Radio Times

Review by:

David Butcher

We've learnt how the Mexicans love Worcester sauce, now we learn of another unlikely British connection. Empanadas — those great stuffed tortilla parcels — are as Mexican as Mariachi bands, right? Wrong!

Presenter Thomasina Miers explains that when Cornish miners came to Mexico looking for silver, they brought with them two exports that would have a big influence on the culture. The first was football and the second was Cornish pasties. And from the pasty came its corn-based cousin, the empanada.

Miers devises her own version, made with puff pastry, but it’s upstaged by a crab noodle dish where you fry the noodles — or vermicelli — before you boil them in sauce. The result isn’t the prettiest dish Miers has made; that would be her ravishing passion fruit jelly.

About this programme

5/8. Thomasina Miers travels to the Oaxacan village of Ocotlan to learn how to cook empanadas, a variation on pasties made popular in the region by Cornish miners who came to Mexico in the 19th century in search of silver. She also demonstrates her recipes for spicy crab noodles and a layered passion fruit jelly.

Cast and crew

Crew

Executive Producer

Dan Chambers

Series Producer

Tania Fallon

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