S06.E07: Victorian

[Athena]

Quote

In a Bake Off first, the entire episode is devoted to the period of history that gave birth to modern baking - the Victorian era.

The signature challenge is a stalwart of the Victorian dinner table, game pie. Pie moulds, pheasant, pigeon and pastry are the order of the day as the bakers must create beautifully decorated pies, stuffed with all manner of game to tantalise the judges' taste buds. For one it's the chance to use a genuine antique from 1850, while others take a more modern approach and dabble with spices.

Mary dusts off her antique cookbooks to find a technical recipe that dates back to the late 1800s. The bakers battle with time as they must first make a perfect fruit cake, and then create their own sugar paste and marzipan and indulge in some very detailed royal icing in a bid to create a cake that resembles a tennis court.

For the show-stopper, the bakers make charlotte russe, a dessert much loved by the Victorians which has a silky bavarois centre surrounded by sponge fingers and topped with jelly. A tricky construction at the best of the times, but the added pressure of the Bake Off tent takes its toll as not everyone manages to get their jelly to set or the charlotte russe to stay standing. Although one baker does manage to create a masterpiece that even Queen Victoria herself would have found amusing.

[ceebee]

For one it's the chance to use a genuine antique from 1850,

That can only be Ian! ;-)

[Margo Leadbetter]

Ian's roadkill pie reminded me of the Newhart show and Larry, his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl's Critter of the Day.

Not my favorite week in terms of challenges. They're getting a bit out there with some of the technicals. The tennis cake was ridiculous. Basically, just a slab of marzipan and fondant whacked on top of a chunk of fruitcake.

[Niuxita]

The only reason I'm not utterly pissed Nadiya didn't get the Star Baker title she deserved this week was because they gave it to Tamal and not Ian, which I was seriously dreading after the way they praised his Victoria crown.

 

But yay, my two favourites, Flora and Nadiya, made it to the quarterfinal, which is all I wanted.

 

Agree about the WTF-ness of the technical. Was a sugar paste tennis court really something people from back then would have done? Seemed a bit too modern to me.

[Pallida]

Part of me wanted to try to the game pies since I haven't had several of the meat types before, but the cooked meat just looked unappetizing.  I actually liked Ian's birdy even though it didn't fit the fancy parameters.  I was also quite amused that he picks up road kill.  Many years back, the area I lived in had a problem with wild turkey overpopulation, and a coworker saw one that had been hit, picked it up, and cleaned it outside of work.  I was quite curious if the guinea fowl in Ian's pie was the same one that laid the eggs from last week though!

 

I found this image on flickr that claims to be from a book published around 1900 on Victorian cakes: https://www.flickr.com/photos/glenhsparky/8730585900/in/photostream/ One of the cakes looks pretty similar to the technical challenge, other than its missing the fancy net.

 

I couldn't tell if Nadiya was shittalking about Mat's baking of the royal icing.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Heh, to me Charlotte Russe is the semi-trashy store at the mall where I used to buy cheap tops to wear to bars in college.

 

I loved when Nadiya asked why Mat's tennis net was golden and he told her it was because he had put it in the oven and then they just stared at each other for five long seconds in disbelief (unspoken: "You baked your icing?" "You didn't bake your icing?").

 

I wasn't surprised that Mat was eliminated this week. I was more surprised that he lasted this long because he seemed to have a lot of problems in the first few weeks and then he had a really good week last week (to be honest, I was shocked that he did so well last week!).

[Niuxita]

I loved when Nadiya asked why Mat's tennis net was golden and he told her it was because he had put it in the oven and then they just stared at each other for five long seconds in disbelief (unspoken: "You baked your icing?" "You didn't bake your icing?").

 

This was my favourite moment as well! So genuine and funny. The silence after Mat says he baked his icing was the best part.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Niuxita

[ceebee]

I feel a lot of warmth for all the remaining bakers - even Ian has wheedled his way into my affections a little - but Tamal and Nadiya are my favourites, so I was chuffed to bits they both had a good week. Nadiya seems to have a real flair for flavours (even if she went overboard with her spice this week) and I loved the praise they heaped on her bavarois. I felt for Flora and her pie, but very happy she survived. Prison Paul just quietly gets on with things and I like him a little more each week. So sorry to see Mat go. There was no other choice in my mind but I'll miss his jokey-blokey cheerfulness.

Loved the baked icing moment between Mat and Nadiya too.

Edited September 17, 2015 by ceebee

[patty1h]

Slightly OT:  I love earrings and I always check out what is being worn by people in movies, TV, on models, etc.   I am coveting Flora's little round scallop-edge earrings.

 

When Mary mentioned jelly while describing the game pie challenge, I thought of jelly like grape or strawberry and wondered how that would pair with a savory bake.  Then Ian made that little side dish of jelly/aspic.  Is this kind of jelly still eaten by modern English people or did it disappear after the Victorian era?

Edited September 17, 2015 by patty1h

[Athena]

Is this kind of jelly still eaten by modern English people or did it disappear after the Victorian era?

 

While it's not super common, meat jelly is still used in hot water crust pie recipes to get them to set. You can find these in certain bakeries, delis, and classic British restaurants who make savoury pies with jelly. Aspics on their own are not that widely seen anymore though. Terrines are a bit more common.

[ceebee]

Just to add to Athena's post, I assumed when Mary said make a pie with or without jelly, she meant inside the pie, so I was taken aback when Ian served it separately (but Mary and Paul were unfazed, so it must be what she meant).

The most common hot water crust pie is pork pie (and the best known of those is the Melton Mowbray pie). These are eaten cold and are very common, especially as picnic food. They would always have meat jelly inside. I think it serves two purposes. The meat will shrink as it cooks (steam through the hole in the lid and fat melting, some of which may escape). The jelly fills the gaps, stopping the meat rattling around once it sets, making it easier to cut without collapsing the pastry and, probably more importantly, it excludes air from the meat helping it keep longer. That probably mattered more before fridges and preservatives, but the tradition survives.

If you were making a pork pie at home, you'd poke two holes in the lid and pour hot, liquid jelly through a funnel down one hole until it overflows out of the other to fully fill the crust. As a student I worked in a pork pie factory in the holidays (despite being a veggie) and the best job on the line was filling the pies with jelly. It came down a tube into a gun that you quickly stabbed twice through the lids and pulled the trigger releasing the very hot liquid jelly. Plenty of scope for scalding ourselves in jelly fights!

None of the contestants' pies had gaps, so I wonder if that came from a combination of leaner meat (certainly not the rubbish that went into our factory pies!) and serving them hot. Afraid I don't have the answer to that.

Edited September 17, 2015 by ceebee

[shandy]

I've recovered from the despair of losing my favorite firefighter. I knew things wouldn't go well when he decided to fuse his ladyfingers before they went into bake. He had a good run for his skill level.  Charlotte Russe made me think of a Downton episode.  

 

Ian dug himself out - he strikes me as meticulous, and his showstoppers are always interesting. I agree that PrisonPaul's personality appears more and more - somehow he has stolen the contents of my dad's closet - I swear my father has all the same clothes.  

 

I realized that Tamal ate Pork from last week, but Nadiya is clearly muslim, so I wonder if her gelatin was either halal, or a vegetable alternate. 

[Occasional Hope]

I noticed that the top slid off all the tennis cakes when turned on their sides.

 

I thought Ian's bird shaped pie was very cute.

 

Random info re. road kill: it's illegal in the UK to pick up anything you yourself have knocked over, but fine to pick up something someone else has killed.

[feverfew]

I feel a lot of warmth for all the remaining bakers - even Ian has wheedled his way into my affections a little - but Tamal and Nadiya are my favourites, so I was chuffed to bits they both had a good week. Nadiya seems to have a real flair for flavours (even if she went overboard with her spice this week) and I loved the praise they heaped on her bavarois. I felt for Flora and her pie, but very happy she survived. Prison Paul just quietly gets on with things and I like him a little more each week. So sorry to see Mat go. There was no other choice in my mind but I'll miss his jokey-blokey cheerfulness.

Loved the baked icing moment between Mat and Nadiya too.

I feel the same way - only for me it's the opposite regarding Nadiya and Ian. Ian's been my favourite from the start, and I can sort of take-or-leave Nadiya. I think it was her lack of confidence in the beginning of the show that for me somehow translated to almost fishing for compliments. I don't know - she just sort of bugs me. And I wasn't as fond of that little exchange between her and Mat as you guys were - I thought she sounded a bit like she was mocking him.

 

But the rest of them; Tamal, Flora and Paul I just absolutely adore. I'll be devastated when either one of them get sent home...

[Danny Franks]

I like all of the bakers left except Ian. There's something about him that I just find unpalatable (and I don't mean his proclivity for bringing home dead animals that he's found). And a couple of times now, I feel like he's put himself in the the running to be eliminated with weak efforts on the first two challenges, only to pull it out with his showstopper. Annoying. And of course he's the one who decided to boil down pig trotters for jelly.

 

I like a nice pork pie, but the less jelly the better. That's absolutely the worst bit

 

I did feel a bit of Flora's panic, when her game pie wasn't cooking quickly enough, and her despair was tough to watch. Not sure I'll be able to deal with her reaction when/if she gets eliminated. She's such a sweet girl. And it looks like Matt was her best buddy in there, from their interactions over the last couple of weeks, and especially this one. It was interesting that the judges didn't seem to care much about the burnt edges of her first two efforts, I'd have thought that was a big issue for bakers. I think her plan to "just get them trollied" was a sound one.

 

I didn't think Nadiya was mocking Mat, but what else could she really say? His sugar paste stuff really didn't look like the rest of them. I liked the moment with them staring in horrified silence at each other as they each wondered if they'd done it wrong, while Flora looked on in dread. There was definitely more interaction shown this week, with them all being supportive of one another, from Tamal, Matt and Ian as a sounding board for Flora's temperature conundrum, to Nadiya and Mat, to Paul and Nadiya helping Mat shift his... trifle thing. And I loved Nadiya saying "I have [played tennis], I just never paid attention to the lines." The lines are kind of important, Nadiya.

 

I don't know all the rules, but I'm guessing that they're not allowed to tell each other how to do things. They can help move or stabilise stuff, but can't actually help one another bake? So what can you do when someone is cocking up? Also, they've all got their own plates full to begin with.

 

I guess I'm picking up on the nuances of this show, when they had Mat proudly say he was making a wall of sponge fingers, to make it easier to seal, and I immediately thought, 'that's not going to fly'. If that was acceptable, then that's how everyone would do them, right?

 

And of course, good for Tamal, getting star baker. He's been doing consistently well, but has lost out to people who've had the odd great week (or three). And I'm going to be getting it in the ear again for daring to say I would quite like Flora or Nadiya to win (along with Tamal, of course).

 

It's evident how much more at ease Paul Hollywood is at praising the men, with his 'well done, mate' and his handshakes. He's been that effusive with all of the guys who were still there, but not really with any of the women. It's really beyond me how Paul and Mary can try multiple bakes in a row, and then list them from worst to best reliably. But they seem to get it right. Editing sleight of hand, perhaps?

 

This is the first episode I've watched where I honestly wouldn't want to try any of the stuff made. Not a fan of game meat, not a fan of fruitcake (fit for nothing but putting out for the birds to eat), and not interested in that gelatine trifle thing.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I don't know all the rules, but I'm guessing that they're not allowed to tell each other how to do things. They can help move or stabilise stuff, but can't actually help one another bake? So what can you do when someone is cocking up? Also, they've all got their own plates full to begin with.

In past seasons, the bakers have asked each other questions about how they are making something. 99% of the time, the other baker was very open and helpful in responding. I can only think of one time when the responding baker was deliberately vague (it was a technical bake that one person in the tent had made before many times). It was the closest to someone on the show saying, "I am not going to help my competitors." I remember in one of the past seasons there was a contestant who was always asking other people questions during the technical bake.

[Rinaldo]

[ElectricBoogalo said it better.]

Edited September 17, 2015 by Rinaldo

[Athena]

I wasn't keen on the technical fruit cake either, but I understood why Mary chose it. I liked it more than Paul's Cypriot thing. There were a lot cake cake techniques in it. I would never choose to make my own sugar work (or marzipan really), but testing the amateurs on it is the sort of challenge the bakers should try. They also had to do piping and decoration. I find those kind of fresher fruitcakes not too bad.

 

Funny fact. I've read that Mary frequently gives the contestants tips when they do the rounds. The producers have to move her away and scold her because she's not allowed to help them much. I liked Mary's expression when Nadiya said a school teacher had taught her the technique with the Italian meringue. She seemed pleased that people still remember and valued home education at school.

[OnceSane]

Good on Tamal! I'm glad he won Star Baker, though I'd be just as pleased had Nadiya won. Poor Mat. He has steadily slid downhill, so I wasn't surprised it was his time to go.

[RealityCheck]

Danny Franks said:

It's evident how much more at ease Paul Hollywood is at praising the men, with his 'well done, mate' and his handshakes. He's been that effusive with all of the guys who were still there, but not really with any of the women.

I think Paul's between a rock and a hard place. This is one of the downsides of having the seasons aired out of sequence because he complimented Ruth (season 1) on her first bake, lemon drizzle cake, saying "it could be put in front of royalty", no small compliment.

 

But then during season 4, there were allegations of favoritism towards Ruby (article may contain spoilers), especially since his affair with Marcella became public just before the season began, so Paul may have pulled back to avoid those kind of accusations in future seasons.  Paul just can't win.

[annah]

What an episode! Loved it, i think the challenges were really interesting.

Although Mat really deserved to go home, I was really sorry for him, he was one of my favourite bakers in this season. He seemed so kind. I died when he put that icing in the oven,hahaha, that was so hilarious. At first I thought he had mistaken fridge fore oven, but then he sad he might have left it in the oven for too long.

I was really happy for Tamal when he got star baker, he was adorable when he hugged Mel (or Sue?) and sad he was so happy.

I have to admit I really like Flora's accent.

I think Paul could easily be the one to go home next week, although I'd like that person to be Ian, there's something really annoying about him. Probably the fact that he keeps bringing herbs and stuff from his garden. That crown was magnificent though.

Edited September 19, 2015 by annah

[Stinger97]

I just finished the episode this morning, which means that, although it took me a while, I have finally caught up with Series 6. If only I could put this drive into accomplishing more useful things! 

 

Sad to see Mat go this week. He was certainly out of his element and deserved to exit after bungling 2 out of the 3 of his bakes, but he had such a warmth and humility about him that just made me love watching him. However, he made it farther than I expected he would, so good on him for that! 

 

I quite like all of the contestants left, save for Ian. I can't really fault him for being an excellent baker and winning Star Baker three times in a row, but I've always been someone who pulls for the underdog in reality competitions, and he is most assuredly not an underdog at this point. Also, as others have mentioned, there hasn't been much shown in the way of him bonding with his fellow bakers the way we've seen some of the other folks get on with each other. That might be editing, but I suspect it's just his personality. 

[Brookside]

I thought Ian's crown looked awful.  It was out of proportion, clunky, and rustic-looking.  Not at all in keeping with an elegant charlotte Russe.

[Danny Franks]

I realized that Tamal ate Pork from last week, but Nadiya is clearly muslim, so I wonder if her gelatin was either halal, or a vegetable alternate. 

 

Tamal's from a Sikh family, but isn't particularly religious himself. I've been told you can get vegetarian gelatin substitute, so that's probably what Nadiya was using.

 

But then during season 4, there were allegations of favoritism towards Ruby (article may contain spoilers), especially since his affair with Marcella became public just before the season began, so Paul may have pulled back to avoid those kind of accusations in future seasons.  Paul just can't win.

 

 

Fair enough. I remember hearing some chatter about him cheating on his wife, but never really thought about it. If he's got form, then I can understand why he'd be more standoffish with attractive women. But he does seem like a guy who interacts most comfortably with other men, not that there's anything wrong with that. Perhaps he's holding himself back a little, because there was that flash of mirth on his face when Flora teasingly told him she wasn't going to seed all the pomegranates for him.

 

I have to admit I really like Flora's accent.

 

 

I like it too. Hers is probably the most attractive Scottish accent I've heard in a long time. She's a very appealing person, all around.

[PepperMonkey]

Ian and Nadiya are my two least favourites, although I like them, which says a lot about competitors on European baking/cooking shows versus the American competitors, who are barely palatable (pun intended).

 

I'm rooting for Tamal, Flora or Paul. Paul will likely be next to go, but I have really come to enjoy his dry personality.

[shandy]

Now catching up with the season 6 Masterclasses as a chill out from the excitement of seeing the Canucks send Stevie Boy packing... I know it's supposed to be time pressured, but watching the hours Mary and Paul left for their gelatinous Victorian recipes to set and cool, I started to get irritated. Paul's Charlotte Russe was beautiful indeed, but no wonder with the hours it had in the fridge in between stages. 

 

Hot water crust looks great fun to work with, even if the thought of lard puts me off. 

Edited October 20, 2015 by shandy

[Athena]

Hot water crust looks great fun to work with, even if the thought of lard puts me off. 

 

I grew up in a pro-lard culture so when I started making my own pie crusts, using a bit of lard was not a problem. It makes an incredibly flaky and rich crust. However, you have to really source it from a butcher since most supermarket lard is not the real deal.

[tenativelyyours]

So glad for Tamal!  Finally.  I love his color combinations in a lot of his decorating and the descriptions of his flavors. 

 

As much as I can find Hollywood offputting, I do like when he doesn't try to do the "signature" over long pause or fake out and simply states with sincerity how incredible something tastes.  I do think he tends to play for the cameras and that annoys me, but I also do like that often he is very open to new flavor combos if they work for him.   I think both Tamal and Nadiya this season have done that.  Surprised and delighted him.  Others have done things spectacularly right but I think these two have widened Paul's appreciation for some things.  And I appreciate Paul for how he has conveyed that.   Its seems more open and genuine as well this season.

 

I think part of his problem in the "can't win" scenario involving young female contestants has to come from how I always felt he comes across.  Not favoritism or even unwitting appeal.  I simply think he is caught up in his whole silver fox blue eyed role.  He loves to wear blue shirts.  He does that crap with his hair.  I think it is more likely that he goes to this unautomatic "the tabs think I'm sexy and you know what?  I do too" stance.  In the American show it was brought up ad nauseum and I think for it to have been mentioned so many times, he was okay with it with a simple smirk and eye roll with what I felt was false self-deprecation..

 

I think he has avoided that this season.  though I've also noticed he has yet to tuck in his shirt at all this season.  He used to sport that belt.  Maybe he isn't feeling his full sexy after the Marcella affair.

 

There is just something about Ian I find annoying.  He seems like the type of person you would come back from holiday and he would go out of his way to make sure you missed the best hidden treasure there that of course he is intimately familiar with.   I won't even touch on the road kill other than to say I wonder what kind of interesting rides home with the kids from school occur when one of the tykes asks what si for dinner and Ian realizes he forgot to pick something up.  'Hold tight kids things could get 'bumpy'.  That or all the Easter rabbit pets start going missing in the local village.  I do notice that the editors either picked something up or are trying to create just a subtle touch of drama as even when he is nowhere near getting star baker he still is the one they make sure to give a few seconds of him close up when it is annouced it is not him.   Again I just find him offputting.  Like the guy who always seems good natured and then erupts in a nasty and unsettling way.  He probably is a right old dear and perfectly lovely and its my imagination that is nasty and unsettling.  

 

Unless it is small and hand held, British meat pies are just not my thing. 

 

Matt baking his icing.  I'm not sure when I laughed harder.  When he put it in.  when he told Nadiya or the fact that his turned out to be one of the most stable. 

 

My great gran always had a Charlotte Russe for summer holidays and it was always light and slightly creamy but I also think she had a layer of light jam on the top instead of jelly and a layer of actual whipped cream instead of two of Bavarois or maybe it was like the meringue that Nadiya put in since I was notorious for finding meringue disgusting and would have refused to eat had I known no matter how good it might be.  So I was surprised, even outside my bias, they felt Ian's crown was so great.  It looked off to me; making the whole appearance seem too short and heavy.  I guess it was not so much Victoria's crown as Victoria herself. 

[Primetimer]

Tennis cakes! Game pies! Why, you'll feel like Charles Dickens at a dining hall!

View the full article

[Amethyst]

The reaction between Mat and Nadiya about the icing was hilarious.  I was wondering who had screwed up.

I felt for Mat, but even he knew that the judges made the right decision.  He's such a sweetheart and he's come pretty far.  But when the ladyfingers were falling apart, I knew he was going home.  It was sweet of Nadiya and Paul to try and help him.  When I saw that bright green icing, I just thought of Slimer from Ghostbusters.

About time that Tamal won Star Baker.  What really wowed the judges was that he managed to keep it stable without a real crust, and it turned out beautifully.  So cute of him calling his mom.  I would have done the same!

I don't mind Ian, but I thought I saw a brief falter in his smile when Tamal won Star Baker.  Not sour grapes so much, but I think Ian figured he would be a shoo-in since he constructed that beautiful crown and his Russe turned out well.  

[Rinaldo]

11 minutes ago, Amethyst said:

The reaction between Mat and Nadiya about the icing was hilarious.

One of my favorite lines on the show ever. So succinct: "Oven?!?"

[mlp]

For the life of me, I don't understand the antipathy to Ian but, of course, I don't have to.  He's been one of my favorites since the beginning.  I admire his expertise and I get a kick out of his facial expressions.

I thought the meat pies looked very impressive.............. until they cut them open.  All that gamey meat splodged together with aspic........... gack.

I liked Mat a lot and was sorry to see him go but it was the right decision.   He knew he'd done poorly and I laughed when he just said, "Taxi!"

Flora always wears what appears to be engagement and wedding rings but on her middle finger.  I know she's only 19 and lives at home so I'd like to know the story about them.  I wonder if she inherited them from a grandparent or something.

[monocles]

I've been coming off a stomach bug, so looking at all those meat pies was ROUGH and I think I almost relapsed. Why couldn't it have been Very Plain Bread and Biscuits Week?

[Zahdii]

PBS has the links up early tonight!  Good, because my local station isn't coming in well at all.

The Great British Baking Show

Season 3, Episode 7: Victorian

"In a Baking Show first, the entire episode is devoted to the period of history that gave birth to modern baking, the Victorian era. For the first challenge, the bakers have three hours to make a raised game pie. For the technical challenge, a tennis fruit cake is set for the bakers. A Charlotte Russe is set as the Showstopper."

http://www.pbs.org/video/2365777864/

==========================

Season 3, Episode 8: Pâtisserie

"The remaining bakers must work their way through delicate french fancies. In the first quarterfinal challenge, the bakers have to make twenty-four cream horns in three and a half hours. Mary’s recipe for nine Mokatines is set for the technical challenge. Religieuse à l’ancienne are set as the Showstopper challenge."

http://www.pbs.org/video/2365777869/

Edited July 30, 2016 by Zahdii
cleaning up the post

[zxy556575]

On 9/17/2015 at 2:49 PM, shandy said:

I realized that Tamal ate Pork from last week, but Nadiya is clearly muslim, so I wonder if her gelatin was either halal, or a vegetable alternate. 

I've wondered about her hugging/touching the male contestants.

On 12/6/2015 at 7:34 AM, tenativelyyours said:

I simply think [Paul Hollywood] is caught up in his whole silver fox blue eyed role.  He loves to wear blue shirts.  He does that crap with his hair. ... I've also noticed he has yet to tuck in his shirt at all this season. 

I think he's becoming too portly to tuck in his shirt.

I groaned when Flora continued to waste time on unnecessary decorations -- the judges don't like it, Flora! I love her but have no hope that she's anything but out next week.

Everyone's meat pie crusts looked to be about the same thickness to me (i.e., not at all the way Paul said he wanted to see them), but I also didn't see the difference in the one he called out as being too thick.

I love a pot pie or Cornish pasty, but hells no to meat gelatin.

[Ceindreadh]

6 hours ago, Amethyst said:

The reaction between Mat and Nadiya about the icing was hilarious.  I was wondering who had screwed up.

 

About time that Tamal won Star Baker.  What really wowed the judges was that he managed to keep it stable without a real crust, and it turned out beautifully.  So cute of him calling his mom.  I would have done the same!

That bit with the icing was so funny.  I think for that few seconds neither of the bakers was confident they were right! 

Tamal and his lack of base worked out well for him, but IIRC, it came out in a later interview that the reason for not having a base was that he hadn't actually realised that the dish was supposed to be made with a base!

[Ms Lark]

3 hours ago, lordonia said:

On 12/6/2015 at 7:34 AM, tenativelyyours said:

I simply think [Paul Hollywood] is caught up in his whole silver fox blue eyed role.  He loves to wear blue shirts.  He does that crap with his hair. ... I've also noticed he has yet to tuck in his shirt at all this season. 

I think he's becoming too portly to tuck in his shirt.

He was looking rather badger-like during the testing. There seems to have been quite a bit of weight gain (occupational hazard?). I don't usually snark on that, but in his case... Nope, have never found him particularly sexy at all, but he thinks he is, so It's open season.

7 hours ago, Amethyst said:

The reaction between Mat and Nadiya about the icing was hilarious.  I was wondering who had screwed up.

I knew it was Mat who screwed up. As a teen, I made a birthday cake for my dad and decided to go all out with Royal Icing (regal!) instead of our usual buttercream. Frosted the whole cake with it, which was a bear. Since it hardens up on its own, that cake could have broken a tooth! Couldn't even get the candles in. We all had a laugh, but I was crushed. We ate the cake, which was fine, but I haven't gone near Royal Icing since!

[tvchick]

The WaPo has recaps up:

episode 7 recap

I didn't find the tennis cake at all appetizing, and the meat pies weren't much better.  And the icing moment was very funny--according to the expert on the WaPo recap, putting it in an oven which has been turned off is the correct approach.

[Rinaldo]

5 hours ago, lordonia said:

I've wondered about [Nadiya] hugging/touching the male contestants.

I have wondered about that. My (entirely unsubstantiated) personal hypothesis is that, like many another person from whatever religious background, she's assimilated in some ways, traditional in others.

Quote

I think [Paul]s becoming too portly to tuck in his shirt.

I think so too, and I'm not unsympathetic, but that's the time to start wearing a blazer like the other non-contestants -- to camouflage the silhouette. As it is, the expanding waistline sticks out all the more.

3 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

Tamal and his lack of base worked out well for him, but IIRC, it came out in a later interview that the reason for not having a base was that he hadn't actually realised that the dish was supposed to be made with a base!

I had missed seeing him say that, and now I'll have to look it up. I can imagine him being very entertaining on the subject, as he generally is.

[sum]

30 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

I had missed seeing him say that, and now I'll have to look it up. I can imagine him being very entertaining on the subject, as he generally is.

If my memory serves me well he revealed that in the last episode of the Extra Slice.

[starri]

10 hours ago, mlp said:

For the life of me, I don't understand the antipathy to Ian but, of course, I don't have to

For me, it's his attitude.  His comments about how he'd been looking forward to Victorian week because he knew a lot about it came off as rather haughty.  And after he did so poorly in the Technical (second-last, I believe), he still seemed to think he deserved Star Baker, despite the fact that they weren't crazy about his Signature either.

I don't know, with each episode I like him less and less.  I've even come to like Prison Paul, even though I think it's time for him to go as well.  But even though I'm not as impressed by Flora, she seems like a nice young woman.  And I adore Nadiya and Tamal.  But there's just something about Ian that I don't care for.

[dleighg]

I realized that I mostly like Ian because he's almost the spitting image of my college boyfriend, whom I was quite fond of :)

[stillshimpy]

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I've wondered about [Nadiya] hugging/touching the male contestants

I dated a guy from Pakistan for a couple of years over twenty years ago, it's just like any other religion, there are people who adhere to stricter observance than others and not just by individual choice.  The guy I dated had no problem drinking alcohol, but still fasted during Ramadan, etc. Clearly, it's not an issue for Nadiya, but that's not necessarily about assimilation, it's that Islam is not unlike Christianity in that certain sects or denominations have different observances.  I grew up in a really relaxed Episcopal church, where I was taught that the bible was allegorical and that Mary and Joseph had other kids.   In the Catholic church, Mary was a perpetual virgin.  

Same religion, different interpretation and observance.  Kind of like with some Christian churches practicing communion and others not.  Frankly, Nadiya likely wouldn't be on the program if they were very orthodox/strict/fundamentalist about everything.  

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I don't know, with each episode I like him less and less.  I've even come to like Prison Paul, even though I think it's time for him to go as well.  But even though I'm not as impressed by Flora, she seems like a nice young woman.  And I adore Nadiya and Tamal.  But there's just something about Ian that I don't care for.

 

 

Yeah, for me, it was the story about picking up literal road kill and making dinner out of it that made me start to slide towards, "Okay, that's just creepy and really ill-advised."   I suddenly understood how such a talented baker might not have won Best Male Baker in his village of 400 houses.   Picking up animals from the side of the road to avoid waste is taking foraging way too fucking far in my book.   Now, full disclosure, I don't eat meat other than fish, so it wasn't like I was grooving on those meat pies last night anyway, but that full-on sickened me in a way that had nothing to do with my dietary choices.  

tl:dr:  Oh Barf to roadkill pie, dude. 

But other than that disturbing revelation, truly he did look like he felt that he should have gotten star baker, not in an extremely nasty way, but then there's something else:  He's never shown talking to the other bakers, let alone pulling a Prison Paul by lending a hand in plating, etc.  He's clearly friendly and it was cute that the other bakers cheered on his crown at the end but he looked nettled that Tamal got star baker, to my eye.   

It's not so much that I have antipathy towards Ian, it's that what I first took for a mild manner and a dry sense of humor took a turn towards too peculiar for me with that "I picked up a hare from the side of the road, and made dinner from it".  For all I know, he was behind the car that hit it, so he was very sure it was fresh, but dude, there are reasons that is not.an.advisable.move.  

That tripped me right on out.  Also, he's the only person who seems to be really viewing this as a competition as in "the other bakers are my competitors" because it does seem to bug him -- and to his credit, it's clear he's trying not to have it bug him -- when others win over him in a way that it doesn't seem to bother any of the other competitors.  

Mat's smile and head tilt right before the elimination was announced was super winning.  He knew, he didn't mind at all he had everything in complete perspective.  

I think, and I could just be dead wrong, that Ian hopes to win so that he can parlay his success on the program into a professional endeavor of some sort.  

Edited July 30, 2016 by stillshimpy

[Athena]

On 30 juillet 2016 at 11:55 AM, stillshimpy said:

I think, and I could just be dead wrong, that Ian hopes to win so that he can parlay his success on the program into a professional endeavor of some sort.  

No spoilers but I don't think Ian is doing anything that he wasn't doing before the competition. He is still the official UK photographer for the Dalai Lama. I think Ian comes off as more competitive than other bakers, but he tries to hide that. It can come off as be slightly disingenuous when you see the other contestants. He probably did get more photography business as a result of being on this show.

This show is edited to feel that the competition is extremely friendly - the contestants are jovial with one another, they help each other out, etc. All the talking heads are usually about their own bakes and even when it's rarely been about others, it's always positive and teasing.

I am less skeeved by road kill pie, but it's not my first option.

I don't mind Ian, but I do prefer the others.

[stillshimpy]

 am less skeeved by road kill pie, but it's not my first option.

Heh.  Yeah, we had to stop the program to freak the hell out for a full minute, at least.  Rewound because we were just positive he couldn't really have said he then started a tradition of making roadkill pie and then were really freaked out over the potential source of the meat for his pies.  Mary and Paul didn't look like they were overly thrilled with that as a method of obtaining meat for pies either, but I'm assuming that was because they knew their pie was faux-roadkill.  

I swear I thought I would come in here and find it wall-to-wall, "He does what?!?" and honestly, I would put it down to being pescetarians, but neither of us tends to be fluttery about meat in general and none of the other pies bothered me at all.  

On a less "I clutch my pearls" note: for whatever reason the thought of pigeon always amuses me.  I don't think I ever had squab and it's fairly unusual as a dish in the states, although certainly not unheard of, so it struck me as being the quintessential British thing last night, right up there with Victorian fruitcake and lawn tennis.  

[meep.meep]

Paul sure loved those Charlotte Russe's!  I guess we know what he really loves - soft squiggly things in layers.

Where is Ugne when you need her?  Because you could have made a delightful one with peanut butter flavored bayonnier (whatever it is) and clear grape jelly layers.  And he would have had to eat it!

I think the others are fine with Ian - he gets lots of Mate comments while they are baking.  I figured his TH about being excited about doing Victorian dishes was pride going before a fall.  But he pulled through as usual.

[DHDancer]

7 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

bayonnier (whatever it is)

Bavois: basically a gelatin-thickened mousse.  Charlotte Russe made well is a delight to eat but as we saw, oh so fussy to prepare! 

If Paul H said one more time, Lady's Fingers (or Ladies Fingers, hard to tell as they sound the same), I was going to scream:  No Paul, it's not a collective like attorneys-general or courts-martial, or bests-in-show... sigh.

As regards the Tennis Cake, the sugar "syrup" was actually what's called fondant and is used extensively for covering cakes.  Mat I think made the mistake of thinking it was a true syrup in texture. So these cakes had a layer of marzipan, the colored layer of fondant, and the royal icing was simply for the piped decorations.   Piping those nets and rackets was quite a feat.  I've seen some incredible royal icing (google royal icing filigree to see images) but it takes a lot of time, and incredibly steady hands as we all saw.

As regards the Raised pies, what I found difficult is that these were generally made to be eaten COLD, not hot, and meant as a way of keeping and extending small amounts of precious game meats.  They improve with keeping.  I'm also a bit surprised that no-one tried to make individual pies as a way of getting around trying to cook large pies in the time.  I love a good chicken and ham picnic pie, or more traditional pork pie: the game pies are a bit much for me, not being a fan of those stronger flavors.  Still, it was a great challenge I thought :)

[starri]

I would have been game (so to speak) to try the pies, but I don't eat pork, so given that 90% of them had either bacon or sausage, it knocked me out of the running.  Also, while I would like to assume Ian wasn't just pulling over the the side of the road while he was on his way to the tent that weekend foraging, I can't get the idea out of my mind.

33 minutes ago, DHDancer said:

I'm also a bit surprised that no-one tried to make individual pies as a way of getting around trying to cook large pies in the time.

Wouldn't it have been likely they were told they had to make one big one, in order to keep things fair?

[Rinaldo]

Some of the British blogs that follow the series seem to be followed largely by vegans, and an amusing number of their comments found Ian's "roadkill pie" the one redeeming feature of the meat pie challenge, as at least that animal was not murdered specifically to be eaten, but was dead already. For them it was all the other pies that were disgusting.

38 minutes ago, DHDancer said:

If Paul H said one more time, Lady's Fingers (or Ladies Fingers, hard to tell as they sound the same), I was going to scream:  No Paul, it's not a collective like attorneys-general or courts-martial, or bests-in-show... sigh.

But that is the British usage for those items. They think we Americans are ridiculous for saying "ladyfingers."

[dleighg]

58 minutes ago, DHDancer said:

google royal icing filigree to see images

OMG is all I can say.