DHDancer

I stand corrected however, it can be spelled either way according to google.... let's just settle on Bavarian cream :)

Nope, not true sorry to say (lived in UK, learned to bake in UK, am "English" by cultural upbringing) -- Mary said ladyfingers, as did the bakers. I've never heard anyone use the terms lady's fingers especially a professional baker like Paul H. Anyway, hardly important in the overall scheme of things I suppose, just one of those distracting irritating things in the program :) Re baking individual pies, Starri, you're probably right -- we don't always hear the full challenge rules. I was assuming based on other interpretations we've seen (Nadiya's multiple icecream rolls last week for instance -- she made several vs one big one) that it could have been a possibility.

Bavois: basically a gelatin-thickened mousse. Charlotte Russe made well is a delight to eat but as we saw, oh so fussy to prepare! If Paul H said one more time, Lady's Fingers (or Ladies Fingers, hard to tell as they sound the same), I was going to scream: No Paul, it's not a collective like attorneys-general or courts-martial, or bests-in-show... sigh. As regards the Tennis Cake, the sugar "syrup" was actually what's called fondant and is used extensively for covering cakes. Mat I think made the mistake of thinking it was a true syrup in texture. So these cakes had a layer of marzipan, the colored layer of fondant, and the royal icing was simply for the piped decorations. Piping those nets and rackets was quite a feat. I've seen some incredible royal icing (google royal icing filigree to see images) but it takes a lot of time, and incredibly steady hands as we all saw. As regards the Raised pies, what I found difficult is that these were generally made to be eaten COLD, not hot, and meant as a way of keeping and extending small amounts of precious game meats. They improve with keeping. I'm also a bit surprised that no-one tried to make individual pies as a way of getting around trying to cook large pies in the time. I love a good chicken and ham picnic pie, or more traditional pork pie: the game pies are a bit much for me, not being a fan of those stronger flavors. Still, it was a great challenge I thought :)

Polenta simply means cornmeal. We're not talking about savoury polenta, or grits or anything like that, it's simply using corn meal as an ingredient. Look up olive oil cake --- it's quite common and quite delicious.

Seriously??? Do you people cook to these standards in your home kitchen? Obviously I wash my hands, and full disclosure, I don't wear rings (never had) but there's no way I'd put on gloves or anything approaching "government" regulations. Have you watched all the programs showing professional top class restaurants? Seen any plastic gloves? Seriously, anything that gets cooked after prep, who cares?

Retsina anyone? Tried it, not a fan ....

I think the truffles were chocolate cake type truffles, not fungus and not the chocolate truffles as we know them in the US -- noone would pay the $s to put that many fungus "balls" on a cake. No doubt she sweetened the truffles with an alternative sweetener

It's super simple: remember pita, like roti, tortillas etc, are everyday "peasant" foods. The rolling out is time consuming but the recipe and ingredients are very basic. The secret with pita is a very hot oven preferably with a baking stone in it.

No surprise here: commercial products out of Mega Food are rarely made with "quality" ingredients. I turn a blind eye for the sake of the convenience and make sure the fillings are super tasty. Trader Joe's carries excellent pre-made butter puff pastry and at a fraction of the cost of Whole Foods. Assumes of course you have TJs in your area :)

That's the beauty of Annabel's recipe -- you put everything into a jar (in her specific order) then blitz. No fuss, no muss, no need to be an octopus!

Re mayo -- this recipe works fabulously and uses an immersion blender/wand. Saves dragging out the blender/food processor especially for small quantities (do read the comments for extra insight into avoiding issues) http://www.annabel-langbein.com/recipes/speedy-mayo/440/ (BTW, check out the rest of the website. Annabel is a NZ cook and has some truly nice recipes: simple, flavorful etc. Her TV show aired recently here in the Pacific NW on OPB) Do we need a separate thread for all these tips and hints?

Re making puff pastry -- IMO. Do it once just for the satisfaction, then continue buying the commercial product! It's a far superior (and much cheaper), especially with butter prices as they are. :) I've done lots of the technically difficult things: croissants, danish pastries just to challenge myself, and then sourced good commercial products instead if and when I want those particular items. Hell, unless I'm making something where the mayo will be the star ingredient, I rely on good old Best Foods/Hellemans. :)

Thanks for that link. . Interesting about the "still waiting for the results of his sergeant's exam" -- I thought Thursday said in the final episode that he had passed it and could move onto new pastures ??

OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) has two "streams" for showing episodes. It is airing two new episodes on Friday nights, then on Saturday 6pm one episode which is usually 2-3 episodes behind the Friday schedule. So you can take the fast watch or the slow watch option I guess :)

I actually think this is a bit condescendng myself: the PBS audience, as a general rule, is more "worldly" than most, and IMO is interested in seeing more of other countries sensibilities (celebrities etc -- note how popular Graham Norton's show is). Sigh. I'm lucky that I have OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) but for some reason OPB just uses the PBS feeds on this stuff. Back to the episode, I found myself wondering why Nadiya didn't hedge her bets and also cut vol-au-vents from her original pastry (I didn't really understand the problem to be honest -- bits of butter in pastry usually makes for flakier texture) - she really had nothing to lose but about 7 minutes of her time to "duplicate" the cases with her original pastry. I am glad she was judged on the spirit of the challenge and that obviously the quality of the filling carried considerable weight. Count me in on the Mary not enjoying the piney cheese pastries: normally I'll fight for cheese and pastry combinations but "pine" did give me pause.

I have the DVDs of the previous seasons: I loved the pilot, especially on rewatch. I'm not sure this current season is up to the standard of the first two, but hey, even at it's "worst" Endeavour is so much better than the other crap on TV!

The DVDs come out in August which is when I'll rewatch. DVDs are the full UK versions :)

1. I didn't understand the reference to pansies in the creme brulee challenge: he put blackberries in the bottom of the ramekins: not a pansy in sight. And he couldn't have known he'd need to make violets/pansies for the technical challenge so that whole thing is a head-scratcher to me. 2. Sandy wanted to make her lid look like a picnic basket type top: a fairly common thing when there would be filling "bulging" out of the bottom part of the structure. Unfortunately it wasn't appropriate for this dessert because she didn't have a bulging filling situation. I was pretty surprised that so few of the bakers used a bain marie to cook their cheesecakes. Also, speaking of cheesecakes, having a sponge "crust" is not uncommon (more common than pastry in my experience).

Morse is not a gambler: all the gambling stuff was related to Dr Lorimer (professor) who was a gambler badly in debt. The carbon copy notebook recorded all his bets (horse names and stake) so Lorimer/Nina needed to get their hands on it to remove the record. I did get a kick out of Trewlove calling "House" (aka "Bingo") and winning -- so she got something out of the evening, lol.

Can't disagree with any of your observations :) Never sure if the commenter is a full canon person or not :)

Preface that I do know the entire canon very well. Morse has a very complex relationship with women IMO. Firstly he has no trouble "landing birds" and they don't find him "dull and even lacking and/or sad" (frustrating often yes). Unfortunately for him he tends to pick interesting but often criminally oriented women (be they the criminals or the victims). I think he's also very painfully aware that his career is a major obstacle for any kind of permanent relationship. We don't know what happened with Monica (dammit) but I have to assume they did talk about his work was important to him (ie he wouldn't give it up) and it would always be dangerous and neither could deal with trying to manage that and the relationship (they were talking about marriage). As regards inviting Trewlove out for the evening that was a barely veiled doing something for the case IMO, following immediately on from the bingo discussion. Actually it cracked me up the thought of him taking her to the bingo hall, but I guess in the 60s bingo wasn't just for old ladies and retirees, lol.

IMO Joan leaving home was because she needed distance and time to process what she had just been through and seeing a completely different side to her father, and to a lesser extent, Morse. She needs to come to terms with the reality of her father's job. The secondary reason is that she's aware she's constantly "under observation" from the men in her life (eg Morse telling her to stay clear of the bingo caller). I think Thursday coughing up the shrapnel (I don't think it was a recognizable bullet) does open up future story options... I'm hoping for Win's sake he gets to retire! As regards the "angel crossing Carfax" that was 6+ years earlier. Frankly I thought they played the older Nina too young as we know Morse seems to be attracted to older women (and an older Nina makes more sense with her being married to the professor)

I've notified the moderator of the two thread problem.

Thursday was shot in last season's cliffhanger (by the mad police chief Deane) and had a life/death recovery that we had to wait till this season to find out if he made it. He obviously survived but not unscathed.

Anyone else get teary when the tiger was shot? Just me ? Also I thought Morse's self sacrifice moment was very well done in terms of tension and release. And yeah, I liked the tie back to Hathaway as Steward. I'm not loving the WPC character -- she's coming across too modern and anachronistic to the era. If you've seen WPC 56, that's more realistic in how women police were treated within the force. And are they broadcasting loud enough that we're going to lose Thursday (either to retirement or death) ? Also him beating up the bad guy is in keeping with his methods that we've seen a few times already -- he just didn't bother to hide it this time... I loved the additional layers added to Bright's character -- dark horse but it shows he's earned his rank even if we haven't particularly liked his treatment of Morse (prior to Blenheim Vale anyway).