'Mary Berry Cooks'

[Alison Wright Profile]

New 6-part series in Mary's own kitchen.

"First ep is a traditional tea-party, baking bite-sized scones, orange butterfly cakes & preparing sandwiches in advance."

Mondays BBC2 8:30 - 9:00pm

[Happy Violas Profile]

I've just watched this - her lemon cake looks particularly good I've seen the equivalent with oranges before but not whole lemons. Must give it a try!

[mark111757 Profile]

i just finished the first epi....very good...love mary.....she reminds me of a home ec teacher....

tho i really enjoy it when she gets one over on paul hollywood.....

look forward to more Mary

[mark111757 Profile]

HV-didnt nigella do something similar a few years back with cooked clemintines?????

well what do you know...she did

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nige ... ecipe.html

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/cle ... -cake-2559

[Stokey Sue Profile]

As far as I am aware nearly every home baker in the middle east has a version of that boiled orange cake

The clementines seem to be Nigella's own twist, many people know Claudia Roden't version, I first had it made by a friend who spent most of her childhood as an ex-pat in Jordan (and I prefer her version to Claudia Roden’s)

Tom Kerridge did a nice looking version on his Christmas food series

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spiced_orange_cake_with_47262

Mary's lemon cake looks a bit different, no almonds,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/whole_lemon_cake_with_40866

[Happy Violas Profile]

Nigella's recipe using whole clementines is lovely as is a whole orange cake that I've made before (may even have been a Mary Berry recipe). It was the idea of a whole lemon cake that I liked - looked a bit different and thank you for the link - I hadn't got as far as looking for the recipe itself

[Alison Wright Profile]

I like Mary Berry, but was a bit disappointed with the first programme.

For whatever reason I tend to think of afternoon tea as a 'pretty' summer event, which was confirmed when she made strawberry jam! In the middle of winter! why?

As I understand - it's a programme aimed at beginners, so I thought it was unusual & remiss of her to only give the oven temps for a fan oven & not a standard one. Many viewers may not have internet access to check her recipes online.

Also she didn't give the size of the tray-bake tin for the chocolate cake - I have three different sized tray-bake tins!

The lemon cake did look nice, but how often would you make a cake that huge? She could have suggested halving the quantities to make a 'cut & come again' cake for during the week, which I'd happily make.

Considering she's so on the ball in The Bake Off - I felt the production was lacking in her usual meticulous attention to detail.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I haven't watched it yet Alison, but I have recently caught some of her re-runs on the Food Network and it has struck me that she is a bit lacking in essential detail, I wasn't sure if it was her or her production team

I noticed it because it quite surprised me, I was expecting Delia-level or at least Nigella-level detail and she didn't give it. Not perhaps a communicator on their level, maybe better as a cook book writer where you edit caredully.

[Alison Wright Profile]

I was also surprised Sue, given her past credentials. After I posted - I did feel a bit mean as she's so lovely & natural - like a Mum or Gran, but I don't think she came over well as a presenter on her own.

As a keen baker I understand cake-making is almost a science, & after many a failure I know that following a well-researched recipe verbatim is the key to a successful result.

Maybe it was just sloppy production - as at the end of the programme no mention was made of "Go to the BBC website for the recipes"

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

As a self-confessed Mary fan, I really enjoyed it. I also loved the sound of her lemon cake, although as I have a couple of whole orange and almond cake recipes, I will probably add a note to one of those to try a lemon one without the almonds. Although it was huge, there is no reason why a scaled down version (i.e. 2 layers) wouldn't be just as delicious. The apple and cinnamon cake looked yummy as well! the only snag is that it uses 1lb loaf tins and I only have 2lb ones. Oh well, if I make one of those I shall use my 2lb tin and adjust the cooking time accordingly.

Alison, I take your point about the lack of dimensions regarding the traybake tin size and some of the amounts of ingredients, but I have noticed this before with a lot of recent programmes. The recipes are all on BBC Food website and there is a book of the series, which is probably why this occasional 'vagueness' happens. Although a lot of us associate afternoon tea as a summer thing, personally I wouldn't say no to one at Easter, which is only a few weeks away.

I will do my usual thing and watch the whole series before deciding whether to buy the book or not. I already have 2 of her books plus the All Colour Hamlyn one which she was involved in. If there are similarities in most of the recipes with the ones I already have then I don't think I'll be buying it. No doubt I'll have a peek inside a copy when I see it in the shops. My bookcases are already groaning with books - Mr Strictly is also a bookaholic!

[jeral Profile]

I wonder how much editorial control Mary has.

In a programme I just watched, she put filo pastry pieces handkerchief style into a muffin tray to cook. She specifically emphasised that it was better to take them out and put onto a tray and then fill to re-bake as, being fragile, they'd probably break if filled then dug out of a muffin tray.

Guess what? Cut to seeing them filled in the oven in a muffin tray If I were Mary I'd be throwing up my arms in disbelief watching that - Nooooooo!

Query about the rib eye steaks: She pan-fried both sides to brown, left to cool presumably, then refrigerated till needed, then reheated in the oven yet they still came out (were shown as being) rare in the middle.

How could they still be rare in the middle after oven reheat unless not to "piping hot"? I assume they'd be safe since middle not exposed to external bacteria if sealed all round before refrigerating, although she didn't seal the surround, just top and bottom.
Confused.

[mark111757 Profile]

morning jeral

i picked up on the steak thing too and was wondering if there would be a food safety issue....if i had access to one, i would have cooked the steaks then put them into a "chill blaster" and chilled them down super quick and then stored them in the fridge

i will admit that i did like the bit about rolling the pastry over the tart tin bottom....i am ashamed to say that i would not have considered that....

[jeral Profile]

Also on the pastry, Mary did say it was sweet pastry thus easy to patch. She didn't show the trick of using a little ball of pastry to push the sheet into the corners/fluting of the flan tin. That helps not to stretch and break the sheet. Particular useful if using ordinary shortcrust. I thought she'd use one but I guess she's lined more flan tins than I've had hot dinners!

[mark111757 Profile]

almost makes one wonder if they, the bbc or whoever, care about cooking at all or doing it properly/safely......

dont they think that there are people out there who will pick up on things that we have been discussing or is it a possible case of they/someone dont care what the viewing public thinks

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

morning jeral

i picked up on the steak thing too and was wondering if there would be a food safety issue....if i had access to one, i would have cooked the steaks then put them into a "chill blaster" and chilled them down super quick and then stored them in the fridge

i will admit that i did like the bit about rolling the pastry over the tart tin bottom....i am ashamed to say that i would not have considered that....

I raised my eyebrows at the steak cooking method as well. Not that I would cook steak for a dinner party anyway. That guinea fowl dish is more up my alley, even if I did use chicken or turkey instead. Mr Strictly and I did love the look of the salmon and asparagus terrine though, and I think he would divorce me if I didn't make the chocolate fondant tart either. So guess what's for pudding this weekend !

When we were in Asda this week doing our weekly shop, we bought what we thought was the book of the series. when I had a look at it at home, it wasn't the same one. We bought Mary Berry At Home instead it still looks good though with a lot of recipes that we will like. Hey ho, I am still going to buy Mary Berry Cooks, and it just mean I have an extra Mary book that I hadn't anticipated.

[Sam Profile]

Although I'm normally a big fan of Mary Berry I've been a bit disappointed by it, but I can't put my finger on why. Will keep watching though.

[dennispc Profile]

When you've worked it out Sam do let us know as we feel exactly the same - if it's on I tend to read unless something catches my eye.

[dennispc Profile]

Last night it was on (with subtitles) when OH was chatting with a daughter (telephone). Couldn't help noticing her Cottage Pie included; 250ml of red wine to mix with flour, mushrooms, parboiled sliced potatoes over which double cream was poured and cheese topping. Not quite the traditional recipe I thought. but I bet it tasted good.

[Happy Violas Profile]

The continuity person wasn't doing their job ... assuming they existed. There was so much last night that just didn't follow on - almost as though anything that had been near her oven wasn't hot at all! It got so that I was pointing out errors rather than just enjoying the programme. Such a shame as she's usually so brilliant and her baking book is my favourite.

[dennispc Profile]

The continuity person wasn't doing their job ... assuming they existed. There was so much last night that just didn't follow on - almost as though anything that had been near her oven wasn't hot at all! It got so that I was pointing out errors rather than just enjoying the programme. Such a shame as she's usually so brilliant and her baking book is my favourite.

Perhaps that's why peeps such as Sam and me find it disappointing - there's something wrong with the flow of the dishes.