The Great British Bake Off: Pudding Week
September 28, 2017 8:05 AM - Season 8, Episode 5 - Subscribe
Prue and Paul are seeking perfection in pudding week, with a staggering technical challenge and a multi-layered showstopper that's not to be trifled with (Channel 4 Description).
Sandi is better at the historical segments than Noel, as it turns out.
Paul was SO happy this week. Who knew the way to his heart was through a well-made school pudding? I do recall that he and Mary were both a bit lukewarm on peanut butter, at least toward the start of the series (I remember a bizarre-to-my-US-sensibilities issue that they had with a PB&J inspired bake), but maybe he's come around since then.
My heart broke for James when he was so sure he had the timing of the lava cakes, but then it turned out his was under. But the baking gods must have been looking out for Sophie, with her fortuitous oven malfunction!
I don't usually notice what contestants are wearing (beyond thinking that most of them look nice, most of the time) but Julia’s day one top with the stripes and florals and ruffles and crazy sleeves was a hell of a thing.
posted by merriment at 11:41 AM on September 28, 2017
Paul was SO happy this week. Who knew the way to his heart was through a well-made school pudding? I do recall that he and Mary were both a bit lukewarm on peanut butter, at least toward the start of the series (I remember a bizarre-to-my-US-sensibilities issue that they had with a PB&J inspired bake), but maybe he's come around since then.
My heart broke for James when he was so sure he had the timing of the lava cakes, but then it turned out his was under. But the baking gods must have been looking out for Sophie, with her fortuitous oven malfunction!
I don't usually notice what contestants are wearing (beyond thinking that most of them look nice, most of the time) but Julia’s day one top with the stripes and florals and ruffles and crazy sleeves was a hell of a thing.
posted by merriment at 11:41 AM on September 28, 2017
Paul's getting to be a little easy with the handshakes.
posted by LionIndex at 3:18 PM on September 28, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by LionIndex at 3:18 PM on September 28, 2017 [12 favorites]
On the one hand I want to snark about what the hell y'all call pudding over there, but I can mess up any number of bread and rice puddings so it's a tough row to hoe, and I recognize the historical precedence. *sigh*
I do enjoy episodes where only one, maybe two of the bakers have ever even _heard_ of the technical, and yet they tend to manage to make something that mostly looks appropriate in the end. I mean, give me a limited set of instructions in a recipe and I'm pretty sure you've bought yourself a one-way ticket to food poisoning. I'm not a huge fan of the individually timed challenges (like the chocolate soufflé in S6) because it sort of feels like the first baker gets a lot of the startup attention, then everybody else sort of shows the same challenges at the same time. I dunno, feels like it could stand some production tweaks. I mean, it's not that I didn't like watching Julia boggle at the instructions she was given, but you don't get the same reaction time for any of the other bakers, they just sort of slip their baking "story" into the same timeline as the first baker's progress.
posted by Kyol at 9:13 AM on September 29, 2017
I do enjoy episodes where only one, maybe two of the bakers have ever even _heard_ of the technical, and yet they tend to manage to make something that mostly looks appropriate in the end. I mean, give me a limited set of instructions in a recipe and I'm pretty sure you've bought yourself a one-way ticket to food poisoning. I'm not a huge fan of the individually timed challenges (like the chocolate soufflé in S6) because it sort of feels like the first baker gets a lot of the startup attention, then everybody else sort of shows the same challenges at the same time. I dunno, feels like it could stand some production tweaks. I mean, it's not that I didn't like watching Julia boggle at the instructions she was given, but you don't get the same reaction time for any of the other bakers, they just sort of slip their baking "story" into the same timeline as the first baker's progress.
posted by Kyol at 9:13 AM on September 29, 2017
"Never mind the frolicks" did make me laugh, I must admit.
posted by rewil at 10:19 AM on September 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by rewil at 10:19 AM on September 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
"That's what they use to inseminate cows!"
This is the first time I've heard of Eton Mess, but it seems like a deconstructed pavlova?
This episode also brings forth that the USA doesn't really steam anything (except vegetables, for dieters; what a way to make vegetables appetizing), much less puddings.
And according to this article, pudding used to be an American food, but fell out of fashion due to xenophobia, because mixed foods were foreign and unhealthy(??!). It feels like American food had a Permian extinction towards the beginning of the 20th century, with prohibition and this "simple meats and veg that don't touch" business. smh, rip.
posted by batter_my_heart at 3:19 PM on September 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
This is the first time I've heard of Eton Mess, but it seems like a deconstructed pavlova?
This episode also brings forth that the USA doesn't really steam anything (except vegetables, for dieters; what a way to make vegetables appetizing), much less puddings.
And according to this article, pudding used to be an American food, but fell out of fashion due to xenophobia, because mixed foods were foreign and unhealthy(??!). It feels like American food had a Permian extinction towards the beginning of the 20th century, with prohibition and this "simple meats and veg that don't touch" business. smh, rip.
posted by batter_my_heart at 3:19 PM on September 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
And according to this article, pudding used to be an American food, but fell out of fashion due to xenophobia, because mixed foods were foreign and unhealthy(??!). It feels like American food had a Permian extinction towards the beginning of the 20th century, with prohibition and this "simple meats and veg that don't touch" business. smh, rip.
Uh... In an article supposedly explaining why puddings were replaced by casseroles (which, pretty mixed, thanks), the cite for that particular claim about xenophobia does not check out at all. The source explicitly names casseroles — along with chili, stew, and pasta — as the foreign invaders, which, in addition to being completely contrary to the thesis, is utter hogwash. And it says exactly zilch about puddings.
English puddings are easily explained as not so American because, while Christmas puddings — the only remnant — can still occasionally form a part of the *English-American* holiday tradition, English-Americans are just not that huge of a demographic at all. Even by the time of the Revolution, English-Americans were less than half the American population, and dwindled from there (particularly as a lot of them were Loyalists who fucked off to Canada; hello from Canada, btw). English-Americans are currently around 8% of US pop; cf. Irish-Americans @ 10%. And for those of us on this side of the pond who do indeed have Christmas pudding, it’s usually a begrudging tradition, since it’s a sickly cludge that nobody especially likes. There are a thousand better alternatives that don’t taste like a hot lump of diabetes.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:55 AM on September 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Uh... In an article supposedly explaining why puddings were replaced by casseroles (which, pretty mixed, thanks), the cite for that particular claim about xenophobia does not check out at all. The source explicitly names casseroles — along with chili, stew, and pasta — as the foreign invaders, which, in addition to being completely contrary to the thesis, is utter hogwash. And it says exactly zilch about puddings.
English puddings are easily explained as not so American because, while Christmas puddings — the only remnant — can still occasionally form a part of the *English-American* holiday tradition, English-Americans are just not that huge of a demographic at all. Even by the time of the Revolution, English-Americans were less than half the American population, and dwindled from there (particularly as a lot of them were Loyalists who fucked off to Canada; hello from Canada, btw). English-Americans are currently around 8% of US pop; cf. Irish-Americans @ 10%. And for those of us on this side of the pond who do indeed have Christmas pudding, it’s usually a begrudging tradition, since it’s a sickly cludge that nobody especially likes. There are a thousand better alternatives that don’t taste like a hot lump of diabetes.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:55 AM on September 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
This historical was much better than the last! No sheep’s bladder puddings for me, thanks.
posted by chainsofreedom at 3:16 PM on September 3, 2018
posted by chainsofreedom at 3:16 PM on September 3, 2018
Ha, I favorited batter_my_heart bc as I watched this I realized that an Eton Mess was essentially a deconstructed pavlova.
posted by maryrussell at 6:09 PM on September 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by maryrussell at 6:09 PM on September 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Merriment-I agree with you that the Liam meltdown was really difficult to watch. This was one of the main things I was concerned about when Mel and Sue left. If it does become a regular thing, I won't be watching.
posted by miss-lapin at 4:15 PM on September 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by miss-lapin at 4:15 PM on September 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
This episode also brings forth that the USA doesn't really steam anything (except vegetables, for dieters; what a way to make vegetables appetizing), much less puddings.
Crab legs! Lobsters! And, yeah, that’s about it.
About all I know about puddings is that if you don’t eat your meat you can’t have any.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 10:17 AM on September 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Crab legs! Lobsters! And, yeah, that’s about it.
About all I know about puddings is that if you don’t eat your meat you can’t have any.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 10:17 AM on September 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
I love Christmas pudding. And I dont even celebrate Christmas.
posted by bq at 10:13 PM on October 18, 2018
posted by bq at 10:13 PM on October 18, 2018
Pudding and trifles form part of that mysterious land of British Food I Read About In Books, along with Turkish Delight. It was great to see so many examples of the real thing.
posted by bq at 10:14 PM on October 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by bq at 10:14 PM on October 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
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Second, I missed Mel and Sue so much when Liam's jelly didn't set and he started crying. I know Sandi tried to help, but it was so uncomfortable to watch. I'm very grateful to Mel and Sue for keeping that from becoming a regular fixture on the show.
Third, I ate stroopwafels for the first time last week because of this show (and they were delicious), and now it looks like lava cake is next on my list to make. (I thought Paul didn't care for peanut butter much -- or was that Mary? Whatever, those lava cakes looked delicious.)
posted by PearlRose at 8:11 AM on September 28, 2017 [4 favorites]