The Great British Bake Off - the only place you'll see people crying over pastry, interesting intervals of ducks swimming in nearby ponds and more soggy bottoms and intricate baking then you can shake a stick at - all in one place, inside the baker's tent (located in an inconvenient field). Anyway, back to last night's episode, which was pies and tarts, and if you haven't seen it, you'll probably want to watch it before reading this review.
Anyway, its clear there was plenty of pandemonium when it came down to pies. This week, almost all the contestants struggled with the technical portion of the bake (but we'll come to that later) and everyone was called out on their 'soggy bottoms'. The first task for the remaining 9 contestants was to make their signature dish: double-crusted fruit pies. Almost everyone's pies had something wrong with them - with only Kimberly's Pecan and Rosemary Caramel Apple Pie (described by Mary as possessing a 'toffee apple' taste) and Ruby's Apple and Marzipan Pie being without relative faults, and thus putting them in line for Star Baker this week.
However, it was Kimberly that ultimately won the title by producing a fair English Custard Tart and a surprisingly tasty Chicken, Bacon & Butternut Squash Pie for the Show-Stopper. Howard, Frances, Glenn and Ali were skating on extremely thin ice this week with a mixture of problems ranging from Ali's simple refusal to try his own food (because he apparently hates pies - there's logic for you right there) and Howard's general clumsiness and poor comprehension (it took three people to get Howard's dodgy filo pie out of its casing).
Also, Glenn with his dodgy pie at the beginning and Frances who seems to hope she can put something shiny in front of Mary and Paul and they'll make like magpies and fly off with it. But of course, no such luck as her 'Peach Pie in the Sky' failed to be the slightest bit peachy, and when your food isn't any good, Mary and Paul don't care how nicely you've presented it.
As Mary said, it's 'style over substance,' and that simply won't fly in this neatly pitched tent. However, Frances had a lucky escape, with Ali proving that pies simply weren't his thing; having scored 8th place in the technical and not produced a good enough pie in the first task. Ali unfortunately had to go, and therefore becomes the latest evictee of the great big white tent.
His departure left a few people watery-eyed, with Christine urging him to keep in touch. So, do you think the right person left this week? Who do you think had a lucky escape, and who do you think won't fare so well with next weeks challenge: Biscuits?
Reviewed by Mel.
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