GBBO season 5 - thread #2

[Dolly80]

Thought I better start another one (in case I lose you all next week!)

Plus the red eclairs with their glistening icing didn't look nice to me either, a bit of a darker red & they would look like blood clots!

Kate was sporting a blue plaster on her forearm and a blue latex glove partway through - must have cut herself at some point...?

Yes, I was surprised MB and PH liked the look of them, tbh. To me they didn't look like something you were really supposed to put in your mouth! And Luis is normally such a perfectionist on the look of his bakes.(Plus I thought Richard's eclairs looked pretty and appealing, even if they weren't very gussied-up... They certainly looked more edible.)

On the other hand, I thought PH showed up the limits of his knowledge a few times - empanadas are supposed to be that size, they're more pasty-sized than samosa-sized! He sounded as if he thought Luis had decided to oversize them. And he was looking askance at Chetna's array of spices, and saying she'd need to watch out not to overload on flavours, when in Indian food, using that amount of spices is normal and basic. Any granny making dinner at home would be using as many!

And the unspellable Breton pastry was a dull bake. It did smack of desperation, I thought - it seemed as if it had only been chosen to catch people out on the ambiguity of when the sugar went in (when that was an ambiguous instruction, rather than a failure of skill on the bakers' part. The buns were so obscure no one had ever heard of them, so it was pure luck on how you interpreted one line of the instructions, which was a bit mean...)

I think she must have burned herself several times, Halfwoman, when she was trying to make the deep fat fryer work. She had a few individual plasters, including one quite big one on her firearm, before the glove went on. Poor Kate!

Maybe this was Luis's inspiration for his awful blue decorations

Her FOREarm, not 'firearm'. Not suggesting Kate got thrown off because she had a concealed weapon under her apron...

Well I am going to go against the grain here because DD and I both thought Luis' eclairs looked AMAZING.

I would go further and say I don't understand the antipathy to him at all. I really hope he wins he seems the most consistently competent and is occasionally indpired.

And, sorry, but I think the way Richard insists on keeping the pencil behind is ear all the time is really affected. Like he is doing his best to play up to this "ordinary builder bloke" image.

Oh, I like Luis (and think he's more attractive than Richard, if we're being shallow), and generally like what he makes, I just didn't care for the loudness of the icing. I bet they tasted wonderful, I just thought they looked a bit lurid.

Might Richard have legitimately needed his pencil to draw out the eclair shapes and measure the size of his pastry squares? I don't know how he keeps it balanced behind his ear...

I'm so glad others agree about Luis eclairs!
They looked utterly utterly vile. My dc could have decorated them in a more attractive way.
Ok, Richards weren't decorated well, but at least they looked appetising!
I knew Martha would burst into tears. She is only 17.
I think they were very hard on her actually. Chetna came last in the technical. and Nancy didn't do well in the parcel round at all.
No idea what's going on with sues jeans :)

I liked Luis's eclairs and I like Luis

So there

Ha Rusticated if MN had a comment of the day or somesuch, I would totally nominate you for this:

I just didn't care for the loudness of the icing.

genius

No real comment on the baking this week.

What the actual fuck was that swan tracksuit that Mary was wearing though?

Fireside, I'm sure Sue had seen Mary's attire before they started filming!

I have asked interrogated my mum about Mel and Sue leaving. Quote "Oh, did I imagine that?". Aaaaaargh!

She says she thinks she read it in the paper but she might have dreamt it.

So, my apologies for getting you all excited/worried/whatevered

I think Claudia Winkleman would be a great replacement

I also didn't like Mary's top or the colour of Luis's icing. Didn't notice Sue's jeans. I want hair like Kate's.

This week was a bit meh, tbh.

I did enjoy the bit where Mary was looking at (Luis'?) eclairs, and said some thing about a perfect six inches. Paul looked at someone off camera with a tiny grin, and Mel and Sue glanced at each other smiling. Totally went over Mary's head

God, I hate the "Ooh matron" double entendres and Paul's pathetic side eyes to camera whenever he (or anyone) says "moist" or "wet" (or variations thereof). Lame

Fireside, I'm sure Sue had seen Mary's attire before they started filming!

Oh I know that, but if you have it on record you can definitely see Sue giving it a hard stare to draw attention to it.

What the actual fuck was that swan tracksuit that Mary was wearing though?

Swan tracksuit! pmsl. The buyers at M&S do manage to come out with the most hideous shite. I don't live in England any more, shame, I'd love to see whoever's gone out and bought it trotting down the high street.

Agree Rusticated, the technical was so so dull. I'd be perfectly happy if they repeated recipes from previous series rather than get increasingly obscure can't remember yesterday let alone last year

Seems like an age since anyone just had to make a CAKE!

Yes, rooty, I was thinking that. What is wrong with repeating a few things from series to series?

Quite! Cake, scones, buns, things people at home might conceivably make or even eat themselves.

Also feel like some of the technical content has been lost for fluff. I like Paul and Mary's info about why recipes work as they do, how fats behave and all that guff. I am not learning much at all this time round.

I remember they had fondant fancies as the technical challenge in the final 2 (?) years ago. They all did badly in that challenge as I recall, despite the cakeyness of fondant fancies....

Cake. I need some.

I'd love to see them do some Chelsea buns. It's enriched doughs next week though, right?

Jux, yes DH does says those things too
Luis is a designer of some sort isn't he? So probably has artistic flair.
I like Nancy, I think she's my favourite although no one will agree

Just saw yesterday's episode...

I can't really get behind Luis, but I did think his eclairs looked really good.

Chetna wasn't happy talking about her technical round failure at all, I noticed!

DP (whose mother is Breton) and I were surprised that the quinamans they made were small and muffin-y. The ones we are familiar with are always large, flat things that were served in slices. DP was also surprised at how crunchy they seemed, apparently they are usually more soft and buttery...

I haven't read the whole thread, but is it just me who thinks that PH was all over Kate earlier in the series and was an asshole to her tonight? Ok, so she deserved to go, but he seemed to get in every dig he could. I wonder if he tried it on and got turned down. :)