S13.E07: Custard Week

[ombre]

16 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

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

If that truck needs a place to pull in while they regroup, I'd be happy to find them some space! :D

That said, one of my silly but real high spots of the pandemic was saying, by golly, I am going to work my way through all the unusual fruits that my local shops get and see what's good! And I did that in part from watching everybody mess around with flavors on gbbo. And the passion fruit is by *far* my favorite thing I added to my repertoire - simple to use and cuts through February blues like the sun. So, thank you to that lorry driver! :D

[caitmcg]

18 hours ago, Athena said:

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

While that was true for past ice cream challenges (like the ice cream cake), in this case the freezer discussion pertains to the technical, so they had no advance notice of practice. And several said they’d never made ice cream before. 

it is true that empty refrigerators and freezers are not as efficient at retaining cold temperatures, so I’ve often seen the suggestion to store large bottles of water in the fridge or bags of ice in the freezer so it’s partially filled. I think the fridges are always empty on GBBO save for refrigerated ingredients for the challenge underway 

[theatremouse]

I think the point was there are no blast chillers in the tent because there are almost certainly no blast chillers in the contestants' homes. So, even though this was a technical challenge they couldn't have practiced at home, the reason there are no blast chillers for the show remains.

[Lois Sandborne]

But that doesn't explain the proving drawers. I don't think the "home kitchen" feel is the reason they do and don't provide certain things. Some contestants have speculated that they don't have enough or strong enough freezers, and don't use air conditioning to amp up the drama, which it naturally does. I know the show has shared reasons for some of that, but I'm inclined to think like the bakers. I don't think the production is actively sabotaging anything, but they do what they can to manipulate the circumstances so the content is as dramatic as possible.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Lois Sandborne

[dleighg]

I think the vast majority of us without proving drawers do the sensible thing. We use a sunny window, an oven with the light on, or if our oven is a bit more modern, the "proof" setting on our oven. But of course if we are using our oven we need to take it out of there to pre-heat. And that would mess up their whole DO EVERYTHING IN TWO HOURS thing. We normal people don't have silly time constraints like that.

[Cetacean]

6 hours ago, dleighg said:

We use a sunny window, an oven with the light on, or if our oven is a bit more modern, the "proof" setting on our oven.

I uise the car with the windows shut on a sunny day, even in winter.  

[Ohiopirate02]

On 11/5/2022 at 9:07 AM, dleighg said:

I think the vast majority of us without proving drawers do the sensible thing. We use a sunny window, an oven with the light on, or if our oven is a bit more modern, the "proof" setting on our oven. But of course if we are using our oven we need to take it out of there to pre-heat. And that would mess up their whole DO EVERYTHING IN TWO HOURS thing. We normal people don't have silly time constraints like that.

My mom uses the sunny window with a heating pad placed underneath and lets her dough rise for a heck of a lot longer time than 30 minutes.

[SemiCharmedLife]

On 10/28/2022 at 9:56 AM, caitmcg said:

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

Yes, I remember her saying this and they were incredibly  beautiful.  I have seen other bakers use the dried pineapple flowers before, but this was the prettiest display of them I've seen.  I have loved so many of Syrabira's presentations.  She is very good at making artistic (and flavorful) creations.

[blackwing]

I liked Kevin a lot but I do think it was his week to go.  That said, it sounded like his flavors in the honey custard were amazing.  Contrast that to Janusz whose custard was like wallpaper paste.  

On 10/31/2022 at 5:17 AM, 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. 

I agree, I like her a lot as well.  She doesn't only do Malaysian flavors, she's done a lot of interesting things.  Of all the bakers, she is the one that most pushes the envelope in terms of flavors and creativity.

For some reason I am not liking Janusz, just as how I didn't like Jurgen from last season.  I do still think of him as Augustus Gloop, or a real-life Humpty Dumpty.  But apart from that, I don't find his work that creative.  Prue keeps gushing about his "drip"... what's so hard about drip?  I think even I could do a drip cake.

I'm still hoping for a final three of Syabira, Maxy and Sandro.  I'm a few episodes behind so I'm hoping they all make it.

[Crs97]

I’m late to the season, but son watched it and didn’t like Sandro.  His obvious competitive nature seems slightly inappropriate in context with this show.

I knew Kevin needed to go, but I am glad it was at least on a high of that custard tasting so good.