S13.E07: Custard Week

[Athena]

Quote

The bakers put their twist on floating islands in the Signature, tackle a summer staple, and make custard the star and basis of a showstopping set gateau.

UK Air Date: October 25, 2022.

US Netflix Date: October 28, 2022.

[Danny Franks]

I enjoyed this one. Some inventive challenges that produced pretty consistently good results. People might argue that there wasn't enough baking, but this was all still very much within the skills of a high end baker.

Having said that, floating islands really don't appeal to me at all. They seem like they'd be way too sweet, and too much of the same texture. But seeing some variations on them was interesting.

Making ice cream is a new one, and I know from watching Master Chef that it's not straightforward. Clearly, some people made errors while a couple of them really did well. Sandro and Maxy's looked really good. Janusz and Syabira's... not so much.

The showstopper cakes all looked really good, even the collapsed one. I'd give all of them a go.

Really tough elimination in this one. Over the course of the season I'd say it was right, but over the course of this episode? Not convinced at all. Especially when another baker got the feedback "it tasted awful." I guess they decided to take the signature round into account more than usual.

[Aulty]

21 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

Having said that, floating islands really don't appeal to me at all. They seem like they'd be way too sweet, and too much of the same texture. But seeing some variations on them was interesting.

Came to say basically the same. They've had île flottante as a technical before (original season 4 / US PBS S2 (2015) / US Netflix collection 2, episode 3) and it must be one of the least exciting things I've ever eaten.
Custard buns, custard tarts, steamed or fried dumplings with custard (that ski resort favourite), Asian baked custards (although with their track record of butchering traditional recipes ...) or something with Sangkaya.

I liked Janusz' tip that steaming his meringues will keep their shape.

If Kevin was Laura, they would've kept her because flavours!
But it was really close, and Janusz was very lucky.

There was a sweet moment between Paul and Prue when she praised his pastry recipe.

[dleighg]

So the two people who cooled their ice cream custard in the freezer rather than the fridge had trouble freezing the final product. All I could think was, they need to get higher quality freezers. There really shouldn't be that much lag in them getting back down to temp.

Janusz: stop with the drip cakes.

I agree that Janusz got some "history" points. I don't mind. Poor Kevin has really never been at the level of the others.

Sandro's showstopper was amazing. He was really ambitious and it (almost) paid off. 

Agree that the floating islands hold no appeal to me. 

[SnapHappy]

We're getting more and more of the "I've never made _____ before", incuding ice cream.  Kinda pathetic.

I'm getting tired of all the booze.  The whole "Oh, Prue has got to love it if it's got alcohol" is so tired. When they can't rely on actual skill or culinary knowledge, they just fall back on using booze.  SO lazy.

The ice cream task was still basically custard and cookies, and the combo they chose sounded great.  Pistachio is one of my personal favorites.

Sandro seemed to have a good freezer, why didn't others ask to put their ice cream in his?  They're allowed to help each other with things like that.  He did great.  And I'm glad Kevin got third.  

The gateau was a good challenge. But Syabira is a one-way monkey with her suck-up booze deserts. Everybody knows Paul's fave is Pina Colada.  Kevin's honey custard sounds lovely, and Janusz's story about practicing in heels was hilarious!  

Abdul's was gorgeous, as was Januzs's. Too bad Janusz didn't get the custard right.  Maxy's was too much. Sandro's looked like a wedding cake. 

I don't know what the fake flowers on Syabira's cake was about, but since I'm convinced she's already tapped to win the show, it doesn't matter. I thought her cake was ugly. 

I'm sorry Kevin left, his ambition just exceeded his time allowed. He definitely went with unique and thoughtful flavors
and designs. 

[caitmcg]

2 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

I don't know what the fake flowers on Syabira's cake was about

They were made from oven-dried pineapple, and are completely edible.

[blueray]

6 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

Sandro seemed to have a good freezer, why didn't others ask to put their ice cream in his?  They're allowed to help each other with things like that.  He did great.  And I'm glad Kevin got third.  

I was wondering about this. Are they allowed to use each other's freezer, especially in this case some of the people were done already. 

That was pretty close, I though that Janusz was going to go. But I guess it was Kevin's time, though I'm glad they liked his flavors.

Edited October 28, 2022 by blueray

[SnapHappy]

4 hours ago, caitmcg said:

They were made from oven-dried pineapple, and are completely edible.

Compared to the others, I found it unattractive.  And pineapple jerky on top is no selling point for me.  

But honestly, since I don't like her, I don't like what she does.  And If Kevin had done what she did, I would have liked it, because I like him.  I know, totally biased, but I'll own it.....*LOL*

Edited October 28, 2022 by SnapHappy

[Straycat80]

I thought : is making ice cream baking or cooking? But then Prue referred it to frozen custard so that made sense. Maybe they should have given everyone more time since everyone’s ice cream/frozen custard melted except Sandro’s.

I read on other boards that people thought Sandro got robbed for star baker but the judges really liked Sybira’s cake over his.

I figured it was Kevin’s time to go, too bad because the judges liked his custard, too bad the cake was so messy. And I loved how three of the other bakers were helping him when he fell behind. That’s what I love about this show, how nice everyone is to each other. 
 

[Cetacean]

I have an ice cream maker at home and only make custard based ice creams. They are way more rich and satisfying.

Not sure why a freezer with nothing in it would take so long to cool back down!

[AZChristian]

I did about 12 seconds of research on the freezer question.

If you buy a new freezer and plug it in, the room temperature around it is probably about 70-80 degrees.  Instructions say to leave it plugged in for about 4 hours before putting in food that you want to keep frozen.

Those cooked custards have to be cooked to about 170 degrees before chilling.  I can see where a big container of custard could warm a freezer quickly.  And GBBO doesn't give enough time for the freezer to chill back down.  That's why the more successful bakers cooled their custards in the fridge, and then only put them in the freezer for the final hardening.  Syabira seemed to recognize that a freezer at 4 degrees (instead of the target 0 degrees) wouldn't do a good job of freezing ice cream.

[caitmcg]

9 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

Syabira seemed to recognize that a freezer at 4 degrees (instead of the target 0 degrees) wouldn't do a good job of freezing ice cream.

And ideally, a home freezer should be even colder; it’s advised to keep your freezer at 0 degrees Fahrenheit, which is -18 degrees Celsius (the scale GBBO is working in).

[Johnny Dollar]

Has there ever been a season where it was so easy to predict who was going home, even before the episode started? Not one surprise elimination yet.

I don’t think any of the remaining bakers are as good as last year’s final four of Giuseppe, Chigs, Crystelle and Jurgen.

[buttersister]

I didn't think Janusz was going home today, but Kevin's honey custard sounded like the best thing that got made in that tent. I want some. In a custard bun.

Bit heavy with the freezer foreshadowing? LOL, came right out and said the hot custard would warm the freezer too much to set the ice cream. Guess the bakers couldn't hear the VO? 

[MisterGlass]

I enjoyed this one.  All the bakes were good choices.  I like the ile flottante concept but have never actually had one.  They had some interesting twists.  It jumped into my head that by coating hers in sugar Syabira made headless peeps.

Ice cream and cones was a good technical.  My guess is that for this one they were specifically instructed to use only their own equipment so that they had to live with the choice of initially cooling in the freezer or the fridge.  I can understand that since it was a technical part of the process.

I wasn't surprised by who won or who left.  Kevin made poor technical choices in the signature and the showstopper.  He added alcohol to the meringues and melted them, and he tried to stack wobbly custard.  That made less sense than stacking tres leche cake.  It sounded wonderful, though, and his macarons looked lovely.  Janusz did well in the signature.  If he hadn't, I think it could have been him.

[Sharpie66]

It seems that floating islands are very popular with professional bakers/chefs. Not only Paul and Prue, but Julia Child called it her favorite dessert.

I think if Kevin had been higher in the technical, he might have squeaked out ahead of Janusz, but he was just too middle-of-the-pack this week other than the flavors in his showstopper. And Janusz does have a history of excellence that Kevin didn’t.

As soon as Sandro revealed the ice cream maker, I thought that was an excellent custard technical choice. Frozen custard is a big thing in Wisconsin, where I was introduced to it in college back in the ‘80s, and the richness and mouth feel of it is incomparable.

Oh, and also—anyone else not surprised by Janusz’s drip decoration? I did like the triple color piping—that was lovely. Sandro’s cake was gorgeous.

Finally, Matt’s puns were cracking me up this week. I love a good bad pun, always have. It’s the lowest hanging fruit on the humor tree, but what can I say?

[theatremouse]

4 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

people thought Sandro got robbed for star baker but the judges really liked Sybira’s cake over his.
 

If he'd only made the two good tiers, he would've won it. But it sounded like the coffee one was bad.

[Irlandesa]

12 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

If he'd only made the two good tiers, he would've won it. But it sounded like the coffee one was bad.

And they were very impressed she used custard as frosting. 

[SnapHappy]

Kevin & Janusz cooled their custards down for about 20 minutes in ice baths before putting them in the machines.  I didn't see anybody else do that.  I think Sandro was the only one with a solid set on the ice cream.  I don't think the others processed theirs in the machine's long enough before putting them in their freezers.  It's a fine line between too soft and over-frozen with those machines. 

[caitmcg]

They all did a pretty good job on the waffle cones, as it seemed the only ones that leaked from the bottom were the ones where the ice cream was already a melted mess (i.e. unset) going into the cone. I had a summer job at an ice cream shop in my teens, and rolling the cones so the bottom point is tight was the major learning curve. It’s not hard to do, but they didn’t have any practice. 

[kay1864]

9 hours ago, Sharpie66 said:

And Janusz does have a history of excellence that Kevin didn’t.

Even though it’s supposed to be a clean slate each week, they definitely took Janusz’ history into account . As soon as Paul said wallpaper paste, I thought Janusz was a goner. Anytime you hear ‘inedible’, that’s the death knell.

[chaifan]

9 hours ago, caitmcg said:

They all did a pretty good job on the waffle cones, as it seemed the only ones that leaked from the bottom were the ones where the ice cream was already a melted mess (i.e. unset) going into the cone. I had a summer job at an ice cream shop in my teens, and rolling the cones so the bottom point is tight was the major learning curve. It’s not hard to do, but they didn’t have any practice. 

Sandro also lined his with chocolate, which caught Prue's attention.  I think it's smart to at least put a dollop of the chocolate in the bottom of the cone, to act as a plug and prevent leaking.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think there is a "no helping" rule for technicals.  Which would include using someone else's freezer.  I'm also surprised an empty freezer is affected that much by the warm custard, but I'm sure production made sure everyone's freezer was the same temp prior to the challenge.

Here's a weird question... where did they get the ice for the ice baths?  There's nothing in their freezers.  I was thinking that the ones with low freezer temps could have surrounded the custard with ice, which may have helped a little.  But I have no idea where the ice came from.

[blueray]

My guess would be a different freezer. One that wasn't for any of the competitors. Then they just put the ice there right when the called "baker whatever" in. That way they are equally as frozen as well.

I just realized another reason they probably are only allowed to use their freezers is probably because of the infamous time when Diane took out Ian's ice cream. This completely eliminates this happening again. Everyone has their own, so nobody else will touch it. 

[WildPlum]

I used to have an ice cream maker like the one they used on the show (compressor-based, without the inner freezer bowl). When I made a custard-based ice cream, the base took about 4 hours in the fridge to cool down and then usually about 30 minutes in the freezer and then it went into the ice cream maker. Turned out wonderfully set. Putting it directly into the ice cream maker really lengthened the time it took to set AND often resulted in a less perfect texture.

The instructions for the freezer in my 18-foot travel trailer mention that the freezer has a hard time with only one item in it - since the show had pics of several of the bakers trying to cool their custard on the bench in a double ice bath, they'd have been better off using all that ice in the freezer to keep the temp low.

I am not a fan of custard (or puddings - what we call puddings) anyway and nothing on this show looked good. Custard cake looks particularly awful and only Maxy's cake (which Pru said didn't feature custard over cake) looked at all good to me. Back when I ate things like eclairs, I would squish all the filling out and just eat the rest.

Sorry that Kevin is gone. Not particularly a Sybira fan (based on the flavors she uses). I was a bit surprised it wasn't Janusz this week, although I am glad it wasn't, he is probably my favorite, personality-wise.

Edited October 29, 2022 by WildPlum

[Adiba]

I’m not a fan of floating islands nor mojitos (lime and mint complete with each other to my palate) so Syabira’s dish did not seem appealing to me. For me, the texture of pouring custard with a poached meringue is blah, but coating them in sanding sugar is too grainy. Sandro’s looked like the dessert that I’d try over any of them. 
Paul loves his “coostid” so I guess Syabira’s cake was the best and filled the brief, but that’s a little too custard-y for me. I agree with others here that custard-filled buns or pastries would have been better challenges.

Edited October 29, 2022 by Adiba
Spelling

[TomGirl]

Favorite moment: Sandro and Janusz hissing at each other like cats. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

I thought : is making ice cream baking or cooking? 

Neither? But it seemed like the judges didn't really take the Technical challenge into account when deciding star baker because Syabira was last in that. That's kind of why I felt like Sandro should have gotten it instead. He's yet to win one. 

Quote

If he'd only made the two good tiers, he would've won it. But it sounded like the coffee one was bad.

Yeah, his problem is that he's overly ambitious and really goes for the wow factor but does too much and something always falls short. Less is more Sandro! Do one or two things really well rather than four or five things that are a mixed bag.

Kevin has been living on borrowed time for weeks now. I can see any of the final five winning but I'm leaning towards Syabira at this point. Early faves Janusz and Maxy seem to be faltering more and more. 

[SnapHappy]

13 hours ago, caitmcg said:

They all did a pretty good job on the waffle cones, as it seemed the only ones that leaked from the bottom were the ones where the ice cream was already a melted mess (i.e. unset) going into the cone. 

Those cones looked great! 

When I was little, my mom would always push a couple of mini-marshmallows down into the bottom of our rolled-type cones, to keep the ice cream from leaking out of the bottom. I did the same thing with my kids!  

And as I said up top, the ice cream cone challenge was both baking the cones and cooking the custard for the ice cream.  I thought it was a very appropriate challenge.  

The floating islands I think are an acquired taste.  Just smooth & smooth textures.  Nothing exciting at all.  

Edited October 29, 2022 by SnapHappy

[zentropa]

There's something about Syrabira's manner that bothers me, but I can't quite put my finger on it. She just gets my spidey senses tingling in not a fun way

Edited October 29, 2022 by zentropa

[meep.meep]

Looks like Matt had clothing left over from Halloween week.

I thought Sandor was robbed of Star Baker.  He won the Technical by so far that the rest of them might have been disqualified.  His cones actually looked like the samples that Prue and Paul were eating.  Most of the rest barely qualified as ice cream.  And I agree with Matt - pistachio ice cream was always billed as a great treat to be only eaten on special occasions although I'm not sure why since it's not very good.

[kirklandia]

I love it when the humor is subtle.

"On your marks"

"Get perfectly set"

"Bake!"

[Cetacean]

Our local (extremely popular) ice cream shop has always puts a dollop of chocolate in the bottom of their homemade cones to avoid leakage.  Hardly groundbreaking.

I don't know about professional grade ice cream makers but I always chill my mixture in the refrigerator for several hours before doing the churning.  But of course there is a time restraint for the challenges.  None of cones except Sandro's looked at all decent.

[MisterGlass]

The chocolate at the bottom of the cone is the best part of Drumsticks.

If I were to guess at the weight of the technical, I'd say 15%, with the signature 40% and the showstopper 45%.  The technical matters under certain circumstances, but a pass or fail in it will never matter as much as the scores in the other two.

[jpgr]

On 10/29/2022 at 9:40 AM, iMonrey said:

Neither? But it seemed like the judges didn't really take the Technical challenge into account when deciding star baker because Syabira was last in that. That's kind of why I felt like Sandro should have gotten it instead. He's yet to win one. 

Sandro won Star Baker during Dessert Week.

[dgpolo]

21 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

If I were to guess at the weight of the technical, I'd say 15%, with the signature 40% and the showstopper 45%.  The technical matters under certain circumstances, but a pass or fail in it will never matter as much as the scores in the other two.

I agree, maybe not so much with the percentages but the Technical never weighs as much as the other two. Look at Priya's disaster or the one season when Ryan came in last in the Technical but won Star Baker with his Key Lime Pie. So no, Sandro was not robbed. Syabira had the best comments in both the Signature (along with Janusz) and the Showstopper.

[rlc]

I really like Syabira, so I'm shocked to see people so vehemently disliking her. All of these people are nice- sure, we all have favorites, but you can see how friendly they are with each other. Sandro made a beautiful cake and won the technical hands down.  Syabira made the most technically accurate custard-dominate cake for the signature. It could have gone either way, but I'm fine with how it played out. I'm glad Janusz didn't go home for one bad week. 

[Cetacean]

1 hour ago, rlc said:

I really like Syabira, so I'm shocked to see people so vehemently disliking her. All of these people are nice- sure, we all have favorites, but you can see how friendly they are with each other. 

I am puzzled with that as well.  She just seems to be one of those upbeat people and I like her sense of humor. I'm not sure I'd like a lot of her flavors but I have a very unadventurous palate so that's on me.

[Lovecat]

On 10/29/2022 at 11:15 AM, WildPlum said:

I am not a fan of custard (or puddings - what we call puddings) anyway and nothing on this show looked good. Custard cake looks particularly awful and only Maxy's cake (which Pru said didn't feature custard over cake) looked at all good to me. Back when I ate things like eclairs, I would squish all the filling out and just eat the rest.

Come sit next to me!  I never met a custard-filled thing I didn't like, so I'm happy to take your leftovers :)  Set custard only, though...I don't really get the idea of a runny custard like creme anglaise unless it's a garnish.  Floating islands sound terrible to me:  Here's a bowl of custard soup with some squishy stuff in it...enjoy!  No thanks.

[ombre]

4 hours ago, rlc said:

I really like Syabira, so I'm shocked to see people so vehemently disliking her. All of these people are nice- sure, we all have favorites, but you can see how friendly they are with each other. Sandro made a beautiful cake and won the technical hands down.  Syabira made the most technically accurate custard-dominate cake for the signature. It could have gone either way, but I'm fine with how it played out. I'm glad Janusz didn't go home for one bad week. 

This. 

I was utterly wowed by syabira's finished cake. I have no idea how it defied gravity as well as it did (I mean, moments ago that was all just *liquid*!) and was truly dumbfounded by her decorations, which felt like exuberant firecrackers. (and thank you to the person upthread who said they're pineapple - I'd missed that.) 

I'm going to miss Kevin something fierce. I feel like he's landed at least one zinger every week that took me by surprise, I liked his bakes, and thought he had a good understanding of what he was doing. He was a pleasure to watch. 

But then, you know what? They all are. I take such joy in seeing maxy as she's gotten comfortable doing all these things under all this pressure (her sheer inability to juggle baking and talking the first week? That would absolutely be me.  So every time she now just gets to be her lovely poised self I am cheering twice as hard as I would be otherwise.)  I both love sandro's ambition and hope he can find a way to tame it in the next weeks. A classic tragic flaw - can he overcome this hubris to achieve Moira? I hope so! Janusz feels like he's in a bit of a rut - can he free himself from it (and the tyranny of the ubiquitous drop decorations?) that's worth rooting for, too! And perhaps someday we'll get enough screen time with Abdul for me to write up a similar sentence, but I certainly see nothing to *dislike* in the man! 

I'm still convinced that other years have been stronger bakers, but I have so enjoyed getting to have a moment with these lovely people. May they all bake their best! 

[TimothyQ]

I think just as people are getting sick of Janusz’s drip decoration, they’re getting sick of Syabira always doing either cocktail or Malaysian flavors. Same went for Chetna back in series 5, who almost always did Indian flavors. It’s certainly not bad to use ingredients one is used to baking with, but some contestants get caught in a rut. 

[LeDucDiableBleu]

I liked Abdul's mille feuilletine a lot. It was so neat how he did something totally different and seemed to nail it, except for the extra 5 minutes in the oven. I can't remember how he performed in the signature and technical but I loved his showstopper.

[caitmcg]

47 minutes ago, TimothyQ said:

Same went for Chetna back in series 5, who almost always did Indian flavors.

I will say that Chetna's two baking books,The Cardamom Trail: Chetna Bakes with Flavors of the East and Chetna's Easy Baking: Simple Cakes with a Twist of Spice, which go heavy on those flavors, are excellent. 

[Adiba]

30 minutes ago, caitmcg said:

I will say that Chetna's two baking books,The Cardamom Trail: Chetna Bakes with Flavors of the East and Chetna's Easy Baking: Simple Cakes with a Twist of Spice, which go heavy on those flavors, are excellent. 

Not just Chetna, but it seemed for a while every other bake featured cardamom or mango in a few seasons. Lavender and lemon had a moment, too.

Many bakers have their “go-to” or signature flavors, but it’s good to see contestants use a variety of flavors when in a competition to show that they are well-rounded bakers.

[ombre]

I'm a bit confused by all of this. Syabira has used a wide variety of flavors in her cooking. To me, things like her savory macarons, sweet corn tres leches cake, and those steamed watermelon puddings/buns all show someone who's putting a really creative spin on the assignments. (yes, the buns were poorly flavored, but that's perhaps a matter of execution rather than inspiration. I can absolutely understand being so excited about how the visuals would work that you mentally figure "enh, hopefully I'll have figured it out when the time comes!")  I love chocolate and coffee and so on as much as the next person, but it's wonderful to have someone who isn't leaning on those same standbys. 

[Cetacean]

1 hour ago, Adiba said:

Lavender and lemon had a moment, too.

As did fennel and sultanas.

[SuprSuprElevated]

It seemed like the passion fruit growers had a semi (lorry) parked outside the tent for a few seasons.  Less so of late.

[ShelleySue]

On 10/28/2022 at 9:58 AM, dleighg said:

So the two people who cooled their ice cream custard in the freezer rather than the fridge had trouble freezing the final product. All I could think was, they need to get higher quality freezers. There really shouldn't be that much lag in them getting back down to temp.

A lot of the US shows have blast chillers and I've always assumed it was because they put a time constraint on the contestants. The blast chillers were a way of making up for that. Do blast chillers not exist in the UK or are they trying to just recreate a home kitchen? If they are trying to recreate a home kitchen do UK home kitchens typically have proofing drawers? I know that the room temperature in the UK tends to be cooler than in the US so that might be a real thing for people who do a lot of bread baking.

[marinite]

On 10/28/2022 at 7:32 AM, SnapHappy said:

But Syabira is a one-way monkey with her suck-up booze deserts.

Dmitri from Project Runway shoutout? Heh. 

Love custards but can’t really eat all that dairy at once. 😔 

[HyeChaps]

Abdul's bake looked to me like a giant Napoleon.

[Athena]

18 hours ago, ShelleySue said:

Do blast chillers not exist in the UK or are they trying to just recreate a home kitchen? If they are trying to recreate a home kitchen do UK home kitchens typically have proofing drawers? I know that the room temperature in the UK tends to be cooler than in the US so that might be a real thing for people who do a lot of bread baking.

Blast chillers exist but like in North America, they aren't commonly used at home due to expense and space. The contestants are given the challenges and the time constraints weeks/months ahead so they would have been able to practice at home with their normal freezers. Not everyone has a proofing or warming drawer but you can replicate one by using a an oven with the light bulb on. While room temp can be cooler, it really varies by time of year as it can be very humid in the warmer months.