S02.E04: Classically-Trained: Going Plum Crazy

[The Crazed Spruce]

Quote

Five classically-trained baking teams return to the kitchen to solve two more culinary crimes, including an elimination bake with a seasonal dessert of Yolanda's choosing; the team with the poorest performance is sent home after the elimination bake.

 

[Irlandesa]

Bob and Vikki were the right team to boot, and I resent that the show even tried to make it seem like there was any question about it.  All the tartes had flaws but only one had a major component wrong. I was a little surprised how easy it ended up being. 

I wanted Bob and Vikki off in the first round when they presented a "galette" that was actually a tart.  And they had never heard of a clafoutis.  Isn't this supposed to be the trained group?  Pancake tart had me rolling my eyes too but at least that's actually kind of similar to a clafoutis.

That makes me wonder what would have happened if the item actually had been a galette.  Do you think they'd get points for making a galette even though they didn't make one?

I'm a little torn on the winner.  Did the kitchen even have cherries?  I think I might have gone with the team that put raspberries in the dessert rather than the team that went with the wrong fruit altogether...unless the other team included cherries in their berry clafoutis.

[Driad]

I'm tired of watching people cook with their hair all over the place.  Waiting for the judges to find a hair in their dessert.

Bob told Vikki that they shouldn't argue, but clearly he meant that she shouldn't disagree with him.  Glad they are gone.

[mertensia]

Yeah, Bob and Vikki were definitely the right choice to go. 

A clafouti sounds delicious. I want one.

[eel2178]

12 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

That makes me wonder what would have happened if the item actually had been a galette.  Do you think they'd get points for making a galette even though they didn't make one?

It wouldn't be terribly different than the team that made the Boardwalk Pie but only got the crust right.

They won just because they had the right idea.

[AZChristian]

6 minutes ago, eel2178 said:

It wouldn't be terribly different than the team that made the Boardwalk Pie but only got the crust right.

They won just because they had the right idea.

That's probably why they call it "Crime Scene Kitchen" and not "Yet Another Baking Competition."  They premise of the show is to see whether people can figure out clues for baked goods, not whether they are necessarily top-notch bakers.

And then there's the whole "team dynamic" experience.

[eel2178]

11 hours ago, mertensia said:

Yeah, Bob and Vikki were definitely the right choice to go. 

They were the right choice; however, the cats can get eliminated as soon as possible as far as I'm concerned.

[blackwing]

Bob and Vikki were by far my least favourite team out of this group of 6.  I'm so happy they are gone.  I couldn't stand their constant bickering.  And then there was this gem from Bob: "we've decided we're going to work together as a team, and that means you're going to listen to me".

So it seems like the format of the show is that the slate is wiped clean after the first round.  The first round is only to determine whether you get safety or not.  If you don't, then it seems like you're in the second round.  It doesn't seem to matter how good or bad you did in the Safety Bake, it only matters what you did in the Elimination.  I think last year, because nobody was safe, they did consider overall performance in both bakes.

In the Safety Bake, the two male friends did awful.  They made up a dessert and it was undercooked.  Bob and Vikki made an apple tart.  The winning team made a cherry clafoutis.  If apples or cherries had been used, shouldn't the peel/core and pits/stems be in the trash?  If these items weren't in the trash, why would anyone pick apples or cherries?  

Same with the Elimination Bake, shouldn't there be plum pits in the trash?  Or I guess the trash doesn't mean actual trash, just "clue" trash.

13 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Bob and Vikki were the right team to boot, and I resent that the show even tried to make it seem like there was any question about it.  All the tartes had flaws but only one had a major component wrong. I was a little surprised how easy it ended up being. 

I'm a little torn on the winner.  Did the kitchen even have cherries?  I think I might have gone with the team that put raspberries in the dessert rather than the team that went with the wrong fruit altogether...unless the other team included cherries in their berry clafoutis.

Yep.  Yolanda saying that they were torn and it was a tough decision.  Really?  Three of the teams got the exact dessert, one did not.  It should have been a no brainer.  I agree that both desserts this week, especially the Elimination, seemed really easy to deduce.

There were definitely cherries in the kitchen in the Safety round.  They were in a bowl on the counter and someone commented about them, unless I am confusing this with the Elimination round.

[Irlandesa]

19 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I agree that both desserts this week, especially the Elimination, seemed really easy to deduce.

There were definitely cherries in the kitchen in the Safety round.  They were in a bowl on the counter and someone commented about them, unless I am confusing this with the Elimination round.

I don't think a clafoutis is necessarily easy, especially since only two teams guessed correctly.  But tarte is so basic that it was.  I was a little nervous the glaze was going to be orange and Bob and Vikki would be safe. 

Thanks for the cherry info. 

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, eel2178 said:

It wouldn't be terribly different than the team that made the Boardwalk Pie but only got the crust right.

I thought they got more of it right than that. 

[eel2178]

13 hours ago, mertensia said:

A clafouti sounds delicious. I want one.

From the recipes I looked up -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- it sounds like a sweetened Yorkshire pudding with fruit. Maybe the dessert version of Toad in the Hole?

[Mahamid Frauded Me]

At least this year they are letting Joel eat. I don't recall him tasting anything last year.

[tinkerbell]

4 hours ago, eel2178 said:

From the recipes I looked up -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- it sounds like a sweetened Yorkshire pudding with fruit. Maybe the dessert version of Toad in the Hole?

more like an oven-baked German Pancake

[eel2178]

21 minutes ago, tinkerbell said:

more like an oven-baked German Pancake

okay

[Whimsy]

3 hours ago, Mahamid Frauded Me said:

At least this year they are letting Joel eat. I don't recall him tasting anything last year.

He did. I remember commenting on several things he ate. 

[Lurk]

10 hours ago, blackwing said:

Bob and Vikki were by far my least favourite team out of this group of 6.  I'm so happy they are gone.  I couldn't stand their constant bickering.  And then there was this gem from Bob: "we've decided we're going to work together as a team, and that means you're going to listen to me".

So it seems like the format of the show is that the slate is wiped clean after the first round.  The first round is only to determine whether you get safety or not.  If you don't, then it seems like you're in the second round.  It doesn't seem to matter how good or bad you did in the Safety Bake, it only matters what you did in the Elimination.  I think last year, because nobody was safe, they did consider overall performance in both bakes.

In the Safety Bake, the two male friends did awful.  They made up a dessert and it was undercooked.  Bob and Vikki made an apple tart.  The winning team made a cherry clafoutis.  If apples or cherries had been used, shouldn't the peel/core and pits/stems be in the trash?  If these items weren't in the trash, why would anyone pick apples or cherries?  

Same with the Elimination Bake, shouldn't there be plum pits in the trash?  Or I guess the trash doesn't mean actual trash, just "clue" trash.

Yep.  Yolanda saying that they were torn and it was a tough decision.  Really?  Three of the teams got the exact dessert, one did not.  It should have been a no brainer.  I agree that both desserts this week, especially the Elimination, seemed really easy to deduce.

There were definitely cherries in the kitchen in the Safety round.  They were in a bowl on the counter and someone commented about them, unless I am confusing this with the Elimination round.

Having the pits or peels from fruits would be a good clue for the trash. I think the clue for plums was the calendar date and seasonal fruit picture and note to make something seasonal so they wouldn't need pits or peels. For the cherries, they were there on the counter and one pair thought that was what was smeared on the apron. 

Something I wondered about, do they completely reset the kitchen each time? What happens if someone picks the raspberry seeds off the smear on the apron - the next group(s) would only see a red smear? The other thing that made me wonder about that is if they stick fingers in things to taste or lick spoons, etc. The clues might be slightly different (eg the saltine cracker lump in the food processor, one team saw it and the others didn't notice it or was it there?).

[NaughtyKitty]

11 hours ago, Lurk said:

Having the pits or peels from fruits would be a good clue for the trash. I think the clue for plums was the calendar date and seasonal fruit picture and note to make something seasonal so they wouldn't need pits or peels. For the cherries, they were there on the counter and one pair thought that was what was smeared on the apron. 

Something I wondered about, do they completely reset the kitchen each time? What happens if someone picks the raspberry seeds off the smear on the apron - the next group(s) would only see a red smear? The other thing that made me wonder about that is if they stick fingers in things to taste or lick spoons, etc. The clues might be slightly different (eg the saltine cracker lump in the food processor, one team saw it and the others didn't notice it or was it there?).

My assumption is that they reset the kitchen for each team in a process that can take hours and then put them in a room for a while to deliberate and think about a recipe, go over the rules, and do the confessionals.  My guess is that they start cooking several hours after Joel does his spiel.

[blackwing]

12 hours ago, Lurk said:

Something I wondered about, do they completely reset the kitchen each time? What happens if someone picks the raspberry seeds off the smear on the apron - the next group(s) would only see a red smear? The other thing that made me wonder about that is if they stick fingers in things to taste or lick spoons, etc. The clues might be slightly different (eg the saltine cracker lump in the food processor, one team saw it and the others didn't notice it or was it there?).

 

1 hour ago, NaughtyKitty said:

My assumption is that they reset the kitchen for each team in a process that can take hours and then put them in a room for a while to deliberate and think about a recipe, go over the rules, and do the confessionals.  My guess is that they start cooking several hours after Joel does his spiel.

I too would have to assume that the kitchen gets reset for each team.  We see each team walk up from the group.  But I am thinking that has to be for the cameras, and that each team is in the kitchen by themselves.  Otherwise the first team is at a disadvantage and the last team gets an advantage since everyone presumably can see what they are looking at (the note on the refrigerator, the piece of parchment paper in the trash, the apron, the "allergic to nuts" card in the purse) and perhaps hear as well.  I think all the other teams must be sitting in a conference room while each team looks in the kitchen.

Then I would imagine the kitchen has to get reset.  Things put back into place, lids put back on.  What if one team wanted others to think the almond flour was used and opens the lid and leaves the lid on the counter?  And most tellingly, Yolanda told the teams that "you all had the opportunity to taste the glaze" to determine it was apricot.  That told me that because of health reasons, each team would have gotten a new spoon of apricot preserves instead of all licking the same one.

I was thinking that the earlier you went, the more time you got to think, since the kitchen has to be reset.  But I do think each team is probably isolated in their own separate rooms in a process that probably takes an hour, so more or less everyone has time to think.

I also suspect that perhaps there are cookbooks and recipe cards in these rooms.  How did the French team who had never cooked a donut before know how to make one?  And not only know exactly how many eggs, how much flour, etc but how long to cook it for and at what temperature?  Those donuts looked perfect for a team that had never ever made one. 

The team that pulled out the Basque cheesecake seemed really convenient.  Is there a big book of baking in each of these sequestration rooms?  It would look really bad if absolutely nobody got it right.  If she had an inkling that the parchment paper meant something was burnt and then looked through all the cheesecake recipes to see if any of them involved burnt, then good for her.  Same with Cherry if she found the recipe for a Boardwalk pie in that big book by looking for any kind of pie with saltine crackers.

[proserpina65]

On 6/26/2023 at 10:55 PM, Irlandesa said:

Did the kitchen even have cherries? 

I remember the mother talking about seeing cherries while they were doing their scout through the kitchen.  I'm glad the judges gave them the win after how incredibly complimentary they were about that clafoutis.  I think one of Curtis' adjectives was "phenomenal".

23 hours ago, blackwing said:

If apples or cherries had been used, shouldn't the peel/core and pits/stems be in the trash?  If these items weren't in the trash, why would anyone pick apples or cherries?

I'm guessing maybe fruit like that is brought in already cored/pitted?

[tennisgurl]

Bob and Vikki were the right ones to go. Not only was that bake awful, I was so sick of their constant bickering. My guess is that the cats will be leaving next. 

Please could people put their hair up?! Its so gross that they never do, I just keep picturing the judges sticking their fork into a slice of cake and pulling out a giant glob of hair. 

This one seemed a bit easier for the bakers to figure out.

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I'm guessing maybe fruit like that is brought in already cored/pitted?

The apple in the Safety Bake crime scene definitely wasn't cored, Bob noticed a single whole apple on the counter.

I think maybe it just depends on what the judges want to claim are the correct clues.  I could easily see Yolanda saying "you should have noticed the cherries in the bowl which were washed and had their stems removed.  This should have been an indication that cherries were used in the dessert."  Just as easily as I could see her saying "although there were apples on the counter, the absence of any peels or cores in the trash should have told you that they were NOT used in the dessert".

In other words, I think things are made up and not particularly consistent.  I think some things are done to purposely throw teams off, like the half-used pineapple from the other week that Curtis claimed wasn't used.

We don't see if Bob and Vicki actually peeled and cored the apples themselves, we see Vicki with some peeled, cored and chopped apples in a bowl or pot, I think she was cooking them.

[Lurk]

16 hours ago, NaughtyKitty said:

My assumption is that they reset the kitchen for each team in a process that can take hours and then put them in a room for a while to deliberate and think about a recipe, go over the rules, and do the confessionals.  My guess is that they start cooking several hours after Joel does his spiel.

 

Hours to do all the investigations? I didn't think about how long resets would take. That would give the early teams quite an adavantage to sit and talk/think about what to make.

 

14 hours ago, blackwing said:

 

I too would have to assume that the kitchen gets reset for each team.  We see each team walk up from the group.  But I am thinking that has to be for the cameras, and that each team is in the kitchen by themselves.  Otherwise the first team is at a disadvantage and the last team gets an advantage since everyone presumably can see what they are looking at (the note on the refrigerator, the piece of parchment paper in the trash, the apron, the "allergic to nuts" card in the purse) and perhaps hear as well.  I think all the other teams must be sitting in a conference room while each team looks in the kitchen.

Then I would imagine the kitchen has to get reset.  Things put back into place, lids put back on.  What if one team wanted others to think the almond flour was used and opens the lid and leaves the lid on the counter?  And most tellingly, Yolanda told the teams that "you all had the opportunity to taste the glaze" to determine it was apricot.  That told me that because of health reasons, each team would have gotten a new spoon of apricot preserves instead of all licking the same one.

I was thinking that the earlier you went, the more time you got to think, since the kitchen has to be reset.  But I do think each team is probably isolated in their own separate rooms in a process that probably takes an hour, so more or less everyone has time to think.

I also suspect that perhaps there are cookbooks and recipe cards in these rooms.  How did the French team who had never cooked a donut before know how to make one?  And not only know exactly how many eggs, how much flour, etc but how long to cook it for and at what temperature?  Those donuts looked perfect for a team that had never ever made one. 

The team that pulled out the Basque cheesecake seemed really convenient.  Is there a big book of baking in each of these sequestration rooms?  It would look really bad if absolutely nobody got it right.  If she had an inkling that the parchment paper meant something was burnt and then looked through all the cheesecake recipes to see if any of them involved burnt, then good for her.  Same with Cherry if she found the recipe for a Boardwalk pie in that big book by looking for any kind of pie with saltine crackers.

I was thinking the other day of pulling up one of those websites you can input different ingredients into and have it give you possible recipes you could make when watching the show. Punch in the things they find that look like they were used.

If they had time to look up a recipe on the Internet, who's to say they couldn't use one of those websites. Maybe they do have some access to cookbooks for recipes?

[Quilt Fairy]

I cannot believe they have access to any cookbooks, much less the internet.  

[mertensia]

Didn't one of them have a piece,of paper? I thought that was a recipe.

[freeser]

1 hour ago, mertensia said:

Didn't one of them have a piece,of paper? I thought that was a recipe.

I thought I also saw one of the teams have a piece of paper.  I wondered if it was the recipe and where they got it.  

[AZChristian]

On 6/29/2023 at 6:28 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

I cannot believe they have access to any cookbooks, much less the internet.  

I agree.  The guys would not have created a pancake tart if they had access to cookbooks, since it seems like there is no such thing.  

[Quilt Fairy]

At the end of the round, I still had no sense of what the heck a clafoutis is.  The poster who mentioned a similarity to a German pancake (also known as a Baby Dutch pancake) helped a lot.  After some googling, It appears they are in the same family having an eggy, crepe-like dough.  I love me a Baby Dutch, I haven't made one in ages. 

BTW, in my research it mentions that pitting the cherries in a clafoutis is optional, with the pits adding a bitter note.  In my experience, the pits would add a bitter note indeed, along with a broken tooth or a cracked crown. 

There was a show called Top Chef: Just Desserts that lasted only 2 seasons after a horrible scandal.  Anyway, I remember that the chefs in that show were allowed to bring a small piece of paper or note card that listed proportions and timings for various desserts that they felt were essential, the idea being that baking is a much more precise discipline than mere cooking. 

[Mediocre Gatsby]

On 6/26/2023 at 8:30 PM, Driad said:

Bob told Vikki that they shouldn't argue, but clearly he meant that she shouldn't disagree with him.  Glad they are gone.

I didn't realize that this show was back, so this was the first episode I saw with them. Their arguing was NUTS. Especially when Bob demanded "Talk to me!" but kept on talking so that she COULDN'T give him her opinion. Good riddance. 

eta: I forgot to add that during the show, one woman says, while trying to find clues in the kitchen: "It smells like almonds. So right away I know it's ...." and her partner said "frangipani" while *I* said "...cyanide?" which means I watch too many Forensic-Files type show. 

Edited July 25, 2023 by Mediocre Gatsby

[yourdreamer]

On 7/24/2023 at 11:55 PM, Mediocre Gatsby said:

I didn't realize that this show was back, so this was the first episode I saw with them. Their arguing was NUTS. Especially when Bob demanded "Talk to me!" but kept on talking so that she COULDN'T give him her opinion. Good riddance. 

eta: I forgot to add that during the show, one woman says, while trying to find clues in the kitchen: "It smells like almonds. So right away I know it's ...." and her partner said "frangipani" while *I* said "...cyanide?" which means I watch too many Forensic-Files type show. 

Oooh I picked cyanide too, I love the ID channel!

Glad that the uncomfortable pairs have all left by now. 

[The Crazed Spruce]

On 7/26/2023 at 11:32 PM, yourdreamer said:

Oooh I picked cyanide too, I love the ID channel!

Spoiler

Glad that the uncomfortable pairs have all left by now.

 

Reminder that information from later episodes are considered spoilers in older episode threads, and should be hidden behind spoiler tags (like I did in the quote).