This is what you'll want to eat while watching Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico

The award-winning actress takes us on a food tour of the land of her ancestors.

Eva Longoria with Celia Floria in Oaxaca. Credit: Ramona Rosales / TM / WarnerMedia

— See Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico Monday nights 8.30pm 18 December to 22 January on SBS Food. The series is also streaming now at SBS On Demand. —

"Not only lots of flavour but lots of culture," says Eva Longoria, as she bites into one of Guadalajara's most popular street foods, a torta ahogada: a bread roll stuffed with meat, refried beans and tomato salsa.

It's true of a lot of the delicious dishes the actress, activist and director tries in Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico, a six-part series that takes her across the country, exploring the land of her ancestors. And if the title sounds a little familiar, that's because it was inspired by the Emmy award-winning series Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, and Tucci served as executive producer on this Mexican adventure.

In the series, Longoria describes herself as a 'Texican' - "born and bred in Texas with Mexican-American roots". Very proud of her Mexican heritage, she calls the country her second home. In this series, she meets local cooks and producers, discovers old favourites and new dishes and explores how food plays a key part in the culture and history of different regions.

Eva Longoria enjoys an ice cream whilst walking through central Jalisco. Credit: CNN

It might make you hungry – here's what we suggest you might want to eat as you devour each episode.

Episode 1: Jalisco

There’s a saying that “Jalisco is Mexico and Mexico is Jalisco”, because so much of what is seen as typically 'Mexican' – charro cowboys, mariachi bands, tequila – all originated here. But there's so much more to explore, as Longoria discovers. The state capital, Guadalajara, is Mexico’s second city and prides itself on being a city of innovation. While Eva enjoys traditional birria stew with the charros, plus the local torta ahogada, and meets the fiercely proud Coca people defending their ancient heritage, she also meets some of the state’s most cutting-edge chefs. She also heads to Jalisco’s region of Tequila, to sample the national drink.

Watch it with:

Jalisco-style birria (slow-cooked lamb)

Credit: Pati's Mexican Table

In this recipe lamb marinated in a rich adobo is cooked to tender perfection, then served up with a rich salsa. Or try a Guadalajaran goat birria.

“Drowned” spicy shredded beef rolls (tortas ahogadas con carne deshebrada)

Birote, the bread that is traditionally used for this sandwich, is quite dense, with a thick, hard crust, which prevents the roll from falling apart in your hands. The sandwich can be served either ahogadas – completely submerged in the spicy salsa – or media ahogada – partially submerged. It can also be stuffed with shredded roast pork.

Episode 2 Nuevo Leon

The northeastern state of Nuevo Leon borders Texas, so this is a voyage of familiarity for Texas-born Eva. In the modern, metropolitan state capital Monterrey, Eva finds much in common with her home state. From the familiar ranch-style beans served at the carne asada she attends, to the delicious breakfast tacos, prepared to feed the hungry workers that built Highway 85 linking Nuevo Leon and Texas, similarities are everywhere. The rough, arid mountains surrounding the city mean that little grows here so this is a state where meat is on every menu. And centuries of surviving in such a harsh terrain means the people here are hardworking and resilient. Eva also discovers how culinarily creative chefs can be in Nuevo Leon.

Watch it with:

Cowboy’s beans (frijoles charros)

For a hearty and tasty bean dish, it's hard to go past frijoles charros, or “cowboy’s beans”. Though the dish usually features salty pork in the form of bacon, ham or chorizo, the true flavour comes from the beans, which are simply cooked, seasoned, and then spiked with chilli. 

Episode 3 Yucatan

Eva Longoria and chef Regina Escalante cook sea bass on the beach at La Palapa. Credit: CNN

Eva travels to the Eastern edge of Mexico, to the lush jungles of Yucatan State, home of the ancient Maya. One of the great civilisations of Central America, the Maya, thrived here until the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s. Here there is a fierce pride in that ancestry which permeates every local custom and dish. Even top chef Roberto Solis’ cutting-edge black recado tasting menu pays homage to the Maya spice mix. But the people of Yucatan will not be hurried: dishes like the famous cochinita pibil, or marinated pork, are cooked underground for eight hours. Eva also visits the beach to cook with local chef Regina Escalante.

Watch it with:

Achiote-roasted pork (cochinita pibil)

Achiote-roasted pork (cochinita pibil) Credit: Benito Martin

Traditionally, cochinita pibil is cooked in the ground, but in this home-kitchen-friendly version, banana leaves are used to steam the pork, which imparts a delicate and unique flavour.

Episode 4 Veracruz

The crescent-shaped state of Veracruz hugs the Atlantic coastline along the Gulf of Mexico. Arriving at the port of Veracruz, Eva walks in the footsteps of her ancestor, Lorenzo Longoria, who arrived in this exact spot 400 years ago, just a century after the first conquistadors. Veracruz became the gateway between Mexico and the rest of the world and some of Mexico most loved ingredients passed through this region. While the conquistadors brought in spices, oranges and coffee, Mexico gifted chocolate, tomatoes and even vanilla to the world’s kitchens, all via Veracruz. Over the centuries Veracruz was subject to constant invasion, indigenous power struggles and African slavery. These seismic events gave the Veracruzanos a defiant spirit that lives on today, through their character, their music and the big, bold flavours of their food.

Veracruz also produces about one-quarter of Mexico's coffee, and the episode also sees Eva embrace her love of coffee with a visit to one of Mexico's oldest cafes, and to a coffee plantation.

Red snapper with Veracruz-style sauce (huachinango a la Veracruzana)

Veracruz was the first place in Mexico that Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés set foot in 1521, and its port remains a melting pot of cultures as reflected in its food. This recipe of red snapper cooked with the Spanish ingredients of olives, olive oil and capers melds beautifully with the ingredients native to Mexico: tomato and chillies.

Pecan and cinnamon doughnuts with coffee anglaise (buñuelos)

Source: SBS / SBS Food

The Mexican buñuelo is a descendant of Spanish churros and comes in many forms: a flat stretched disc of dough, a classic ring-shaped doughnut or a simple ball. Usually scented with anise and soaked in brown sugar syrup, this twist on the recipe adds pecans and coffee anglaise.

Episode 5 Mexico City

In this episode, Eva shows us around her adopted second hometown, Mexico City. This is where she met her husband, Pepe, and where they love to spend time with their son, Santi. She takes us on her daily ritual to a local bakery where she devours a delicious, freshly baked concha. Then, heads to the historic center to meet up with food writer Gabriela Renteria where they sample the ‘lifeblood’ of Mexico City… tacos. Eva also treats her four-year-old son, Santi to churros and chocolate at one of Mexico City’s most popular Churrerias, El Moro. But when you live in one of the world’s biggest cities, there’s always more to explore. Eva travels by boat down a network of Aztec canals to discover an ancient floating vegetable garden with Lalo Garcia, one of Mexico’s top chefs. Positioned right in the centre of Mexico, this city has drawn on centuries of migration for its many food influences. There is tacos al pastor, which stems from Middle Eastern shawarma, Contramar restaurant’s pescado a la talla, made with Italian salsa verde, churros, which were brought from Spain, and even a new fusion of Mexican-Japanese cuisine in the city’s newest district of Little Tokyo.

Watch it with:

Tacos al pastor

Credit: Angie Mosier/Andrews McMeel Publishing

The spicy-sweet flavour of these meat and pineapple tacos make these a hugely popular street food. The meat is usually cooked on a bit of rotating spite. This version marinates pork pieces overnight and then cooks them in a searingly hot pan to replicate some of the street-food flavours. Or if you'd like to make everything from scratch, including the tortillas, or you'd like to turn your tacos into gringas, take a look at Pati Jinich's recipe, here.

Churros with chocolate custard sauce

Churros with chocolate-custard sauce Credit: China Squirrel

Across Mexico, Spain and the many other countries that appreciate this crunchy fried delight, churros come in various shapes. It's usually made with a star-shaped piping nozzle, which gives the pieces their distinctive look and contributes to the delicious crunch. Try the thin, elegant churros pictured above, which are served with a chocolate-custard sauce; an eggless variation, served with a rich, salted chocolate sauce; chocolate churros with chocolate fudge sauce; or for an Indian spin on things, chai masala churros.

Episode 6 Oaxaca

Eva Longoria and farmer Ponciano Mendez with corn on his farm, from Longoria's visit to Oaxaca in Searching for Mexico. Credit: Ramona Rosales / TM / WarnerMedia

Eva travels to Southern Mexico to experience the magic of Oaxaca, hidden away between three mountain ranges and the Pacific. Once a trading post on the ancient trade routes through Central America, Oaxaca became the home of chocolate and remains so today. But Oaxaca also boasts an abundance of its produce: it’s believed to be the birthplace of Mexico’s most ubiquitous ingredient, corn, as well as the much-loved stringy quesillo cheese. Eva visits a corn farmer and learns how to make quesillo. The people of Oaxaca, however, don’t live in the past, they draw on this wealth of ingredients to create new and inventive dishes attracting a global crowd of diners in the know. Celebrity chefs dominate the region, such as Celia Florian whose quesillo cheese with crickets and edible flowers is a delight to Eva.

Watch it with:

Chicken tostadas with quesillo cheese (tostadas de pollo)

In a Mexican kitchen, nothing goes to waste. This recipe is a great way to up tortillas and leftover chicken.

Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico is streaming now at SBS On Demand.

Stream free On Demand

Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico

series • 

cooking

M

series • 

cooking

M