S13.E04: Mexican Week

[Athena]

Quote

The bakers take on the sweet bread pan dulce and tackle a Mexican street food staple, before they make a showstopping version of the milk-soaked tres leches cake

UK Original Air Date: October 4, 2022.

US Netflix Date: October 7, 2022.

[Aulty]

How did Carole manage to cling on again? She and her gung-ho approach to the first 2 challenges are starting to grate on me.

[Lois Sandborne]

Ay yi yi. I mean, tacos? They have to be trolling. Especially because, so the tortillas were the only sort of baker-y part of the challenge, and then they didn't give them a press? Most home bakers who are interested in making tortillas are not in the kitchen pressing masa dough between pie plates, Bake Off. What a goofy challenge. They should've done sopapillas.

In the signature I did like learning the names for a lot of the pretty things I see in bakeries around here but don't get because I don't know what to call them. I shall now definitely pick up a concha or two next time I see one.

I think the bakers in all their research should've realized that chili peppers aren't quite such a ubiquitous feature in Mexican desserts.

Good for Maxy getting another Star Baker. Her showstopper looked great. Someone on the Bake Down podcast had a good idea that Sandro should've flipped his mustache to a unibrow and it would've been a perfect Frida Kahlo homage.

I have had very tasty corn custard and sweet corn ice cream (I'm currently living in the Midwest), so I was on board with Syabira's corn cake. I'm not sure it was as bad as they said. Kevin's pyramid looked amazing.

I agree with Paul (the horror!); they're definitely separating out into tiers at this point. I figure Maxy, Sandro, Janusz, and Syabira seem like finalists. But I do think Kevin is a better baker than they've been giving him credit for as well.

Sorry to see James go. There was just so much going on there with his showstopper; it sounded a mess with chocolate, lime, strawberries and cream, and of course chilis. I will miss him and his adorable accent. And it was sad to see Rebs go, just because she was so broken up about it, but it was definitely her time.

[P2C2E]

I saw some clips on Twitter and I think I'll just skip this episode so I don't completely lose my mind.

[Ms Lark]

5 hours ago, P2C2E said:

I saw some clips on Twitter and I think I'll just skip this episode so I don't completely lose my mind.

Just reading the spoilers makes me cringe. Grew up on Southwest American border and I know they are going to be so far off the mark it will make me curl into a little ball (like a sad armadillo) and cry. Or vomit. Or both.

[RoxiP]

Do y'all know how hard it is not to peek on this site from Tuesday until Friday when I watch GBBS on Netflix?  Even now I am resisting looking at the entry above this one!

This is not a criticism of those who watch the show on Tuesday...it is a complaint about how little self control I have (although so far I have resisted!).

[Ohiopirate02]

43 minutes ago, RoxiP said:

Do y'all know how hard it is not to peek on this site from Tuesday until Friday when I watch GBBS on Netflix?  Even now I am resisting looking at the entry above this one!

This is not a criticism of those who watch the show on Tuesday...it is a complaint about how little self control I have (although so far I have resisted!).

Any other week, and I avoid spoilers of all kinds.  I usually do not have a burning desire to find out who's going home, and even this week I have avoided that.  I only spoiled myself enough to see how badly the show screwed the pooch with the theme.  And I will fast forward through the technical tomorrow because choices were made.  

Spoiler

Tacos!?!?!?!?!  This is a baking show not a cooking show.  

[Mediocre Gatsby]

I don't feel like GBBO should be able to do another Mexican show until they learn to pronounce Mexican items. 

I can't believe that Carole stayed over James. 

It was fun to see how happy Dawn was. 

I was up late and saw that Netflix puts up GBBO as soon as it's midnight in my time zone --  yay! 

[Kiddvideo]

It was past time for Rebs.Watching her struggle wasn’t enjoyable. So Carole will go next week now.

I feel like the other bakers have all had their moments when they stepped up and showed some talent. It should get more competitive. (Though barring disaster the semi-finalists have separated themselves.)

Thinking about the theme, I feel it leveled the playing field. (Except the tacos. Wth?)  Everyone struggled, but they had to use their experience with the ingredients and flavors more than usual. No one was saying, “I made these with my Nan every Sunday growing up.”

[Ms Lark]

11 hours ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

I don't feel like GBBO should be able to do another Mexican show until they learn to pronounce Mexican items. 

At least they tried to pronounce "tacos" properly instead of "take-os" or "tack-os."  Paul slipped a bit there a few times, though.

I figured he learned all about Mexican pastries/baking from Marcela. 😉 Although, he did say he just got back from Mexico...

Conchas. I never met a concha that wasn't drier than the desert. Not a fan. Good idea to put fillings inside. They have special cutters for the craquelin to give it that concha (seashell) swirl.

They could have made marranitos (ginger pigs)! Those are the best.

Oooh, Washington Post weighs in: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/10/06/great-british-baking-show-mexico-stereotypes/

Edited October 7, 2022 by Ms Lark

[dleighg]

I thought the "oysters" were adorable in the first round. But ha ha, yeah those are clams.

I agree that the "tacos" were ridiculous. That's cooking, not baking for pete's sake. And way too much stuff was piled on. And give them a damn tortilla press! I'm just an adventurous home cook who does not do a ton of mexican stuff, and even I've got one of those. And do you normally use actual corn in a corn tortilla, as opposed to just masa? Weird all around.

Oh, and I forgot to mention did you see Carol removing the skin of the avocado with a vegetable peeler? Apparently she does not eat a lot of avocados LOL.

Edited October 7, 2022 by dleighg

[TVbitch]

I say tomato, and Prue says tomahto. Prue says take-ohs, and I say tahh-kohs. Tomato, tomahto, take-ohs, tahh-kos ~let's call the whole thing off! (Please!)

[Straycat80]

This was a weird episode. Tacos are cooking, not baking. And I agree they had them put too much stuff on such a small shell. 
I was surprised they had them layer such a heavy, wet tres leche cake(s). I was surprised they didn’t sink or fall apart. I was impressed by the decorating on most of them.

I wish Dawn had gotten a handshake. It was definitely time for Rebs to go but I was surprised James left before Carole. F3 will probably be Maxy, Sandro and Janusz. 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Straycat80

[Mediocre Gatsby]

I forgot to say that Syabira's idea to put sweet corn in her cake wasn't farfetched -- I've seen that before. And at least she tried something different than the basics. Considering that Paul famously declared that peanut butter and jelly don't go together, he should just shut his piehole about things he's never seen before. 

It also seems like neither Paul nor Prue can handle even the tiniest bit of spice. 

This show was more about bread than Bread Week was. 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Mediocre Gatsby

[caitmcg]

They really should retire the non-European “national” themes, unless the producers are willing to do more in-depth research and skip the awful jokes. This at least wasn’t as offensive as “Japanese” week.

Both Paul and Prue kept conflating tacos and tortillas. Multiple times in judging the technical, they weighed in on the “taco” when they were talking about the tortilla. I’ll have to go back and look again, but it sounded as if they incorporated corn of some kind into the tortillas (hence the puréing in the food processor before adding the masa harina)? Anyway, hardly traditional. Corn tortillas are usually made from masa (cooked and ground  nixtamalized corn)  — either freshly processed or in flour form — water, and salt, only.

No surprise they chose tres leches for the signature, given that it’s probably the best-known Mexican cake. Also no surprise that virtually all the pan dulces were underproved, because they did not actually give enough time in the challenge to properly proof an enriched dough. For the technical, they could’ve gone with flan or any number of Mexican dishes that are actually baked.

Chocolate and chile has become pretty common/popular in the way that salted caramel has, but yeah, I don’t really think it’s a big thing in Mexican baking. If anyone is interested in Mexican desserts, I recommend taking a look at the cookbook My Sweet Mexico, by Fany Gerson.

Edited October 7, 2022 by caitmcg

[AZChristian]

As an Arizonan, I was laughing out loud at most of the "taco" segment.  There ARE Mexican restaurants in the UK, but it appears that no one judging or baking in this episode have ever been to one.

The pronunciations were particularly amusing.  

[Cetacean]

This whole season, thus far, seems "off" somehow.  For a baking show, a lot of cooking.  Challenges that are set up for failure - ypu can't complain about underproofed items when you shorten the requisite time for proofing.  It's not like they sit around on their hands - if something ordinarily takes 3 hours to proof, what do you think you'll get in a two hour challenge?  And knock off the stupid (and offensive) jokes.

[Deskisamess]

Tacos? Good grief...repeat some challenges, don't change the focus of the show from baking to cooking.

I thought the season before last was the worst, season 11 was it? The one with Laura? I'm quickly changing my mind.

Poco-de-gaLLo? Did no one bother to research proper pronunciation of the items?

During the first challenge, the narrator was talking about that top  crackling  layer needing to be very thin, while showing one of the contestants cutting out very thick slices. Made me laugh. 

[dleighg]

1 minute ago, Deskisamess said:

Poco-de-gaLLo?

The Brits seem to have an aversion to pronouncing things as they are in their native language.

Filet of beef for example, pronouncing the "t."

[blueray]

I was surprised they kept Carol. I imagine she will be gone next week as the rest of the bakers are just better. I guess they didn't send her home because James messed up the show stopper and they did like part of hers? 

Maybe it's an opinion of one but I liked the taco challenge. I imagine shells are hard to make (never tried myself). Yes it isn't really baking but I enjoyed it anyway. And the ones that were good looked appetizing, especially the one Prue and Paul had. I wanted to grab one off the screen.

As for Dawn, she didn't a handshake but she got Paul to smile. You could tell by his face that he really liked it. I feel like that is harder to do. 

[dleighg]

6 minutes ago, blueray said:

I imagine shells are hard to make (never tried myself)

They really aren't that hard to make. Simple ingredients traditionally (why they added actual corn is beyond me) and you just "cook them on a hot pan." I mean, how much time did they spend on the tortillas vs all of the savory ingredients?

7 minutes ago, blueray said:

As for Dawn, she didn't a handshake but she got Paul to smile.

They really lingered on that shot didn't they? He was almost giving her bedroom eyes LOL.

[ZeeEnnui]

GBBO come collect your basura. Mexico should sue for damages to their food and wild mispronunciation of their language. 

As a native Southern Californian, I'm offended on behalf of tacos. This is a baking show for crying out loud. There are a million Mexican cookies they could make, freaking sopapilla or empanadas! 

[Rickster]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

The Brits seem to have an aversion to pronouncing things as they are in their native language.

Filet of beef for example, pronouncing the "t."

Exactly. As discussed here a few years ago, pronouncing genoise as “jen-o-eez” for example, although I notice more contestants using the French pronunciation over the seasons. I can’t get bent out of shape over pronunciation, since almost everyone pronounces foreign words incorrectly.

[caitmcg]

59 minutes ago, Rickster said:

As discussed here a few years ago, pronouncing genoise as “jen-o-eez” for example, although I notice more contestants using the French pronunciation over the seasons

That drove me crazy when I first watched the show, but I’ve since discovered that it’s not uncommon for British recipes to spell it Genoese (for example, River Cottage), so it made more sense to me that that’s what the contestants and judges knew it as.

Edited October 7, 2022 by caitmcg

[dgpolo]

3 hours ago, Deskisamess said:

Poco-de-gaLLo? Did no one bother to research proper pronunciation of the items?

This was in the Technical, the bakers never saw that term until they read it in their recipe, no chance to research. They either knew it or tried to sound it out.

[phalange]

I thought last week was bad, but this was way worse. I cringed every time someone pronounced taco as "tacko" and pico de gallo as "pico de gallow." 

Second week in a row where the technical was an odd choice. There was no baking involved in this one at all.

Some of the bakers did have nicely decorated showstoppers, like Janusz and Maxy. Maxy was the right choice for star baker and the right people went home, though I felt bad for Rebs because she was so upset.

[libgirl2]

A tres leches cake should be a flat cake or at least not so many tiers. Dawn's looked the best to me. And tacos? Really? That is cooking. Give me the tortillas and I could have made the toppings. What a waste. So many yummy Mexican things they could have baked. 

[irisheyes]

It’s Mexican week. They were always going to go for tortillas. (Just like in Italian week, they went for pizza.). This show (Paul and Prue) isn’t very creative when it’s outside of British/French cuisine. I can’t complain too much about the mispronunciation, especially in the technical.  I’m sure there are terms I mispronounce when I’m at a Mexican restaurant. (Sometimes, I just point rather than massacring a language. 😀)

I think what was really bad were the extremely cringey and offensive jokes.  

Edited October 8, 2022 by irisheyes

[estellasmum]

13 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

I figured he learned all about Mexican pastries/baking from Marcela. 😉 Although, he did say he just got back from Mexico...

Oh, snap. I see what you did there.

When did this become a cooking show? I really like the contestants, but this whole season is off.

1 hour ago, irisheyes said:

I think what was really bad were the extremely cringey and offensive jokes.  

Hear! hear!!

[sharifa70]

I liked the signature and the showstopper, but yeah, the tacos were weird. No press? I just learned how to make tortillas and though I haven’t mastered it, it’s not particularly hard.

I’m from the American Pacific Northwest and Mexican food is a staple. Their bewilderment over tacos: how much filling, the seasonings, how to cook a tortilla, what refried beans look like, pico de gallo - all of it - floored me until I remembered my trips to London in the early aughts and not being able to find Mexican food anywhere.

Weirdly, whenever I travel overseas I get overwhelming cravings for chicken enchiladas and nachos. In London when I shopped for taco ingredients I couldn’t find tortillas. I had to buy a taco kit that included those pre-folded, crispy tortillas. With directions for making tacos. The only place I could get anything remotely Mexican-ish was at Hard Rock Cafe (they had fajitas!). So yeah, it looks like Mexican food hasn’t quite taken off since my last trip.

Oh, but yes, the jokes and stereotypes were so cringey. Maracas? Sombreros? A giant, random mustache on a cake? Abdul’s skulls were cute but they weren’t sugar skulls. They were skulls of sugar. Was he planning to decorate them properly and he just ran out of time?

[roseslg]

Carole PEELED an avocado to make GUACIMOLO.  

[SemiCharmedLife]

I enjoyed this episode, though I would have rather seen only 1 baker leave the tent this week.  I wish James would have stayed to bake again.  

I have a different view of the pronunciations (and yes, I am a Spanish speaker).  I don't think it is reasonable to think that people should be able to pronounce names of food/dishes perfectly in other languages.  Spanish has a very standard pronunciation for the letters, but even still, one has to know what part of the word to accent.  Other languages are much more difficult, such as Vietnamese, for example (it's tonal, so inflection is important.)  I know I would make a lot of mistakes trying to pronounce a Vietnamese menu.  As long as I was respectful in my attempts, it really should not matter.  The bottom line is that some people are familiar with different languages, but very few would be able to tackle a wide variety of languages and do it correctly.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

I love tres leches cake. I have never seen it as a multi-layered cake. Some of them looked great.  It was just an odd concept to me.  I have also often seen liquid coming out of the cake.  It is delicious. 

Tortillas are not difficult to make.  However, pressing them that way was ridiculous.  I live in a largely Hispanic neighborhood.  Black beans are more and more common here; however, they are not used for refried beans.  

I am also used to conchas being dry because you have them with coffee or hot chocolate.  

This was just a weird week.  Country weeks have generally not been good. 

[GaT]

I thought this week was strange, I'm with the "no tacos on a baking show" group.

Nobody seemed like they had a clue this week, is Mexican food really that unknown in Britain?

Rebs has been hanging on by her fingernails since week one, I'm glad she's finally gone.

[HelloooKitty]

Is Carole someone’s aunt or something? She should’ve left last week and, especially since two went home, she most definitely should have gone this week. Keep James, boot Carole. 

[kittykat]

Soooooo when I was telling Mr. kat that this week was Mexican week he was all, "so what does that mean for challenges"

Me: probably a tres leches cake, a form of pan dulce and *snerk* knowing this show probably some tacos.  I WAS NOT SPOILED!  

I facepalmed the moment I saw Noel and Matt in sombreros and ponchos. Might as well have worn a Speedy Gonzales shirt.

If they were sticking with basics a better technical would have been a flan.  And as said above, empanadas, sopapillas.

Rebs going home was a no brainer.  Did she bake one thing correctly ever?  I think Carole just barely edged James out.  Congratulations to Maxy for another well deserved SB.

[stormy weather]

On 10/6/2022 at 2:42 AM, P2C2E said:

I saw some clips on Twitter and I think I'll just skip this episode so I don't completely lose my mind.

On 10/6/2022 at 8:19 AM, Ms Lark said:

Just reading the spoilers makes me cringe. Grew up on Southwest American border and I know they are going to be so far off the mark it will make me curl into a little ball (like a sad armadillo) and cry. Or vomit. Or both.

12 hours ago, caitmcg said:

They really should retire the non-European “national” themes, unless the producers are willing to do more in-depth research and skip the awful jokes. This at least wasn’t as offensive as “Japanese” week.

12 hours ago, Cetacean said:

  And knock off the stupid (and offensive) jokes.

10 hours ago, Deskisamess said:

Poco-de-gaLLo? Did no one bother to research proper pronunciation of the items?

9 hours ago, ZeeEnnui said:

GBBO come collect your basura. Mexico should sue for damages to their food and wild mispronunciation of their language.  

6 hours ago, phalange said:

I thought last week was bad, but this was way worse. I cringed every time someone pronounced taco as "tacko" and pico de gallo as "pico de gallow." 

6 hours ago, irisheyes said:

I think what was really bad were the extremely cringey and offensive jokes.  

4 hours ago, sharifa70 said:

Oh, but yes, the jokes and stereotypes were so cringey. Maracas? Sombreros? A giant, random mustache on a cake? Abdul’s skulls were cute but they weren’t sugar skulls. They were skulls of sugar. Was he planning to decorate them properly and he just ran out of time?

Are any of you Mexican? Because you know, I'm Italian. They did Italian week (and maimed several "Italian" dishes more than once, like they do in pretty much every cooking show on television) and no one batted an eye. Not to mention the English speaking world's mispronunciation of all Italian dishes/names/cities/things in general. Last season's winner was Italian and they couldn't even get his name right (they called him Giuseppee instead of Giuseppeh for the entire season!) and yet again, no one cared, not even him. Because guess what? It's a freaking TV cooking show and it's British humour, and you can find it funny or not (I, for one, love it), but, I repeat, it's a cooking show, not a National Geographic documentary. I think maybe you're just being a bit extreme. I actually enjoy the fact they are at least trying to be inclusive by asking contestants to prove their worth by baking international recipes, even if they don't get them right. 

Also, I have found absolutely nothing offensive about anything that was either said or done. Maracas, sombreros, moustache... it's Mexican week, what else should they have done? Put Benito Juarez on a cake or make a sculpture of Pancho Villa? Sure, but would that be recognizable? Kevin even tried to make an Aztec pyramid, is that offensive too? Maybe I should start to get enraged every time people mention the mafia, play a tarantella, think the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant or say "it's a-me, Mario". But wow, what a waste of energy that would be.

[Jane Tuesday]

I can't get too arsed about the pronunciation. After all, there are a lot of words - English words - that they pronounce differently than Americans do. Here in the States, we have lots of Spanish words that are integrated into English that we pronounce "wrong". Rodeeeoh, not rodayoh, for example. 

[cynicat]

8 hours ago, irisheyes said:

It’s Mexican week. They were always going to go for tortillas. (Just like in Italian week, they went for pizza.). 

Exactly.  I mistakenly thought that this should be relatively easy for them.  They just need to stop doing these "tone-deaf ethnic" challenges.

So many said "I've never made tacos before", which absolutely floored me.  Are you fucking kidding me?   Knowing this was one of the challenges coming up, how would you not have done basic homework on Mexican cooking?  There are a boatload of great Mexican cookbooks including this one by Diana Kennedy, a world renowned BRITISH cookbook author:

[libgirl2]

Tres leches and conchas were fine. I have had both. I am Dominican Hispanic from my mom. All my life, she had Mexican best friends and I grew up eating Mexican food. I would have loved to have seen a flan. 

[Cetacean]

1 hour ago, cynicat said:

Knowing this was one of the challenges coming up, how would you not have done basic homework on Mexican cooking? 

They didn't know ahead what the challenge would be. And cooking a taco (this is, after all, supposed to be a baking show) was probably the last thing they expected.

[Pj3422]

16 hours ago, dleighg said:

The Brits seem to have an aversion to pronouncing things as they are in their native language.

Filet of beef for example, pronouncing the "t."

It’s just a matter of time until we hear fajitas called Fa-JITT-as. 

[Shorty186]

19 hours ago, AZChristian said:

There ARE Mexican restaurants in the UK, but it appears that no one judging or baking in this episode have ever been to one.

Are you sure? If so, I'd be surprised if they were anything more than a British take on Mexican food that would make Chipotle look downright authentic. 

For some reason it really bothered me that neither Paul/Prue commented on everyone's refried beans being wrong. I would guess because they didn't realize it themselves. And yeah, why give them black beans? 

My guess about the lack of taco press is that way it gave the bakers the chance to get the thickness wrong. I don't know if you can adjust that on a taco press? I've never made tacos, although I'm Hispanic. And I only just tried tres leches cake for the first time this year, but I absolutely LOVE it.

[AZChristian]

2 minutes ago, Shorty186 said:

Are you sure? If so, I'd be surprised if they were anything more than a British take on Mexican food that would make Chipotle look downright authentic. 

Even if they were all Chipotle level, diners learn that there's a difference between hard tacos and soft tacos . . . and that tacos are meant to have the shell folded in half with the ingredients inside.  And that the tortilla is flat, not puffy.  Just really basic stuff.

[dgpolo]

31 minutes ago, Shorty186 said:

For some reason it really bothered me that neither Paul/Prue commented on everyone's refried beans being wrong. I would guess because they didn't realize it themselves. And yeah, why give them black beans? 

I asked my daughter, 'Aren't refried beans supposed to be fried, and then fried again?' (we just buy them in a can, sorry)

[dleighg]

38 minutes ago, Shorty186 said:

My guess about the lack of taco press is that way it gave the bakers the chance to get the thickness wrong. I don't know if you can adjust that on a taco press?

you can definitely vary the thickness with a press. There's some "give" at the end where you have to choose when to stop pushing depending on what you're trying to do.

[Adiba]

Was it the angle of the shot, or did Syabira’s tortillas look a little too burnt? I know tortillas have some color on them, and I don’t mind a few charred spots, but hers looked overdone to me.
For the technical, they could’ve had the bakers make six corn and six flour tortillas and judged solely on that, imo. Or, they could’ve had them bake two types of Mexican cookies. Maybe Paul just wanted to show off his taco recipe and have something to eat for lunch.

Tres leches cakes should not be tiered— I think that’s why many of the bakers’ cakes were not soaked through so that they wouldn’t collapse.
 

[iMonrey]

Aw, James and Rebs were both adorable but they did themselves in fair and square. 

I join the crowd of head scratching over the tacos in a baking competition. 

Quote

Both Paul and Prue kept conflating tacos and tortillas. Multiple times in judging the technical, they weighed in on the “taco” when they were talking about the tortilla.

Yeah I noticed that too. The fact that they don't know the difference between a tortilla and a taco just proves they are in no position to judge either. This was someone's idea of a gimmick and it clearly wasn't theirs. 

Quote

Challenges that are set up for failure - you can't complain about underproofed items when you shorten the requisite time for proofing. 

Exactly! That drives me crazy.

[J-Man]

1 hour ago, dgpolo said:

I asked my daughter, 'Aren't refried beans supposed to be fried, and then fried again?' (we just buy them in a can, sorry)

Actually, they aren't. "Frijoles refritos" does not mean "refried beans," even though that's how it's commonly translated. The "re-" prefix in Mexican Spanish means something like "extra," or "very," not "again," as it does in English.

Question about pan dulce: My experience with pan dulce is mostly limited to supermarket bakeries, and generally all I ever see are the very plain, basic varieties. Where does one find pan dulce like the elaborately decorated and/or filled versions that were made on the show? Upscale bakeries?

[SemiCharmedLife]

50 minutes ago, Adiba said:

Was it the angle of the shot, or did Syabira’s tortillas look a little too burnt? I know tortillas have some color on them, and I don’t mind a few charred spots, but hers looked overdone to me.
For the technical, they could’ve had the bakers make six corn and six flour tortillas and judged solely on that, imo. Or, they could’ve had them bake two types of Mexican cookies. Maybe Paul just wanted to show off his taco recipe and have something to eat for lunch.

Tres leches cakes should not be tiered— I think that’s why many of the bakers’ cakes were not soaked through so that they wouldn’t collapse.
 

This was my assumption-- Paul was just craving a taco!!  😂