New Show on Food Network

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Estonut
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New Show on Food Network

#1 Post by Estonut » Tue Dec 19, 2017 4:56 am

The Food Network aired a new show, titled "Gingerbread Giants." The episode is listed as episode 1 and titled "Path to Victory." I don't see any future episodes listed, so, if not a one-off special, it may start airing once a year. Here's the blurb:
Food Network wrote:Five skilled amateur gingerbread artists take edible architecture to new heights as they go head-to-head at the 25th Annual National Gingerbread House Competition in Asheville, North Carolina. In this ginger-ific holiday special, the repeat champ, her top rivals and a fresh young challenger with scientific skills vie for top honors and the Grand Prize.
I don't recall ever seeing such a group of artistic, creative, innovative, single-minded, stubborn, obsessive, anal-retentive people in my life. Of course, the final products were phenomenal.

They made a big deal about each contestant driving their completed works to the competition. They said they sometimes must repair extensive travel damage the night before the competition. It seemed to me that it would be much easier and safer to transport the work in parts and then assemble them on site.

The judges had to ensure that each piece was actually made of gingerbread (instead of cheating with wood), so they took & tasted biopsies of each entry.

It re-runs one more time this year, on Dec 23. If interested, check your local listings.
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tlynn78
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Re: New Show on Food Network

#2 Post by tlynn78 » Tue Dec 19, 2017 12:52 pm

I'll be all over that! Thanks for the heads-up!
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Re: New Show on Food Network

#3 Post by Spock » Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:59 pm

>>>>"I don't recall ever seeing such a group of artistic, creative, innovative, single-minded, stubborn, obsessive, anal-retentive people in my life." <<<<

Well, if you subtract a few adjectives it describes the Bored perfectly (and I include myself in that)

"I don't recall ever seeing such a group of single-minded, stubborn, obsessive, anal-retentive people in my life."

There I fixed it for you.

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Bob Juch
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Re: New Show on Food Network

#4 Post by Bob Juch » Tue Dec 19, 2017 6:40 pm

Spock wrote:>>>>"I don't recall ever seeing such a group of artistic, creative, innovative, single-minded, stubborn, obsessive, anal-retentive people in my life." <<<<

Well, if you subtract a few adjectives it describes the Bored perfectly (and I include myself in that)

"I don't recall ever seeing such a group of single-minded, stubborn, obsessive, anal-retentive people in my life."

There I fixed it for you.
I'd say each of us is at least one of "artistic, creative, or innovative".
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Re: New Show on Food Network

#5 Post by silvercamaro » Wed Dec 20, 2017 7:37 pm

Estonut wrote:The Food Network aired a new show, titled "Gingerbread Giants." The episode is listed as episode 1 and titled "Path to Victory." I don't see any future episodes listed, so, if not a one-off special, it may start airing once a year. Here's the blurb:
Food Network wrote:Five skilled amateur gingerbread artists take edible architecture to new heights as they go head-to-head at the 25th Annual National Gingerbread House Competition in Asheville, North Carolina. In this ginger-ific holiday special, the repeat champ, her top rivals and a fresh young challenger with scientific skills vie for top honors and the Grand Prize.
I don't recall ever seeing such a group of artistic, creative, innovative, single-minded, stubborn, obsessive, anal-retentive people in my life. Of course, the final products were phenomenal.

They made a big deal about each contestant driving their completed works to the competition. They said they sometimes must repair extensive travel damage the night before the competition. It seemed to me that it would be much easier and safer to transport the work in parts and then assemble them on site.

The judges had to ensure that each piece was actually made of gingerbread (instead of cheating with wood), so they took & tasted biopsies of each entry.

It re-runs one more time this year, on Dec 23. If interested, check your local listings.
I don't think I've mentioned it on this bored in the past, but as it happens, the architecture of gingerbread structures and confectionary construction techniques is in my wheelhouse. Some years it also takes over the garage, the driveway, the carriage house and Lizbit's hens' chicken coop. (Okay, I fibbed. I don't actually have a carriage house, nor a carriage horse, for that matter.)

Anyway, I can tell you why the idea of assembling the gingerbread parts on site probably won't work for most designs. The "glue" that holds together the walls, roof and decorations traditionally is Royal Icing. It's made from egg whites, confectioner's sugar, a splash of water and perhaps a dash of lemon juice. It gets beaten together until your mixer breaks or your arm falls off to form a lovely goop that is thick enough to hold its shape while thin enough to squeeze through a frosting cone. (A kazillion recipes are on the internet for those who care.) The first few walls to be joined may require an improvised scaffolding of household items to hold them upright until the Royal Icing begins to dry. . . and dry. . . and dry. Since it dries from the outside in, the outside of each joined seam might seem firm while the inside still is mushy. I personally would want at least four days -- and perhaps more -- between every major addition to the project at the lower levels, which will need to bear the weight of upper tiers, a roof, and decorations. That's a big reason why the gingerbread pros can spend two to four months to assemble and decorate their creations.

I've been building with gingerbread for decades, off and on. Some years I can't spare the time, and sometimes I can't bear the inevitable frustration. There is something about the temporary nature of the structures that makes them seem more precious to me before they collapse of their own weight, usually sometime in early February. I've never entered a big contest, like the one in Asheville. I did get a fourth-place prize in a Good Housekeeping magazine contest, though. I wanted at least a third place, as money was the prize for first, second, and third. Instead, I got a cookbook for my prize. It does have a nice recipe for chicken picatta, though, so all is good.

My "prize" entry was inspired by Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. I created two innovations for it, a way to make perfectly round and very tall towers, and how to attach a cantilevered balcony to the back of the castle.
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Re: New Show on Food Network

#6 Post by ghostjmf » Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:00 am

Question for silvercam:

Contestants on British Bakeoff show have said "don't eat that part, its made for construction, it won't taste good". If this is true of gingerbread structures in general, why make them?

I can understand the challenge, but seems to me this all started with gingerbread you *could* build with & currently is at "gingerbread you mainly build with, not eat".

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Re: New Show on Food Network

#7 Post by silvercamaro » Sat Dec 23, 2017 2:04 am

ghostjmf wrote:Question for silvercam:

Contestants on British Bakeoff show have said "don't eat that part, its made for construction, it won't taste good". If this is true of gingerbread structures in general, why make them?

I can understand the challenge, but seems to me this all started with gingerbread you *could* build with & currently is at "gingerbread you mainly build with, not eat".
The answer to "Why make them" is that they are not made for eating. Dollhouses are not made for people to live in, and model sailing ships are not built for crossing oceans. Gingerbread houses are fantasy miniature buildings with a touch of whimsy. They are made to create smiles. I suppose gingerbread houses could be considered a form of folk art.

"Construction-grade" gingerbread can be eaten and might even taste pretty good. Generally (unless some new technique has been discovered), it is pretty close to regular gingerbread dough with extra added flour to add stiffness and strength. So, it would be drier and tougher to chew.
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Re: New Show on Food Network

#8 Post by ghostjmf » Sat Dec 23, 2017 7:26 am

Thanks.

But I knew that its an art-thing. I just wonder why it hasn't gravitated to being done with wood, or even strong cardboard; still requires lots of skill, but can have pieces joined with something more reliable than "food paste".

The British show contestants always had some part of the structure the judges *could* grade for taste. But some, even though I remember this being the "showstopper" one week, where you know the assignment & can research & rehearse it, seem not to have gone for construction-grade gingerbread.

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Bob Juch
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Re: New Show on Food Network

#9 Post by Bob Juch » Sat Dec 23, 2017 10:39 am

I'm going to make a tamale house. I'll use masa.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.

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