S07.E04: Batter Week

[dubbel zout]

Now I want to see Mary Berry's reaction to corndogs.

[proserpina65]

On ‎09‎/‎15‎/‎2016 at 3:42 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I'm American so I had heard of Yorkshire puddings in various books, but I've never eaten one so the signature bake was really interesting!

I made Yorkshire puddings one year for Christmas dinner, after reading about them in many books.  They're not hard to do for a meal, but I can't imagine having to make each one the same size, shape and color.

[proserpina65]

On ‎09‎/‎15‎/‎2016 at 11:21 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

Don't they have at least 2 burners at each station? I don't know why they weren't allowed to make more than one pancake at a time.

I suspect that trying to cook two at a time would've resulted in a lot of burned pancakes, at least based on my pathetic pancake-cooking skills.

[theodyssey]

It's that cathedral-children's-choir culture that everyone is raised in there. :)

As far as I remember, they were in a celebrity reality show where they had to sing opera at one point.

[theodyssey]

Churros may seem pretty "North American" but they're also common in Spain. Probably not very surprising, but it explains the European connection. I've tried to make them once, as a kid, and I seem to remember thinking they came out well - maybe I was just proud of myself.

[AZChristian]

17 minutes ago, theodyssey said:

Churros may seem pretty "North American" but they're also common in Spain. Probably not very surprising, but it explains the European connection. I've tried to make them once, as a kid, and I seem to remember thinking they came out well - maybe I was just proud of myself.

I think the write-up on my TV guide even mentioned they were a "Spanish" dish.

[susannot]

I loved this episode because I make Yorkshire puddings every year for Christmas.  Whoever said they are traditionally made with beef drippings (Val I think) was right. I never thought of stuffing them though.

Our boyfriend Salesi was saved by his porky Yorkshire puddings because his other two dishes were pretty bad,  Benjamina was brilliant this episode.  Finals for her.

Edited July 4, 2017 by susannot

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Two Spotted Dicks: It's Out Of The Frying Pan And Into The Deep Fryer On Batter Week!

The bakers are taken way out of their comfort zone...perhaps because they're not technically baking.

[Qoass]

I agree with the podcast that Tom's churros looked like cigarette butts. Moreover, presenting them on fake grass made them look like somebody had emptied their car ashtray onto the side of the road.
 

[EyewatchTV211]

On 7/1/2017 at 7:18 PM, Clanstarling said:

Your Irish Nun story made me gag. I grew up on thin pancakes which were either butter, lemon and sugar, or butter and whatever jam we had in the house. I was going to make some for a boyfriend, so I asked my mother to give me her recipe, which amounted to whenever I asked "how much" (flour, etc.), she'd say "just enough." My recipes, on the other hand, are written down for my girls to use. Not that they're interested.

But ReaLemon - that was used for different food items (mostly iced tea or lemonade), and I can still taste it when I think about it. Blech.

I forget who said she'd never tasted churros before. It seemed to me that if you know it's your showstopper, you might try to find somewhere to eat one - as a benchmark for taste if nothing else. How else are you going to know if you're in the neighborhood taste wise? I personally don't like them, but my kids do. 

Over the years, I've taken out the cookbook and looked at Yorkshire Pudding recipe, thought about making it, then gently slid it back onto the shelf. I've never tasted one, and it seemed fairly tricky to do without some knowledge of what your'e going for. 

I thought the exact same thing. If you have the benefit of knowing certain challenges ahead of time and having some time in between, you'd think you would take advantage of that. It was Candice who said it. 

[Florinaldo]

Is it possible that their use of "churros" in the plural even for a single specimen is just a reflection of regional usage in the UK? When a foreign word is adopted into another language, the marks for plural and gender sometimes get lost.

Their terminology and pronunciation often makes me wonder, like PH saying "korronn" when talking about a couronne in the previous episode. Or even more glaring two episodes ago when he and MB were saying "gen-o-eaze", instead of "gén-waze" a pronounciation closer to the French word and that even US cooking shows use. I finally decided that they might going back to the original Italian origin of the cake, i.e. Genoese, because it might be common in the UK to pronounce it that way or because people try to verbalise each letter of génoise.

 

On 2016-09-15 at 2:01 PM, shandy said:

and Andrew being a sore loser/frenemy was funny - like he had stepped out of Mean Girls.

Andrew takes the competition very much to heart. Just look at how crestfallen he gets when he receives criticism, like in this episode when he was told his churros were too dry inside. He looks like a child whose puppy just got struck by a car.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Florinaldo

[Rinaldo]

2 hours ago, Florinaldo said:

Is it possible that their use of "churros" in the plural even for a single specimen is just a reflection of regional usage in the UK? When a foreign word is adopted into another language, the marks for plural and gender sometimes get lost.

As with Americans using "biscotti" even for the singular.

[Florinaldo]

9 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

As with Americans using "biscotti" even for the singular.

Merriam-Webster does note that it is usually used in the plural. Not to be confused with what we call in French a "biscotte"; if you order that, you will be served a form of rusk, a source of amusing misunderstandings at the table.

[2727]

Kiss of death: "I'm making a thicker crust." It will never cook in time.

Also, nobody cares what you like. Consider what Mary and Paul will like.

[Florinaldo]

7 minutes ago, 2727 said:

Also, nobody cares what you like. Consider what Mary and Paul will like.

And they have rather traditional or conservative tastes when it comes to the texture and shape of well-established "classics", although MB comes across as a little more adventurous as far as spices and flavouring.

[dubbel zout]

One of my favorite parts of the show is when Paul, especially, turns up his nose at someone's flavors, and then when he gets an actual taste discovers it's delicious and he has to admit it. He can be such an asshole about that kind of thing. At least Mary is always more diplomatic.

[Occasional Hope]

On 01/07/2017 at 3:58 PM, Rinaldo said:

Ah, two countries separated by a common language. Just when you've gotten used to understanding "In the UK a pudding is any molded dessert, and by extension the dessert course in general," they go and throw Yorkshire pudding at us. (I joke. We do have Indian pudding and bread pudding in the US.)

You probably don't even want to know about black pudding - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pudding

[Rinaldo]

5 hours ago, Occasional Hope said:

You probably don't even want to know about black pudding...

I do know. I just thought it more civilized to make no mention.

[OoogleEyes]

On 7/4/2017 at 0:45 PM, susannot said:

 

Our boyfriend Salesi was saved by his porky Yorkshire puddings because his other two dishes were pretty bad,  Benjamina was brilliant this episode.  Finals for her.

Porky Yorkies

HA!

[Jodithgrace]

Quote

I was really intrigued by the lace pancakes, but I was even more intrigued by Mary squeezing a lemon onto her lace pancake before eating it. Of all the toppings I've ever put on my pancakes, lemon has never made the list.

I, too,  make Dutch Baby pancakes, which rise up like Yorkshire puddings and then sink back down and are served with powdered sugar and lemon.

I adore Yorkshire pudding, which is basically a way to quadruple the calories of your basic roast beef dinner. I've made individual ones, as well as the larger roasting pan size, but have never considered filling them. That isn't conventional, but I think that Paul and Mary added that bit to give more of a challenge, since Yorkshire puddings aren't that complicated. 

The churros weren't much of a showstopper, I agree.  And I don't think any of them turned out that good, except for Benjamin's. Paul and Mary seemed rather disappointed in the results. 

My PBS station finally showed this episode today, after skipping last week for some fund raising nonsense. 

[Florinaldo]

On 2017-07-16 at 6:38 PM, Jodithgrace said:

I, too,  make Dutch Baby pancakes, which rise up like Yorkshire puddings and then sink back down and are served with powdered sugar and lemon.

The lemon juice makes such a lovely sizzle when you drizzle it on. A very simple and good-tasting recipe; it has been a few months since I have made any and your post has given me a hanker to remedy that.

[zoey1996]

On 9/15/2016 at 3:42 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I mentioned this in the "baking across the Atlantic" thread last year, but it drives me crazy as well. Mr. EB and I have a somewhat joking theory that the British love to intentionally fuck up the pronunciation of words from other countries just to be extra dickish in a "there will always be a British Empire" kind of way. Hearing the British version of words like taco and pasta are like nails on a chalkboard to my ears.

Aluminium!  I have a British son-in-law, so I've grown used to some British (mis)pronunciations.

Just started catching up on this season.  So far, I've quite enjoyed it.

[Clanstarling]

46 minutes ago, zoey1996 said:

Aluminium!  I have a British son-in-law, so I've grown used to some British (mis)pronunciations.

My ex used to say that (and other Britishisms), and it annoyed me to no end because he wasn't British, and had never even been to Europe, much less Britain.

However, I enjoy British pronunciation when it's the Brits doing it. I love accents of all stripes (well most, there are a few I hate).

Edited April 22, 2018 by Clanstarling

[Harry24]

Coming from a year in the future, I can't remember Paul being so plain giddy over any judging segment as he was over all the yummy Yorkshire pudding fillings.  He was close to going, "Whoo-hoo!"  

I'm worried about Selasi.  I was worried last week when he said he hadn't practiced with the flour for the Showstopper bake.  Is he perhaps too laid back and not quite obsessive enough to compete?

And in the (Not Quite) Separated At Birth category, Candice reminds me of Natalie Dormer, and Kate looks a lot like a less glamorous, real-world-mommy Kate Middleton.