S05.E09: Semi-Final - Patisserie

[Athena]

It's semi-final time and the tension is palpable as the bakers begin Patisserie Week. The semi-finalists are challenged to make signature baklava - two different types of any flavour they like, but with the crisp flaky layers of perfectly pulled filo pastry. 

Next up is the penultimate technical challenge of the series, which sees the bakers make layers of a different kind. The German schichttorte is a cake cooked in stages under the grill to create 20 layers of different-coloured sponge. It is based upon the German baumkuchen which is baked on a rotisserie and is one of the trickiest German cakes.

The showstopper challenge raises the bar even higher. The final four bakers must bake nonstop to create two elegant entremets. They are asked to show as many skills and techniques as they can possibly pack in - this is their last chance to fight for their place in the final.

[Meredith Quill]

This week looks eXCITing! aaand Yummy!

[Niuxita]

Richard again? I'm no fan of Luis but I think it was finally his turn after nailing the technical and that fantastic presentation of the entremets. This is the second time Richard gets Star Baker over whoever came first in the technical and did well enough in the Showstopper to have deserved it as much as him (the other time was Chetna last week). "We don't have any favourites," yeah, OK, Paul.

 

Nancy's been my favourite since day one and I'm STOKED she made it this far and gave me a reason to watch until the end, but I really don't feel like watching next week since we all know what the result is going to be. Bleh.

Edited October 2, 2014 by Niuxita

[Meredith Quill]

I thought Richard deserved star baker again this week; he did well in all 3 rounds, whereas Luis' signature bake was poor. Sad to see Chetna go :/ Some of those entremets looked and sounded delicious!

Can't believe the Final is upon us again so soon, *pout*.

I'll be happy with anyone who isn't named Luis winning :)

 

SquirrelWatch: 0 - what a letdown this series has been for SW, hopefully the final will feature one!

[BuddhaBelly]

I'm really sad about Chetna. I really like the flavor combos she brought to the table. I'm rooting for Richard at this point, although if Luis takes it I can't be mad because he's been knocking it out the part since day one. I don't have much of an impression of Nancy...

[Rickster]

The entrement showstoppers is the type of challenge I'd like to see more of in this show, rather than some of the more contrived ones. But I realize there are only certain episodes you can fit them into.

 

I've been rooting for Richard all along, but he has become so dominant, I almost wouldn't mind seeing Luis upset him.

[Athena]

While I have warmed somewhat to Luis the last couple of weeks, I've been rooting for Richard for weeks now. Viva Bob the Builder! He is extremely consistent. Luis did do well in the last two challenges, but had issues with his baklava while Richard has been steady and meticulous on all his challenges since his poor week midway through the series. I'll be very happy if he wins because he deserves it.

 

I am sad Chetna left because she was another of my favourites. It was just not a good week for her, but I tended to like the sound of her bakes and their flavours. Nancy is a very good baker too, but she doesn't leave a deep impression on me as well. 

 

I liked when Paul and Mary were discussing between themselves. I loved Mary's face when he revealed the torte. As always, Sue & Mel were wonderful. Never change!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I loved the recap they did of all the eliminated bakers on An Extra Slice this week. Norman's might have been my favorite. The guy who didn't take any risks and then he did and then he was eliminated. Ha!

[halopub]

I found an official clip from the Extra Slice aftershow for this episode. It features the guest panelists discussing the pronunciation of 'baklava.'

 

Someone else posted the full aftershow in the usual place and it's kind of cute to see comedian Josh Widdicombe get to meet his crush. On a previous appearance he had raved about Chetna and also claimed Richard made him feel inadequate because he can both build and bake. The panelists also taste some schichttorte.

[Primetimer]

The Great British Baking Show semifinal stands pat(-isserie).

Read the story

[Sandman]

Sue's "The little fucker's counting all twenty layers. GOD." eyeroll wins. Hilarious countdown!

[LittleIggy]

Oh, I love baklava! Richard's polka dot entremet was so pretty. I love Richard. He seems like such a decent bloke! I'll miss Chetna. I love how she rocked the silver streaked hair. So lovely!

[mlp]

Richard and Luis are my favorites so I was happy to see both of them do well.  Those fancy pastries were very impressive.  I lost track of the number of times I saw Nancy put her hands on her face or in her hair then back in the food.  I was hoping she'd leave before Chetna.  Actually, they're all such nice people that it's a shame only one can win.

[GaT]

I'm sorry to see Chetna leave, I was hoping it would be Nancy instead. I haven't been spoiled for the winner, but it seems like it's going to be Richard. I thought Luis' entremets looked amazing, on looks alone I thought he won it, but of course, I have no idea which tasted better. 

[shandy]

Gack. Chetna don't go. Your baklava looked like snails, your German torte thing was all crispy, but the only entremet I *wanted* was that coffee cream. You also pulled out the snark pistol on Mel when she was riding you about not having all your layers - kudos.

 

Sue and the phyllo/filo skin was moving into NPH/Oscars not funny at all territory but I love Mel more and more each week.

 

Why does Paul talk to Nancy as if she burned down the tent? Setting up the coronation for King Dick?

Edited February 23, 2015 by shandy

[Zahdii]

I really thought that Luis should have won this week, with Richard a close second.  But at least Luis can compete for the grand prize next week. 

 

I know it's uncharitable of me, but I thought that Richard was being a bit disingenuous when the winner was being announced.  As soon as the host emphasized the word 'spot' in the lead-up to saying his name, he was trying to look confused.  When his name was announced, he seemed rather (to me) unconvincing.  "What?  Me?  Really?  This is so unexpected.  I'm so terribly gratified and grateful, but it really is quite the surprise!" 

 

That said, Richard and all the other bakers seem to be very nice people and if that's the worst thing I can think of to say about them, then he can act as fake-surprised as he wants.  If this had happened on an American show, we'd be expecting really terrible overacting or to have him jump up and yell "Take that, bitches!" to the other contestants.

 

Poor Chetna, I wasn't sure if she'd go or if Nancy would go, but at the very end Chetna was looking pretty stressed.  I got the impression that Chetna was pretty sure she was leaving, while Nancy was aware she was on the chopping block, but had a bit more confidence that she'd stay. 

 

Still having trouble with the hosts, especially at the beginning when the darker haired one can't seem to tell the contestants to bake without making a big deal out of it, but it's only a few seconds of annoyance so I'll deal.  Sometimes both hosts are too distracting when they're walking around talking to the contestants while they're trying to put their food together, and I'm amazed at how many times I've seen them pilfer baking supplies off the tables during and after the challenges, but at least there are other times when they try to be helpful.

 

As for the Technical Challenge:  I'd never heard of German schichttorte, so I looked it up online and somehow thought that the bakers would be making a couple of layer cakes and laboriously slicing them in multiple layers with a tiny amount of filling in between, but I didn't see how that could be done without the cake being several inches taller than they were.

 

Then I watched the show and heard the instructions to 'grill' the layers.  I was wondering if there were four Webber grills set up outside and the bakers would be running back and forth cooking 20 separate cake layers.  I finally figured out that they were using what I'd call the broiler, there was no filling, there were simply multiple layers baked one right on top of the other.  All in all, it looked very tricky.

 

All in all, annoyance level - pretty low.  Enjoyment level - pretty high.  Respect for our bakers - through the roof!

[stopeslite]

I was surprised at "grill" for what I think of as "broil" also. :)

I wanted to keep Chetna over Nancy. I think she's been stronger throughout the season overall, and her flavors are outside the boring norm. But she really did whiff it in these challenges. :(

[Sandman]

The Schichttorte was really the first baked good that I would never make, and I don't think I would like at all. (Although the green marzipan on the Princess Cake didn't thrill me, either.) A stack of pancakes with no filling and a thin chocolate glaze? Layered bland and broiled doughiness doesn't exactly turn the handle on my pâtisserie crank. I'm proud of all the semi-finalists for making through that fiddly process of broiling/grilling each layer, one at a bloody time. I'd have found that pretty agonizing.  (Also, quit being fools over the word "Schichttorte," Mel & Sue; call it a "Baumtorte" and call it a day. It's not like its actual name is "Spotted Dick.")

[emma675]

I'm sad Chetna left, I was hoping it would be Nancy (although I like them all). None of Nancy's pieces looked good to me last night--the glaze was melting off of everything and her baklava might have tasted good but it looked terrible. I'm sad Chetna couldn't get it together with her flavors.

 

I love both Richard and Luis, so I'm thrilled both of them made it to the finals. I might have teared up a bit when Luis got choked up about making it so far.

[stillshimpy]

The Schichttorte was really the first baked good that I would never make

 

Same here.  I couldn't help but wonder what self-loathing baker came up with that in the first place.  It seems something designed to show off technical skill, although that's not even a very accurate description; extreme patience in the face of baking tedium, more than anything.   Doesn't that sucker seem like something created by a baker in a dead panic when some important dignitary with a reputation for being a pretentious meanie came to call unexpectedly?  Like the entire kitchen staff in Way The Hell Long Ago Germany got wind that Baron Von Persnickety -- complete with reputation for having bakers flogged -- was going to turn up and they were out of any kind of "make it glorious" stuff popular in that time?  

 

Hence the overly complicated stack o'pancakes was born.  I mean, "brown one layer to light gold and the next to a darker golden brown.  Repeat until insanity ensues and you've baked half your face watch the bloody things" .  

 

I know it's uncharitable of me, but I thought that Richard was being a bit disingenuous when the winner was being announced.  As soon as the host emphasized the word 'spot' in the lead-up to saying his name, he was trying to look confused.

 

I don't agree, but I think it's actually tough for Richard to know what the appropriate way to react is.   I think Richard has actually handled winning week-after-week quite well and pretty charmingly and I think he was actually surprised when the word "spot" was uttered, because he knew that should mean him and he seemed to be thinking, "Shit, really? Five weeks in a row? No way would they do that.  They'd give it Paul's left eyebrow before they did that....oh cool, they have done that! Sweet!"  but he's caught between a rock-and-a-hard-place.  Look like "Yes! I nailed that!" and it will look like he's lording it over everyone else.  Look surprised and he'll be accused of false humility.  

 

I thought he really deserved that win.  I like Luis and I'm actually not going to be surprised if he does win it altogether, because he's definitely keeping pace with Richard.   I like Luis just fine, but there's a reason you don't see many green cakes.  Pink polka dots would make me feel like I was going to a tea party for Hello Kitty, but green cakes wouldn't have quite the same "adorable" appeal to my mind.  

 

I was sorry to see Chetna go.  She had such wonderful flavors, but chocolate baklava was just not a good plan.  Actually, that's were Luis pretty clearly lost , because dry baklava is a baklava sin.  Although, points to him for his cute petal arrangements.  I am still floored that they had the contestants make baklava though.  Yikes.  

 

So I am sorry to see Chetna go.  The only person I hope doesn't win is Nancy, and it isn't because I've got a thing against her.  She seems perfectly nice, but she's also been hanging on by the skin of her teeth for a bit now and it would suck to see her beat either Richard or Luis.  

[Sandman]

Was Richard the only one who used his hands to stretch the dough? I think he was, though Nancy was pretty close with her pin. I've never made either phyllo or strudel, but I know the recommended method for strudel is to stretch the dough using the backs of your hands until it's translucent. I would think phyllo dough would require a similar technique. I though Chetna's pastry looked almost thin enough, but Luis's looked far too thick to me.

 

I did learn something from this episode, though: I had no idea that sort of mousse-filled multi-layered pastry was called entremets. I've seen the term applied to something else altogether. (The bakers all pronounced the word pretty well, and they all executed the things better than I could have in this lifetime. So: educational and humbling!)

 

This seems to be the inspiration for Chetna's Chocolate and Orange Entremets -- note the sharply contrasting layers. If she had stuck the landing on that one, she'd still be on, I think. 

[msblossom]

I agree with the judges decision to send Chetna home. She is a great baker and certainly deserved to make it to the semi-finals, but she often lacked finesse. She was generally solid with the way her food tasted but she didn't get a lot of high marks in execution. I will say that she was ambitious and looked for ways to be creative and try new flavors. She was not too comfortable with trying other techniques unless it was required.

I thought they downplayed Luis' place in the competition being very close to that of Richard. Luis is ballsy in his creations, and I'm not necessarily a fan of his execution -- he goes BIG and I think he's incredibly brave and shows a lot of talent.

I know that Richard's chance of winning the whole thing is pretty much 99% in the bag. He is bang-on in just about everything he creates. He has great skill and he's very intuitive and rises to just about every baking challenge with confidence (no pun intended).

Nancy was so strong in the beginning and somewhere about halfway or three-quarters of the way through she lost her edge and confidence. I don't know if it's a case of nerves or if she simply has hit a wall in her ability to be a winner.

I feel like the judges want the final outcome to look like this:

Winner: Richard

2nd place: Nancy

3rd place: Luis

I predict:

Winner: Richard

2nd place: Luis

3rd place: Nancy

This has been such a fun show to watch and I'm a little sad that it will all be over next week :(

[BusyOctober]

I'm sure there are many ways to pronounce baklava, but Paul's irked me to no end!  I worked with a woman from Greece and she would make it often for various office functions.  She made the dough from scratch and it was always so good, but too sweet for me to have a whole piece.  She pronounced it as "BAH- kla - VAH".  Paul and his "ba-KLAVA" made my ears hurt.

 

I've really enjoyed this series and I hope my local PBS station continues to show it in the future.  These contestants and the no weird twists( a la any American competition show travesty) format makes me smile the entire episode.  Lovely people behaving well toward each other and showing their incredible talent is what I've loved about it the most.

[Sandman]

I think I heard Paul slip and call it "ba-CLAWVER" a time or two. I laughed evilly, thus: HahahaHA!

[stillshimpy]

Yeah, there were enough pronunciations that "let me hear your balalaikas ringing out" kept romping around in my head, despite having no earthly relationship to baklava (sort of like a few of those pronunciations, because...damn).  

[Sandman]

Baklava, balaclava, balalaika, HEY! (Hee.)

 

I like Luis just fine, but there's a reason you don't see many green cakes.  

 

Truth. "Diamond-hard pass, bro" had me giggling. Also "Baron Von Persnickety."

Edited February 23, 2015 by Sandman

[Quilt Fairy]

I've really enjoyed this series and I hope my local PBS station continues to show it in the future.

They  are.

[BearlyThere]

I totally enjoyed this  episode, as I have the others I have seen.  Unfortunately I missed the first couple of episodes and stumbled across this series by accident (and to my delight!!!)  I really do love it.  The bakers have been so nice and so friendly and talented, I consider this to be, just as there is 'comfort food', then this is a 'comfort show'.  And the charming setting is lovely as well.  The two show hostesses are funny in a quirky sort of way, a wee bit annoying at times, but that might just be the British humor and it's not enough to be a problem.

 

And baklava....oh yummy!!!  Baklava and tiramisu are two of my favorite guilty pleasures.  I was amazed to watch the bakers make the phyllo dough.  I can only imagine the disaster I could create trying to do that.  It reminded me of the week they made the 'hot water dough'....it was like watching a group of magicians working their magic.  The best I can do is a decent chocolate chip cookie. I'd be happy with any of the four winning, but I'm thinking it will be Richard.  I like all of them though and was sorry to see Chetna go because she is a wizard with creating interesting combinations of flavors.  She seemed like a lot of fun. 

 

I hope this show comes back for more seasons and will be watching for it.  Most American cooking competitions have too many folks bringing their tragic backstories or the polar opposite of the struting, attitude-dripping 'I was born to win this' types.  They could learn something from this show!

[Kohola3]

The Schichttorte was really the first baked good that I would never make, and I don't think I would like at all.

 

Table for three on that one. Slap a layer of frosting between each layer and we'll talk.  But just layer after layer of pancakes with some thin glaze on top - that's a big no, thanks.

[ABay]

Agree with the annoyance of the bizarre pronunciation of baklavah. I also object to the changing the flavors and appearance. They look tasty, but they're not baklavah, damn it.

 

I have never heard the word entremet before.

[Mabinogia]

Luis has grown on me so much, I'm thrilled he made it through to the end. His chocolate cherry thing looked delicious and I loved his flower baklava. I thought that was so cool and inventive. I adore Richard, so I'm happy to see him as star baker once again. I actually prefer Nancy to Chetna so I was happy with the outcome but seriously, I would have been happy with any of them in the top three.

 

I think what I like so much about this cooking competition over others is that even though they are under time restraints, and they are rushing, as much as I guess you can rush baking, there is also a sort of ease to everyone. They don't seem freakishly stressed. And they help each other, and I love when they look around, like Chetna did this time, to see what everyone else is doing, especially on the technical since they rarely seem to know what they are doing. lol That's kind of fun, having them follow very basic instructions on something they aren't familiar with. I love seeing how close they can get to the actual bake.

 

This show is truly delightful.

[Sandman]

Table for three on that one. Slap a layer of frosting between each layer and we'll talk.  But just layer after layer of pancakes with some thin glaze on top - that's a big no, thanks.

 

I'd almost guess that's how Dobos Torte was created. Some miffed Hungarian was presented with Baron von Persnickety's finest culinary creation, and was, like, "Whaaat? Is there some sort of frosting shortage in Germany? Move over! I'll show you how to do it ..."

Edited February 24, 2015 by Sandman

[halopub]

Table for three on that one. Slap a layer of frosting between each layer and we'll talk.  But just layer after layer of pancakes with some thin glaze on top - that's a big no, thanks.

 

I've had the circular Baumkuchen that's made on a baking spit - albeit a Japanese version - and it's yummy.  A good one is moist and isn't too dense. On Extra Slice the horizontal schichttorte variation looked liked it had dried out and I imagine it had become the texture of chalk.

 

It sounds like you'd prefer a Mille crêpe? There's cream in between the crepe layers. I've had a great green tea version.

 

In the Washington Post Richard briefly alluded to how Germanic the technical challenges were this season and it'll be interesting to see what direction the show goes in next. I think last year there was a heavy emphasis on French bakes.

 

Edited for grammar.

Edited February 24, 2015 by halopub

[LittleIggy]

I think I heard Paul slip and call it "ba-CLAWVER" a time or two. I laughed evilly, thus: HahahaHA!

He's British. They always mispronounce foreign words!

[3 is enough]

I am sorry to see Chetna go.  I will miss her orange high tops and rows of tiny earrings!

[Sandman]

He's British. They always mispronounce foreign words!

 

Yeah, but sometimes he said "ba-CLAW-vah" (wrong, but tonier Britishism) and sometimes you could hear an /r/ sound attach itself to the last vowel (which still sounds wrong, but in a different, less classy way).

Edited February 24, 2015 by Sandman

[shandy]

Yeah, but sometimes he said "ba-CLAW-vah" (wrong, but tonier Britishism) and sometimes you could hear an /r/ sound attach itself to the last vowel (which still sounds wrong, but in a different, less classy way).

 

La Hollywood has that flat Liverpool voice of Ringo Starr or John Lennon, just a drop of seawater away from a backstreet Dublin accent. I knew a tough 'Liverpool Irish' Priest.  It's really distinctive.

Edited February 24, 2015 by shandy

[Meredith Quill]

He's British. They always mispronounce foreign words!

 

Ahem, FYI not all of us do; regional variation (not to mention that 'British' encompasses Scotland, Wales & N. Ireland as well as England) has a massive impact on the way some of us pronounce different words, foreign or not.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Not to pick on you Brits, but I always find it amusing when even the simplest foreign words are pronounced differently from the native language (pasta and risotto are two that come to mind). Mr. EB's (mostly joking) theory is that way back when, the British made a concerted effort to make foreign words sound as British as possible as an FU to everyone else.

 

Every once in a while when I'm watching this show (or other cooking shows, as this tends not to come up as frequently in British non-cooking shows), I'll hear a British pronunciation of a food word and have no comprehension of it at all so I'll think it must be some dish or ingredient that I'm not familiar with. And then I see the actual food and realize that I know exactly what it is but it's pronounced completely differently in the UK. Things like baklava confound me because it makes no sense that the word is kept essentially the same as in the original language but the accent syllable is changed. It would be like a French person giving me escargot and then me saying, "I've never had es-CAR-got before!"

[Meredith Quill]

Naturally I cannot speak for every English person or explain why our ancestors changed pronunciations from the original for every word affected, we grew up with them so to us it is normal.

 

I do know that many German word pronunciations for example, were purposely altered during WW1 because after three long years of war, anti-German feeling had approached fever pitch, fuelled by tales of alleged German atrocities.

To that end, German words, names & products were either completely Anglicised to sound either less German or changed to a more English sounding word or pronunciation. The German Shepherd breed of dog was renamed 'Alsatian' for example, such was the depth and strength of feeling at that time. Even the royal family changed their Germanic surname of 'Saxe-Coburg-Gotha' to the very English sounding 'Windsor' and relinquished all their German titles in a effort to distance themselves from their German heritage. 

Sorry for the history lesson but it is pertinent to your observations about English pronunciations.

 

FWIW, I pronounce baklava as 'bac-klar-va' ;)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I tend to disagree with this...mispronunciation comes up all the time on the U.S. shows I watch. Maybe we are watching different shows.

Oh, there's plenty of atrocious grammar on American tv. I was referring specifically to words that existed in another language that the British chose to pronounce differently for no discernible reason (again, pasta and risotto), as opposed to ignorance (I once asked where the açai juice was at a store and the cashier had no idea what I was talking about until I spelled it for him and then he said, "Oh, ah-kye juice!").

A non-food one that stumped me was Claire's last name on Outlander. I never read any of the books so I had never seen her name in print. She kept pronouncing it as Beecham so I was surprised when I later saw it was spelled Beauchamp (which would be pronounced bow-shamp in French).

Thanks for the info, SilverStormm! I remember learning about the Alsatian name change ages ago, probably while watching one of those dog shows. I guess some of those changes were like the early (less stupid) version of freedom fries!

Edited February 24, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Sandman]

To that end, German words, names & products were either completely Anglicised to sound either less German or changed to a more English sounding word or pronunciation.

 

I think this tends to happen with French words as a matter of principle, since probably Norman times. The long history of conflict across the Channel, and all that. (English chefs, for all that they're trained in French tradition and methods, tend to be quite, let's say methodical, about giving French terms of cooking and pastry art the most English pronunciation possible. It appears almost to be a point of pride. Paul Hollywood's far from alone in this. ::ahem:: Ramsay.)

 

Strictly speaking, opera cake (gâteau opéra) is a specific recipe, using layers of sponge cake (génoise, or "genoese" if you absolutely must) brushed with syrup and stacked with coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache. I think the classical version uses ground hazelnuts in the sponge. ETA: Almonds? (Somehow I want to say "spoonge" now, hee.) The cake is traditionally served in narrow rectangular slices to show off the layers, which I suppose makes it suitable for the kind of presentation the entremets had here. I don't know if the sweets have to contain a mousse or use gelatin to qualify as entremets. (Or maybe entremets are made as individual pastries, rather than being slices cut from one large cake, as gâteau opéra usually is?) Hmm. Further research suggests that the sponge cake method used for this is different from génoise -- separated eggs beaten into the dry mixture of flour, sugar and ground nuts, rather than whole eggs foamed with sugar over a water bath. ... And now I really want opera cake!

 

ETA: There's a whole other vein of French(-looking?) family and place names given rather eccentric-seeming English pronunciations: for example, any name beginning with "Bel-" or "Beau-" probably has Norman roots. My favourite is St-John ("Sinjin").

Edited February 24, 2015 by Sandman

[ElectricBoogaloo]

English chefs, for all that they're trained in French tradition and methods, tend to be quite, let's say methodical, about giving French terms of cooking and pastry art the most English pronunciation possible. It appears almost to be a point of pride.

Ha, Mr. EB's theory was correct! We will deliberately mangle your language out of spite!

[ABay]

My very favorite example of weird British pronunciation was from one of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes episodes. They kept referring to a character names GAH-see-er. Imagine my suprise at reading the credits and finding out the character's name was Garcia.

Edited February 24, 2015 by ABay

[Meredith Quill]

Oh, there's plenty of atrocious grammar on American tv. I was referring specifically to words that existed in another language that the British chose to pronounce differently for no discernible reason (again, pasta and risotto), as opposed to ignorance (I once asked where the açai juice was at a store and the cashier had no idea what I was talking about until I spelled it for him and then he said, "Oh, ah-kye juice!").

A non-food one that stumped me was Claire's last name on Outlander. I never read any of the books so I had never seen her name in print. She kept pronouncing it as Beecham so I was surprised when I later saw it was spelled Beauchamp (which would be pronounced bow-shamp in French).

Thanks for the info, SilverStormm! I remember learning about the Alsatian name change ages ago, probably while watching one of those dog shows. I guess some of those changes were like the early (less stupid) version of freedom fries!

 

The Beecham thing threw me also, I've always pronounced Beauchamp as 'bow-shawmp' and Beecham as 'beech-um'. I don't think Outlander is a good indicator anyway as many of the words Claire uses an Englishwoman wouldn't use - we would never use 'diaper' for example.

 

I think this tends to happen with French words as a matter of principle, since probably Norman times. The long history of conflict across the Channel, and all that. (English chefs, for all that they're trained in French tradition and methods, tend to be quite, let's say methodical, about giving French terms of cooking and pastry art the most English pronunciation possible. It appears almost to be a point of pride. Paul Hollywood's far from alone in this. ::ahem:: Ramsay.)

 

Strictly speaking, opera cake (gâteau opéra) is a specific recipe, using layers of sponge cake (génoise, or "genoese" if you absolutely must) brushed with syrup and stacked with coffee and chocolate buttercream. I think the classical version uses ground hazelnuts in the sponge. (Somehow I want to say "spoonge" now, hee.) The cake is traditionally served in narrow rectangular slices to show off the layers, which I suppose makes it suitable for the kind of presentation the entremets had here. I don't know if the sweets have to contain a mousse or use gelatin to qualify as entremets. (Or maybe entremets are made as individual pastries, rather than being slices cut from one large cake, as gâteau opera usually is?)

 

ETA: There's a whole other vein of French(-looking?) family and place names given rather eccentric-seeming English pronunciations: for example, any name beginning with "Bel-" or "Beau-" probably has Norman roots. My favourite is St-John ("Sinjin").

 

I agree re the French-English historical animosity. Emphasis: I kid you not that is my maiden name :)

 

ETA: Everyone I know (including myself) would pronounce Garcia as 'Gah-see-ah' lol.

[meep.meep]

Not to pick on you Brits, but I always find it amusing when even the simplest foreign words are pronounced differently from the native language (pasta and risotto are two that come to mind). Mr. EB's (mostly joking) theory is that way back when, the British made a concerted effort to make foreign words sound as British as possible as an FU to everyone else.

Oh, let's pick on them!  What I love is how when confronted with a foreign place name, they changed it to something more English.  My parents lived near the town of Livorno in Italy, the Brits call it Leghorn.  That's just not trying.

 

I've had a piece of Schichttorte way back when and thought it was pretty good.  I'd never make it from scratch, any more than I'd make phyllo dough.  I think they've tried to be pretty pan-European in the technicals, there was the Swedish princess cake, the Slovenian rolled thing last week, this week German.

[Meredith Quill]

Oh, let's pick on them!  What I love is how when confronted with a foreign place name, they changed it to something more English.  My parents lived near the town of Livorno in Italy, the Brits call it Leghorn.  That's just not trying.

 

Let's not tar a whole country with the same brush, let alone 4; I've never heard of Livorno but I can assure you I would never pronounce it Leghorn! My attempt would be li-voor-no :)

[ABay]

ETA: Everyone I know (including myself) would pronounce Garcia as 'Gah-see-ah' lol.

But do you emphasize the first syllable? If they'd said gahSEEar, I would've gotten that they were mangling Garcia. The emphasis on the GAH made it a complete stumper.

[shandy]

As my madly exotic HS French teacher Madame Stacey used to say, if you want to make a Frenchman cry say  Boise, à la mode and parmesan like an American. The closest she got to Paris was smoking Gauloise but hey.

 

My wince is when they call  crème pâtissière - cremm pa' (with a glottalized t). Julia wouldn't have done that.

 

Game of Thrones  has upped my accent recognition skills. Northern Nancy is like some crone extra wandering about Winterfell. I'm so fired up for her to say 'Winter is comin' while stirring some pot menacingly.

[GaT]

I once asked where the açai juice was at a store and the cashier had no idea what I was talking about until I spelled it for him and then he said, "Oh, ah-kye juice!"

 

I can't tell you how crazy it makes me when people mispronounce it as ah-kye. How do they not notice the accent on the c? What do they think that is, American English?

 

This whole pronunciation conversation makes me laugh because a couple of weeks ago we had the same thing on the Elementary forum when Sherlock kept pronouncing the word zebra as zeb-ra as opposed to the American zee-bra.