S02.E02: Meet the Classically-Trained Competition

[The Crazed Spruce]

Quote

Six classically-trained baking duos search their kitchens for clues, which leads to several victories and one elimination.

 

[DanaK]

The two ladies who do everything together including showering together but aren’t in a relationship and are married to others (husbands)? That’s just weird

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, DanaK said:

The two ladies who do everything together including showering together but aren’t in a relationship and are married to others (husbands)? That’s just weird

I think they are sisters. They live in a house with their parents, their husbands and their children. 

[mertensia]

1 hour ago, DanaK said:

The two ladies who do everything together including showering together but aren’t in a relationship and are married to others (husbands)? That’s just weird

Joe trying to process all of this was hilarious.  That said, those dresses looked awkward for baking in.

 

How did only the one team find the trash? Why did that other ransack the purse while no one else seemed to see it?

I knew the cocoa powder was wrong; it looked full.

A giant 3 layer macaron cake sounds delicious.

[SweetSable]

11 hours ago, mertensia said:

Why did that other ransack the purse while no one else seemed to see it?

A purse sitting on the counter was very out of place - it would have jumped out at me, too.

[seacliffsal]

Am enjoying this show.  The sisters are super lucky they picked the right dessert for the elimination round.  It's so interesting to watch how the teams interpret the clues.  The almond flour was totally misleading as the top of the container was askew.  However, when Curtis said there was no evidence of the flour being used, I felt it was like his view of the pineapples the first week: there were appearances that they were used (IMO).  

Even among the "classically trained" chefs there appears to be a variety of skill levels.

[tennisgurl]

It was funny how the French ladies went on and on about how screwed they were if they had to make donuts and they ended up winning the donut challenge, that does tend to happen on baking shows. So many times a baker will be really nervous about something they don't have much experience with and they end up killing it while another baker who thinks they have it in the bag will screw up. 

Always look in the garbage can!

[AZChristian]

I look at this show and think that the perfect team would be Jessica Fletcher and Julia Child.  One figures out obscure clues while the other has the "how to make a ______" from the ingredients in the clues part of it.

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

t was funny how the French ladies went on and on about how screwed they were if they had to make donuts

Several teams made this comment, I don't understand how ypu could be a trained pastry chef and not know how to make donuts.  Also, was anyone else yelling at the TV "Those aren'[t donuts, they're bismarks!"?  

[chicagofan]

10 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Also, was anyone else yelling at the TV "Those aren't donuts, they're bismarks!"?  

No, but I told the ones that made the rectangular ones "oh, you're making long johns".

[mertensia]

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

It was funny how the French ladies went on and on about how screwed they were if they had to make donuts and they ended up winning the donut challenge, that does tend to happen on baking shows. So many times a baker will be really nervous about something they don't have much experience with and they end up killing it while another baker who thinks they have it in the bag will screw up. 

Always look in the garbage can!

Everyone but the French ladies seems to have **not** realized there **was** a trash can. And, like, did you not watch the first season?!

[Zanzibar]

3 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Several teams made this comment, I don't understand how ypu could be a trained pastry chef and not know how to make donuts.  Also, was anyone else yelling at the TV "Those aren'[t donuts, they're bismarks!"?  

No, because bismarcks are, in fact, donuts.

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, Zanzibar said:

No, because bismarcks are, in fact, donuts.

Local parlance.  They're filled donuts.  "Donut" seems a very generic term when these are supposed to be "classically trained" chefs. 

5 hours ago, mertensia said:

Everyone but the French ladies seems to have **not** realized there **was** a trash can. And, like, did you not watch the first season?!

In all fairness, they did a really good job of hiding the trashcan.  

5 hours ago, chicagofan said:

No, but I told the ones that made the rectangular ones "oh, you're making long johns".

Bingo!  I said that, too. 

[chicagofan]

17 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

In all fairness, they did a really good job of hiding the trashcan.

I'm trying to remember the trashcan situation in the "self taught bakers" episode. Was it closed and "hidden" like it was last night? IIRC at least a couple of the teams last week found and looked in the trash to see the orange peels that were a clue to their bake. Maybe that group is just better at knowing where to look for clues.

[proserpina65]

22 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I don't understand how ypu could be a trained pastry chef and not know how to make donuts. 

I don't think donuts turn up very often in high-end bakeries/patisseries, which is why the French ladies hadn't made them often enough to feel comfortable making them.

[anniebird]

The first episode is where they learn to look at EVERYTHING. I loved it when Curtis told those two guys not to improvise - didn't any of these people watch the first season?

[Kaycee]

On the surface donuts for home bakers would have made more sense then using them for the classically trained as most home bakers would probably know how to make them. After seeing 5 of the 6 classically trained bakers get it wrong with the clues I can see they are making the clues harder for the classically trained to balance things out. The purse thing, most people would not go through other peoples purses. The teams may have believed someone left their purse there by accident while staging the crime scene. Still it was a good episode. 

[chitowngirl]

How can anyone bake with their long hair down like that???

[blackwing]

I agree that for the Safety Bakes, the donuts should have been for the self-taught and the Boardwalk Cake should have been for the classically trained.  How many amateur bakers have even heard of a Boardwalk Cake?  Whereas those that went to pastry school probably would have made one at some point.

The clues for the donuts also seemed way easier.  All you needed to know was that you had to look for the 4/20 date, so the receipt on the refrigerator was obviously a red herring.  Then look at the box in the trash.

The pavlova vs. dacquoise was also interesting in that the almond flour clearly looked open.  Yes, there was the note in the purse, but if the person was allergic to nuts, then why would they have even touched the almond flour?

The two ladies that made the giant macaron cake lucked out that the other two women failed so badly in execution.  I guess if you get the dessert wrong it doesn't matter how wrong you are, just how it tastes.  Because to me, a dacquoise was a much more likely guess than a giant macaron.

Did Curtis or Yolanda explain why cocoa powder was not used?  I guess there were not traces or dustings of it anywhere?  Then why does the container look a little empty?

[seacliffsal]

After thinking about it (I know, I know...) one being allergic to nuts does not necessarily mean that the almond flour wasn't used-it just means that someone (the baker?) wouldn't have been able to eat it.  People make things for other people to eat quite often.  And, I could see the judges totally being "why did you look in someone's personal property?'  Really, with a lot of the evidence/clues, I can see the judges changing the story on the fly to suit a narrative.  Last week it was the pineapple jar which wasn't full, and this week the almond flour container that had been opened.  Oh well.

[mertensia]

20 hours ago, anniebird said:

The first episode is where they learn to look at EVERYTHING. I loved it when Curtis told those two guys not to improvise - didn't any of these people watch the first season?

I bet they go early; they seem like they'll always add bits to look pretty rather than focusing on recreating the dish.

[Maverick]

 These teams really suck at the clues.  Did they think there would just be a list of the donuts up on the fridge?   And the receipt had a big 4/8 on it that is not 2 days before 4/22.   I will say the "There's no evidence X was used" clues are kind of bs.

 Did the show fire their stylist?   Yolanda looked overly made up and Curtis looked like he just rolled out of bed. 

[rlc]

I was more troubled by the fact that all of the classically trained bakers made dakwa instead of dacquoise.  Next they will be making marscapone filled macaroons.

The Italian trained American baker needs to get off of his high horse about no donuts in Italy. They are called bombolone and they are delicious.