Cookery shows. Television seems to be saturated with them nowadays, especially ones featuring celebrity chefs, who like to preach to us about the importance of cooking and how it has the capability to enrich our lives. There’s Jamie Oliver who cooks his food in the most awkward places (There we are guys! A chocolate soufflé baked in this cave I happened to have stumbled across. Beautiful!). He also tends to put great emphasis on presentation, telling us that we must drench all our food in the finest extra virgin olive oil, so it looks great but the taste is effectively ruined by an overpowering and frankly unnecessary condiment. Gordon Ramsay tries to instil within us the ability to produce quality dishes. To make sure of this, he gives viewers looks and hints as if to say: IF THIS ISN’T F**KING PERFECTION THEN IT’S GOING UP YOUR F**KING ARSE, YOU PATHETIC PIECE OF SH*T. Some of us can accept this way of teaching, whilst others secretly can’t help but giggle at the deep- set wrinkles in his face, which make it look like the scrotum of a 70 year old man. And lastly, Ms Nigella Lawson is all about indulgence and excess. She softly encourages us to gorge ourselves on an entire lemon drizzle cake as a ‘treat’. She gently points towards the fact that we can buy bottled truffle oil from Sainsbury’s. But, we just can’t do either of these things. We can’t.
But celebrity chefs aside, a (relatively) new show has come as breath of fresh air. It focuses on the individual and their cooking skills, its main theme is baking, features the esteemed cookery writer, Mary Berry and professional baker, Paul Hollywood as judges. And, mostly importantly is hosted the quirky Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc. What am I harping on about? The Great British Bake Off, of course.
The show which began in 2010, has been given a second series and I’ve been hooked since it started. This year has seen twelve keen food enthusiasts compete against each other, in the hope of being crowned Britain’s best amateur baker. Over a weekend, they are tested by various challenges from a signature bake (when they get to showcase their own personal recipe) to the technical bake (cooking to a recipe were they need to fill in the gaps). At the end of the round, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood decide on a ‘star baker’ and who will be eliminated. A guy called Edd Kimber was victorious last series. He now has written his own cookbook ‘The Boy Who Bakes’. See? It’s like X Factor but for bakers. Don’t worry though, the show isn’t produced by Simon Cowell. Extending his ‘talents’ to cookery would be a travesty. And besides, it’s on BBC 2. Cowell can’t actually make millions for a TV channel. In ya face, Si.
However, the thing I really like about the show is that it’s very heart- warming. As you are drooling in front of TV restraining yourself not to make loafs of bread and batches of macaroons, you sit there thinking ‘God, this is nice. No psychological damage, no expensive ingredients. Just a wholesome cookery show’ (An exhale of satisfaction).
This week, the remaining seven contestants tried their hand at pies. Truth be told, I’ve never actually eaten a pie. A pasty, yes, but never a pie. I quite like the idea of steak and ale. Their first bake was the signature bake. They had 2 hours 30 minutes to make a pie that has a scrumptious filling with a case of either rough puff or flaky pastry. Judges were looking for well baked pies with a good filling but most importantly did not feature the dreaded soggy bottom. Holly, a young and enthusiastic woman with small children, came out with a smashing one: Potato, caramelised onion and stilton. Without doubt she seemed to impress the judges the most. Holly was really happy as she blushed at their praise, telling them: ‘You don’t know how happy you’ve made me!’ Bless.
Onto the technical bake of six miniature pork pies. Another good aspect of this show is that it’s actually educational (in a very light hearted way, I hasten to add). We are not just watching various delicious morsels being baked but are also being informed about the history of baking in Britain. We learn that pork pies date back to the early 18th century and originate in a little place known as Melton Mowbray. Smallholders in the area would slaughter their pigs in the winter and preserve the meat in pies typically to be eaten by local farmers working on land. By the 1820’s, Melton became famous for hunting, during this time rich ladies and gentleman started scoffing them. And now? Melton Mowbray has protected geographical status because of what it has produced. Face it, they are cases of disgustingly fatty pastry with miscellaneous pig bits in them. But, they are delicious all the same. Thank you baking programme for letting us know where they’ve actually come from!
Here, Janet wins. Rob comes third. A young photographer who’s a bit dishy. He has problems with his timing though. A shame.
And finally, ‘The showstopper’. The contestants were asked to make a sweet meringue pie. We’ve got 19 year old Jason with a fresh plum pie, Jo with apple and raspberry and Janet with a rhubarb pie.
After the tasting, the verdicts were reached. The ‘star baker’ award was presented to Janet for consistent standards of baking. While, heartthrob Rob was sent packing. Next week then, sees an all-women’s quarter final between Holly, Jo, Janet, Mary- Anne and Yasmin. With a pork pie in one hand and a Swiss roll in the other, I’ll be tuning in. And I hope will be too.
The Great British Bake Off: Tuesdays, BBC 2 at 8pm.
