>> Pati Narrates: Behold the beloved Sinaloan tomato, one of Sinaloa's biggest exports.

Every day thousands of pounds of tomatoes just like these are sent down the conveyor belt into packaging to be shipped off all over Mexico and the U.S.

But look closer.

This belt is rigged with highly sensitive lasers trained to search for only the ripest, most perfect tomatoes.

Only those will make it to your table.

Think of the technology that went into this!

And not just tomatoes.

I don't think I knew that blueberries grew in Sinaloa.

All produce here in Sinaloa is big business.

Sinaloa is known as Mexico's breadbasket.

Here in Northern Mexico conditions are just about as perfect as it gets for farming throughout the year.

These farms produce about 40% of Mexico's fruits and vegetables and send even more to the U.S.

This Sinaloan farm life is pure inspiration in my kitchen.

So this is gonna be really good.

First, my take on a Mexican classic, Birria, to make hearty tacos to chase with that birria broth.

Mmm.

Mhmm!

Mhmm.

To honor Sinaloa's produce bounty, a fresh and surprising salad with mango, tomatillo, basil and jalapeno.

And it is to die for.

Then the perfect compliment to that birria, one of Mexico's favorite desserts, a creamy flan covered in caramel.

And that makes me very happy and it should make you very happy.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Pati Narrates: Marta and her family run a very traditional dairy farm.

>> Pati: Okay, so this is the base, this is how they start every different kind of cheese they have.

>> Pati: So it's two - well three, she's gonna be the forth generation.

It's made here then put in the fridge.

And it is the what that gets put in the fridge that is the subject of all this activity around me.

>> Pati: So the stones act as a press.

Rancho to table >> Chef: Rancho to table.

>> Pati: Oh that's the ricotta cheese!

She's brushing the bottom of the pot to get the solids out, and then what floats is ricotta cheese.

>> Pati Narrates: Not only are they busy making cheese, they've made lunch too!

>> Pati: Mmm!

I'm so impressed with the richness.

Pati: Spending time with Marta and her family on their farm got me thinking about some of Mexico's most traditional out in the country meals, and one that stands out is birria.

birria is so, so, so, intrinsicaly Mexican.

birria is traditionally made with goat.

to make birria you need meat that has bone and fat you don't want lean meat.

So in here I have 5 pounds of goat meat that has been soaking with cold water, 1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar, and 2 tsp of salt.

So it's been soaking here for half an hour and this is gonna help tame the gaminess of the meat.

Now I'm gonna drain it and rinse it with cold water.

You wanna rinse it very well.

I'm gonna put it in this pot.

Now I'm gonna cover it with 3 quarts of water.

Gonna get it going, going to add 4 tsp of salt.

So the birria is something that people cook overnight in Mexico, and I tested so many different ways with tomatoes, different kinds of chiles, with onions, with spices, and I realized that the simplest one I tried, which is the one I'll make for you, was definitely the best, and the secret to being so good was just time.

Once the foam starts rising here we remove it with a spoon.

It doesn't have to be all, but as much as you can.

We're gonna cover it at medium heat and let it cook for 2 hours.

Pati: Yes!

It's been 2 hours and now we're going to add just 2 crucial ingredients.

The first one is avocado leaves, but it's been dried, and we're going to lightly toast it, here I have a comal.

I'm gonna use 5 avocado leaves.

If you tasted an avocado leaf that's fresh or dried it would taste like nothing really, but after you lightly toast it, and we're going to just put it in here, it's going to fully develop an anise-like flavor, a little bit like licorice, it's just very fragrant, flowery, and goes really well with gamy meats.

I have 10 guajillo chiles that I cooked here for 10 minutes until they rehydrated and plumped up, and I'm also adding a cup of cooking liquid.

(blender whirs) Pati: Just look at the intensity of the color of just one ingredient!

So I realized after testing so many ways to make birria that the simplest recipe is really the best.

So I'll cook this for 2 hours and when I'm done it will all have come together and you are going to see how that meat looks.

>> Pati Narrates: With a birds-eye view, it's easy to see why Sinaloa is known as Mexico's bread basket.

But the view from the ground - Woah!

Tells the same story.

David was kind enough to offer me a tour of his family's farming operation.

He was born to be a farmer.

>> David: I think this was one of my dreams when I was little.

I love eating tomatoes, and I always saw different people that were very successful because they grew tomatoes.

>> Pati: And why tomatoes?

>> David: There's a huge market in the states for Mexican tomatoes, and because you can grow tomatoes year-round in Mexico.

>> Pati Narrates: I don't know if you realize this, but take a look in your refrigerator, or on that fast food burger, or in that can of tomato sauce on the shelf.

There's a good chance those tomatoes were grown right her in Mexico, in Sinaloa.

The climate and conditions here are beyond ideal.

Wow, this is beautiful!

I wanna get married in something like this.

>> David: We pick them when they're this color because it has to go across the border, and then to the actual store.

>> Pati: So how long from here to me?

>> David: 5 - 7 days.

>> Pati: And in those 5 - 7 days the tomato continues to ripen off the vine?

>> David: Yes, correct.

>> Pati: Okay, that one's a little bigger.

Mmm, mmm.

Mmm!

Pati Narrates: And outside the greenhouse, delicious produce is as abundant as it is inside.

I don't think I knew that blueberries grew in Sinaloa.

>> David: Actually this is one of the first blueberry farms in Sinaloa.

So look at that.

>> David: Big and sweet.

>> Pati: Gigantic!

Mmm.

Mhmm!

You were telling me that you have good weather, good soil, and that you have good people.

What do you mean by that?

>> David: They're honest and hardworking people.

They will look you in the eyes and tell you exactly what they think without any filters.

Also what makes good people in Sinaloa is they know about agriculture, they have it in their DNA.

>> Pati Narrates: You may have picked up on a common theme here in Sinaloa.

Tomato growers, dairy farmers, sellers in the market, they all have one thing in common, pride.

Back in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, I have the pleasure of discussing this idea of Sinaloan identity with none other than the first lady of Sinaloa, Miss Rosy Fuentes de Ordaz.

is how people are so proud of Sinaloa.

This sense of passionate pride seems very Sinaloan.

>> Pati Narrates: Surrounded by miles and miles of bountiful farmland, the citizens of Culiacan can enjoy Sinaloa's perfect growing climate in the heart of the city at the fascinating botanic garden.

Hola!

Pati: Why fascinating?

Because within the 25 acres of the Culiacan Botanical Garden, there are over 1800 species of plants and 39 unique works of art, the most famous of which is "Encounter" a sky space by James Turrell.

We actually aren't allowed to show you the ceiling from inside this incredible dome, but take it from me.

And it isn't just international artists that are featured here.

The first thing I'm thinking is "what is a crashed car doing here?"

(laughs) >> Guide: He's using this icon to explain the end of the Volkswagen here in Mexico, so he made the travel from Mexico City all the way here in Culiacan, then he came and crashed it in the - >> Pati: Stop!

>> Guide: Yes (laughs) >> Pati: You can see the video of the car being crashed into the tree on the internet.

>> Guide: The idea of this piece of art is so that it decomposes and all the surrounding plants to take over.

>> Pati Narrates: Being here in Sinaloa, it's easy to understand just how deep, how strong, how passionate the Sinaloan pride is about everything they love in their land.

>> Pati: I have my birria cooking back there, and you know what goes really well with it?

Flan, so I'm going to begin by making my caramel.

The one thing that you need to know about making caramel is you need patience and attention because caramel is incredibly jealous, it requires all your attention.

If you stop looking at it for a little bit, it just burns.

So I have the sugar and a steady source of heat, and it has to be low.

The flan I'm going to make is the flan that you find in most restaurants and fondas and most Mexican homes, and it is the easiest to make.

I'm adding a can of evaporated milk.

A can of sweetened condensed milk.

I'm keeping an eye on my caramel.

You want to swirl it as it starts melting.

So you can see it's shaped like sand dunes, and then they start melting.

So I'm gonna crack 4 eggs, eggs go in here.

Caramel is about to be ready in 3, 2, 1, and what I do now that the caramel is ready, pour the caramel quickly into my molds, and I swirl it so that I get caramel not only on the bottom, but also a little on the sides because that means that my flan will have more caramel.

So in here we have a can of evaporated milk, a can of sweetened condensed milk, 4 eggs, 1 tbsp of vanilla, and I'm adding 4 ounces of cream cheese, and this is called "Flan Napolitano" I'm gonna puree this until completely smooth.

(blender whirs) That's it!

This is looking super homey and delicious.

Now I'll put the flans in here.

So I have water that I heated here, and I want to get up to half way the height of the molds.

Baking the flans in a water bath makes the cooking process very even and smooth, and it doesn't let any cracks happen.

The other thing we need is to cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.

So I have my oven at 350 degrees and I'm gonna bake this in there from 45 - 50 minutes.

I was thinking about the bounty of ingredients in Sinaloa and how the tomatoes seem to be plumper, and the onions juicier, and the jalapenos feistier, and the fruit so sweet and juicy, and it made me wanna come up with a new salad that used ingredients I've never mixed together like tomatillo, tomato and mango, and it is to die for.

So to begin I'm going to make a vinaigrette that ties it all together.

I'll thinly slice about 1/4 cup of red onion.

Jalapeno.

2 tbsp of unseasoned rice vinegar, you have to make sure it's unseasoned because it tastes completely different when it's natural.

2 tbsp of vegetable oil.

2 tbsp of olive oil.

2 tbsp of freshly squeezed lime.

1 tsp of salt.

Black pepper.

And we're gonna let this macerate for a little just while I cut the fruit, and what's gonna happen is even though the red onion is gonna soak in this liquid, instead of getting faint and soft, it's gonna get crunchier, and the jalapeno is going to start absorbing the sweetness from the rice vinegar, and the flavor from the lime juice so this is gonna be really good.

And now I'm just gonna cut my fruit and vegetables, I'm gonna do 2 ripe mangoes.

I'm cutting it by the cheeks, or so we say.

In Spanish we say that these are the cheeks.

I'll start just putting them here on my platter.

You would not think of putting a tomato and a mango together, but they go so well together because they have a very different kind of tart, a very different kind of sweet, and they have a very different kind of juicy.

I wanna add 3 tomatillos.

I'll pour the vinaigrette here, and we want all of this, even the last jalapeno seed.

then I'll top it all off with a handful of freshly chopped basil.

I need a little bit of everything.

Mmm, mmm, mmm!

Mhmm.

It is so good!

The mango is so sweet and the tomato is so juicy and the tomatillo is so tart and the vinaigrette just binds it all together, at the end I get the punch of the jalapeno that has marinated in the lime juice.

You need to make this salad!

My flan has to be ready by now so I'm going to check on it.

Yes, yes, yes!

The flan is ready, so I'll just leave it here to cool before I put it in the fridge.

After they've had a chance to cool, set them in the fridge for at least an hour.

And now I can check on my birria.

And it does look like it's super ready, and you can see how the colors have completely transformed, and this is really a sight to behold cause look at the color of the broth.

And everybody agrees that you need corn tortillas.

I have the cilantro.

Now I'm chopping some of the onion.

Squeeze some lime juice.

So I'm breaking the meat, and you can see how the meat is just falling apart.

I get my tortillas, and then I assemble a taco.

Let me taste the meat on its own.

Mmm.

So intense but in a beautiful way because the flavor of the avocado leaf has completely cut through.

I mean, it has just so much personality, and what I'll do right now, I add a little avocado, some cilantro and onion, and then I add a little bit of the birria on the taco.

Mmm!

This is what I'm missing.

You need to add serrano or jalapeno too.

Mmm, mhmm, mhmm.

And this is so incredibly filling and nurturing and such an incredible experience.

See, the great thing about flans is you can just take one whenever you want because they're waiting for you in the refrigerator.

To un-mold the flan it's a great idea to dunk a knife in water, and then you're gonna run the knife around the edges of the flan like this - oh!

And you can see as I'm going in how the flan starts to release, and you can also see the caramel that is dying to come out!

And that makes me very happy, and it should make you very happy.

Oh... Mmm.

mhmm!

It is so creamy, so smooth, and as I'm eating it, I taste the contrasting clash between the super smooth and creaminess of the flan and the nice super welcoming taste of that almost bitter and almost burnt browned caramel, it's just so delightful.

Between that bright, refreshing salad and that hearty and really filling meal with birria, this creamy and just nurturing dessert really shows just a little taste of everything Mexico has to offer.

>> 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.