oh my goodness, look at this, this is the biggest piece of cheese i ve ever seen. you know, oaxaca is divided into eight different regions. it gives us the possibility to have all these ingredients. but oaxaca s most famous ingredient, cacao, actually came here via those trade routes. oh, i smell chocolate. and chocolate went on to become a cornerstone of wau hawken gastronomy. if you want your chocolate fix, the mercado is still the place to come. out i m not talking about anything as simple as a sugary snack. this is the boss, el jefe. they make a special version, boss. oaxaca s willy wonkas create bespoke chocolate mixes for their customers to use in cooking. bitter. it is. pure and raw. alex s personal blend combines cinnamon with almonds and a sprinkle of sugar. it s the perfect alchemy for one of his legendary recipes, the luxurious sauce, mole naegro. this is it. we re going to grind this into a paste? iowa. the oil from the nuts turns the d
grill. [ speaking nonenglish ] this is every guy i dated in high school. i m in down town monterey to meet the founder of the mexican society of grill masters. he s invited me to experience the ultimate nuevo leon barbecue. i ve never been to a carne asada in monterey. carne asada literally means grilled meat, but it s come to embody a much loved social ritual. this is where everything happens. today alejandro s whole family has come together. oh, i love that sound. that s my favorite sound in the world. we call it carne asada but we don t have to grill meat every time. it s about the gathering and being together. the fire unites us. this is what happens when you get united by fire. [ speaking nonenglish ] cooking over fire goes all the way back to the nomads, the first people to live in this harsh terrain, constantly moving camp in the hunt for food. but it was the spanish in the 1500s who introduced hardy breeds of cattle that thrived in nuevo leon, and for them bee
Always these mountains. I feel so small. Literally the land of mountains. Thats what it means, king. Mountains. Im in northeast mexico. You see the mountains and the rocks, this terrain is not easy on the people. Its very, very tough living. And because of that, theyve had to be very innovative with their cuisine. Im eva longoria, Born And Bred in texas with Mexican American roots which makes me a texican. Im exploring mexico to see how the people, their lands, and their pasts have shaped a culinary tradition as diverse as its 32 states. It is so huge. So rich and wonderful. The food is the food i grew up with. Its like every childhood memory is wrapped up in a Flour Tortilla for me. The chefs are inventive and resourceful. Transforming simple ingredients into mouthwatering classics. You guys need a tamale. And ageold recipes into culinary works of art. One bite. One bite . Go ahead and say adios to vegetables for a while. This is the land of meat. This is definitely a mexican kitchen
mexican american. we ve been in texas for 13 generations. we never crossed the border. the border crossed us, and i think that s why i have so much in common with nuevo leon in the north. it s so similar to how i grew up in nuevo leon and texas were once part of the same country. ruled by spain and then by mexico, in 1845 the u.s. annexed what would become the lone star state. but the people of nuevo leon and texas still have so many shared tastes. nowhere is this more present than in the state capital monterey, the industrial hub of the north east. the locals are nicknamed meaning royals. they are hardworking and ambitious. and when the daily grind is over, just like us texans, they like nothing better than throwing some steak on the
[ speaking non-english ] yeah, in the north it s one of the only places that had tacos for breakfast, and in texas we have breakfast tacos, and those are the only places you can ever get a taco in the morning. super regional. i grew up with breakfast tacos. it was actually a road linking monterey in the 1920s when a cafe owner invented this snack to feed hungry construction workers. today highway 85 carries the bulk of goods. and the tacos are still just as popular.