[instrumental music plays] -[Pati V.O.]

I'm in the last leg of this epic adventure.

This is the northernmost part of Coahuila, just shy of the Texas border.

It is also where the line between our two cultures begins to blur.

Night falls at the rodeo.

Cowboys and vaqueros from both sides of the border, the US and Mexico, compete against each other.

This is serious business.

These cowboys are the real deal.

There is much anticipation and ceremony before the show begins.

-[Rodeo host] Yes, sir!

-[Rodeo host] Whoa!

-[Pati V.O.]

The energy, the rodeo is electrifying.

Man versus beast, a spectacle as old as time.

I wonder if the northern beast can really be tamed.

[música animada] Pati's Mexican Table is brought to you by... [música animada] Wells Fargo supports over 3 million small business customers.

[música animada] La costeña, por sabor.

Avocados from Mexico.

[música tranquila] Eggland's Best, available in your grocer's egg aisle.

Visit egglandsbest.com.

[birds chirping] [instrumental music plays] -[Pati V.O.]

It's time to continue onto the last part of my journey.

But first, [flat tire] a little hiccup and a silver lining.

[car horn] [car passing by] This kind gentleman is José Rodolfo Esquivel Lozano, together with Mario Alfredo Peña, are trying to help me with a tire.

-[Pati] Ay, mil gracias.

-[Rodolfo] Nosotros lo marcamos... -[Pati] Ajá.

-[Rodolfo] para que no pierda el -[Rodolfo] balanceo... -[Pati] Okay.

-[Rodolfo] ...cuando voy a desmontar la llanta.

-[Mario] Aquí trae el clavo.

-[Pati V.O.]

Sadly, there's nothing to be done.

José Rodolfo had to leave, but while we sorted out the flat tire, he told me off camera how to make his favorite norteño dish, which I can't wait to share with you, chivo con fideo.

Today, I'm making it with borrego, or lamb.

I have this big pan.

You can use a big casserole, una paellera, something that you can cook many things in and that holds a lot of heat, like this one.

I have it over medium heat, but it's been preheating, so I'm gonna raise the heat now to medium-high, and I'm gonna add some oil.

And then I have lamb.

This is lamb leg that I took the bone off and left some pieces of fat on, because the fat will melt with the oil in here.

If you use lamb, like, from the leg or from the ribs, it's gonna have a lot of flavor because it's close to the bone.

So I'm gonna add it to my oil.

[sizzling sound] Gonna wash my hands.

I'm gonna season the lamb with salt and pepper.

I have kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper.

You can see how the fat from the lamb starts rendering into the fat.

[chopping sound] We browned the lamb.

Now we're cooking the onion.

So I'm gonna finely chop the garlic.

A couple serranos.

The serrano, I think, is much more spicy than the, the jalapeno, so it gives you more bang for your buck.

Mix it with the rest of the ingredients.

Now I'm gonna add the tomatoes.

And you could use, um, a big can of crushed tomatoes, or if you have good ripe tomatoes, you can just chop 'em up, keep the seeds 'cause they have so much flavor, and they're gonna turn into mush, like crushed tomatoes in here anyway.

In Northern Mexico, they use a lot of dried oregano, a lot of cumin, a lot of spices that I wasn't used to when I was growing up in Mexico City, Central Mexico, and I've grown an appreciation for these herbs.

And oregano and lamb go so well together.

So now I'm gonna mix this.

As this happens, I'm going to toast my fideo.

So I have this pan that I've been heating over medium-low heat.

So in Mexico, when we cook fideo or pasta, many times we toast it or we cook it in a little bit of oil first to give it flavor, to give it, like, a layer of, like, a toasty, nutty taste, but it also gives it a coating.

So this is what you get in Mexico.

It's just, like, the very thin pasta already cut into pieces, but you could use angel hair, capellini, and just break it into pieces.

I'm gonna add the pasta, and this is gonna be fast.

We want it to transform and toast.

And as it does, I'm gonna add my broth.

I have chicken broth here.

[sizzling sound] And I don't want the pasta to burn.

You can see how toasting it this way, it changes the texture, and it also adds another layer of flavor to the dish.

Add the pasta.

Some bell peppers.

So now I'm gonna cover it and let it cook for, like, 10 minutes.

I have some bread and some butter, because José Rodolfo told me that this is the way they eat this meal.

It reminds me of the menudo from Ciudad Juarez, which they eat with bolillo or telera instead of tortilla.

It's like a border thing.

And this is like the stew of Coahuila.

So, let's get ready.

[knife slicing bread] Toast some bread.

My comal.

I'm going to prep my garnishes.

Some onion.

A little bit more serrano, and my cilantro that has been waiting this whole time.

Oof.

It's insane!

I wanna turn it off.

Let's build a nice big plate.

And as you can see, it's soupy.

It is like a pozole, like a menudo, like a yum.

I'm gonna dress.

Some cilantro.

Some onion.

Chili.

Mm, mm, mm, mm.

[gasps] Lime.

It's screaming for some lime.

Spread some butter on my toast.

[wine pouring into glass] Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Okay, now I get it.

This is so incredibly rich.

The lamb is just falling apart.

The fideo has texture because of toasting it first.

The broth is just packed full of flavor.

And this is a stellar dish.

Completely unexpected.

Mm.

Sorry.

This, I mean, this was incredible.

But with the butter on toast, in this and this, I don't even know what to say, except salud.

-[Pati V.O.]

Back in Coahuila, after José Rodolfo left, I have to hitchhike my way into Piedras Negras.

I was already late to meet my new friend, Karina De Leon.

-[Pati] Gracias, Oscar.

-[Karina] Hola, bienvenida.

Karina, hermosa, guapísima, bellísima.

-[Pati V.O.]

Karina and her family lead a quiet life in this border city.

Her mom, Patricia Finan Acha, and her daughter, Regina, joined us too.

Their family holds a special legacy, one that has reached every corner of the world, the nacho.

-[Pati] Hice mucha investigación sobre de dónde originaron los nachos.

Tengo un amigo que es de Piedras Negras.

Pero además, me estaba contando Karina que tu abuelita estuvo en el restaurante donde Nacho Aguilar inventó los nachos.

-Así es.

-[Pati] Bueno, pues los nachos ya son famosos alrededor del mundo.

-[Karina] Todo el mundo, se reconocen.

Y aquí se hace la feria del nacho.

-[Patricia] En octubre.

-El Nachos Fest.

-Ajá.

Año con año.

Tienen como 30 años haciéndolo, como es la cuna de los nachos, Piedras Negras.

Y hacen el nacho más grande, que es gigante.

-[Pati] ¿Y le echamos los chilitos ya?

-[Patricia] No.

-[Pati] No.

-[Patricia] Es después.

-[Pati] Ah, es después.

-[Patricia] Fíjate.

-[Karina] ¿Por qué no le pones el jalapeño?

-[Pati] Pues, a mí me gusta con mucho.

-[Pati] ¿Ustedes?

- El tradicional es uno.

-Uno.

-Es uno.

Uno con uno.

-[Pati] Yo que te digo que le pondría cinco a cada uno.

-[Patricia] Okay.

-Sí, sí, se me está haciendo agua la boca.

-[Pati V.O.]

Patricia shared some bits of history of how this modest snack became so popular.

Tu abuelita fue la que los ordenó.

-[Patricia] Sí.

-Y del lado de█ -Mi papá -█tu papá era el█ -Dueño del restaurante █el dueño del restaurante, -del Club Victoria.

-del Club Victoria.

-[Pati] Entonces, en algún momento en la historia, cuando las dos familias se juntaron, ya en la misma familia está -alguien que participó█ -[Patricia] Sí.

-█que probó la invención█ -[Patricia] Sí.

█y alguien que era dueño del lugar en donde se inventó.

-[Patricia] Sí.

Sí.

-Imagínate.

Entonces, estoy en la casa de los nachos, en verdad.

-Claro.

-[Pati V.O.]

t's wonderful to see how the simplest things, coming together in the right place at the right time, can become something extraordinary.

[laughs] -La riqueza de sabor.

Que yo ya, te voy a confesar que yo ya he preparado nachos así cuando estaba haciendo el research, de que la tortilla█ -Okay, okay █el queso de la zona, se supone, y el chile jalapeño, pero no saben así.

-No saben igual.

-No.

-¿Cómo los hiciste tú?

Pues... -Mm.

Yo creo que es el lugar.

[laughs] -[Pati V.O.]

I learned how to make these Basque beans, or frijoles vascos.

I'm using them to make a Basque beans, refried beans tostada with avocado and queso cotija.

Patricia taught me how to make them, and she does some things to the beans that I had never seen before, and they're really delicious.

She adds chile ancho.

Which in Coahuila, they call chiles pisados, or stepped-on chiles.

They call them pisados because they're flattened.

It's not like they're, they're stepping on them.

So what we're gonna do to the chile anchos is we're gonna toast them on this comal that I've been preheating, just until the chiles come back to life.

See?

They start getting, like, blisters all around.

The color begins to change.

And now by toasting them, we're adding another layer of flavor.

Okay, so I'm putting the chiles in the hot boiling water in there.

We want to really rehydrate them, and you'll see the skin will plump up and become really meaty.

So the only thing that I have here is one pound of pinto beans, rinsed, covered in water.

Once they start softening, like now, so it's been like an hour, I'm gonna add salt.

And this is Patricia's secret, apple cider vinegar.

She says it not only adds, like, a splash, clean, bright taste to the beans, but she says it also makes them easier to digest.

I think that the best thing to digest beans is to eat a lot of them.

We're gonna add oil, about three tablespoons.

I'm gonna wait for the oil to heat.

Meanwhile, I'm gonna chop some garlic.

A couple of those makes the garlic easier to peel.

[knife chopping] So I'm gonna add the onion.

[food sizzling] And now I'm gonna add the garlic.

Mix the onion and the garlic.

We don't want it to brown.

And then I'm gonna add tomatoes with the skin on and the seeds.

It's just soften, soften, soften.

This is one potato that I peeled and diced.

Let's throw it in here.

If you want, you can cook the potato and the carrot before, just in salted water.

I did for, like, three, four minutes, but you could also add the potato and the carrot raw.

So this is the first time that I see refried beans that have a base of potatoes and carrots.

And so this is, like, a clear influence of Basque flavors into Mexican refried beans.

Chiles are ready.

They're nice and rehydrated.

You can see how they plump up.

See?

Meaty, juicy.

The vegetables are super soft.

[food sizzling] And now I'm gonna add the beans.

And why pinto beans?

Because pinto beans rule Northern Mexico, and it's a bean that is creamy, that it wants to be sweet, and it can take on different flavors.

Okay, we're gonna add all the beans.

Now, to make refried, you can puree them, or you could also mash them, but I'm gonna make it easy on me, and I'm gonna puree them.

I'm taking the beans here, and I'm also bringing the chiles, because I'm gonna puree them with the beans.

[bowl clanking] [adding ingredients to blender] I'm adding one of the ancho chiles that we rehydrated, and chile cooking broth, because come look at this color.

We don't wanna waste this.

I'm gonna puree this.

[blender whirring] And look at the color, and see how velvety, creamy they are?

I think that's because of the potato.

Mm.

You guys are gonna love this.

And we're not even done yet.

We're gonna refry this in lard to make refried beans, como Dios manda.

I'm using a clay pot, or olla de barro.

This is how you know that lard is freshly rendered, 'cause it looks clunky like this.

You can render your own lard.

All you need to do is cook pork, like pork butt or pork shoulder, and get it with all the fat and just cook it as if you were making carnitas, and the fat that remains is lard.

Just look at the taste.

So we need to wait for this to be really, really hot, which is now, 'cause it's all melted and, like, shattering, chatting.

And refrying the beans is letting the lard or the oil or whatever fat you're using do its thing with the beans.

You can see how they're thickening.

So if you think you're getting to the consistency that you like, stop right there, 'cause the beans will continue thickening.

In Piedras Negras, we ate so many nachos, and I love my nachos with cheese and beans.

So instead of making little nachos, I wanted to make one big nacho, which really is a tostada.

I have cotija cheese, which is Mexico's Parmigiano Reggiano.

I'm gonna slice the avocado.

[knife chopping] It's raining so much right now.

That's so funny.

Okay.

Beans.

I am putting the whole half of the avocado on, though.

Okay.

[crunching bite] Mm.

Mm.

It's so simple and so wonderful and so full of flavor.

The beans, the avocado, the cheese is like the perfect combo.

[crunching] -[Pati V.O.]

Here in Piedras Negras, there's still much to reflect on about life at the border.

Karina and I take to the streets.

-[Karina] Pues este es el gran mercado de Piedras Negras.

-[Karina] ¿Cómo ves si nos boleamos las botas?

-[Pati] Porque me las diste sucias.

Oye, después de la ponchada de la llanta, yo creo que sí amerita para que andes al tiro.

-[Pati] Va, va, va.

-[Karina] Va, va, va.

-[Pati] Hola, ¿qué tal?

-[Karina] ¿Cómo te llamas?

-[Santos] Santos.

-[Pati] Santos, mucho gusto.

-[Karina] Chócala.

Yo también soy Santos.

[risas] -[Pati] Quiero que agarren carácter.

¿Cómo ves?

-[Santos] Pues aquí le damos una limpiadita para que queden bien, cambien de color.

Y que chille.

-[Santos] Como Cantinflas.

-Ah, ¿las hacen chillar cuando las limpian?

- ¿Cómo le hace?

[onomatopeya de limpiador de botas] [risas] Sí, ahí quedaron listas.

-[Pati] ¡Súper!

-[Karina] Estamos.

-[Pati] ¡Súper!

-[Karina] Good.

-[Pati] Yo creo que los pueblos en la frontera son diferentes.

Buenas, buenas.

Tú me lo pones bien.

Sí, te lo pongo.

Para que andemos las dos de sombrero.

Sí.

Te ves muy guapa ahorita.

Tú eres guapa.

-Ay, tú eres guapa.

-Ay, sí.

-[Pati] Ese es el puente.

-[Karina] Y allá está la iglesia de Guadalupe.

-[Pati] ¡Qué bonita!

- Es la iglesia, la más antigua de Piedras Negras.

Este es el centro tradicional de toda la vida de Piedras Negras.

Es exacto también a donde cruza la gente.

Exacto.

Pagas $5 pesos para irte a Estados Unidos por aquí.

Aquí en Piedras Negras, la gente trae dólares y pesos y su visa siempre, porque nunca sabes cuándo se te antoje ir a cruzar.

-[Pati V.O.]

It's almost impossible not to be moved by the energy of this place.

I tried to look beyond the obvious political meaning of the border.

Here, life exists in so many dimensions all at once.

¿¿Aquí le dicen Río Grande o Río Bravo?

Creo que las dos palabras, pero es el Río Bravo.

O sea, los dos.

- Del lado de México creo que es Río Bravo y del lado de Estados Unidos le dicen Río Grande.

- Bueno, aquí puedes hacer el paseo del río.

La gente se va a hacer ejercicio.

Entonces, se ha hecho una zona muy turística en esta parte porque está extenso y tienes una vista muy bonita al río.

Pero verás que el campo de golf está muy bonito.

Es el campo de golf del lado americano.

Y muchos mexicanos se van a jugar, como se van a estudiar -también el lado mexicano.

-Van y vienen todos los días.

-Van y vienen todos los días.

-Y se echan esta cola.

No hay límites.

Más que ya verás el muro que de pronto se pone.

Son los contenedores, el "the wall".

Eso es para evitar la migración.

Obviamente, los, los migrantes que cruzan nadando el río.

Me ha tocado ver familias completas cargando su propia mochilita, el niño en la mano, la mujer, y se cruzan buscando una mejor vida.

-[Pati V.O.]

Karina was living in Mexico City, and left many years ago.

After her father passed away, she decided to carry on his legacy and took over as president of the Cattle Ranchers Association in Piedras Negras.

-[Pati V.O.]

¿Qué te trajo de regreso?

¿Extrañabas o...?

-No, me trajo algo más fuerte, la partida de mi papá.

Yo soy hija única, Pati.

Entonces, me tocó responder a un llamado de, de legado.

Heredé un gran legado de mis padres, de mis abuelos, y estoy ahora a cargo de un rancho ganadero.

Es un legado muy masculino, un patriarcado real.

La mujer está al lado, fiel, pero callada.

-Sí.

Esa fue tu mamá, -tus abuelas.

- Esa fue mi mamá, mis abuelas.

¿Cómo lo ve tu mamá?

¿Cómo lo toma tu mamá?

Eh, está reconociéndose después de enviudar, como pensar que ya mi vida se acabó.

Y le digo: "Mamá, tú sí sabes de ganadería, yo no.

Tú estuviste al lado de mi papá 50 años, estuviste al lado de tu papá otros 20 años.

Te toca a ti.

Quiero que tú tomes decisiones y me enseñes a mí".

Y ahora, dándole la oportunidad a mis hijas que tengan abuela, regresar a [risas] Yo aquí estoy con las dos manos.

Regresar a Piedras Negras y creo que mi papá está muy contento.

Mira, es señal de que aquí anda mi papá.

-Ay, le gustaban mucho.

-Fíjate que siempre veo como animalitos en representación, eh, como que un, un grillo.

Y digo: "Aquí está", porque me, me hace, me hace sentir que me acompaña desde donde está.

-Eras muy cercana a tu papá.

Sí.

-[Pati V.O.]

Although this isn't my first time visiting a border city, Piedras Negras makes me think about what this border means for the people in Coahuila and for the people in Texas.

Two great lands that once were one, each still carrying the memory of the other.

Here, they look each other in the eye and try to remember a time when a river was just a river and the land was boundless.

-[Karina] Este es el mismísimo Río Bravo, que tiene kilómetros y kilómetros de distancia.

Pues está muy vigilado.

Ahorita ya seguramente ya estamos muchas cámaras detrás.

-Hola, bien, ¿y tú?

Muy bien.

-[Pati] Por un lado hay mucha paz, ¿no?

El viento fluye.

Pero yo sí siento una fuerza.

El río, el Río Bravo se siente bravo.

O sea, se siente que sí trae mucha energía, mucha historia, mucha emoción.

O sea, sí se siente.

Yo, yo lo siento fuerte.

Es un río que mucha gente lo quiere conquistar y atravesar, buscando un█ -Una vida mejor, supuestamente.

-Mhm.

Y también ha sido como el símbolo, ¿no?, de la división -de nuestros países -Mhm.

...en la época moderna.

Y es como que aquí algo acaba, -allá algo empieza y viceversa.

-[Karina] Y viceversa.

-[Pati] Pero yo siempre pienso en la frontera como un lugar de reinvención, de posibilidades, de salirte de la caja, de como que de romper labels.

Yo me maravillo cada vez que regreso a otro lugar de México.

Me maravillo cada vez que regreso a mi casa en Estados Unidos y lo comparto allá y aprendo de allá.

Y me encanta tener raíces fuertes en ambos lados, porque yo sí creo que la fuerza está en compartir y en entender.

Y no tienes que ser una sola cosa.

O sea, puedes ser un puente de muchas cosas.

Porque ese caleidoscopio lo traemos todos adentro.

-[Karina] Mhm.

Y decir: "Mira ese puente, ahí en medio".

-[Karina] Mhm.

Párate ahí.

Tal vez es incómodo, -[Karina] Mhm.

pero esa es la realidad.

O sea, mucha gran parte de nuestra vida es una combinación de fuerzas, una combinación de culturas, una combinación de energías y es bellísimo cuando te lo comes en un plato de nachos.

[música recurrente] -[Pati V.O.]

I wonder what it really means to build a bridge.

I think about it in terms of identity.

Lately, I see myself as exactly that, a bridge, a structure that connects two places.

But what interests me most is what's in the middle, the flow of culture between two points, culture that holds so many things: love and longing, food and faith, Spanish and English, trade and labor, hope and hardship, cowboys and vaqueros, mothers waiting for their children, long-lost friends.

I stand here on this bridge, on this dam, so full of meaning.

It's overwhelming just to be here.

I try to focus on something simple: amistad, friendship.

Someone decided to give this bridge that name.

Whether the reason was political is beside the point.

The thing is that it conveys a simple yet powerful message: friendship.

For recipes and information from this episode and more, visit patijinich.com and connect.

Find me on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, Pinterest and YouTube @patijinich.

Pati's Mexican Table is brought to you by... [upbeat music] Wells Fargo supports over 3 million small business customers.

[upbeat music] La costeña, por sabor.

Avocados from Mexico.

[gentle music] Eggland's Best, available in your grocer's egg aisle.

Visit egglandsbest.com.

[birds chirping] Proud to support Pati's Mexican Table on public television.

[instrumental music]