelato popsicles.

What's the gelato ice cream on these ones inside?

Andres: So this week we made it with a vanilla gelato, and they have currents of lemon and strawberry.

Jorge: I'mma try the lemon.

This is the paw, little bitty paw.

Oh, that's good.

I love the little lemon zest in it.

Andres: Okay, so here we have our extraction ready.

So we just move this one up.

Jorge: That's it.

Andres: Looks like we made out of chocolate less of the last one.

Then you just have to put it on its place.

Little peek to the inside of the machine.

There you go.

So the bottom just gets frozen, and this one start making turns and it helps to scrape the gelato away and it adds the air.

Jorge: Okay, so we're gonna have one of your coffees right now.

If I had an affogato, what flavor would you recommend for an affogato?

Andres: Tres leches right now is my top for the affogato.

Jorge: I'mma take you up on that.

The affogato, you first have... Andres: Gelato with espresso.

Jorge: Espresso coffee.

Okay, okay.

Look at that, folks.

Look at that.

Your base is always gelato.

That is from Chiapas.

Coffee from Chiapas, right?

Andres: Yeah.

It's a mix of Chiapas and Oaxaca coffee.

We usually let people to do it by themself.

Jorge: Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, folks, this is it, the pour, the pour.

Oh my goodness.

I had to make a little mess.

We have a long tradition of episodes where I'm messing things up.

Do you drink it, or do you scoop?

Andres: You start scooping, but you have to mix a little bit and then just the end you have to drink it.

Jorge: Is that all right?

Andres: Yep.

Jorge: You have to have this.

Oh my goodness.

The mix of bitterness in the coffee with the swee--with the subtle sweetness because gelato is not overly sweet to begin with and now with this even.

Let's give it a little shot.

So after spending a day here at Brown Dog with Brown Dog gelatos and my buddy here Andres, an expert in his own right, it's time to say goodbye.

We hope you enjoyed the show, folks.

See you next time.

Jorge: From the precision of flight training to the craft behind authentic Italian gelato, today showed us the passion driving people to do things the right way.

And as we leave inspired by those chasing their calling, we look ahead to other inspiring stories the next time we get to cross south.

Jorge: Do you think you can make this like a bucket of chicken, like, a big bucket of ge--like, affogato but, like, with, like, you know, one of those big old cups?

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