Bake-off fans cry fowl over ‘creepy’ Ian’s roadkill pie
HE has not always been the most popular contestant on the Great British Bake Off. But Ian Cumming really shocked viewers when he admitted to having a ‘passion’ for picking up roadkill to bake into pies.
His revelation sparked a heated debate online over the merits of using meat from dead animals which have been found at the side of the road.
After Wednesday night’s episode viewers branded his waste-not-want-not attitude ‘weird’ and said that he was becoming ‘creepier and creepier every week’.
The contestants had been asked to bake a game pie with a hot water crust pastry as part of a week of challenges inspired by the Victorian era.
Mr Cumming, 41, told judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood that he was naming his dish Roadkill Pie after being inspired by finding a dead hare by the road.
He explained: ‘I had the inspiration for this shortly after I moved to Cambridgeshire.
‘I came across a hare in the road and I thought, “I can’t let this go to waste.”
‘Thus began my passion really for picking up animals that had been bumped on the road.’
Many viewers were taken aback by his admission that he has a ‘passion’ f or using roadkill i n his cooking.
One said: ‘Ian is literally recycling old meat, is t hi s socially acceptable?’
Another wrote: ‘ Find Ian from GBBO creepier and creepier every week, I mean, cooking roadkill you find? W-E-I-R-D.’
Another posted: ‘ You’re serving people food you found on the floor...’
Despite viewers’ squeamish reactions, chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is known to be a fan of cooking roadkill. And animal campaign group Peta claim roadkill is ‘a superior option’ to meat bought f r om a supermarket because it is ‘more humane’.
Mr Cumming’s final creation was made from venison, partridge, guinea fowl, sausage and streaky bacon, baked into the shape of a bird. The upmarket ingredients prompted some viewers to joke that he must have been driving on ‘artisan butchery highway’ when he picked them up.
It was praised by the judges for the filling, which was described as ‘ absolutely exceptional’ and ‘beautifully tender’.
But they criticised him because the bird-shaped pie was not ‘highly decorated’.
Speaking to food website grist. org, Mr Cumming said he is now something of a roadkill aficionado.
He also revealed that he has found a controversial way to check the meat is safe. He said: ‘Sometimes I give the cat a bit first. Russian roulette, but he gets nice meat that he doesn’t get otherwise.’
In previous episodes viewers turned against Mr Cumming, branding him ‘smug’ after he was star baker three times in a row.
Wednesday’s episode saw fireman Mat Riley, 37, sent home after he failed to impress with undercooked Tennis Cake and a collapsed Charlotte Russe. Anaesthetist Tamal Ray, 29, was named star baker.