295 "Dessert Week" GBBO Collection 11 E7

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to our bonus edition of Strange Indeed dedicated to the Great British Baking Show. This week we are covering Collection 11, Episode 7, Dessert Week. And boy was I excited by these desserts. It should be a disaster week.

[00:00:26] This was a rough one, but I am excited because my son Jake, who has also been a long time Great British Bake Off enthusiast is able to join us. Thanks for joining us Jake. Yay! Yeah, I'm glad to be here.

[00:00:43] It's good to talk about Bake Off like I don't have anyone else to talk to about it, but it's nice to have an outlet, you know? Yeah, I totally understand.

[00:00:52] This is not a show that I can go to work and be like, hey, did you guys see the Bake Off this weekend? It was pretty... It's not like a football. Yeah, it's like, oh, did you guys watch the Pats game?

[00:01:05] No, but I did see... did you see that crazy soggy bottom? It's not your typical water cooler kind of show, but welcome Jake. So thrilled to have you with us this week. Yeah, it's good to be on.

[00:01:20] So Jake, how much history have you had as far as Bake Off goes? As Bake Off? I think I started watching two years ago and then mom and I, we would like sit down almost

[00:01:35] every night for a few months and we just watch an episode and like make dinner, watch an episode, just get super excited about people winning and losing and people going home. That's what's crazy about this show, right?

[00:01:53] Is that you almost like this one in particular, you get to know them and it's like the people are as big a star as the actual bakes themselves. And so have you watched the ones, the original ones with, was it Mary and Mel or Mel and Sue

[00:02:11] and Ben? I've always thought, yeah, where they would like go on, they would show like the actual history and backgrounds of all the bakes. I wish they would bring that back. Like that was so cool. It was, I think that at this point they're repeating things.

[00:02:26] So I think it might, you know, after 15 collections or however many it is, they might be repeating some of that stuff. But yeah, no, I, that was one of my favorite parts early on was that they would have like

[00:02:38] the black and white drawings of the baker shops and they'd go and visit old time bake shops in England that had been around for hundreds of years. So that was really cool.

[00:02:51] I feel this like this far into the week or this far into the season, we get to know just not just the names, but what everyone's about and how they're probably going to interact throughout the rest of the season.

[00:03:05] Like whoever's probably going to be like an underdog, like Maddie this week. Oh my gosh. Maddie was struggling. I'm like, what is this? It's crazy how specifically Maddie this week, like, and I get it. Like they, we don't see everything right.

[00:03:23] They edit some of the stuff out, but it like he looked like he was heading for disaster. I mean he couldn't even make the caramel. As soon as I heard, so let's go ahead and start talking about signature bake. That's kind of where the conversation is flowing.

[00:03:41] But as soon as I heard cream caramel for that signature, I thought, oh no, Maddie. He's going to struggle with that caramel. We've seen that in another episode where he just struggled and he did here too. That was, I was nearly in tears for him. So close.

[00:03:59] Which one was that? Which one? Well, that was, no, that was the caramelized white chocolate, right? Where they had to caramelize the white chocolate. And he just was like, I'm going to start a support group for people who've ever had to caramelize white chocolate. Yes. He struggled.

[00:04:16] So the signature this week was a, was their take on a creme caramel. And I was like, I like caramel. Yeah. Like that sounds good. And you know, like creme pat, I can, I'm slightly familiar with creme pat. I was like, okay. And then they showed it.

[00:04:36] Then they put the eggs in it? I was like, ugh, flan. Blech. I was like, literally we were watching it. Jake and I watched it a little bit ago. And it was like, every time they showed the wobble or they're like cut into it, I was like, blech.

[00:04:56] Blech. I wondered how you were handling this one. It's ugh. The textures. I mean, and it's funny because Saku's that she made with a jaggery, which I guess like a palm sugar, where I guess is originated from the palm plant.

[00:05:20] They called hers either too thick and stodgy and all that. And that was when I actually was like, Hey, that actually looks good. It looks like the texture that I would be willing to eat. It was closer to like a cake. Yeah, yeah.

[00:05:34] It was a little more firm because she had used what? Eight whole eggs. Yeah. Yeah, eight entire eggs. And I was actually pretty excited about that one. But it was like every one that they said, that looks amazing. I went, nah, I'm good. A little too wobbly.

[00:05:54] Little too smooth. Like Josh was saying, smooth and melts in your mouth. I'm just like, nope, I'm good. Well, I'm curious, Jake, you know, do you have a similar aversion like your dad to these textures or are you all about it? No, I like eggs.

[00:06:10] Eggs are good for me. I love eggs. Earlier we went out to a farmer's market and we got some breakfast wraps and I'd gotten with it with egg. And your dad just stared at it, just went, no. The guy was like, do you want one?

[00:06:27] I was like, no, I'm not into eggs. Thanks. But he did end up having one that had spinach and mozzarella, which was really good. Well, it was interesting too because they were talking, Paul and Prue, when they had

[00:06:42] started the challenge and the bakers got started and they were talking about like what can go wrong and what they need to get right. And they had talked about if any of them had overbaked, like if they had the bubbles and

[00:06:52] such and they had overbaked, then it was going to be like a scramble. And I think Christie's had the, yep, I see your face there, Greg. I wish this was a little bit more visual for those that can't see it.

[00:07:03] Poor Greg is just, every time I keep mentioning eggs and scrambled. The visible gag. The bubbles, her eggs kind of scrambled in her dish. And I thought, oh, that probably doesn't sound super appetizing.

[00:07:18] I mean, I just, maybe, maybe, maybe with the like less egg white and the sugar in it because you know, I, we've, we've talked about it before. I don't particularly care for ricotta. I don't like ricotta cheese. I don't like the texture of it.

[00:07:40] It just looks like a bunch of puss, but, but like, but then I've had ricotta spun with sugar and sorry about that, Rima. But I've had it spun with sugar and it made it really, really smooth and creamy and good.

[00:07:56] And maybe, maybe, maybe one of these I'll have to try at some point and, and like, maybe I'll enjoy them, but yeah, no, some of the things just a little bit like,

[00:08:09] and then like, if you like go towards the end with, when they start talking about the meringue and if you like the hardened meringue and the, and like mixing that with that, where it gives a little bit more texture, I might be okay with anyway. Sorry.

[00:08:22] Not looking to disgust anybody. You got to cream the eggs. Exactly. So it sounds like this was not really a challenge that you would essentially be into as far as just because of the textures and such, even though you liked it, the caramel.

[00:08:41] I think, I think that I could appreciate the difficulty and the, the, the, the tastes of Maddie's chai, chai coffee, whatever it was that sounded pretty good. That did look good. But I think technically, I think that Josh was probably like the best,

[00:09:05] the fact that Dan's didn't quite set. I was just like, Oh no. Oh, you started breaking apart. Oh yeah. Yes. But yeah. So, so I think that, I think that we had a couple of, I think everybody had good flavors,

[00:09:23] except for actually all the flavors were good, except that Saku's didn't really have much flavor. Yeah. I think it was just execution mostly. I mean, I think under the right conditions and, you know, learning that, Oh, maybe this was a

[00:09:40] little underbaked versus, versus maybe someone else's was maybe a little overbaked. You know, if it was executed a little bit better, you know, if, if, you know, then it would be ideal, you know, as far as how everything came out. But what about, what about you, Jake?

[00:09:57] Were there any that stood out to you or any that sounded really appetizing to you as far as the flavors? Maddie was definitely on a, going back to Maddie, his was really good.

[00:10:07] It was even though he messed up with the caramel and took so much time with everything. He, the finished product still came out very well. And you wouldn't have noticed or known that he was struggling so hard if you just looked at the end result.

[00:10:21] But I think like the texture for everything with like throughout the entire episode, texture was a huge, like part of everything. Like the eggs without needing to set the technical with nothing setting. And then the, what is it? The showstopper, the finish one? Yeah.

[00:10:44] The, yeah, the bombs with, because I think that's what would end up with Saku leaving was the texture in the middle. Like she, I don't know, it was Christie's, Christie's like the texture in the middle. It was just goopy and not a real, yeah, it was just goop.

[00:11:10] Yeah. Did you, I'm curious, Jake, as far as the, the, the flavors of the signature goes. So we had the, the tie inspired, not curry, not curry, just the tie inspired that Dan did. The, there was the chai from Maddie. There was the, there's honey. Oh yeah.

[00:11:38] And then Christie's, what was Christie's? I don't remember. Orange and cinnamon. Oh yeah. Yeah. Orange, orange. So that was, and that one was, that one was intriguing to me. And then Josh had like the classic creme caramel, man's creme caramel with the,

[00:11:55] the chocolate butterflies and any of those kind of strike your fancy in particular. The, like the finished, the finished product, the like sound, just how it sounded, the cinnamon and oranges that sounded really good.

[00:12:13] Like I would not turn that down, but the finished product, cause it was like the Paul and Proust, it was very strong and very citrusy. I could have sworn, but they all were, they all were very nice. They were all really nice. All really nice bakes.

[00:12:34] How about you, Rima? I agree. I thought aesthetically they were all very pretty. Dan had a few that weren't as set and weren't as pretty, but he did have some that turned out really well. And I, so I really love the decorations.

[00:12:50] I really love Tasha's little honeycomb design on hers. I thought that was really pretty and different. And I don't know that I would just offhand love Dan's Thai green curry flavors. And I, but I love, I would definitely try it.

[00:13:06] I mean, I would definitely try all of them, even if I'm not a huge fan, just because I'm like, you know, I've, as I've grown over the years, you know, learn to like take a

[00:13:14] risk and try something that you haven't, you know, that you might otherwise have like an aversion to and just either confirm or be like, oh no, I'm, I'm silly for not liking that. That's really delicious.

[00:13:24] So I would definitely try it, but I love that he took a risk and he was so confident in his choice because Paul was like, that's basically like, that's a terrible idea. I can't believe you're doing that.

[00:13:36] And I'm just like, dang, Paul, you're going at him pretty hard. And Dan just did not back down. He's like, nope, I've worked really hard to get like this balance, you know, to get them just right.

[00:13:46] Like, yeah, I know if you use too much of this, it's going to come out bitter. And he was so confident. And even once he had gotten started and Paul is kind of, you know, how they always lurk

[00:13:54] off to the side, you know, he's lurking and Dan's like, am I, am I, you know, worrying you there? And he's like, is it good or bad? And he's like bad. And I'm like, dang, he's just going at him hard.

[00:14:07] And then to see him like basically eat his words, you know, at the end of the challenge and they taste it and he's like, that's wonderful. And I was just like, look at you, Paul.

[00:14:16] You know, even I was glad that he could like admit that, you know, I mean, he didn't come out and say, oh, I was wrong about that. But he was just like, no, that was really great. Their flavors are impeccable. Pru loved it.

[00:14:26] So, and, and he didn't win Star Baker, but it definitely had him there at the top. Like they, he really got favorable. Oh wait, was it? Why was I thinking it was Josh? Why was it? I was thinking it was Dan. It was, I was thinking Dan.

[00:14:40] Yeah, Dan got, Dan got Star Baker. I'm stuck on last week, I think. My bad. Yes, you're absolutely right. He did get Star Baker this week because I remember his phone call to his wife now. Yeah. Sorry, I had my weeks messed up.

[00:14:54] I was thinking, because Josh was at the top too. Him and Dan both really excelled this week. So yeah, my bad. Yeah, so it definitely, I think, and I mean, we say that so often, you know, it's like the,

[00:15:06] you know, you have to kind of be a little bold and give, give the judges something a little bit different. Of course you have to do it well. But, you know, taking those risks really can pay off.

[00:15:17] So I thought that one was interesting, but I think aesthetically they were all beautiful. I just think they're so pretty, but, you know, and I love caramel, but just the way that it, it just oozed off the side of the custards, it looked like snot.

[00:15:32] And I just don't, I think I could get past it if I just don't look at it too hard because I do love caramel, but I like a thicker caramel. I don't know that I would like a runny. Yeah, you know it's been liquidy.

[00:15:44] Yeah, so I don't know. It's got to have some consistency to it. Yeah, it was just a little snotty looking. Again, don't mean to gross anyone out. So it makes me wonder because when they make the caramel, it was a little bit thicker, I think.

[00:16:00] And then they put it in to bake it. And when it came out, it was like, I was trying to figure out, did it like, because it heated up in the pan, that's what made it more liquidy?

[00:16:11] I guess because they had to put the caramel at the bottom of the little, little ramekins or pots or whatever that they were using and then pouring the custard on top of that. I don't know if mixing all of that made it more liquidy.

[00:16:26] Maybe I misunderstand what caramel is. Maybe I just don't have a good grasp on it because I thought that it would harden more. Yeah. No, caramel doesn't harden. It's more of like a very thick sauce.

[00:16:48] I'm not disagreeing with you, but when I have caramel and like we saw Matty when he was twirling it. You can twirl it. It hardened, but maybe yeah. Especially when it was closer to like a syrup,

[00:17:02] I didn't quite understand how it came out so liquidy. I mean, I guess that's what is supposed to happen. Right. Yeah. When I'm at work and I work in an ice cream shop and we have hot caramel as a topping

[00:17:16] and if we put it on the actual custard, it'll like ice cream custard type thing. It'll just sit there as a goop and unless it starts to refreeze, it won't harden until a long while after you put it back into the freezer.

[00:17:34] So if it has any air time and if there's a lot of it, it won't harden at all. Like it won't harden into a shell. Gotcha. Well, I- That's what Matty was doing because he had this steel rod. Well, I will take your word for it there, Jake.

[00:17:50] Sounds like you're quite the expert here. That's awesome. I didn't realize that you had that experience. That's good to know. Yeah, I'm not an expert. I know I just like caramel.

[00:18:01] I like the flavor and it is good stuff, but just seeing it run out when they lifted the pots and stuff, I was just like, oh, okay. I would just have to get past that and just like take a bite and I'm sure it would be

[00:18:13] okay, but it's getting over that initial reaction of seeing it run out like that. And I was glad to see Matty who did struggle. We've talked about his struggles. I was really floored at his final presentation.

[00:18:29] I was like, good for you, Matty, because he has been a bit of an underdog. He has kind of struggled and so it's good to see him grow because I'm like, it's like you said, Jake, you'd never know that he struggled as much when you saw his finished

[00:18:41] products. I thought, oh man, he's going to lift those up and it's just going to be a goop because they showed the little previews last week for dessert week and you would see these like mushy messes and I thought that's what we were going to see when he-

[00:18:54] Like from the technical this week. Yeah, I thought, oh, that's what we're going to see with poor Matty and he's going to lift it up and it's just going to be mushy because he doesn't have enough time to cook because he had to do his caramel three times.

[00:19:04] He was behind. He was like, oh, everybody has already got theirs in the oven and he's still over here. I'm still working on it. Yeah, I'm like, oh no, this is going to be a failure and he did so well.

[00:19:16] So I was really happy for him but I don't know. I think they were, they all look kind of yummy. Any final thoughts on the signature before we move on to this tragic technical? Nope, I'm looking forward to talking about it. The mess of messes.

[00:19:37] What an unbelievable kind of week. I know that they mentioned like the worst they've ever had. I think if we go back, there's probably at least one. I think I saw somewhere someone was calling out a particular episode a few seasons back

[00:19:53] or something that had a fairly equal type disaster for all the bakers but this was certainly one for the textbooks, the technical challenge. This week called for them to make an orange and ginger, is it treacle? Treacle. Yeah, treacle pudding. I don't know.

[00:20:11] I'm curious to hear y'all's thoughts. Whoever wants to go first, jump in with your thoughts about the technical. What you got, Jake? From worst to least worst. That says it all. I'm just going to go back and refer to what we have said in the past.

[00:20:31] If you only give somebody an hour and a half to cook something where your calculations say 20 minutes for the syrup and you need at least 40 minutes for it to be in the oven, that is not enough time. You are asking for a disaster like this.

[00:20:54] And I think this is 100% on the people who put the challenges out there. I don't give a shit if it is a technical challenge. If you don't give someone enough time, especially when you give instructions like bake. Right.

[00:21:15] Bake in a bain-marie, you are asking for something, you're asking for drama like this. Now maybe that's what they're looking for. Maybe Dan, even Dan who seemed to know what the hell he was doing, he didn't come out with anything even resembling a satisfactory product.

[00:21:36] And I think it's almost like at this point, it's manufactured and that makes it less impactful to me. It makes it less shocking that someone, that we had a widespread disgust. The Paul's right, like and Peruse right, that they looked, they properly cooked ones looked amazing.

[00:22:00] And I can only imagine with the creme anglaise and the ginger and orange, orange and ginger, orange and ginger syrup. Yeah, orange and ginger. Like those, it looked very, very good. But you can't expect perfection when you are putting, putting extreme limitations on people, especially-

[00:22:26] Giving the bare minimum time. Yeah. If you do everything right that you know you're supposed to do with such limited time, like yeah, I could get it done in an hour and a half if I had everything pre-measured, knew exactly what to bake at, knew exactly everything.

[00:22:42] But if you're reading from a sheet, reading from like a instruction manual, you have no clue what to do. You don't know how long to bake for. You don't know. It's just you bake, make the creme anglaise. It's just, yeah, no, I agree. Absolutely agree, Jake.

[00:22:58] That is, it is, I think this was, like I said, I feel like it was, everybody was set up for failure and I think it's fair that they threw it out. Absolutely. Yeah. The technical was definitely a wash. And it's, I'm glad.

[00:23:17] It just at least put everyone, they just went like straight back and just judged them on signature and the showstoppers because everyone failed. Even the top two in the technical still were not good. They were just barely done.

[00:23:32] And when Paul or Prue give their little words of advice before they leave the tent, all he said were he was looking for three distinct textures is what he was going to be looking for.

[00:23:45] And then later, or then right after that, when he and Prue were talking, he's like, oh, it's so critical. They have to be baked at 40 minutes. And I'm just like, if timing was so important, why didn't you call that out instead of the textures?

[00:24:00] Obviously, you're not going to tell them, oh, make sure you bake it for 40 minutes, but make sure that something in there about timing. It's like keep them in there a little bit longer. Yeah, something about, I mean, they've done it before.

[00:24:13] Your timing of the bake is important or some kind of hint or something. And he should have made that as part of his word of advice. And I think if they had, see, they were only given 90 minutes.

[00:24:24] And I think if they had been given at least even just the two hours, they could have made those puddings work. And I mean, because all of them were only doing about 20. I think maybe someone maybe did 25, but I think most everyone was only doing 20 minutes.

[00:24:38] And I know that the technical challenge, it's supposed to keep bakers in the dark. We've seen their very basic, barely instructions that they get. And it's supposed to be a challenge. Like, what do they know?

[00:24:51] What experience do they have with these types of bakes and technical pieces of a bake and these certain elements that they have to work for? But I feel like if every baker fails at the technical like this, then it's not the baker's fault.

[00:25:10] It's whomever is coming up with this darn challenge and making it friggin' impossible. And I've been kind of critical a few episodes this season about how it feels like they're just making it impossible and setting them up for failure.

[00:25:27] And I don't know, it's a bit of a bummer. But I loved what I loved, though. And this is what makes this show so great. And y'all will probably agree is the attitude of the bakers. Like, they all just were kind of laughing about it.

[00:25:43] I know a lot of them at first were like, oh, no, no, no. But then they were just laughing. They're like, I can't serve this. I can't present that. And they're all just kind of laughing. And they're like, yeah, we all just completely failed at this.

[00:25:56] So that's what I loved because everyone is always so great. The bakers always have such great attitudes. They're always so kind to each other. And I love that they had a good attitude about it.

[00:26:06] So while I was kind of upset at the challenge in front of them, and I'm like, gosh, they're just going to fail. They're not going to you know, this is not going to turn out good. I loved their attitudes about it.

[00:26:20] I have never laughed so hard at a portion of a Bake Off episode. I was, I mean, I was laughing when the bakers were laughing and like Maddie and Tasha are hugging each other and you know, just. Staring at their monstrosities.

[00:26:43] And they're just kind of screaming in laughter. I can't serve them this, they'll get ill. They can't possibly put this in their mouths. But everybody's laughing. And yeah, you're absolutely right. While I have issues with the thing, the fact that they all kind of in solidarity were like,

[00:27:04] yep, that was shitty. Yep. Glad that's over with. Yeah, it was, I mean, I think that's all we really need to say about the technical, unless you guys have something in particular. Like I said, I really would like to try this.

[00:27:21] Although, man, some of those instructions, like I don't even know if they were instructions, they were just like, hey, make this. And it was like, oh, fold your flour in and do this and then mix your eggs in. I'm like, this is complicated as fuck.

[00:27:38] If you don't know, Saku said it very, very succinctly, I think. If you don't know, you're literally just trying to follow the instructions. And she doesn't like the technicals because it's not the whole instruction. And the point of a recipe is to have the instructions.

[00:27:57] You can do your takes on stuff, but bake is not an instruction. And I know that we've addressed that in the past, and I know that that is a standard set for the show. But in this particular situation, especially as you said, Rima, without Paul saying anything

[00:28:15] about make sure your bakes are in long enough. Hey, that gives, if you say that. Mm-hmm. And then now they have a different challenge ahead of them. What did he mean by in long enough? Did he, does he mean 25 minutes? Does he mean 40 minutes?

[00:28:32] Does he mean an hour? Like it just saying, I just feel like advice regarding three distinct textures is silly. Anyway. Yeah. And you can't watch it either because they were in these little cups and they had a foil and I don't know what that other material was.

[00:28:52] They had it kind of tied. The muslin, yeah. Oh yes, thank you. The muslin. So they had it all, you couldn't see it. You know, it's not like you can peek in there and check in like when they're checking a

[00:29:01] cake or something like that and they can check the, you know, is it done or not? They couldn't see it. They don't know. And I mean, I don't feel that this is something, this type of dessert is made that often.

[00:29:13] So if you don't have the experience, if you've never made one or, oh, my mom used to make these or something. And I know that's, again, I know I get it. It's the point of a technical. It's supposed to draw from your baking knowledge.

[00:29:24] You know, maybe you've never made one, but have you made something similar that you can, well, yeah, I've done this before and I know you got to bake it a little bit longer or something like that.

[00:29:33] They just did not have that knowledge and they just all, it was a bummer, but what made it okay was, or not okay, but like where I wasn't so ticked was just their attitudes. I was like, well, at least everyone failed. They collectively failed spectacularly.

[00:29:52] That's a good way to put it. And I mean, it was fun to watch, especially with that ending to the technical where they were all laughing and kind of going, well, shit happens. Yep. And I thought that was, it made it much more, excuse the pun, but palatable.

[00:30:12] Palatable? Palatable. No, something like that. Um, and, uh, which, which each of their desserts were not. Um, but, uh, yeah, so I, I, I enjoyed this segment, but I, and I, like I said, I, I laughed

[00:30:27] more than I ever have before, but, uh, yeah, this was, this was definitely one of my more disappointed in the show, uh, situations. Yeah. It made it seem like it was just for, I don't know if that was their intent, but it just

[00:30:45] gave the impression that like you were saying, like setting it up to make good TV or something. Right. And I don't want. Manufactured drama. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't want that. We just want the good stuff. Yeah.

[00:30:57] Like I'll tell you what, if they gave them two hours and said, Hey, make sure it's baked long enough. And then they're just like, Oh God, what's the Bon Marie gonna, gonna do to like, I think that's as much of a technical, a technical. Absolutely.

[00:31:10] You know, quote challenge in quote, um, as, as it would be to, to not give them enough time. Um, you know, but, or maybe you end up with eight fabulous. Puddings and, and then you have to go in and get very technical on, Oh, the syrup or the,

[00:31:29] the creme anglaise or, or whatever. I did feel that this, the, the, the theme this week was really old school desserts between the trickle pudding and the, uh, the, the creme caramel. Uh, we have any times did we hear, Oh, this was my man's favorite or,

[00:31:51] Oh, you know, back in the seventies, this is when this was popular or, or whatever. It just very, very really, really old school. Uh, given that a lot of these bakers were either not alive or hadn't been alive as long

[00:32:07] as double the amount of time since this was a popular dessert. Like, Hey, you know, this was back in the sixties and then they grow up and do it. Okay. Well, you know, a couple of people were born in the late nineties or early two thousands.

[00:32:22] So you're talking another quarter of a century before their time. Um, but anyway, yeah, there's a whole new wave of bakers from after Paul and Prue have already been doing like the show. Yeah.

[00:32:36] At this point it's five more years and then the youngest Baker will not have been born when the first collection of Bake Off aired. Yeah. If they keep up the show, but I'm hoping for it. Oh yeah. We don't want anything to happen in this show.

[00:32:54] I'm done ranting about the technical. It's okay. We knew, we knew it was coming from all sides cause what a disaster. All right. Well, with that being said, let's go ahead and jump into the showstopper. So this was interesting.

[00:33:09] I have some thoughts about the showstopper, but they were tasked with making a meringue bomb, which is spelled B O M B E. I was trying to think if I'd ever seen it, if they've done anything like this on Bake

[00:33:23] Off, I've watched all the seasons and I, they might have, but I don't know. I thought it was interesting. I thought they had some beautiful bakes out of all of this. Jake, what are your initial thoughts or about the showstopper or about any in particular

[00:33:39] that stood out to you? I feel like we have seen something like this before. We haven't seen the exact same thing where it's the shell of meringue, but we have had the shell of a caramel shell that they've put under, put a bake under and then you reveal

[00:33:57] it. I think we had a lot of really good showstoppers. Dan's with like the earth and then we had Josh's was really good. I'm surprised Josh didn't get the showstopper again because he had his, it was like the tennis, the Wimbledon game and everything.

[00:34:21] And that was very, very pretty. It looked like a Fabergé egg. That's what it reminded me of. It was absolutely beautiful. Agreed. And his dessert inside to me was, I was like, oh yeah, it's yeah, strawberries and mascarpone and cream. And I was like, yes, please.

[00:34:46] Thank you very much. I will have two slices of that. How about you, Runa? Would you have any favorites from the showstoppers? Well, aesthetically, because I wasn't sure about the flavors. A lot of these had a lot going on.

[00:35:06] There were a lot of layers in some of these, not that they weren't, but I was just trying to wrap my brain around like, does that sound good? All of these together.

[00:35:13] So I don't know if I've still come to a full conclusion for that, but at least the appearance and the presentation, I thought Josh's, like you said, Jake, I thought that was beautiful. I thought really well done. I liked Tasha's. I thought hers was really pretty.

[00:35:30] I like the florally motif that she had going on with the plum blossoms. I thought Christie's was, and I'm strictly at the moment just talking about the outside, not the inside. I know that there's a two-parter to the showstoppers.

[00:35:46] It's what's on the outside and on the inside, plus all of the flavors and such. So just talking about the meringue bombs themselves on the outside, I thought Christie's was beautiful. I was like, what a unique kind of idea.

[00:35:59] I loved the color, her cute little pinwheel-looking colored meringue pieces that she had on the outside there. Yeah, because they're colored of everything. They were just really, really pretty. Yeah, and I like Saku's too.

[00:36:17] Her bumblebee, I thought, and I know it cracked on the bottom, but it's a risk taking these meringues out of either their molds or getting them... Meringue is very delicate. If you've watched Bake Off enough times and watched anything with meringue, it's delicate.

[00:36:35] So despite that it was cracked on the bottom, I thought it was just beautiful. I thought hers was just really, really pretty. But you know what shocked me? And again, this is me and just my lack of exposure to beautiful bakes like these Showstoppers.

[00:36:53] I've never had anything like that presented to me, but I was kind of surprised at how... Like I expected the meringue, especially like Dan's, as they're piping them into the molds and then when...

[00:37:07] And he does smooth it a little bit on the inside and when they come out of the mold, they looked a little... Not messy, but just they weren't as neat. Rough and ready. It wasn't very spherical as it could be. It was very layered.

[00:37:25] Yes, and you could see the lines and you could almost see the form of the pipe when you get them out of the mold and the edges looked a little rough. And I'm just like, I'm just kind of surprised.

[00:37:39] I just thought they would be smoother and look a little bit more refined. But I was like... Well, that was kind of the problem with Tasha's because hers was perfectly spherical and she had to get that jar to hold it up for it not to fall over. Yeah.

[00:37:52] And I think there was a little bit of method to the madness, but it definitely wasn't as pretty as it could have been, but it was still really, really nice all together. Yeah, I thought that Dan had a good idea.

[00:38:08] I don't know if he made a meringue base or he just had a little base or something like that that he set the sphere in. But yeah, in general, I understand what you're saying, Rima.

[00:38:25] The textures on the outsides of the spheres, they did not lend themselves to precision. And I think that the intent, and I think that's why I think Christy was brilliant for doing it

[00:38:41] the way that she did, was to add something and basically just cover up how crappy the outside of the meringue looked. Having said that, Josh's, even with the texture outside, it still looked phenomenal. Yes, absolutely.

[00:39:02] But yeah, so I thought that Saku, the textures of Saku, the fact that she got that giant half dome out, I think what doomed her was that she didn't make a bomb. She made a cover. Right.

[00:39:18] Even if the base had not cracked, I think that she didn't do what had been asked. What she did was she created something to cover up whatever it was she was putting on the inside,

[00:39:32] and so she didn't have to have the risk of the meringue either soaking in the moisture or whatever. I think that's what set her apart from Christy as far as on the bottom end, because I'll tell you what, Christy had a wet, mushy mess with those. Yeah.

[00:39:54] But she followed the order. Yeah. What was the... Croquembourg? Or Croquembourg? Croquembouche? Croquembourg. Yeah, yeah. Probably somebody saying that. I think she said Croquembouche, which is like a giant mound of either profiteroles or... It was like those choux buns. Yeah, choux buns. Yeah.

[00:40:18] So she only had half a dozen in there, and it was just a mess by the time. All of the choux buns looked gross and mushy, but again, her outside was phenomenal. But it was a big circle. It was a big sphere or at least round-ish.

[00:40:39] It was the bomb. It was a bomb. Yeah, exactly, Jake. I was really... I thought that Maddie's... I thought they were way more forgiving than I thought they were going to be with the fact that they didn't seal... You didn't have all meshing sides and all that.

[00:40:57] The cracks in the sides. But I thought that Maddie's was absolutely stunning. It looked like a rose. Yeah, it was beautiful. With all of the flowing either petals or whatever they were. But yeah, of the insides, I wasn't a huge fan of...

[00:41:17] Again, back to pudding and American pudding. Dan's trifle, where they spoon it out. I'm like, no, I'm good. Oh, yeah. I'm good. No, I'm good. Thanks. I mean, I'm sure it was delicious, but if you could get past the textures.

[00:41:34] And then the profiteroles that Christy had, the profiteroles that Saku had. What was the... It was the covering, the crackling, cracka... Whatever it was that Tasha had on the outside. Oh, yes. Yeah, I know what you're talking about.

[00:41:51] I can't remember now the exact term, but yeah, she had that nice little... I'm just going to say crackling because I'm thinking of US terms, but like it looked like a crackling. Yeah, I know. Yeah, that looked really, really good.

[00:42:08] And not only did it look good, but apparently it was very good. Everything looks amazing. Yeah. And everything probably tasted amazing. Again, I can't get past those textures, like the mushy and basically the... Christy, I feel like she had a soggy bottom in those individual things

[00:42:30] because it was just a bunch of mush by the time that it ended. But yeah, so the stars of the show here, I think Josh and then like I said, I was just really impressed with the visuals of Maddie's...

[00:42:47] I don't even remember what he had on the inside. I know it was some sort of dessert, but I can't... It was the English Italian Summer Meringue Bomb. I've got the page pulled up. And he had pistachio, strawberry and... Oh yeah, yeah. It was the layer cake.

[00:43:03] Oh yeah, the basil. Again, with all the mousse and stuff, you saw it falling apart as he's trying to put it together and... Oh yeah. I was like, oh boy. Just not the greatest of textures. Not going to be the best.

[00:43:14] I think that the engineering feat that was most impressive was Dan's and the fact that he lined the meringue with the sponge to avoid the leakage. Anything soaking in, yeah. Yeah, that was clever. That would just... Because any moisture get into that meringue, it would just fall apart.

[00:43:37] Yeah, we didn't have any collapses that Prue was fearful of, but we definitely had some things that were not as... Again, back to what I said either last week or a week before, like sometimes they're pretty brutal and sometimes they kind of take a step back

[00:43:57] and kind of go, okay, you know what? We're not going to come down super hard on either a fan favorite or whatever. But again, we don't get to see it all and I can't make judgment when I don't have the entire field of view.

[00:44:17] Yeah, this week seemed a lot more forgiving for the contestants than some other weeks have been. Yeah, given how bad the technical was, at that point you got to go with it. Everybody found a test and just saying, all right, we're just going to forget that one.

[00:44:34] It's not going in the grade book. Yeah, so all it did was just add a bunch of stress, add a bunch of stress to their lives and have them think about how horrible it was. They didn't get told they were throwing out the technical.

[00:44:46] They were just looking at their week's progress and going, oh God, this is just horrific. This is what I have to overcome. But anyway. Yeah, because Matty came sixth in the technical. Oh, he was. If they'd counted that. If they'd included that, he would have been,

[00:45:07] I don't know, I'm not going to say he would have been gone, but it would not have gone. It would have been a tight race. Yeah, exactly. That's I think that's all I have for the stair stoppers. Yeah, it was interesting.

[00:45:25] A little bit different than what I had expected though. So yeah, and then so we mentioned that Dan did get Starbaker this week and Saku had to go home and I'm going to miss her so much. She was definitely, I mean, I love all of them.

[00:45:41] And like you were saying earlier, we're definitely at a point where we kind of get to know them a little bit more. So it's always harder to see them each week. And she had such a nice self-deprecating humor.

[00:45:53] I just so relate to that, because I'm just like, oh, I feel that. I tend to do that too. So I really related to her in that way. And she was always just a little funny, a little eccentric and just so sweet.

[00:46:06] So a bit of a bummer to see her go. But we're definitely at that point where they got to make those hard choices. As far as who goes there, they really, really hone in on every single little thing. And it was unfortunate. So I don't know.

[00:46:23] What about any? I know we've talked about all three of the challenges, but were there any special standout moments, any funny moments, quotes or lines that stood out to y'all this week?

[00:46:36] I gotta say that this was the first opening that made me laugh out loud in a while. Do you want to take a look at my spotted dick? And I was honest to God laughing. If they had just cut it at that point, it would have been perfect.

[00:46:57] I think the fact that they added in, oh, is Paul going to be limping around? Is that what I thought? Is that why Paul? Yeah. I thought that actually, I thought that was a good idea. I thought that actually took away from it.

[00:47:08] But the ending with, I don't want to see that. Welcome to the Great British Picking Show. I would have, I would have been good with that. I thought it was a very well done bit and I really enjoyed it. Going back to the technical where Noel was like,

[00:47:28] there's one minute left and Maddie throws his first, first pudding on the table, completely missing the plate. He's completely missing his platter, just throwing it right on the table. That was really funny. Yeah, it was. I mean, there were some good jokes and some good goose.

[00:47:52] Allison, I love a quickie. Oh, it was because it was so unexpected and oh, this is a quick one. Yeah, I love a quickie. Noel almost seemed like he was caught off guard by it. Yeah, he was surprised.

[00:48:07] It was, there were some definitely some, again, for me, the standout moment was all of the laughing all through the end of the technical and the fact that everybody was just kind of okay with the fact that it didn't go well. Yeah, that's me.

[00:48:25] They accepted the fate of an awful technical. Yeah, it's like, well, we're all going down together. So good. Allison had, when they were talking about the signature and they kept talking about the wobble, like that's what they were looking for and that deserves a wobble.

[00:48:41] And she's like, so, looking for like an Allison, looking for a good Allison talking about wobble. And I thought that was really funny. I love her sense of humor. I think she's such a natural and her lines just, I feel like kind of just flow naturally.

[00:48:58] And again, yeah, like you mentioned, like felt like she kind of caught Noel off guard a little bit and it's fun to see that when they can kind of surprise each other.

[00:49:07] It almost feels like they film those and they're like, hey, I'm going to try to get you and you try to get me and we're just going to. And then the one that gets a reaction, the best reaction is the one that stays in.

[00:49:22] And how many do you think that are cut? That is just so many comedy gold is on the cutting room floor because they only have time for four jokes per show. Oh my goodness. The cut scenes must be like you said, gold.

[00:49:37] I would love to see a deleted scenes or what is it at the end when they have the bloopers? Yes. Oh my goodness. That would be wonderful. What about predictions? Now that we're down to a handful of bakers, is anyone bold enough to make any predictions?

[00:49:59] We've got five. We have a total of five left and I will, I'm going to double down on what I said. I think it was last week. I think Dan and Josh will be in the final. I think Christie and Maddie will go home.

[00:50:20] So I, I, that leaves Tasha. So, but I think, I think that, that unless again, you, everybody can have a bad week. Every, you know, something's going to happen, right? Rocky lost to, um, to clubber Lang because he had a rough week and it happens.

[00:50:39] But, um, I, I think that based on where they're at now and everybody's kind of honing in on their a game, I think that it'll be Josh and, uh, Josh and Dan. And then one other, it very well could be Tasha as I'm thinking.

[00:51:02] It just seems like Maddie's had to pull out, like pull magic out of his bag of tricks in order to, to do decent on a weekly basis. And eventually, eventually the magic runs out unless it doesn't. I mean, but that's just, that's just my thought. Never know.

[00:51:20] What about, yeah, I don't think I could say that better with Christie and Maddie. They're just, they've been at the bottom this entire time. And then Tasha is a wild card. We don't know better, but the top two who didn't, who had seemed to stay at the top

[00:51:34] are competing with each other. Josh and Dan. I agree, but I don't know about Maddie or Maddie and Christie. Let me just, let me be very, very specific. It is wildly impressive that as a, and I don't, this may come out wrong, but as a mother,

[00:51:58] someone who was focused on her children for extensive periods of time, she is coming in here and has gotten as far as Christie has. Like I have said that is wildly impressive. I have a hard time making grilled cheese sandwiches for my kids.

[00:52:13] So like, I can't even imagine what it is to learn all of those, all of the, the official techniques for baking and finding the time to do that. It is absolutely phenomenal. I don't remember if she said she ended up going to school once her kids, you know,

[00:52:32] got a little bit older or, but she has a very motherly vibe about her. And so maybe I'm misinformed or miss, but I personally think that it is just very impressive what she's been able to do and the fact that she has gotten this far. I agree. Yeah.

[00:52:55] She's got some skills, clearly. She's got some skills. She just wasn't the main focus of the camera. I feel like whenever we look to her, she always had something going on and something very nice going on. We just didn't see what her thought process was the entire time.

[00:53:11] And that's not a bad thing. She and Maddie may, and maybe they're setting us up, right? Maybe this is what it would have, but she and Maddie are always struggling in whatever it is. Maddie couldn't make the caramel. Christie couldn't finish all of the broken bush.

[00:53:31] You know, Christie was breaking down in tears over her, whatever setting not setting two weeks ago. Last yeah. And I just, it, it is only from what we see, but that's, I mean, that's where I get my thought process because Josh and Dan, they're both so talented.

[00:53:53] Josh and Dan have been cold and just like, they're, they're just sharks, cold, dead-eyed sharks, baking sharks. Baking sharks. Doesn't matter what happens. I mean, don't get me wrong. Josh was in the technical because everybody was struggling. Josh was like kind of freaking out.

[00:54:14] And he was talking about the meringue not setting. Oh, if this does come, if this breaks, when it comes out, then I'm going to be panicking. And that's the worst thing that could possibly happen. But I mean, Dan, like he's just basically skill, skill, skill, skill, skill.

[00:54:26] Very focused Josh and Dan definitely. And I think they all do to a point, but there's something specific about those two. Like you said, they have this very sharp focus and that's, I think what we see a lot, a lot

[00:54:38] of but Josh had such a cute moment after. What was it? His showstopper when they were like, you know, just praising him over his Wimbledon and strawberries and cream. And he went back and sat on his little stool and he just did this little smile and shrug.

[00:54:54] And he just looked so adorable. I was like, oh, look at him in his enjoying his little moment there. I thought that was really cool. So yeah, I can't disagree. I feel like at least for what we've seen so far and again, someone you just never know.

[00:55:09] I mean, golly, I remember Juergen who you thought for sure was going to get to the finals and stuff. And he got taken out kind of later in the game. And I thought, oh my gosh, I never would have imagined that Juergen would not have

[00:55:22] made it to the finals. So you just never know. It is week by week, but I can't disagree with y'all's predictions, but it's really anyone's game week to week. You just don't know what they're going to get presented with. All right, any final notes about this week's episode?

[00:55:43] Anything that you wanted to talk about that we haven't talked about? I think I'm good. Okay. Yeah, I've got it. That's it for me. All right. Well, we did get a little bit of feedback this week. So I'm interested to see what our listeners had to say.

[00:56:00] Greg, you want to take the first one? Sure. From Jason. Sure. From Jason. Wow, a little bit of a shisho this week with all those blobs they made during the technical. And a lot more stressful than I remember going into the quarterfinals.

[00:56:16] It always gets more stressful, but this time felt particularly intense. I'm sticking with my prediction that Maddie goes next week and Tasha and two of the others, maybe Josh and Dan, are in the finals. Yeah, we are in complete agreement, Jason.

[00:56:32] Jake, do you want to take that one? So we've got from Karen. Am I right to predict that Greg retched while watching the signature bakes since it required for those creme caramels to jiggle and wriggle?

[00:56:45] I love Thai flavors, but don't know that I'd like them in a flan. That said, I applaud Dan for thinking outside the box and pulling it off. All I could think about during the technical challenge was your guys' discussion in the

[00:56:55] previous episode about giving the bakers enough time to actually complete their bakes that they needed. Um, everyone just nervously laughed their way through that, didn't they? Everybody had beautiful decorated meringue bombs. It's a real shame that Kristi and Saku's had more style over substance.

[00:57:11] I miss Saku's cheerfulness or incorporation of Sri Lankan flavors. I'll echo Jason's predictions. I think Kristi or Maddie will go next week. I wouldn't be surprised if Tasha, Dan, or Josh go to the finals. Yes, I think we're all on the same page.

[00:57:26] Is it four in the final or is it three? It's normally three. Okay. Okay. They might have had, I was trying to think, I haven't went back and re-watched any of the

[00:57:37] previous seasons in a while, but I think there was a special time that they might have had like four instead of the three. I can't remember. There was some technicality or something. I think that it's a little different.

[00:57:47] I know I tend to mix up Top Chef and GBBO, and I know that Top Chef was the top three, and so then the three would put on a giant picnic or whatever the challenge was that week. Go ahead.

[00:58:03] I feel like because it was 12 bakers, 10 episodes, I guess that would mean 10, nine, so I guess yeah, it would be four in the final if there are 10 episodes at 12 bakers, so nine go away. Well, no, I guess that's only three. My math is very weak this week.

[00:58:23] You can't ask me to do math on a weekend, Greg. We'll see because this was week seven, then after week eight, four will be left. After week nine, three will be left. Yeah, so it should be three in the final. Yeah, I think it usually is.

[00:58:43] Yeah, we'll see, I guess. See if our predictions hold through or if someone just has an absolutely amazing week and someone struggles. Yeah, well, next week we're going to be covering episode eight from Collection 11, party week.

[00:59:04] Does this mean, and this is just, is this like, hey, you have to make enough stuff for a party? Is it party size, sharing size? Are we going to have casseroles because parties love casseroles. And that's a baking thing. I have zero concept of what is coming.

[00:59:29] Birthday party? Yeah, maybe birthday cake. I don't know. Yeah, it's a very broad description there, party, what kind of party or is it just a hosting thing? I don't know, when you're hosting a party and are we talking birthday cakes or some other celebratory kind of thing?

[00:59:53] I don't know. But it's definitely like a getting down to basics. This whole season has definitely been a back to basics type of Great British baking show than what we've normally gotten. So I think it'll probably, probably something that we've either seen before, something classic is my guess.

[01:00:13] I think we're going to see a celebration cake. I think that's pretty typical towards the end of a season, some sort of celebration cake and they get to choose whatever type of, you know, whatever it's for or whatever. That would be my anticipation.

[01:00:31] But now I'm thinking about like pigs in a blanket and all the things that you can bake to for parties. Like are we talking Super Bowl party, birthday party and versus? What are we talking here?

[01:00:46] They're probably not celebrating that in the UK, but you know, that's the kind of parties I'm thinking of. But it's but what's great and what I really look forward to is we start getting down to like these quarterfinals and semifinals and things like that as these showstoppers just

[01:01:00] get more elaborate and beautiful. And I can't wait to see like what they come up with. Well, the fact they only had two and a half hours for this showstopper, I'm like, I'm used

[01:01:10] to a four hour showstopper and I was so yeah, I'm hoping that they kind of let the reins loose a little bit next week and give them the time and the ability to create something fantastic. Yeah, this week they did. They kind of cut time on for everything.

[01:01:27] Yeah, barely any time for the technical only two and a half hours for the showstopper. Yeah, I think that's what they had. Yep. All righty, as far as other things that we're covering, Peik and I, as I've mentioned each

[01:01:45] week, we're still covering the fall of the house of Usher on Netflix. Hope you join us for that. We're having a really great time with that show. It's super creepy and really well done. What episode are you guys on now? We will be doing episode five this week.

[01:02:00] Oh, okay. We will be doing episode five this week. Okay. We'll be a couple of days late because I'm traveling, so we won't be able to, we'll be a couple of days later than what we normally are, but yeah, it'll be episode five this week, the Telltale Heart.

[01:02:17] Well, I finally got into it and I've watched the first couple episodes and then like 10 minutes of the third episode because I wanted to see what happened, but it is sufficiently Mike Flanagan-y. Yes. Love that guy. So yeah, hope y'all join us for that.

[01:02:36] And of course all of the great offerings from Podcastica, go to podcastica.com to find our contact information if you want to leave us feedback on the Great British Baking Show, the Fall of the House of Usher or any of the great shows that are being covered on

[01:02:48] Podcastica right now. There's something for everyone for whatever flavors you enjoy. And we're hoping of course next week, Wendy will be able to join us. She's a little under the weather this week and was unable to join us, but Jake, I am so thrilled.

[01:03:03] Thank you so much for joining us this week. Loved hearing all of your thoughts and anytime you want to join, door's open. Yeah, I'm glad you guys were able to have me. I'm happy to be here and talk about the Bake Off, you know?

[01:03:17] It was just great time to, it was a great episode. It was everything was just amazing. Yeah, thanks for being here. Glad to be here. Yeah, this is great. I'm glad that the schedule's worked out. So yeah, join anytime. On your marks. Get set. Bake!