S06.E04: Desserts

[Kohola3]

As a licorice lover, I take umbrage at the hate.  But even I will say that licorice brulée is just.....no.  Blech.

[sum]

29 minutes ago, forumfish said:

I'd like to think that the bakers stay in touch after the show is over, at least the ones that make it to the later rounds. I plan to watch earlier seasons online after this one is finished, so I don't want to be spoiled by reading many articles. Like others have said, it just seems they have genuine affection for each other.

I was checking out tweets(#GBBO) after each episode last season. Not only the current season contestants but also past ones seem to talk to each other casually. I remember a tweet where one from this season posted a picture of three contestants having a tea time together waiting for an episode to start. So yeah, some definitely do!

Speaking of twitter one of my favorites was the official London Fire Brigade account's shameless cheering for Mat during each show. :)

[dubbel zout]

Would it be grossly un-British to have a season made up of previous winners? 

[Athena]

12 hours ago, forumfish said:

I'd like to think that the bakers stay in touch after the show is over, at least the ones that make it to the later rounds. I plan to watch earlier seasons online after this one is finished, so I don't want to be spoiled by reading many articles. Like others have said, it just seems they have genuine affection for each other.

They do. The BBC airs a "Cast of [Previous Year]" episode before the finale every season. PBS does not show these episodes, but it basically updates the audience on almost all the contestants a year later. This the show where you see them mentioning how great the experience was and referencing how they have friends for life. It's also where they gush about Sue, Mel, Mary, and sometimes, Paul. They do keep in touch with social media a lot.

This is a mild spoiler: in the finale of this S06/S03 season, one of the finalists does say they will visit another finalist at their home for dinner.

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

Would it be grossly un-British to have a season made up of previous winners? 

BBC has just announced a GBBO Christmas special with an all-star edition where 4 previous contestants battle it out. Maybe in the future Love Productions (the company that makes GBBO) will do an All-Star edition.

[Rinaldo]

Yes, I could see it as a one-off single weekend reunion (and not necessarily just the top winners -- some of those are now immersed in other careers), but not a full season. In general, those who wanted visibility in previous competitions are getting it: book deals, TV appearances, newspaper and magazine columns. And it's fun to see bakers gradually emerging over the years. Reading Mary-Anne's blog (she's from an earlier season not yet aired in the US, so as always the spoiler-averse should avoid), I saw several comments from Tamal Ray saying what a fan he was and how much he was learning from her.

[paramitch]

19 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

They aren't very brulée-y in that case, are they? :)

It does help that for the one who has to go, it's not "you loser, hang up your oven mitts and get out!" but Mel or Sue saying in essence, "We love you all and wish you could all stay, but that's the deal, somebody has to leave, so this week it has to be...". There's no disgrace attached, it's just a necessity in a competition.

I know I sound like a lunatic. But while I love the "creme" (and will shovel it until the end of time), the "brulee" portion makes it too sweet for me. So I often spoon off the sugary coating of the brulee whenever I get it, just to get to enjoying the warm custard.

19 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

In a funny way, I think the weekends-only scheduling of the competition helps with that. Rather than being stuck in a forced "OMG, if I have to stand their company another day!" togetherness for an extended time, they can resume their normal life for a bit. They have time to miss the others and want to see them again, if that makes sense.

I totally think this a vital part of this show -- that these people come together week after week on the weekends, and in this shared passion, so that their fellowships and friendships are forged over weeks together. I just think it's lovely and a vital part of its success.

19 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

It must be fun to spend time with people who share the same passion you do. In your every day world you're surrounded by people who mostly don't care or are only interested because it's a passion of yours. Which is OK, but it's bonus to be with others who share your passion for awhile.

This. And the growing camaraderie over the weeks just makes the show more and more lovable. They want each other to succeed... you have to love that.

18 hours ago, jpgr said:

I, too, am a total sucker for creamy vanilla-type things, which is also why I love cream soda. It is, in essence, creamy vanilla soda.

I might have been able to impress on the crème brulée challenge -- my "showstopper" dessert for company is crème brulée baked in apples. So delicious, and you can eat the container, too.

Black licorice is evil and icky.

Thank you, and I will look forward to a visit to your house so that I can fall face-first into a vat of apple-creme-brulee. Works for me! We can also guzzle some wine and then go seek out the divine @Stillshimpy and hubby in order to collectively stream episodes too!

[AZChristian]

I wanna come, too!!!!

[jpgr]

I re-watched it last night and realized that I forgot to mention how scrummy Nadiya's brulée flavors were - English Breakfast Tea and Cinnamon, over the raspberry jam (actually, the jam I could have lived without). But the tea infusion and the cinnamon were inspired. I want to try that sometime.

[dubbel zout]

2 hours ago, Athena said:

The BBC airs a "Cast of [Previous Year]" episode before the finale every season. PBS does not show these episodes

WHY NOT?!?!?!?

2 hours ago, Athena said:

BBC has just announced a GBBO Christmas special with an all-star edition where 4 previous contestants battle it out.

Let's hope PBS is smart enough to show this.

[doodlebug]

•  

  Quote

        On ‎7‎/‎19‎/‎2016 at 4:17 PM, Rinaldo said:

  In a funny way, I think the weekends-only scheduling of the competition helps with that. Rather than being stuck in a forced "OMG, if I have to stand their company another day!" togetherness for an extended time, they can resume their normal life for a bit. They have time to miss the others and want to see them again, if that makes sense.

  I totally think this a vital part of this show -- that these people come together week after week on the weekends, and in this shared passion, so that their fellowships and friendships are forged over weeks together. I just think it's lovely and a vital part of its success.

  I think it also contributes to the overall warmth and fuzziness and pleasantly collegial atmosphere.  I think a lot of American reality shows compress their filming not only to save money, but also to bring out the worst in people by keeping them locked up and away from real life for a prolonged period in hopes of being able to capture bad behavior, outbursts and the like.  This show is so refreshingly drama-free and I think a large part of it is that the contestants get a break from it during the week, even if they're preparing for the next weeks' show at home.

•  

[RedHackle]

It seems very odd to me that no one has yet started a topic for this one yet. Paul's head shaking, and the look on his face, when offered more creme brulee - too too funny.

That Spanish Wind Torte thing looked like pure hell. 

I know this gets asked a lot, but how are Paul and Mary not 300 pounds each?

 

(Well, this is embarrassing. I looked and looked for this topic and couldn't find it. Either I'm going blind, or the richness of these desserts is making me stupid.er.)

Edited July 23, 2016 by RedHackle
correction

[SirOsisOfLiver]

A topic already existed. Maybe you didn't scroll down far enough past the ad (or the space where the ad would be if it wasn't blocked).

[Rick Kitchen]

On 7/16/2016 at 7:27 AM, Rinaldo said:

The violets in the Technical were a separate matter. They were given some molding substance (sugar paste?) in 3 colors as part of their ingredients, out of which they had to create decorative violets. Kudos to Prison Paul for making the nicest ones.

Thanks for this.  I was confused by this as I didn't understand what the violets were made from.

Is pomegranate molasses what we call grenadine?

I thought Paul's meringue cracked when it came out of the oven?  Or was it Sandy?  They didn't mention it at all, for either one of them.

I was surprised that Ian won Star Baker, because his cheesecakes weren't outstanding.  I did love his comment in the preview for next week.

[Rick Kitchen]

Quote

I am having an issue with closed captioning, both with this episode and episode 3. I watch online (www.pbs.org) and in these two episodes the captions flashed on for about a second and then off. Nor were all of the captions displayed. I popped a note to PBS, but I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced closed caption issues. Never had them last season or with episodes 1 and 2 of this season.

Episode 3 is the only one that I've seen so far online, and I had problems with the captioning, too, and just turned it off.

[dleighg]

13 hours ago, Rick Kitchen said:

Thanks for this.  I was confused by this as I didn't understand what the violets were made from.

Is pomegranate molasses what we call grenadine?

I thought Paul's meringue cracked when it came out of the oven?  Or was it Sandy?  They didn't mention it at all, for either one of them.

I was surprised that Ian won Star Baker, because his cheesecakes weren't outstanding.  I did love his comment in the preview for next week.

No, pomegranate molasses is *really* thick, like molasses.  I buy it in middle-eastern shops. It's nice as a glaze on things like lamb meatballs.

http://www.thekitchn.com/ingredient-spotlight-pomegrana-67573

[howiveaddict]

On 7/18/2016 at 9:02 PM, Christina said:

During the original airing of this episode, it seemed to me that there was something wrong with Sandy's oven with the way her creme brulee and the meringues had baked.

I thought the same thing.  Both of the dishes were way under baked.

I am also one who had always thought you couldn't make meringue in damp weather.  When I was first married, my mother made us a merangue pie.  Hubby's mother never made meringue.   Because of the weather, there was brown residue on the meringue.  My hubby thought someone had spilled coke on the pie.  36 years later and I still remind him of that whenever we have me meringue pie.

[cardigirl]

Finally got to see this episode. I'm always sorry to see any contestant sent off, I'll miss Sandy. But thought it was fair.  I wasn't interested in consuming any of the cheesecakes, but the creme brûlées would have been right up my alley. 

Edited July 25, 2016 by cardigirl

[proserpina65]

I didn't realize PBS was running two episodes in a row, and I missed this one.  ARGHHHH!!!

[Spunkygal]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

I didn't realize PBS was running two episodes in a row, and I missed this one.  ARGHHHH!!!

My PBS station reruns every episode several times. The Desserts episode will be aired again on Aug 7 at 4 pm Central time here in north Texas. So you might see if your local station does too. 

[dleighg]

I watch the episodes on line at my PBS station; I think everyone should be able to do that. Just google "PBS Great British Baking Show"

[ABay]

PBS.org has them, but they might not have all of the episodes up. sometimes they drop one when they add another. You can also get a PBS app for Roku, tablets, and phones.