Rick Stein's Road to Mexico

Rick Stein journeys from northern California to Mexico. In San Francisco, Rick tastes legendary dishes, such as the hangtown fry - oyster pancake.

Rick Stein continues travelling down the Californian coastline immortalised by Steinbeck, past citrus groves, vineyards that inspired one his favourite movies, Sideways, and into the city of dreams, Los Angeles. There, movie icons of old like Charlie Chaplin enjoyed eating lamb's kidney with bacon alongside the perfect martini on Hollywood Boulevard and where the A-listers of today opt instead for chopped salad off the avenues of Beverly Hills. On the edge of Downtown LA, Rick discovers Olvera Street, where the Hispanic origins of the city took root. Then onwards, south to San Diego, where he meets 79-year-old Peter Halmay, the oldest sea-urchin diver in town, and where a local fishmonger cooks him the best fish chilli he has ever had.

Rick enjoys a hearty steak and eggs American diner special and bids a fond farewell to his trusty Ford Mustang as he heads across what is reputed to be the busiest border crossing in the world - San Diego to Tijuana - to begin his Mexican adventures. He follows the Pacific coastline down to Ensenada, sampling flour tortilla burritos and fresh fish landed, marinated and cooked on Popotla Beach, before visiting the Valle de Guadalupe - Mexico's best-kept secret for fabulous wines and the jewel in its culinary crown for Baja Med cuisine.

Leaving the Baja Peninsula, Rick explores the western mainland. He lands in the town that gave the world tequila and the metropolis that gave us mariachis and dishes like chilli con carne; a city so loved by its people that they insist on repeating its name twice - Guadalajara Guadalajara. But Rick is no stranger to Mexico, and for family holidays he often flies to the tropical beaches of Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's Pacific coast. Nothing matches the view from these picture postcard beaches as waiters create theatre with the famous Mexican flaming coffee, its flames blending with the evening sky as the sun sets over the Pacific.

In this episode, Rick heads to the Mexican capital - a melting pot that encapsulates a country that, despite its narrow stature, crosses three time zones. For that simple reason, locals casually refer to the city as 'Mexico', and not much has changed to the food that fed the Aztecs. Scenes captured by Diego Rivera in his murals come alive in the city's markets, while working men's taverns still offer pulque, the alco-pop of the ancients. Heading south from the capital, Rick travels to the city of Puebla, which conjures up images of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It is a city with impressive European architecture, talavera pottery and the home of mole, Mexico's famous meat stew. Finally, Rick travels to the deserts of Oaxaca, where mezcal, one of the country's most iconic drinks, is produced.

Rick Stein's latest travels take him to Mexico's culinary capital Oaxaca, where locals still dress in traditional costume, bringing to life the enduring descriptions of writers like D H Lawrence, who fell in love with the area. This is the land that coined the phrase 'people of the corn', the desert empire of the Zapotecs and home to Mexico's national cheese queso oaxacana. Totally off the beaten track and across the Chinantla Mountains, the muggy breezes of the Mexican Gulf transform eastern Oaxaca from desert to a tropical paradise. Rick delights in exploring this hidden land where you can smell the tropical fruit from roadside stalls long before they come into sight, where vanilla still grows wild and cacao orchards are harvested to make superb chocolate.

Rick Stein's journey begins to draw to a close as he heads east from Oaxaca to the Yucatan Peninsula - a place once frequented by real pirates of the Caribbean, including our own Sir Francis Drake. Here, where the Europeans first landed over five hundred years ago, the local folk have lighter skins and bluey green eyes. They feast on the hottest chilli of them all, the habanero, and give slow food a new meaning as they bury and cook their Pibil dishes below ground on hot rocks. This was the playground of the ancient Mayans, their pyramids gleaming like gold above tree-lined canopies and where dishes like Papadzules and Sikil Pak are still enjoyed in small villages across the countryside. Rick ends his journey feasting on grilled seafood in Tulum along the shores of the Caribbean Sea.