So just to confirm, we were definitely on time, right?
Mike: We were, we've been here an hour Jamie: You were on time
I was on time, we've been here an hour
And they're just assembling it
They've literally been putting it, whatever we're having
Croquembouche They've been putting it together for an hour
It better be good
Staying in is the new going out
But only if you've got great food and your mates with you
Unfortunately, we don't have any other friends, but the food is incredible
In each of these episodes, two of us cook up something awesome to share
And, to kick start our Big Night In
And that, gents, is a croquembouche
I mean, wow!
Better still, this is a tower of hazelnut creme packed filled profiteroles
Yes!
Covered in caramel
I'm just going to go straight in, so-
Oh, it's very good, innit?
Very sweet
My dentist is going to want to word with you
I'm surprised how light they are
So the pastry itself
Yeah?
Choux paste
And it couldn't be easier
Choux pastry needs water, putting into a pan with cubed butter
Heat it to a boil with a pinch of salt
And as soon as the butter has melted and the water is just boiling, dump in the flour and beat it all together
Now, the great thing about this recipe is it's quite precise
And you weight out all the ingredients, there we go
How many times do you tell me off for missing the pan?
Yeah, I just- I just definitely did that
So the key to choux paste is a little bit of elbow grease
Basically add in the flour and then you beat it until a) it's smooth over the heat, and 2) it comes away from the side of the pan
Now all we need to do is beat in eight eggs
But, you have to do that once it's cooled slightly otherwise they do start to scramble
So, rather than whisk in, continuously, eight eggs
I am going to cheat and put it in the machine, get it whisking up and crack in one egg at a time
Do you know what, um, croquembouche actually translates to?
I'll give you a clue
"Em bouche" is "in the mouth"
Balls in the mouth
No
But I can see where your logic went
You've just taken the entire si- Look at that!
Well, look, let's share this out
Bite into it, what do you get?
Crunch!
In your mouth
Amazing!
You mean, crunch in your mouth
There are so many levels of crunch within this, um, within these profiteroles
You've got the caramel, on the outside
Barry: And if you dig down deeper- Ben: Crisp pastry
Crisp pastry, and if you dig down a little deeper, can you- you get like, some sort of a shell-y sort of feeling to it
Egg shell
Yeah, I mean, if you're lucky
Yeah, it's an extra texture Ben chose to put in at the last minute
You know, like, with Christmas pudding, and there's the two pence in the middle of it?
A tuppence?
And you're very lucky if you get that?
Mmm
Consider yourselves lucky
Oh, God
Now, then, the next stage of this recipe is to pick out any of the shell that Ben may have dropped into the mix
Ssshh
Um, and, in this case, there happens to be a lot because Ben dropped the entire egg
Don't tell the lads
Pastry chefs up and down the country, thinking "what an idiot"
Um, and I am, too, right?
At this point, transfer it into a piping bag and we're going to pipe small globs
Without the shell
Onto a lined tray
So 60 profiteroles into the oven
As soon as they're puffed up and the great thing about choux pastry is they're hollow on the inside
Then you can let them cool and fill them
Ben, it's now 59
No egg-y middle, try that, though
You've missed the fairy at the top of the Christmas tree
How good is the filling?
The creme part was simple
All we did was heat up some hazelnut milk on the side
And whilst that was heating up, we took, now get this,
Ten egg yolks plus four extra eggs, whisk that up, add some sugar, add some vanilla extract
Mike: Good stuff, only for you Barry: Once that's mixed up-
Add some flour, add some cornflour to a paste and slowly but surely add the warm milk into it
Oh my goodness, I can't keep up
Boiling hazelnut milk goes over your egg mixture as you whisk
Tip the whole lot back into the pan
And the final stage is to heat it to a boil until it bubbles
And you can let this one boil to keep it moving
And then for the construction itself
You've got your cooled hazelnut creme pack
You've got your hollow, crisp, cool profiteroles
Poke a little hole in them, squeeze the cream in so they're quite full
And it's that weight that will help you build it
But the cement, the thing that constructs it and sticks it all together-
Caramel
When you're happy with the colour you've got, you just want to stop the cooking
So you dunk it in cold water
It's going to stay plenty hot enough to work with, but it just stops it going any further
And then take your profiteroles, dunk the top side into the sugar
And then arrange it on the plate and it will stick itself to the bowl
As it is the very appropriate time to ask the question we got from Klarysa
Saying "What is the simplest way to make food look classy?"
I'm not going to say this is the simplest way
Ben: But if we're talking about sweet food Barry: It's not simple, this
Yeah
I think it's one of two things
It's precision
And uniformality, like a chocolate tart or a lemon tart
Clean slices
Barry: Clean edges Ben: Uniform rosettes of fruit and cream
Mind your finger
That's the water
So if you get quick, just quickly into hot- cold water which you've got next to it
That was warm!
Yeah, you want to be careful
I'll get a little blister, that'll be a scar to tell the girls about
Ben: Alright, the last one Barry: And there you have-
Look at that!
Croquembouche
Ben: Now, I'm just going to melt this sugar down a little bit more Barry: Croquembouche
If at any point your sugar in the pan begins to solidify you can just warm it back up a little bit
So good
Move your head
And finally, any sugar left over, just spin it
And if it falls through the air it will cool and give you that beautiful nest over your fantastic stack
Decent
Well played
Celebratory French dish
I think you've done very well
But it's not over yet
Ben: Why is that? Barry: No?
Because I have a question
Oh, no
Whip it out
Awesome
The question
Lindsey Ayers says, well she wants to know what we were like as kids
Barry
What?
Posh
Yeah
Erm, showed off a lot
Sticking out like a sore thumb
All I cared about was impressing everybody else
Attention from anyone
Just attention
Ben?
Ben's not changed
We've known Ben for 17 years, he has not changed
Exactly the same
He's exactly the same!
I didn't think much of Ben at school because he was in chess club, and I was-
I never, ever, ever went to chess club!
This is a fictional thing
Uh, Mike
I don't really know what Michael was like at school because he was never there
I was there
He never had a girlfriend, he just was a- a man of mystery
But that- but that- that meant-
Also, he was everybody's friend
Yeah!
And he never committed to anybody
Jamie: Girls falling over him because he was so, like- Ben: He was an achiever, was he?
No, I'm not interested
I tell you my first memory of Jamie
And you know exactly what I'm going to say
We used to have PE lessons
Oh, no!
We used to have PE lessons at school and I remember
This isn't true
Our very first PE lesson, the teachers told us we had to have a shower
And we were all very, very scared about it
And we were walking back to the changing rooms going "I'm wearin' my shorts"
Barry: Oh, I didn't
"Keep 'em, I'm keeping my shorts on
Walk into the changing rooms, he's there completely stark naked just like properly washing himself like-
Drying himself with a towel
And that's a first memory you can never erase
I remember seeing him and just thinking "what a ----"