(gentle music)
Welcome to my world.
(upbeat music)
Two escargots, plantain, frisee.
Two green salads,
Okay plan the sauce here.
Lamb chops, steak frite.
Shouldn't you be
doing something?
Two smoked fillet
and a pepper steak.
Come on make the desserts.
Chocolate tart please.
As a cook,
tastes and smells
are my memories.
And now I'm in
search of new ones.
So I'm leaving New York City
in hope to have a few
epiphanies around the world.
And I'm willing to go to
some lengths to do that.
I'm looking for extremes
of emotions and experience.
I'll try anything,
I'll risk everything,
I have nothing to lose.
God help us, what we
think of in America
when we talk about Mexican food
is again and again
you know tomatoes,
cilantro, a little jalapeño
a squirt of lime, gobs
of sour cream, cheddar
and maybe Monterrey jack
cheese sprinkled on top.
Some crappy refried beans.
It ain't like that at all.
There's a whole spectrum
of flavors and textures
and ingredients that most
of us wouldn't know about.
I came to Mexico to find
this real Mexican food.
Some places I can tell I'm
going to like immediately.
I'm going to like this place.
I'm on my way to Oaxaca.
A beautiful town with
a very sophisticated
maybe the most sophisticated
cuisine in Mexico.
We're going to
the mercado right?
The central market.
Food market and grocery market.
[Anthony] I've enlisted
Martin, my driver
to show me the authentic
side of Oaxaca cuisine.
He's from Mexico City, so
he's a city boy like me.
We can buy some food and
maybe buy a breakfast.
And come chapulines too.
What's a chapuline?
Grasshoppers.
Grasshopper, I don't
know if I'm read for that
for breakfast, why not.
The Oaxacan market is
filled with really gorgeous
surprisingly fresh stuff.
It's a market that smells good.
With a real variety
of things going on.
And like all the best markets,
it's notable for
it's cool food stalls
where there's
great stuff to eat.
And this place is no exception.
[Martin] Eat here?
[Anthony] Right here, sure.
[Martin] They have
everything good.
[Anthony] Chocolate con agua
chocolate con leche.
Chocolate atole is
basically hot chocolate
with a sort of cornmeal texture.
Sort of like tapioca,
but not as thick.
It's almost like a
breakfast porridge.
And the bread's kind of like a
kind of like a brioche.
That's a sweet bread.
I'm kind of liking
this with the corn.
Cause it's thicker.
I tell you if you stand
in here long enough,
you'll take on that original
smokehouse flavor yourself.
There's even a whole
butcher section
where there's meat available
right then and there
for grilling.
You got sausages like
chorizo and morcilla
and they'll grill
it right up for you.
Now this is pretty cool.
This is very cool.
Now what's going on here?
[Martin] You buy by a quarter,
by a half, by a
pound, by a kilo.
And they can start
grilling it for you.
[Anthony] Right.
Now I see over here
somebody's got some
looks like some big
skimpy green onions going.
[Martin] Yeah, big onions.
That's a chorizo there?
This is the chorizo.
Just beef.
This is chimigo tripa da tripes.
I've eaten a lot of
tripes on this trip.
I don't know.
Okay, we'll be back for this.
Oh the hell with it, let's
get a couple of chorizos.
You can pick up your own
vegetables and tortillas,
whatever else you want to grill
right by the butcher station.
So it's sort of a build
your own sandwich joint.
Many many options open to you
as far as which butcher
you want to go to,
which products
you want to bring.
It's fun.
Sort of a kooky concept.
Now what should
we do with these?
Should we get something
to eat with that
or just snack on?
[Martin] No, we can have
a tortilla or just snack on.
I think just a snack.
I want to get a little
light eating this morning.
So that corn hot chocolate.
Oh yeah, that looks good.
Look at a all that nice
red sauce coming out there.
Oh, that's really good.
Spicy
wonderful, oily, greasy, smokey.
That's really good.
What do we owe them?
12 pesos.
[Anthony] I need a little
time to regain my appetite
so we take a moment to
check out the goods.
I've pictured my floor
staff many a time
in exactly this position.
Oh yeah, okay.
Here's where I'm really
getting turned on,
The chili section.
Chili molato.
Chilaquiles Nero
chile pasilla mixe
chile guajillo.
[Anthony] You could do an
entire 22 episodes series
just on the chilies.
There's so many of them.
Each has their own
characteristics,
some of which are very subtle.
You know various stages
of one particular chile
you could get going a big
discussion on that alone.
I don't have the
time or the knowledge
to pursue that subject
as fully as it deserves.
What's the hottest pepper here?
These are dried habaneros.
[Martin] Dried habaneros.
[Anthony] Okay, I
need a bag of those.
My old friend Steven has
some pain on the way.
Ah, grasshoppers.
[Martin] Okay, now you have
to put them in your mouth.
There's little grasshopper,
big grasshopper.
Big grasshopper, top rated?
You just go like that.
These are good.
Where's the flavor coming from?
They put spices?
Garlic, lemon, and salt.
[Anthony] More bugs,
grasshoppers, big deal.
Been there, done that.
It's so last week.
I have a few grasshoppers
at this point,
it's like eating potato chips.
Crunchy.
Mucho gracious.
[Anthony] As if I haven't gorged
on enough odd food already,
Martin tells me the
market has a place
known for it's menudo,
or tripe soup.
I think I need a bowl.
[Martin] It's everything inside.
[Anthony] Make you strong?
[Martin] Very strong,
special for hangovers.
That's one for you.
That's belly, eye.
Good.
[Martin] Heart.
[Anthony] Oh yeah.
Extra heart.
Leg.
The leg, right.
Lech.
Leg?
Lech.
Mouth.
Good, lips, lips.
[Martin] Belly, liver, and head.
[Anthony] Menudo's a
lot like peasant dishes
in other countries.
It's strange bits of meat,
some crunchy vegetables,
and some hot broth
to warm it up.
Wow, oh yeah.
There you go.
That's a meal.
That's good.
Add this and a little lime,
a little more chilies,
I like it spicy.
This nuclear.
I don't know if there's
a hoof or a snout.
The menudo is incredible.
It may look like something
from Texas Chainsaw Massacre,
but the dramatic variety
of textures tastes great
floating around in
the spicy meaty broth.
That singing group
of adorable tikes
is named after a big
heap of steaming guts.
It's true.
I can't be within 500
miles of sun and sand
and not spend a
day at the beach.
So I begged Martin to take
me to the coastal town
of Puerto Angel.
(festive music)
Looks like a swordfish cause
it has the head cut off.
Puerto Angel is a
fishing community.
Cleaned up, ready to go.
Looks good to me.
Lunch.
As in so many
fishing communities,
people recognize the
boats from way out.
Soon as a boat comes in,
they come in quick and everybody
runs to get the best fish.
Some of this goes to the
market for wholesale.
A lot of it is just
bought by the locals
to bring home and take care
of their own fish needs.
Since I was at the beach,
I decided to go snorkeling.
Which seemed like a
good idea at the time.
In case we need
to cook something,
we need a lighter.
[Anthony] I got one.
But now, looking back it
was just another pointless
venture in television
entertainment.
The plan was to have the
buff, brown and studly.
Chef Bourdain go
diving in the water
and come up with a snapping
monster sized fish.
Followed by a photogenic
scene of me grilling fish
in a woolly sweater on the
beach over an open fire.
In fact it was a
spinally, pencil necked,
flabby assed and semi
nauseated chef Bourdain
tenuously waiting in
the freezing water
with a wirey Mexican
guy named Leo.
He basically line
fishes while snorkeling.
He dives down, finds a big one
and then tries to sucker him in.
We're out there in our snorkels,
and he dives like 25 feet down.
He's down there for a long time.
I get around half way down
before my ears are going nuts
and I've got to come
up and get some air.
Two and a half packs a day.
As so often is the case
that debacles like this,
after 20 rip roaring
minutes of pointless idiocy,
we wrapped up this
exercise and ran over
to the nearest beach bar.
Where we ordered up the
fabulous fiesta of frozen fish.
At this point, I don't
care if I'm eating.
Mrs. Paul's fish sticks.
Food always tastes good
when you've got sand
between your toes.
Okay, I'm ready for
the hot tub scene.
So Leo's telling
me that the iguana
is actually everyday food.
He says every third
day of his life
he goes hunting with a dog.
The dog roots out
an iguana for him.
Grabs one of these suckers,
I guess grills them up.
I don't know
we're going to have to
get this story over again.
So I decide to take
Leo's recommendation
and ask the host of our hotel
to serve up this specialty.
[Host] He wants to die.
I mean look at how
peaceful he is.
[Anthony] Let me describe
eating an iguana to you.
First of all you look at
this leathery, wrinkled,
nasty old thing
and you're thinking
you know that can't taste good.
So he hands it off to
his sister in law to cook.
Maybe the worst thing
I've eaten in my life.
After stabbing it in the brain
and roasting it in a flame
so she can peel the skin off.
They boil it in
this scummy water.
In one hour it gets cooked.
We can start making the tamales.
And then they put
it inside a tamale.
(festive music)
and I mean, it's like
I unwrap this thing
and it's like what
the f♪♪♪ is that?
What part do I eat?
It's very tough.
It's covered with skin.
You can feel the little
bones inside there
and the meat is sort of rubbery
but chicken like.
It tasted exactly the
way you would think,
if you've ever kept fish
and you know you clean
your tank after nine years,
that sort of nasty greasy sludge
at the bottom of the tank,
that's kind of
how iguana tastes.
It was under cooked and
when I finally managed
to suck a few
strands of meat out,
I'm sorry I did.
It tastes like chicken.
Unbelievably horrible.
Worst episode ever.
The corn meal gets iguana taste.
I just want to die.
I mean really really bad.
I want to dip my head
into a bucket of lye
after this meal.
You know pull my eyes
out of their sockets
and jump off a cliff.
We're going to visit
this woman, Dominga.
Who's famous for her
traditional oaxacan tamales
made with banana leaves
instead of corn husks.
(rooster crowing)
You walk in and the
first thing I notice
are the smells.
The smell of incredible
food cooking al fresco
competes with livestock
and animal dung.
Flies are everywhere.
There are chickens
running around my feet.
And I'm thinking great what
have I gotten myself into.
Perhaps to ease my nervousness,
she allows me to
taste her mole negro
that's been simmering
all morning.
Oh, that's really good.
Wow
I'm looking forward to this.
That's fantastic.
Dominga then gets ready
to toast the banana leaves
on a small portable
stove called a comal.
The comal is the flat
surface they toast peppers,
herbs, and things like that on.
There are two ways
of making the leaves,
you can boil them in the water,
or grilled in the comal.
I have banana leaves in
my restaurant in New York.
These are for garnish.
If you don't do
this, they don't work.
You cannot bend them, they break.
You toast them a little first.
[Martin] You toast them, yeah.
[Anthony] So we watch
Dominga make about a zillion
of these toasted banana leaves.
Next was the arduous task
of preparing the corn
for a trip to the much
anticipated molena.
[Martin] That's the
corn cold mixed tamale.
You have to wash it very well.
[Anthony] Okay, we're
going to the mill.
This more than anything
else is the reason,
that Oaxacans point
to as the most visible
reason why their
region is special,
because this is still a
really powerful tradition.
They bring their own chocolate,
their own corn,
coffee
other dry ingredients
and even wet ingredients
to the mill and grind
it up, old style.
This dates back to
pre Hispanic times.
The mill is an essential
facet of village life
in rural Mexico.
It's a big stone
wheel grinding against
another big stone wheel
until the stuff is ground
into a very smooth paste.
The paste is added
slowly to stock
and simmers to make
the final mole sauce.
There are usually two mills,
one for wet ingredients such
as peppers to make mole,
and another for dry ingredient,
like corn to make cornmeal.
We watched Dominga grind
her freshly washed corn
into cornmeal.
Dominga came
earlier this morning
to have her own peppers
ground into paste
for the mole we tasted
just a few moments ago.
Gracias.
[Anthony] So once Dominga
gets back from the mill
with her freshly
ground cornmeal,
she places it in a mixing bowl,
adds some rendered
pork fat and water,
and mixes it by hand.
So I heard chimas
and maise, same?
It's the same, it's the same.
[Anthony] Once again,
she checks the mole.
Chicken which has been simmering
with fresh garlic and and egg
is now ready to be shredded.
The smells are incredible.
Next she pats dry each of
the toasted banana leaves.
And prepares the fire
in her little shed
to steam the tamales.
I can recognize a
steamer when I see one.
Finally she's able to
assemble the tamales
with all of these
amazingly fresh ingredients
she's been preparing
all morning.
Fist a little of the corn
meal paste, the masa.
Then a little of the chicken,
topped with some of the mole,
then tightly wrapped.
[Martin] Tamales
are used for breakfast
or for supper.
That's some
serious eating there.
Next Dominga steams the
tamales for about 30 minutes.
(guitar)
Looks like the tamales
have finished cooking.
And finally ready to eat.
Seems like Martin
gets the first sample.
Mm mm, wow.
[Anthony] This is living.
Okay that looks good.
Yeah, that's not
good, that's great.
That's really good.
That's really really fine.
Good for hangovers.
Got to be.
This is fantastic.
Like no tamale I've ever had.
Light years better.
Better than anything I've
ever had in the past.
Really good.
Flies don't necessary
mean bad food.
In fact, sometimes
flies seem to indicate
really good food.
You don't want to smell animal
dung where you're cooking.
But it's not an
impediment to a good meal.
Dominga's a good
example of this.
Forget about every
Mexican restaurant
you've ever eaten in,
this is food.
Fresh in maybe original
old school way.
I'm going to have to have
another one of these.
Little piece, missed a piece.
Oh yeah.
(energetic music)
Posole, that's where
we're going right?
Posole right.
Right, yeah.
And this place is supposed
to be really good.
It's supposed to be good.
[Anthony] Martin's heard
about a great place for posole.
It's pork and corn soup,
which I love.
Those tacos look good.
Look I was going to have posole,
but these tacos are
looking really good.
And that looks like
chopped up ham.
[Martin] Exactly.
Cheeks, snout ears,
all the good stuff.
Clearly popular joint.
Alright.
Sometimes street food
is the best food.
Posole por senor.
[Anthony] As you see,
families flock here
for a simple but hardy meal.
This restaurant's got it all,
this exactly the
place I like to eat
when going out to dinner.
And just the type of
companions I'm looking for.
(crying)
This guy makes tacos faster
than I can say tequila.
(foreign language)
It's the texture, the meatiness,
the intensity of the
flavor and the freshness
that make this
the ultimate taco.
The best pork taco
I've ever had.
It's wonderful.
This is a good example actually
of you go looking for one thing
and you find another thing.
I went looking for posole
and found some
really great tacos.
And one more.
Great.
Martin's outdone himself.
Shown me all the good spots.
So it's only fair
I treat him to some
friendly shots of mezcal,
a close cousin of tequila.
No what's a chaser they call?
Sangrita.
Sangrita, little blood.
So a little mezcal,
a little blood,
sounds like a nice mix.
(Mariachi music)
[Martin] Cuatro,
sangritas cuatro.
Mezcal has a worm you see.
[Anthony] Does that really work?
If you eat the worm?
No, no no.
[Anthony] No, that's
highly overrated by the way.
Never did anything for me.
They say the worm at
the bottom of the bottle
of mezcal makes you hallucinate.
Okay first the lime,
little maguey worm, pepper?
They don't just use salt,
they use ground up
maguey worms and salt
as a condiment.
Mmm good.
A hot sauce chaser, or sangrita
to kill the worm taste
my stomach's saying
what the hell.
Let's do that again.
Why am I drinking this?
Uh, to get drunk.
To take the pain away
and the humiliation.
I see where this
evening's going.
Will I never learn?
Never challenge a native
to the local fire water.
If I start singing,
hit me the nearest
hit me with this and just
drag me back to the hotel.
You want another one, no,
you want another one?
Cuatro.
[Anthony] I'm enjoying myself.
Trading shot for
shot with Martin.
But I fear that this
evening will end badly.
Despite my unfortunate
foray into the world
of reptilian cuisine,
this has been a real
learning experience.
Mexican cuisine, in
particular Oaxacan cuisine,
is complex and time consuming,
but it's worth it.
