14: S17E5&6 "Dessert Week" & "Pastry Week"

[00:00:00] Hmm? Ah! Hmm. Podcastica! Hey everyone, welcome to Bakedastica, a podcast dedicated to the Great British Baking Show. I'm Jamie. I'm Greg. And I'm Wendy.

[00:00:29] This episode we are covering two episodes of the Great British Bake Off Series 17, Episodes 5 and 6, Dessert Week and Pastry Week. And oh, the desserts and pastries were to be had. Yes. Two good weeks. Yeah, they were.

[00:00:46] And we are doing a double episode because we've all been crazy busy with Halloween festivities and Greg was on vacation and Jamie went away. So we've had lots of things going on. So we're covering a double whammy today. Double header. So let's move right into the signature. Sure.

[00:01:09] So the signature challenge was to make eight self-saucing puddings. The bakers had an hour and 45 minutes to produce eight individual self-saucing puddings, similar to whenever they did it the last couple of seasons. But for the technical on the souffle, they had, they started at staggered intervals about 10 minutes apart so that they could like taste them right out of the oven.

[00:01:34] And the biggest challenge that they ended up having was like getting the timing right because they needed to be the, have like the properly baked sponge with like the flowing sauce. And this was like, it was, it was really impressive. And, you know, I, I've watched this show for a long time and self-saucing was something that had escaped me. Me too. I didn't know it. It's lava cake. Yeah. Mostly.

[00:02:04] Mostly lava cake now. And pudding is the British term of pudding, which means dessert, not pudding like chocolate pudding. Yeah. No, these puddings I get down with. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like a good pudding. Sometimes there's something added to it. American. Carl and that thing in pudding. No way. No way would I eat that. But I like moose. I like, I like moose. Oh, I had to bake Alaska. I had to bake Alaska on, uh, on the cruise.

[00:02:33] And it was super good. And I was absolutely like, Hmm, this is quite interesting. That's a 70s. I don't think I've ever had that. No, that's a 70s, like retro thing. Yeah. It would have fit well in. Yeah. It would have been perfect. Somebody should have made one for the try. Okay. Okay. All right. So Connie made a chocolate orange and it had a flowing chocolate center.

[00:02:59] She forgot to start her timer, but she winged it with great results. She got herself a Hollywood handshake. Yay. I was so excited for her. She didn't believe it at first. You could tell Paul's face. He was like, Oh yeah. Yeah. He was blown away. Uh, it was just like, Oh yep. There it is right there. Yeah. Like this is delicious. Yeah. We had a number of people who did like a chocolate orange flavoring. Yes. Yeah.

[00:03:30] Yeah. It looks like, uh, Connie, Gabe, uh, Gary and, and when all do some variation of the chocolate orange. Mo kind of played around with flavors. Didn't know what he was doing. Cause Mo doesn't put too much thought into anything. Man. If that man had some training, like, I feel like with Mo for motivation. Yeah. I know. I see that. Um, I feel like with Mo at some point in time, this is going to bite him in the butt.

[00:03:59] But like, yeah, he's like, if he had some training, he'd be one of the best bakers that's ever been on the show. Yeah. Or gave it just a little more care. But at some point, like, I just, he could make it to the end. He's got talent, but I don't think he's going to. No, I agree. But I mean, he's got the capability in him. Right.

[00:04:26] Like for the next episode, the pastry week, there's at one point where he's like, well, I've never actually made this custard or sauce or whatever it was. Never actually made this before. And it wasn't the technical. It was something that they knew about and could practice. He just doesn't. Yeah. He's just like, I'm going to wing it. Yeah. I thought that Giannis is like, I like the, so there was like the chocolate orange, uh, and then Mo and his chocolate hazelnut.

[00:04:56] And then there was like the, the, the apple. And then I really liked, I wanted to try Giannis's, uh, apple strudel. Um, and then, um, and then we talking about earlier, um, about Tom's like spiky lump of, uh, lump of apple. And I mean, that's, they looked really, really good. His stunning blobs. Oh yeah. Stunning blobs. That's what it was. Um, yeah, those, those, those looked really, really good.

[00:05:26] I love like caramelized apple. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Like sauteed apple and sugar and oh, so good. Yeah. The three I wanted to taste were Giannis, Tom and Clara's. Yeah. The, don't just let you add it. Oh yeah. And, and the sharpness of the lemon added to, cause I'm not, I'm not, I don't think I've ever had that with some sort of citrus or some sort of like sour. And that sounds like it'd be really good. Yeah.

[00:05:55] I don't think I have either. Greg. Yeah. Like lemon and caramel are two of my absolute favorite flavors. And I don't know that I've ever had them together. Maybe there's a reason. Apparently not. They didn't, they said her flavor was good. There was just too much sauce. No. Yeah. No, I, I'm not, I'm just saying that like in the right hands you could, you could do it, but, uh, I haven't come across the right hands yet. Yeah.

[00:06:20] I, well, I, I was watching something, you know, Jeff Daniels on, um, I think it was on either Jimmy. No, it was on, uh, Stephen Colbert. Um, and this is just a, a, a reel that I saw in the last few days. And he was like, what's your favorite sandwich? Oh, okay. You take like a pita bread, like a, a pita. And then you put a thick coating of like peanut butter on one half of it.

[00:06:46] And then you take some ruffles, sour cream, or either you had ruffles, sour cream and cheddar, and you crumple them up and you put it over that. And then you take your favorite barbecue sauce and you pour that over the, that they like, this guy, I like tries it. And he's like, this is ridiculous. Like this should not work. These flavors should not work together, but, but they do, but they do. And it was, it was the barbecue sauce just ties the rug together, man. It's crazy.

[00:07:16] But, uh, sorry, ties the room together, not ties the rug together. Um, but, uh, yeah. I knew what you meant. I knew exactly the reference you were going for. Um, but yeah, it was, uh, and I was, and that was kind of like how it's like, oh, I guess maybe the, if you have like the lemon with just enough, just to kind of like take it like the edge of the lemon. And, um, I could see where that would like accentuate the creaminess of the rest of it. It'd be really good.

[00:07:48] Did we get everybody? Um, I think so. All right. We can move into the technical Nigella made the bread and butter pudding. And this was a traditional British bread and butter pudding.

[00:08:11] And the twist for this one was that they received a basic recipe, but they had five minutes to select their own additional ingredients from the gingham pantry, which I thought was interesting. I kind of like when they do that so that we're not getting 10 of the same thing. Yeah. Which is not very bake off like, but I like it. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:37] I feel like I saw, I saw a reel today where somebody was like having Nigella and Paul together is like divorced parents at their son's wedding. But that like, she follows, like she's breathing new air into the show. Like this is the way, like this show's been so long. It's still so loved, but this is the way to bring a little, she brings a little bit of freshness to it. And I think she's definitely doing that. Like she's changing it just enough. It still feels like home.

[00:09:06] It still feels great, but it's a little different this year. Not in a bad way at all. The only, I'm going to say the only complaint that I have about this, and maybe it's just more of a point and not so much a complaint is that I, I like, I like the old version because

[00:09:33] you could see like what, like in comparison, like you could actually tell that like what was going to be slightly different from one to the next, not being able to taste it. That's my, that's my only complaint. I get the judges tell you what was good or bad about it, but I like being able to see like that. Oh, they look all the same, but then you open it up now.

[00:09:59] Oh, you see, this is more open or this is more blah, or, oh, this has got a soggy bottom or whatever. Maybe people were being too good. I mean, not on some of the ones we covered, but, but I, I can absolutely appreciate kind of what you guys are talking about because this is, this is pulling the flavor combos from the chefs themselves or the bakers themselves. So, Hey, how much do you know about how well flavors go together? Right.

[00:10:30] Yeah. Right. This was definitely more of, we had to trust their take on the taste. Yeah. And I don't care what they say. I don't care what Najaya says. I, I get that there was the challenge, but Giannis's chocolate and cherry, I wanted to try the hell out of it. Yep. If he did chocolate chips, maybe he would have gotten a better thing. Like if it was just a sprinkling of chocolate, like I think he went too far with the chocolate was what they said.

[00:10:58] Like he did chocolate and hazelnut and cherry. Now I like chocolate and cherry together. Like I can get down on that, but if he did like cherries and chocolate chips, maybe it might've done better for him. Too much chocolate. And that's this thing. I am not a chocolate girl. There's just a question. Yeah. Yeah. And again, like she said it right in the beginning. Like she said, this is, this is the rules of the challenge and don't overwhelm the flavor. And it was just, it was him and Gabe who were too overwhelming with their flavors.

[00:11:27] Otherwise everybody else listened to that or it happened to guess right. In most case. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like, I feel like, I don't know what the origination of this one was, but I feel like this, this would have been belonged well. And like the first three seasons where Sue and Mel were hosting and gave like a history lesson.

[00:11:51] Um, you know, back in, back in the war we talked about, and, uh, I feel like this, especially like the specifically what makes me think that is like the stale bread. Um, like, Oh, we had extra bread and so we didn't want to waste it and we're doing rations and we needed to figure out a way to make this good. Yeah. It definitely feels like it was created with stale bread, but I think like bread pudding was like, I think, don't you use stale bread for bread pudding or.

[00:12:21] I mean. I've never made bread pudding. Yeah. I don't know. I like bread pudding. I didn't have any of the bread pudding. Well, no, I like a good bread pudding. Like there's some pieces that make it real, real good. And it's real good. When the bread. Yeah. When the, when the bread is moist and like there's cream that you can like add to it, um, either cream or like the thicker custard, but not like the custard custard, like the, you guys know what I mean.

[00:12:46] Um, the, the, like that is, and it does have like kind of that crispy texture, uh, along the top. So you get a little bit of that and a little bit of the, like it could be, it can be delicious. Yeah. It's, but it's, you've got to have the right bread because if the bread falls apart too much, it's not quite right. So that's why I think it's supposed to be stale bread because that holds it up more. Yeah. That makes sense. All right.

[00:13:14] So I'll go over the, where everybody landed. Gary came in first place. Connie second, Clara third, fourth, Gabe, fifth, Tom, sixth, Moe, seventh, Yannan, Yanis, and eighth Moyen. Yeah. Gary definitely. Like this was Gary's week. Yeah. Like he just, Oh, this is all stuff I know. That's cool. Yeah.

[00:13:44] Um, very retro week. Yeah. And I mean, Connie also like she, she had a fabulous week. Connie's a great baker. She really is. Mm-hmm. Like she is, she, she's really kind of not pulling it together because she's always had it together. She's cause she's kind of like bursting from her shell. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:14:10] But I like like Connie, Yannis, and Moyen always seem to bring like their nationality into their bakes, which I like. Yeah. Like even this one, like Connie threw the nutmeg and nutmeg is a very Caribbean spice. Um, but I like that they keep like, I mean, Yannis didn't do it this time. Maybe if he did something a little more Indian, like a little more, you know, chai flavored or something, it might've gone better for him. Cause that seems to do well.

[00:14:38] Like when he does stuff that he knows better. Well, so in the same kind of vein, um, Gary does the classics. Yes. And, and he knows like the classic flavors and the classic flavor pairings and even the things that will accentuate those classic flavors. Um, but I think that if you are going to try to get into somewhere that needs to pack

[00:15:05] a punch, that's where he might struggle a little bit or fall a little short on the flavors, but I could be wrong. Could be wrong. Yeah. I mean, we're going to see how it plays out. Like, but I think, yeah, yeah. I think Mo needs to pay more attention and Gary needs to be a touch more like Mo. I think Mo needs to be more like Gary and Gary needs to be more like Mo. Like if we could combine them, they'd be unstoppable. Yeah. Yeah. Like she gets together. Mori. Mori.

[00:15:37] We also, I think we found out during this one that, um, Clara calls Gary Gare bear, which I thought was adorable. It would, the other one was what? Gaza? Gaza? No, it was definitely Gaza. They got a couple of different nicknames for him, which I think is cute. Yeah. And then he'll, he'll go around giving handshakes when Paul's in. Yes, I love that. That was really funny. Yes.

[00:16:05] And Mo and Gary do seem to be like, you know, buddies. Yeah. That's cute. That's what I love about the shows. Like they all end up being friends. Like people who would not have ever been friends for any reason, like God, you know, their lives would have never crossed are now like the best of friends because they're on this show. Like, so cute.

[00:16:30] Mo and Gary, they, neither one of them really, they're both of them just like, well, you know, that's just the way that it is. But Gary, because he's been around for a while and Mo, because he's just, you know, all right, that's just the way that it goes, man. Just got to keep L-I-V-I-N. Yep. Mo just tried. Like this is really cutting into my weekends. You guys just send me home. I got video games to play.

[00:17:04] All right. Anything else on the technical? Good. Greg, you want to read off what the showstopper was? All right. So the showstopper. So this gave me total like tea party or afternoon tea meets Harry Potter vibes, like the retro trolley desserts. So they had four and a half hours, four and a half hours seems like a lot, except they

[00:17:31] had to come up with like a dessert trolley basically to create like a tea party. And they had to have three different ones. Eight of each. And then at least one baked element. I think it was just the, it was the, it was a baked element in each one.

[00:17:55] So they had three separate bakes that they had to do that were timed potentially differently in however they were assembling. And like, this was, this was so much to do in four and a half hours. Yeah. Yeah. And they wanted like retro flavors. Like they wanted it to be old school, but yeah, the second they said trolley, I just heard, you want anything from the trolleys, dear?

[00:18:25] Yeah. Like that was my first thought. It was cool. I loved this. I loved it. It was cool. It was beautiful and it looked delicious. And we got Paul and Nigella's baby pictures. Yes. Which was super cute. Making a weird face, Greg. Sorry.

[00:18:54] I'm trying to get my microphone there. My headphones to actually stick in my microphone. Okay. I was like, I don't know what that means. I couldn't get it in the hole. Partial penetration. Yeah. Sorry. Nobody likes that. Just the tip. I think Gabe nailed the, I think Gabe nailed the idea the best.

[00:19:25] Like he had that, like it was so seventies. Like he had the tablecloth. Oh yeah. He had like, like everything looked absolutely seventies. Like his was, I think exactly what they had in mind for it. Yeah. Even some of his flavors seemed very. Oh, his flavors were the ones I wanted. They were like. Meringue. Meringue. That's I'm all about that. Yeah.

[00:19:55] Walnut sponge. Meringue tarts. Yeah. A walnut sponge and a peach tea trifle. Like I'm all about all of that. Like, please. Yeah. That's the one I wanted to try the most peach trifles with Earl gray custard and peach tea jelly. Yeah. Like that sounded really good. Yeah. I'm still, I think I still struggle with the gelatin and the little wobble thingies that

[00:20:22] they had like the jello little, uh, layers that they put in those. I struggle with it just because maybe when you, I, you know, when I get a spoonful of all the things together, it'd be good. But just watching them make those, I'm just like, well, um, I'll say that like, I, I wanted to say that his flavors were like more muted and more sedate.

[00:20:48] Like they weren't like explosions of flavors, but then looking at like what they are like, you know, the lemon and ginger, that's not like, that's not muted at all. It's extremely sharp. Um, uh, but like the, yeah, the Earl gray custard, um, I feel like it was a very like just kind of chill flavor to go along with the peach. But they said it was a good flavor. Like they didn't have any complaints about his flavors. His only complaint was that like his walnut sponge was soggy or at least the only one I wrote down.

[00:21:19] Oh yeah. No, I, I, I'm just thinking I kind of like you were saying that like the, the, the flavor he like his, he kind of got the challenge. Like he, he, he understood to the best. And I'm saying I was just thinking that like the flavors, like you said, are extremely retro. Yeah. They thought the meringue was too, I guess, hard.

[00:21:46] So I, so Clara's, um, that these are ones that I wanted to try. Like the, the, the, uh, laranja, like the, the, I was like, Ooh, man, like I was watching her roll that. Tortilla de laranja, which was like an orange rolled. Yeah. It was like a Swiss roll, but, uh, but like orange flavor and like with the vanilla sponge, like that sounded so good.

[00:22:14] I, I hear what Paul is saying as far as like the macarons having the, like the foot, like the more established foot. But, but man, like, I mean, probably it's going to always going to get me and, uh, the pistachio frangipan tarts. Those were the ones I wanted from her thing. Yeah. Like they all looked really good. I really liked, and her, like her positioning on the trolley also looked really good because

[00:22:41] it had like a good mix, but it was, you know, it looked like to me, like a trolley. Yeah. Hey, I'll, I'll take this one or that one. Oh. And that one. They thought hers was too sweet, sweet on sweet, which I probably would be fine. I get it.

[00:23:06] And Nigella said something about it, something about that, like next episode too, um, where it's like, Hey, you, you're going to bite into something sweet and then you're expecting it for some sort of contrast. I do understand that maybe you have a better flavor combination. If you've got a, a sharp flavor in addition to the sweet or salt or whatever. Um, but I still wanted to try them. Yeah.

[00:23:35] And they were, they looked like a hotel, like, yeah, like something you get at a hotel. Yeah. They were very pretty. I wanted to try Connie's too. Like, I like a pineapple upside down cake. Yeah. Because like, they were really cute. And I liked that she used like her mom's recipe or her mom's favorite for the trifle. Like it was a pear and apple pie. Like I go, I like a good pie. Okay.

[00:24:05] Well, like pineapples down good. Like they looked just like the ones that I would get on the boat. Like the cruise, but I feel like it'd be, no, I mean like the boat, like the submarine back in the day. Okay. Um, but I think that this would tasted better. Um, just, you know, like an actual baker is, is, is baking. Not, not that they didn't bake. Just saying that, uh, they, they were limited in their, their capabilities.

[00:24:34] Um, but it looks like, and I think Paul said, he's like that this looks like a school, like a school dessert. And I was like, yeah, that looks exactly. It's, it was not fancy at all looking, but it, again, it kind of understood. She understood the challenge. Now I, I want to talk about most.

[00:24:59] So, so he made the stiffy toffee pudding, which I looked, thought it would look, I thought it looked really good. That's the one in the glass, right? Like that. I thought I was like, that looked like a tiramisu, but with the sticky toffee flavors, like that looked great. Um, and the, the lemon tart. Okay. Sure. Like I, they talked about the pastry. Very compote. Yeah. I'll take it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm down with that. And sticky toffee, but I love sticky toffee pudding. Yeah. Tastes.

[00:25:28] I imagine it was tasting good, but the, the mango mousse that like Nell Chell was like, she took a bite and she's like, did you make this up? Like, did you just come up with this recipe? Uh, yeah. Like, dude, dude. Paul was so impressed and surprised. Like, this is, this is what I'm saying. If he, I know half a crap.

[00:25:54] I practiced even once at home, throws this together. And yeah, like Paul said, that would be something you'd see in a five-star hotel. Yeah. Five-star restaurant. Sorry. Not hotel. Yeah. That mango mousse made quite an impression. Yes. Yeah, for sure. Um, oh, Moyen had one that I really wanted.

[00:26:22] I'm a sucker for a creme brulee and he had a coconut creme brulee. Oh yes, please. His was called from Lagos to London. Yeah. Again, using his background. I love it. So I, so I had a creme brulee on the cruise and I like ate like a quarter of it and I was like, oh, nope, too like eggy pudding pudding for me.

[00:26:50] Um, but if you were to have some of that like coconut texture or maybe the coconut flavor, maybe I would have been a little bit more like, I just, if it took some like nilla wafers and like crushed them up and put them in there, I'd probably be okay. But no, you didn't have a good, you could tell the eggy coconut. You didn't have a good one. I had creme brulee in Paris. It's amazing. I've had creme brulee that I like. That's what I mean.

[00:27:19] Like there's a, I think this one was maybe just, I don't know. I don't know. It wasn't like, it wasn't eggy. It was just the texture were not, not my thing. It's supposed to be like silky and smooth and perfect. And I feel like. Get eggs out of that. Yeah. You don't, don't get creme brulee on the cruise anymore. Yeah. You should get sweet. My parents said it was good. I don't know. Yeah. But I know for me, I'm touch and go. Yeah. But Moyen's looked good.

[00:27:49] Creme brulee with coconut. So I wanted to try his profiteroles. Yes. Like the, the peanut with the crunch with the profiterole and the cream on the inside. Like that sounded really, really good. I get that they were not quite as big as Paul would have liked. But I don't know what the, what hibiscus eaten mess. Uh, I didn't know what any of that was. I know what hibiscus is, but.

[00:28:19] I don't remember what it looked like. I, I wrote hibiscus curd. Not enough. And then I can't read my handwriting. Okay. Yeah. I was just, I was just like, is it eaten? Is it eaten mess? Like, uh. It had meringue in it and they said that it wasn't working. Hmm. Okay. Um, oh, Gary stuck with the traditional shocker.

[00:28:49] Um, but he did them well. Uh, the almond frangipane tarts. Um, uh, I think maybe I just like frangipane. Yeah. It's raspberry jam. Yeah. And then again, the, um, the gateau with the cherry, like, Hey, chocolate and cherry. Yeah. I'm good. I'll, I'll try the hell out of that. The, I know that he had the steamed sponges.

[00:29:17] Did, did those work or did, I can't remember. I remember he was talking about time was being tight or whatever. I don't, I don't remember the judging on that one. The steamed sponges were dry and too strongly flavored with ginger. Okay. Yeah. I think overall there was like little problems with each one, but nothing was like a disaster or a success. Gotcha. Okay.

[00:29:45] The Kirsch overwhelmed the cherries in his, um, black forest. Gotto. Yeah. Which I think we just call that black forest cake. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what the difference is. Yeah. Cause gateau is a French word. And, um, the tarts became soggy. Okay. So again, I think it was, you know, not a disaster, but not a success.

[00:30:15] I would say. Oh, gateau means cake. All right. Fair enough. Yeah. Yeah. Cake. That's why we call it. Yeah. Who haven't we covered? Uh, Janice, uh, when Nigella, Nigella was like, uh, if you, you will never be allowed in Germany again. Uh, if you say that black forest is a British dessert, a British flavor. That's right. Ooh.

[00:30:45] Ouch. Uh, I mean, I wasn't sure about his soy sauce. Like I just, I get that there's like some salts to that, but I just don't, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. They kind of didn't love, like he had a lot of problems. Yeah. Uh, the stiffy toffee pudding with dates, coffee and soy sauce. Yeah. And they said, yeah, that doesn't sound good. Yeah.

[00:31:15] Said. Um, and then he, what he used, Mary Berry's queen of puddings recipe. And not Nigella's. Yeah. I mean, I, I don't know if she has a cookbook out there with the queen of puddings. Uh, she has, she has several cookbooks. Like he said that the two best recipes were Mary Berry's and Nigella's. And he went with a Mary Berry. Yeah. That doesn't seem like a good move. No.

[00:31:44] I would be interested in trying. Unlike you, Jamie, uh, I, I do really enjoy hazelnut. I had this little hazelnut bar, um, on the, the trip, man. It was bloody good. A lot of people love hazelnut. It's just the hazelnut ganache. Uh, I like, I feel like that's like Nutella. It's yeah. And Nutella is delicious. So I don't know what the problem is. My kids love it. I just. Not my vibe. Fair enough.

[00:32:14] I think all we got left is Tom. There were so many desserts that I'm like, wait, did we talk about Tom? I don't know. We did not talk about Tom. I don't remember. Tom was all about the. Oh, the Pavlovas. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. His. I wanted to try his too. Mojito Pavlova with lime jelly. That. Yeah. I'm down for that. This was really a, a, such a creative.

[00:32:42] I'm probably the most creative one of everybody. Yeah. Cause I mean, Tom's a great baker too. Mm. Mm. Oh yeah. Yeah. I like, yeah. His was, I liked that. He had like a theme. I feel like he had more of a theme than anybody else. Yeah. And took some risks with very non-traditional items. Yeah. So the, the Irish cream cream brulee sounds better.

[00:33:14] Well, the, maybe, I don't know. The Mojito Pavlov's like, Nigella asked for his recipe. She's like, I'm going to serve this. If you will be kind enough to give me your recipe. Like that's high praise. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know that I've seen that before. So I tried a Pavlova last week and it was. Something you did not eat on the course. Uh, I didn't really have breakfast. Cause. There you go. I had a lot of egg. Um, but.

[00:33:44] So I, well, I mean, they, they, they have like, like six desserts per like options and you can get multiples and so I was like, oh, I'll try that. I'll try that. I'll try that. Yeah. That sounds good. Um, but I hadn't, we, we were talking, I think last week we were talking or a couple weeks ago, we were talking about Pavlov's and I was like, oh, I want to try this. You're doing research for the podcast. Yeah. It was, I was like, Hmm. Oh, okay.

[00:34:09] So this one in particular, the Pavlova was like, it was almost like a little, like a cup like this of hardened, like, uh, of the almost like meringue. And it was served in like a little meringue bowl. And it, it was pretty bloody good. It was a little bit chewy on the inside. Yeah. It was really good.

[00:34:35] I mean, I feel like Giannis is the only one who kind of failed all the way around. Yeah. Everybody else had a pretty decent showing. Yeah. At a, at a, at a minimum middle of the road. Yeah. And that's what makes it hard when everybody's doing really well, then even little mistakes can. And I mean, that's where we're at with this. Yeah. It is crazy that we're more than halfway through. Like, I know.

[00:35:06] And you want to give us our results for the week, Jamie. All right. So we'll start with the bad news and end with the good news. Bad news is Giannis is going, I went home with his, it wasn't a surprise to anybody. He was bottom of the pack pretty much on everything, but it's still sad. I liked him, but now he's going to go save babies. So it's okay. Yeah. And then our star. Oh, go Greg.

[00:35:33] No, I was just saying like, neither one of these, like both of these, I was not surprised by. And I was really excited when we got to the person you're about to talk about. And our star Baker is my girl, Connie. Yeah. I was, I was from episode one. I was so, I was so stoked that she got it and her reaction was priceless. It was fantastic. And then she's on the phone with her husband and like, she's like, Hey, we're recording this. Everybody can hear what you're saying. Yeah.

[00:36:04] And then he's like ETA of you to get home. She's like, what? No, what? It was awesome. Yeah. All right. We can move on to the next episode, which was pastry week. All right. So I want to talk about these, these handhelds. All right. So the signature, I wanted to try literally every one of these.

[00:36:33] Like, yeah, even, even Clara's that like didn't turn out amazing. Like I, I was like every, don't get me wrong. I'm not sucker, but like, I just love pastry. Um, but a couple of weeks ago I had a, like a, uh, Jamaican. Yeah. Uh, Jamaican, uh, beef pie. I love those. They're so good. Yeah. Right. They're so good. And then Connie was like making one.

[00:37:03] I was like, Oh my God, I want to try that. It was probably so much better than this one, but that one was hot and it was juicy. It was like dribbling down. Oh my God. It was so good. Yeah. Um, hers. I want to try hers so badly. I love, I love Jamaican meat pie. And she made like jerk chicken meat pie. Oh man. Yes, please. And then, and then Tom, like, okay. So I will just from back in the day, like I was grew up in Houston and for lunch, we

[00:37:32] would, you know, go to Taco Bell where you'd get like 49 cent tacos, or there was this little Vietnamese place, this little Vietnamese sandwich place. And we would go and we would get, and I didn't know what it was called for most of the year, but eventually I'd just go in and go like, uh, bond me. And like, I fell in love with the flavors. Yeah. Bond me is one of my favorite sandwiches. Like if it's on a menu, like there's a Vietnamese place by the house I used to live in that I

[00:38:02] would go to all the time to get bond me and I'll still drive a little bit out of my way to get it once in a while. But if it's on a menu, the chances are I'm getting that. Like, yeah. If there's something that just says bond me flavors, I'm like, uh, yeah, I'll try whatever the hell that is. I mean, you can't go wrong with pork belly. Like, let's be honest. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's fair. Um, yeah, the, the, the, all, but like seriously, like all of these, like the, the color did the venison and.

[00:38:31] Gabe was the other one that was like, I had my like little star next to, cause I love lamb. Lamb is one of my favorite things. What is, I don't know. What, what is balty? What balty curry? I'm not familiar with. I don't know. I didn't Google it. It must be a specific kind of curry. The, so that one. And then, oh, where was the other one? Don't want it.

[00:38:57] I mean, Moyen's beef and potato with the scotch bonnet peppers. Like. Yeah. Right. Like they all just sound so bloody good. Yeah. I mean, even Gary's that he was like, you know, he, I feel like they said that his was a little bit like could have added more seasoning. Yeah. So they said it needs more. Yeah. Yeah. Um, like Gary, even that one, like it was.

[00:39:25] So then the pastry, again, the pastry on all the, Oh, without now, I remember what I want to say. Um, the Nigella's advice to Clara. Uh, she's like, you know, what you'd like to do is you find an amazing flavor and then figure out a way to put it into a pastry instead of, or make it beautiful instead of making something beautiful, playing something beautiful and then trying to figure out how to get flavor in there. I absolutely appreciated that device device advice.

[00:39:52] Um, I mean, I, I've made sugar cookies with deer antlers and it's complicated. They, half of them break. They don't come out. Right. The fact that she was doing. Trying to seal them. Yeah. Like a pop tart with it is insane. And most of them did have fairly simple shapes. Yeah. So I, I gave her credit for doing that. And I think it was Gabe also that did the, uh, complicated shape as well.

[00:40:23] Yeah. But I mean, but the simple shapes, like nobody complained about the simple shapes. They did them beautifully. They were exacting. They were. Right. They were all gorgeous. I want to give her some credit for that because. Yeah. Oh. What she was going for was really cute. Yeah. No, I'm like, I'm serious. Like those complicated cookie cutters are a pain in the butt. And the fact that she's doing it with pastry and making multiples of them and stuffing it like.

[00:40:47] I feel like maybe if, and I'm just saying this is just obviously, you know, hindsight, but maybe if she had done like a bowl we call type shape where the horns were a little bit bigger and the, the, the head was a little bit, well, I'll say pouchier that you might be able to fit, um, more meat or more filling in there. I think it might've worked a little bit better. She needed moose meat and not deer meat.

[00:41:18] Cause that was the whole point. She was making you think about the poor little animal you were eating. Poor little baby. Have you never seen Bambi? What don't make you think about that? You're eating it right now. What are you talking about? Yeah. That was really funny. Um, Oh, I did it. Okay. That was the, we were on this episode and so on, on Mo, uh, Nigella said like one layer was a little bit stodgy.

[00:41:49] And then she said, but then it was gunji. And I was like, uh, nope, that's one I haven't heard or I'm not familiar with. I haven't heard that. What does it mean? Uh, I'm, I'm going to Google it. Um, but I was like, Oh, this is just like a bridge Britishism that, uh, I am. And this is another one where Mo's like, I don't know. I'm just kind of threw some stuff together. Like you ever made this before? Nope.

[00:42:16] Um, having the texture, feel, or consistency of gunge. That's not helpful. Um, characterized by being gooey, thick, or viscous. Okay. That doesn't sound good. Thank you. That is better. Nobody wants their thing to be described as viscous. Yeah. I mean, it's a scientific term. I'm okay with this. Yeah. I know exactly what you mean when you say viscous. I get it.

[00:42:44] So synonyms, gooey, gloopy, viscous, glutinous, viscid, gelatinous, mucilaginous. Mucilaginous. No, that's not a good word. Nope. Mucilaginous? Nope. That's not a good word. Yep. Nope. All right. But this is the one where Clara, like the rest of us can't say, we're sh-sh-sh-sh-reyer.

[00:43:11] I mean, it was funny that Nigella was like, we're sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh. Like nobody can say this word. I mean like I just say Worcestershire I leave it there Everybody knows what I'm talking about Nobody can say it Everybody knows that you tried But I like that she couldn't say it either I really like her I do too She's like bubbly and fun

[00:43:41] I know I sent you guys that TikTok But it is so true She's not a dainty eater You know But I mean it in the best way She's like you know I'm not fooling with all that I'm gonna have enjoy me some Whatever I'm eating you know and it's kind of funny I I followed her on Instagram today So I've been like I had her like come up a whole Bunch she did She did a redemption for The

[00:44:08] For one of her bakes today but she did it As a joke That's funny It was one of the pies she was like alright I'm gonna show you guys I can actually do a pie Here's my pie redemption and she makes it And then she has her husband Eat it and he's like Honey this is cake She's like again my pie turned into cake She's like I don't like pies I'm not making pies ever again Hate when that happens Yeah it was it just cracked me up Like that was so funny

[00:44:39] Anything else for the signature I mean I I think I spearheaded it And I think I talked about all of them Cause That's okay They all basically sounded good So I was down with it Alright For the technical Yeah this one They had Nigella's Polish Karpatka Good job We had one hour and 45 minutes

[00:45:09] To make this traditional Polish dessert And It looked like Puff pastry on the bottom and the top And a big thick layer of What looked like amazing cream In the middle It was like a giant Cream puff Yeah I make cream cheese danishes With a roll of crescent rolls And then you like whip up Sugar and cream cheese And put that in the middle

[00:45:39] And then another roll of crescent rolls And I know I should not be comparing Crescent rolls To anything Nigella has made But this is kind of What it reminded me of So I was confused Until she referred to It as Like A custard slice And I was like Oh Okay Now Now I understand I mean it is mostly that Yeah Well no Like that's what she I think I think that she said That this was just her favorite version Of a custard slice Or what

[00:46:08] You would cut into To make a custard slice And And so I I understood What it was supposed to be A little bit more Although I never would have thought That this is what How you would make something To make a custard slice Yeah And it's Shoe pastry Yeah Yeah And like I get it Because it looked like The mountain range Like once it was explained And like she showed us What it's supposed to look like And you know Greg you got your Everybody has to make The same thing And you know Who screwed up Clara

[00:46:39] Well Mo Was like Mo And he was like This is disconcerting This is consentingly thin Yeah But like Just like when you looked Across the table You knew right away Clara was out Right Yeah But like the mountain range Like once it was explained I'm like okay I get it But yeah Like I said It's just a huge cream puff It looked amazing I mean I would eat the crap Out of it And it's Yeah What did she say It was potato starch Instead of Yeah

[00:47:09] Instead of cornmeal Instead of the corn Huh Instead of corn starch They used potato starch And I've never seen I've never used potato starch So I'm just curious If you could taste a difference Between a normal shoe And this one Because Just because of that one change Well I wonder if it's not It wouldn't necessarily be a taste But it'd be a Like the texture That would change If you're Changing

[00:47:39] Like the thicker Basically Yeah I don't I don't know Again They didn't mention All she said Was that it's They use potato starch Instead of corn starch But then didn't say And that changes it Because Right No that's fair She just said You use this And I'm like Well does it make a difference Like if I used Corn starch Would you know Would I taste a difference If I tried it Like I don't know I was curious about that Like it was just like This little fact That she threw out there And then

[00:48:08] Did nothing with Yeah So do you want To just go through The order Sure Right Coming in first Was Moyen Second was Tom Third was Gabe Fourth was Gary Fifth was Mo Sixth was Connie And seventh We all knew Was poor Clara First just didn't Turn out Would she call it Waffles Yeah Very flat

[00:48:38] I feel like Nigella is the Most stark On criticism During the technical When she doesn't know Who She's Who's She's talking About Yeah Like when she's Looking at them In the face She's like You know I'll soften this A little bit Yeah Talk about things But I don't know Whose this is And it's Just bad This is not What I was looking For at all Like this is bad This is bad All the

[00:49:07] You basically Couldn't save this Um Oh It's yours Oh You know You really could have You know We were really You know I think next time You'll get it And it's like What Okay It's just funny Just hearing a turn You're like Oh All right I wonder So Do They Like they have to I I think I want to know

[00:49:36] Um And I don't know If you guys Are familiar But During the technical When They Are tasting And judging They're not Sitting there Right The The Bakers aren't Sitting there For hours While they're Um While they're Judging them They come in For the end Where Well because Like So They'll You know You'll see Somebody's face Right When they say Something about Their Their thing And

[00:50:06] Um And I just Like Man If you're just Sitting on A stool For two Hours While They're Literally Picking them Apart Like On more Close ones Right On ones You're like Oh well This one Should have Been this Or this Should have Been that Like I was just Like man That would Suck To just Sit and Watch That happen See yours Picked apart Yeah I mean The way we see it It looks like They're sitting There the whole Time Right I don't Know That's why I was Asking That's What I

[00:50:35] Was wondering I mean It seems That way Because they Seem to Cut Yeah And like Sometimes They zoom Out and You can See Them Sitting There Yeah That's True I'm gonna Say Before Sandy Before When sandy Left She talked About Like that Was one Of the Worst Parts Was Sitting And Watching Like for Hours On end Prue And Paul Go back And forth On The Different

[00:51:05] Tastings And stuff Like that It's just Like It was Just Miserable You just Sitting there Watching them Eat And taste Over and Over and Over again Yeah Yeah I thought Tom had The technical I didn't Think it Was gonna Be Moyen I thought It was Tom Based on Like what They were Saying And what It looked Like I mean Tom's Looked Really Really Good Tom's Looked Like Nigella's Exactly Like Tom Put his Down I'm like That's The winner That looks Exactly Like what She had

[00:51:36] But yeah I guess They said Some of His flavor Was off Or whatever But yeah Yeah They're gonna Go with What it Tastes Like Over What it Looks Yeah But I mean He came In second So It wasn't It couldn't Have been That far Off Right I think You know We had To nitpick Something So Showstopper Showstopper Was Freeform Decorative Pies Which At first I had A lot Of trouble Wrapping My head Around That I was Like

[00:52:06] Freeform How are You gonna Do That The Bakers Had Three and a half Hours to Create One Large Elaborately Decorated Pie Without Using A pie Tin Which Is it Still Pie Yeah Then it's Just dough Wrapped around Filling Like Does Does That Make I can't Think of Any of the Words At this Hour

[00:52:36] What's The pizza That's Wrapped Up Calzone Is it Calzone A pie Or you Could say Is I mean Yes Kind of It's a Pizza pie Oh yeah That's true It was a Pie to begin With I guess So So I'll say And I I feel like This is just My My like Base Instinct Just the Phrase Fish pie

[00:53:06] Doesn't Make me Feel good That's such A british Thing though Like that Felt So british And Well And then When you Cut You cut Into it And you See the Different Colors Of the Fish I'm just Like I don't Know that I want My meats To be Different Colors I just Don't No I like I I like Fish And It was Like a Lemon dill Sauce Like that Yeah I would Eat that Fish pie Was that Gary Yeah Yeah Yeah Very Classic

[00:53:36] Like a Fish Yeah I mean I thought I would Totally try It Yeah As long As the Fish are Not overcooked I'm I'm good Like I Would have Totally tried I would Try it I Don't Think of It as a Pie Think of It as an Entree I don't Think it Would be Like I Love tuna And salmon But I Love it Like very Rare You know Yeah Like tuna I enjoy Like seared Or It's hard to Think of that

[00:54:05] Cooked inside A pie Yeah Yeah So I'll Say But I Would try It I mean It's so British They put Everything In a Pie Back Yeah Along The time Like that's Just so British I I was I was Okay with It I would Try it Yeah The I will Say That That Yeah I just Like I Said Just like My gut Reaction Was But But I think That all Of the

[00:54:35] Ones All of These I would Have Preferred Flavor Wise The Savory Vice The Sweet I mean I was All about Moe's I mean Well Like I I like I think The flavors Sound good Chai spiced Pear Maybe Because I Was hungry When I Was Watching It Like I Don't Like I Was Hungry For Like Real Most Pretty Butterfly With All the Colors Yeah No Like His Was Beautiful But Even

[00:55:05] Like Clara's Like The The Apple's Pecans Cinnamon Normally I Made It Like It Looked Really Good Well Then Nigella Was Talking About Like The Cracking Of Makeup If You Like The Blue Dust It Showed The Cracks Instead Of You Have To Be Careful When You And

[00:55:35] Paul's Like What What I knew I knew What She Yeah I'll Chicken Pot Pie Regular Pot I'm Down With Any Pie I'm Okay As Long As Long There's Something In It That I Want But Like Tom's Crust Like Oh God Tom's

[00:56:06] I He Didn't Have One Till Like What Week Four Yeah Yeah This Is Our Third Handshake This So Far Yeah I Mean Visually And I Can Only Imagine Flavorfully Yeah

[00:56:35] Tom's Was Gorgeous Pretty I Wanted To Try Like Before He Got The Handshake I Was Like Oh That Sounds Good I Like I Like All Of That Together So And When He First Talked About The The Design And It Really Looked Adorable It Came Out Really Nice He He Really Hit The Wallace And Gromit Yeah It Thought Motion Animation Like

[00:57:06] Picture Yeah It Looks Just Like That Like You Like If You've Seen Even An It It Looks So Good It Looks So Good Like I Wouldn't Have Wanted To Eat It I Was I Was A Little Disappointed That The

[00:57:36] The Like The Sausage Roll Kind Of Fell Flat Yeah The Taste Cause I Was Like Man Like This Just Sounds Delicious But Then Connie's In Particular I Was Like Hell Yes Like Curried Sweet Potato Yeah And I Thought Hers Looked Like A Snake More Than A Salamander I Was On Her Side Oh Yeah No I I I

[00:58:29] Only Yummy I Would Like That Yeah

[00:58:59] Any Other This Was The One This Was The Episode In The Signature Where Mo Said He Was Making The Sauce Or Something And He Was Like I Never Even Got A Chance To Practice This Like I've Never Made This Before I Thought That Was Hilarious I Wonder What His Mom And Dad Think Watching Him On This I Know Like They're Just Like That's I Also Notice That Nigella Just

[00:59:29] Likes A lot Of Salt And Everything Yeah Every Once In a While She Says It's Too Much Salt But Mostly She Asks For More Yeah Which Is Not Something We've Heard Before In Bake Off All That Often Salt Is Not Usually Discussed That Much Yeah It Does Make A Big Difference Though I've Learned To Put That Sprinkle Salt In Even With Something Sweet Like It Just Makes A Difference Yeah Yeah And Yeah And Sometimes Just Like A Little Bit Of Lemon To Brighten

[00:59:59] It Up To Make A Difference On Things Like Lemon And Little Lemon Zest There's Not Much That Can't Go With A Little Lemon Zest Broccoli And She She'd Never Heard The Word Ripple And I Get That She Grew Up In Portugal But I Was

[01:00:29] Like What Like I What Um They Must Not Have Rippled Chips Yeah Well They Have Ridges Right Yeah Ruffles Have Ridges Yes But And Then The Other Thing That I Thought Was Good From The First Episode Was You Gotta Bake The Bacon You Gotta Walk The Walk You Gotta Bake The Bacon I Was Like Oh That Is A Good

[01:00:58] T-shirt You Should Totally Make That Yep I Don't Have Anything Else I'm Good All Right Start With The Bad News Again Yeah This Was Really Bad This Was So Sad Yeah Our Girl Clara Is Gone We're Down To One Woman Left Standing In The Tent That's True It's A Boy Show This Season She's

[01:01:28] Standing Tall Like But Connie Is Standing Tall But I Think The First Episode Clara Was Like We Need She's Like One Of The Sausages Has To Go Home But She Knew It Like She Knew It Was Not Her Best Day Like Things Just Broke Wrong For Her It Wasn't Yeah Not Not Not A Shock You Know From Yeah

[01:01:58] From Watching Like I Was Even Like I felt Like They Almost Like Manufactured Like The Tension Between Mo And Clara Because Clara Knew It Yeah No I Think Yeah I Think They Good To See Her Again In The Last Episode Everybody Comes Back For The Final Episode

[01:02:27] But The Good News Is Tom Got a Hat Trick Of Star Baker For The Third Time Wow In Six Weeks Crazy Yeah I Mean He Literally Had Half Of The Star Bakers Yeah Who Else Has Won I Think Last Season We Had Jasmine One Yeah Jasmine Was Pretty Strong Yeah Gary Won Yeah Um Connie Did Mo Win

[01:02:57] I think Mo Won Did Gabe Win One Cause this Is Six I was Thinking Gabe Won One Uh Hold on I don't Mo One Week One Okay So Mo Yeah Uh Week Yeah Mo Gary And Week Two Was Tom Week Three Was Clara Oh Clara Okay Clara Yeah Week Four So then It was Tom Again

[01:03:27] Yeah I thought Well I thought It was Going to Be Gary And Connie And I Thought Gary Was Going to Get It In Episode Five But Then He Fell Flat In The Yeah Flat Tur Than The Showstopper Or In The Showstopper This Is Why I Keep All My Notes In One Book That Way I Can Keep Referring back I Wish I Was That Organized But like Jasmine last Year kept Getting Star Baker Like Would she Get the Most Star Bakers Ever On the Show Yeah I feel

[01:03:57] Like she Had like Six Yeah She Was She Was Incredible Last Year Yeah Powerhouse Wasn't There A Tom Last Year Too Who Was Also Really Good Tall Yeah He's Hilarious On His Instagram They All Were Great I Still Follow So Many Of Last Years Yeah Me Too And They They Get Together A lot Good For Them Like Being In A Little Club

[01:04:27] Yep Yeah Tom Was Just Making A Cake From All Ingredients He Grew Like Wow He Was Growing Wheat He Was Raising Chickens He Was Wow Harvesting Sugar Like It Was This Weird Challenge He Gave Himself Yeah He's Still Working On It Like The Chickens Were Having Some Problems Last I Followed Up If You Miss Any Of Your Bakers They're

[01:04:56] Almost All On Instagram Or TikTok And You Can Follow Them And Like Still Keep

[01:05:42] Up I Don't I'm Not Saying That It's Not Good Like I'm Not Saying It's Not Good But It's Not As Exciting As Dessert Week Anybody Anybody Who Orders Turkey Bacon It's Not Like They Just Don't Want Bacon Like It's There's A Reason Yeah I Like Turkey Bacon Because It's Always Crispy Because I Don't Like The Fatty Bacon Crispy I Love Crispy Bacon But I Don't Like

[01:06:13] So So Turkey Bacon No But Turkey Bacon Is Always Crispy That Is The Only Reason I Will Sometimes Choose it Um Well If You About Whether You Like Floppy Or Crispy Bacon You Can Find All Of

[01:06:57] Our List I Just Realized The Main Star I Watch Her On ER And A Couple Yeah Linda Yeah She Is Incredible She's Excellent She's Worth The Watch Oh She's Also In Avengers Right Yeah She

[01:07:28] Excellent Actress And It Continues With The Show She's Absolutely Fantastic I I'm Just Going Shout Out Grandma's Boy As Well Grandma's Boy Is I Think It Is A Wildly Underrated Comedy In 1990s Slash 2000s Like Culture That People Just Don't Understand How Funny It Is Okay I Haven't Even Heard Of That Exactly Exactly Yeah We Are Getting Ready

[01:07:57] To Cover Yellow Jackets It Starts On November 20th But We Are Doing A Recap Episode Next Week Sometime And If You Haven't Checked I Was Going To Say The Widow's Bay The Show And The Podcast Are Both Really Good It's Like A Dark Comedy So It's Like A Little Bit Of Horror It's Also Really Funny Like It's Weirdly Light I Don't Know How To Say That But It Is It Shouldn't Be But It Is

[01:08:27] Exactly Like I Feel Like If You Vibe Like If You Listen To This Podcast Vibe Like I Feel Like The Widow's Bay Would Work Yeah Yeah I Agree Maybe Not Crystal Lake But Widow's Bay Rings Rings Of Power Is Coming Back And Amazon Dropping Crazy Numbers Of Episodes And So On One Penny And Veronica Will Be Back To Talk Some Rings Of Power And Randomly Did Anybody

[01:08:56] Know There Was A Welcome To Derry Episode It Was A Surprise I Saw That I Haven't Watched It Yet But Yeah It Was Like A Halloween Surprise And That's Really Cool Yeah That They Did That Yeah And I Believe Jason's Covering It Somewhere Cause That's How I Found I'm Like Oh There Was Another Episode Yeah Okay I'm Glad We Didn't I Didn't Just Miss The News It Was A Surprise I Like That Okay Go Subscribe and