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Hello I'm Barry, and this is Michael.
- Now, a couple of weeks ago we put
20 different cuisines into a bowl.
- [Barry] And we each, took in turns,
to select two cuisines from that bowl.
- And they became our.
- [Both] Ultimate Normals Fusion Battles Dishes.
- What's the opposite of confident?
- Unconfident.
- Anxious, really anxious right now.
- Gentlemen, synchronise watches.
We have three hours, starting in three, two, one.
Good luck, good luck.
But not much luck, but not much luck.
- Just shut up.
- So, the two cuisines that I drew out of the hat
were British and Moroccan.
So the dish I've chosen to make is a roast dinner.
That looks like a roast dinner
but has the flavours of Morocco.
Component one, the protein.
I'm going for roast beef.
I'm rubbing it in Ras El Hanout.
Which is a North African spice blend.
Once I've covered my blade of beef in the Ras El Honout,
seasoned with salt and pepper on all sides,
I'm then lowering it into a pan
and searing it on each side for two to three minutes
so it's a really deep, dark brown.
Whipping it out, putting it on a plate, and then chucking in
a whole lot of onions and garlic.
- For my two cuisines I got Greek and South African.
The one thing that jumped out at me about South Africa
was Bunny Chows are amazing.
It won Jamie a battle once.
So I thought, you know what,
let's work off the back of that.
Create a Bunny Chow, but inside of it
I'm going to create a Beef Stifado
and of course some spicy paprika chips to go along side.
And I'm pretty certain, this time,
for once in my life, I'm going to win this battle.
- Oh that's so bold.
- I know.
- You idiot.
- Now my battle actually started about three hours ago.
(bag thuds)
I made my own dough.
Flour.
(laughs)
Water, yeast, sugar, olive oil, and some olives
into a dough, let it prove, put it into a baking tray,
grease, covered, leave it for half an hour.
- What were your two cuisines?
Italian and what?
- No, Greek and South African.
I've got focaccio in there.
- So when you're given two countries
to take inspiration for bread from.
- I chose, I chose to go a Bunny Chow.
Which was, okay how do I make the Bunny Chow
have a Greek influence?
So I basically laced it with olives.
And I used a, there is a Greek type of bread
that is like a focaccia.
- So why don't you call it that not--
- I don't know what it's called.
But it's focaccia like.
- For my two cuisines I picked out Creole and Japanese.
I've decided to bring together some of my favourite foods.
It's classic, but everyone loves it.
It's Chicken Katsu, I'm then gonna match that
with the most amazing creole sauce.
It's just gonna add some warmth
and bring it altogether in the most delicious way.
I'm gonna start, by making some amazing pickles.
These are actually inspired by pickles
that we made, whilst we were in Tokyo feeding people.
It was delicious.
Let's see if I can recreate it.
- Another important part of my dish
is the marinade for my beef ribs.
Which is the first component of my Stifado.
It's all spice berries, cloves, oregano,
red wine, red wine vinegar,
and of course my short ribs.
The key here is to leave this marinating overnight.
I don't have overnight, so therefore
I'm going to be searing my beef rib from now
and then chucking the rest of my marinade
into my sauce later.
Golden brown, perfect.
(sizzling)
- Golden brown?
- Huh?
- Do you know the difference between golden brown and grey?
- Shut up.
- I'm just helping.
I'm just helping.
Spaff, You're the beef guy.
- I am the beef guy.
- You're the beef guy.
Golden brown?
- Oh.
- Oh, get over yourself.
- Suddenly, there were two players in the game.
- Shut up!
- Oh, golden grey.
- There is so much chopping.
My creole sauce starts with the holy trinity.
It's onion, it's celery, it's bell pepper,
there's garlic there as well.
Peel and dice all of them.
- Oh, we've had 45 minutes already.
- Are you having a laugh?
- No.
- It's been 47 and a half years.
I've finally finished chopping
every vegetable in London.
I'm now going to fry them in some olive oil.
Once my holy trinity has sweated off for about 10 minutes,
I'm going to add in my garlic, some bay leaves,
a little bit of thyme, and a little bit more cayenne
than I should.
- Component number two.
Yorkshire puddings flavoured with cumin seeds.
Standard Yorkshire pudding batter,
eggs, milk, whisked together adding flour bit by bit.
Then adding thyme and cumin seeds,
covering it, sticking it in the fridge.
So I'll come back to that in about an hour.
- Now I've seared my beef on all sides.
I've then got my pearl onions which are integral
to a Stifado.
Frying off with some tomato puree.
Now everything that I've prepared goes
into the pan with my beef.
I'm going to put my beef soak and my beef
to go into the oven.
As long as possible.
Then my loaf is also going into the oven
but it's gonna have half an hour.
- With everything now having sweated down
and smelling amazing,
it's time to add in some tomatoes, chicken stock,
and some Louisiana hot sauce,
or if not, New York hot sauce.
(laughs)
- Saffron roast potatoes.
Cold water with saffron, chopped up potatoes,
all of similar size.
Going into the cold water
then being brought up to a boil.
Test them, to see if they're cooked,
poke it with a knife, see if they slip off.
Once they are cooked, into a colander,
where I jooge them, fluff them,
throw them into some Polenta, and then they get roasted.
- So yeah, I'm gonna bash my chicken.
Flatten it out, and then I can pané it,
which I know is a french technique,
but let's make it Japanese today.
(energetic rock music)
Whoop.
(beep)
It's stuck.
I think that's worked though, mate.
- Oh I don't, I just don't trust it.
- It looked clean, it looked clean.
Whoa!
Yeah it's clean.
- Now my oil is at 130.
I'm going in with my chips.
Cooking until they're light golden.
Then removing, draining, and back in at 180
to go really crispy and soft in the middle.
No please.
I need all these chips.
(energetic rock music)
- Another wonderful thing about
this excellent kitchen is how spacious it is.
And the endless supply of hobs.
- Mate, it brings us closer.
All right?
Stop whining.
- I need space.
So tahini, another Moroccan flavour.
I'm gonna paint them,
get loads of delicious tahini all over it,
and then just roast them off.
- Time to finally get started on my rice.
I have a very exact amount of sushi rice.
I also have a very exact amount of water.
I'm going to drain my sushi rice
in a minute of cold running water.
And then that's gonna help
get rid of all the glupiness when it cooks.
Then I'm going to put it into
the very precise amount of water,
along with some cider-vinegar,
some sugar, a pinch of salt.
Bring that up to a simmer, then put a lid on it.
Turn the heat down to it's lowest setting
and leave it to absorb all of that liquid
and get all yummy.
(pans crash)
Oh, God.
(laughs)
- You okay?
- [Jamie] There's no lids.
- Now I've covered my chips in some smoked paprika.
Some fresh oregano.
- [Jamie] They are quite--
- Stop eating my fries!
- How rude, mate.
- No please don't.
I need all of them.
- Yorkshire puddings are in.
In that 25 minutes lets make a horseradish hummus.
- Usually we'd create some sort of drama
with a big countdown,
but Mike has flapped and fleed this kitchen
in order to finish his bowl.
So we can go home tonight.
He's not very happy.
- [Mike] Bull (beep).
- I think things have taken a turn for the worse.
Yeah, mate.
- [Mike] Yeah.
- How's it going?
- [Mike] There's only so much you can do.
- Are you making hummus?
- Yep.
I'm desperate for the win.
The veg stuff I've had a nightmare
with that I couldn't even char.
I've brushed in tahini not harissa.
- Sorry, you did what?
- I brushed my veg in tahini.
So who loves peanut butter courgettes?
- [Barry] Lovely, lovely.
- Exactly, good.
Harissa would have been better,
but we're with tahini now.
This is where we're at.
- Boys I don't want to rush you,
but we've got five minutes left.
- Stop eating my chips!
(intense rock music)
- [Jamie] One minute left.
- Three, two, one.
Step away from your plates.
- That was stressful.
- These are the most unusual plates ever.
Aren't they?
- Yes.
(beeps)
- Is that?
(laughs)
(intense orchestral music)
Who else is physically and emotional drained
after that battle? - Exhausted.
- 100%.
- This looks epic.
Can we start in the middle?
- Yeah, that's me!
My fusion between South African and Greek cuisine.
- I love the rich beef and the onions.
But also, the yoghurt and the fresh herb
kinds of bring it to life.
A little bit of kick.
But for me, one of the best bits
is the fact that the Bunny Chow
isn't the shape I would associate.
You've taken two things, fused them together
and mixed it up.
- I agree, the bread is excellent as a plate.
The yoghurt on top is great.
The flavours are all great.
I'd say the beef could've done with a little bit longer.
- [Barry] Agreed.
- But that is probably the only comment I have.
- Good work, mate.
- That's another platter feast to share.
- This is a British roast dinner,
that tastes like Morocco.
- [Jamie] Wait, this is a proper roast dinner.
- But not.
It's everything I want it to be and something else.
- Yeah.
- Every mouth full has a little twist
that takes you on a journey
that if you shut your eyes, does feel Moroccan.
- The beef is good.
- [Jamie] All right, three for three.
- I went for a creole chicken katsu.
- That creole sauce has got a nice warmth and kick to it.
As you'd expect.
But I feel like you've got the right level.
You haven't gotten like Jamie spiced
and balanced out with the pickle,
and the rice and some very good
golden bread crumbed katsu chicken.
I like that.
- I have to say.
Spaff is king of pickles.
Whether it's a comeback sauce,
or pickled anything,
you are bloody excellent at pickling stuff.
- We should go chat.
- I guess so.
- Weirdly enough, I'd be happy
for either of you guys to win.
Because I think both of your additions worked great.
It's coming last bit, that's not the nice bit.
(laughs)
- Like, not winning is okay, but--
- [ Mike] Being the worst in the kitchen.
- Yeah.
- In third place, Jamie's dish.
- Yes!
(laughs)
- That's fair.
No I can, I can live with that.
- Well you were just saying you can't.
- Well no, no I know.
- No disrespect to you J, but whoa.
- In first place, it was incredibly close
and I'm sure the person who comes into second place
will be gutted 'cause it was so close.
In first place it's Mike.
(clapping)
It's Mike.
- It's really annoying, but I also agree.
- It was really deceptive, it's when you look at it
and go, that is classic Sunday roast,
and yet it still has all the flavour fusion.
- Yeah.
- It's a great fit, really did.
But well done, everyone.
- Well done you, mate.
That was great.
- [Judge] Good job all around.
- The big question is, what do you guys think?
Comment down below, let us know.
Who would your winner be?
- And more importantly, last place.
Absolutely fine.
- We hope you liked our fusion dishes.
- Now keep watching the channel,
because in a few weeks
we'll be releasing our chef's fusion battle.
- And if you'd like to have our,
oh we held hands for a bit there.
If you'd like our personal recipes,
then comment down below
and we'll release them on the website
so you can try them at home.
- Much better.
- Do a dad joke for me.
(grunts)
I am so ready to laugh.
- Saw a chicken staring at a lettuce and a tomato.
Chicken Caesar Salad.
- That's, yeah!
Come on, get in there.
That was funny.
- We've also built the Sorted Club.
Where you can get tonnes of foodie inspo
using the Packs Midweak Meal app.
Discover and share restaurant recommendations
using the Eat app.
Listen and contribute to our Feast
Your Ears Podcast.
And send us ideas for new cookbooks
you'll receive throughout the year.
Check it all out by heading to sorted.club.
And now a blooper.
(beeps)