- [Mike] We are Sorted.
A group of mates who have your back
when it comes to all things food.
From cooking battles to gadget reviews.
- Ben, it's not worth it.
- [Mike] And cookbook challenges,
to a midweek meal Packs app.
- [Jamie] Crack your eggs, bake.
- [Mike] We uncover the tools that'll help us all
cook and eat smarter.
Join our community, where everything we do
starts with you.
(classical music)
- Hello, everyone, and welcome to fridge cam,
and another one of our pretentious ingredients episode.
Today, two normals, Jamie,
who likes big flavours,
and Mike, the palette of a 10 year old.
They're going to be judging
our potentially pretentious ingredients.
I've got four of them.
Let's see how this goes.
- What 10 year old likes lobster?
A pretentious one.
- D'you want to lift the cloche on number one?
- I do, Ebbers.
Ooh.
- You look confused.
- Yes.
I mean, it looks fruity.
- [Mike] They look intimidating
- Intimidated by something so small.
- Ebbers, I have absolutely no idea what that is.
Do I eat?
- By all means have a taste.
- Whoa!
- Ooh!
I feel like I've bitten through orange peel.
- I mean, they're nice, they're very sweet.
It's almost like a peel
holding just a big ball of marmalade together.
I'm not gonna lie, when I first bit into it,
it gave me toothache.
That's how sweet it is.
- Look all that.
It's all oozy and I'm going to have to suck it, Ebbers.
- Nobody needed to see that.
These are glacé clementines in a wooden box.
Handmade in France, luscious clementines, come from Corsica
and take two weeks to candy.
They're first cooked and then steeped in sugar solutions
in increasing strength for many weeks,
until they are sumptuously sweet.
- There we go.
This is why I was expecting.
- I think they're meant to be kind of after dinner treats.
- Wow, there's loads!
- 13.
- I don't mind them.
I think they're okay.
But, the telling thing is
that I have not gone back for that.
- They're big old portions.
- They're big old portions and they're really, really sweet.
- It is sickly sweet.
It is so- - No, no, no, no.
Sumptuously sweet.
Can you see yourself whipping these out
at the end of a meal?
Where are these useful?
- I don't know.
I don't see a use for them to be perfectly honest
in my life.
I think they're quite polarising.
- A small quantity of that throughout
a fruitcake or on top of something would work really nicely,
but I've had enough of that and I've had two bites.
That's been made for gifting, hasn't it?
That's like,
"Rather than chocolates, Cassandra
we thought we'd bring you something
a little bit more special."
And you'd hand that over instead of chocolates
and Cassandra would go,
"Oh darling, we haven't had these since 1973
when we were in the Pyrenees."
- What about price-wise?
- Oh, I'm going to go punchy,
because this is the format that we're talking about,
and say that these are two pounds each.
So I'm going to say £26 for the box.
- Let's go with £30.
- Sold to you for £30!
Bang on! - Is that what it is?
Really?
- Which makes them £2.30 a clementine.
- If I got these out at a party,
everyone else would feel like I misread the room.
- Pretentious or not, Jamie?
- That is completely out there, and therefore, pretentious.
- I don't think they're pretentious,
'cause I don't think they're impressive.
I actually look at those and go,
"Oh, bless 'em, look at the little cases."
I don't think,
"Wow, you are spoiling us, ambassador."
- Well, you've come dressed for the candy shop,
so I've got another sweet treat under the cloche.
Number two!
- Candy shop.
They're gold.
I'm already thinking pretentious.
- They're pebble sized.
They're pebble sounding.
- [Mike] They're solid, like you couldn't break 'em.
- Cinnamon-y
My initial impression is that it's
like a coated almond.
- Did you have strong coffee this morning?
Because you are on form!
That is an almond inside of there.
- Is it?
It feels like it's going to crack a tooth
whilst I try and get into it though.
- Whoa!
Oh, man, I was not expecting that.
I thought I chipped a tooth.
It's a nut.
They're are quite nice once you get your head round them.
You know when sometimes you go around to someone's house,
and they've got like a bonsai tree with pebbles?
They look like the pebbles that surround
like the bonsai tree or like at the bottom of a fish tank.
- The description,
"As this is Harvey Nichols, there will be no
boring confectionary here.
Big and shiny.
That's how we like our indulgent snacks.
Hence why we created these enormous, gold almond dragees.
Delicious, crunchy almonds in crispy coats
that are sure to add
a little golden glamour to proceedings."
- Do you know what?
They do exactly that.
They're completely unnecessary,
but I don't think many people aren't going to enjoy these.
- They could have just written the word, pretentious,
couldn't they? Yeah.
- So a dragees, sometimes known as confetto
or Jordan almonds, is a bite-sized form of confectionary
with a hard outer shell, often around nuts.
Typically, for decorative, symbolic,
or even medicinal purposes.
They used to use them to sugar coat,
some nasty tasting medicines.
- A spoonful of sugar.
- Does help the medicine go down.
- It's like they were cut from the same cloth.
- You've read the line where it says,
"Pimp your nuts." - [Ben] Yep.
- Did Jamie do the marketing for these guys?
(Ben laughs)
- I think these are best used as decoration
that you don't realise is edible.
- Interesting you say that.
'Cause according to the Huffington Post,
it is technically illegal
to sell silver dragees in most states across the US.
In fact, all brands selling them must label the sprinkles
as for decoration only.
In France, they've been banned from next year onwards.
Now read the ingredients on the back of that one.
- Number one, sugar, almonds,
starch, maltodextrin.
Colour, titanium dioxide.
- Fun fact about titanium dioxide?
- Go on.
- They coated Saturn Five rocket with it
when they sent it into space.
- Excellent.
Well, it must be robust.
- Outside colours, silver and Quinoline Yellow.
- So it has got the silver in it,
but they are potentially banned elsewhere.
- I don't like this warning that's on the back
of the packet.
"May have adverse effects on activity
and attention in children."
What?
- Hey, it's nice of them to give you a heads up.
- You can buy a bag of sugar-coated almonds
for £2.99.
That's a 300 gramme bag.
How much do you reckon they are?
I don't think it's even near 300 grammes in there.
- 175.
- Oh, they could be anything, they could be endless.
I'm gonna to say £10.
- Eight pounds?
- £12.95.
- That's a lot, but I kind of expected them to be that high.
and I'm no way saying that they are worth that.
- I think I agree.
If you're looking for decorative sweet treats
or something to decorate a cake,
there's much cheaper, arguably better ways of doing it.
Probably without adverse effects.
- Well, we'll see what those adverse effects are.
Make sure you subscribe to the channel
so you can watch my demise over the course
of the next six months.
- Pretentious or not?
- The idea and the concept are not pretentious.
What they've done to it
and what they've used within it is terrible.
Pretentious.
- Absolutely pretentious.
- I'm just glad you haven't got Baz here to test them.
"May have adverse effects on activity
and attention in children."
He does not need any more adverse effects!
- [Mike] Hello, Mike here, again.
Sorry, we've just paused the video to ask you to subscribe
and hit the bell.
You won't regret it, promise,
and it really does make a difference, so thank you.
Back to the video.
- Number three.
(upbeat music)
- [Jamie] Flat-bread.
- Yeah.
- (whispers) Genius.
- Well they don't look pretentious.
Instantly that means they're going to be really expensive.
Flat-breads.
- Won't be able to call me normal for much longer.
- That is indeed very flat bread.
Have a taste.
- Cinnamon Grahams.
- Have you got cinnamon up your nose today,
because I didn't think there was cinnamon
in the dragees either, but.
- Cheese.
- They're tasty.
- Is it Parmesan-y?
- My goodness,
you're on fire today! - Whoa!
- [Ben] These, traditionally known as mother-in-law tongues,
are crisp, light flat-breads handmade in the heart
of Piedmont.
North-west Italy.
A famous food and wine region.
Perfect eaten as a snack, with antipasti,
or cheeseboard.
Trying is believing.
Which is why I have another board for you.
- Oh, okay!
Ebbers' deli is open!
Fantastic!
- This looks fabulous.
I would certainly expect to see something along this line
with my antipasti.
- Okay, not eating that.
Might eat a bit of that.
- So, Jamie, these are made by Seggiano,
a company that loves true Italian food.
They say,
"Sourcing the best products from all over Italy
with quality, integrity, and provenance at its core.
This is the brand to fall in love with for the new season."
(Mike grunts)
- Italians are so good at food.
This is amazing.
(flat-bread crunches)
What do I think of them?
Okay, they're really crunchy, they're really tasty.
They're not massively cheesy, which is a good thing,
because it means like that subtle parmesany-ness
compliments whatever you eat it with.
- We need to talk about this mother-in-laws tongue bit,
because I have a mother-in-law
who happens to be half Italian.
(Jamie laughs)
- How long's her tongue?
- Well, this is what, this is the thing.
I'm not going to say anything
along this line of conversation, because
I'm scared of her.
- I think it is just the shape
and not in flat-bread form,
but I have a mother-in-law's tongue at home
in my flat already.
It's a plant.
It's an indoor houseplant.
- Mother-in-law's get a bad rep,
and I've got a really nice one.
They feel rustic.
There's no sog to that, they are crunchy,
and they are dry, and that's really good.
- Do I like for more than any other kind of cracker?
Yes.
Any other kind of flat bread?
I don't know.
- What d'you reckon price-wise?
- I think they're high quality and I think they're cool,
and I think they taste nice.
So I imagine they're gonna be expensive
which is why I'm reviewing them.
Six pounds.
- If I said three pounds, that is probably something
I would pick up in a deli or in a supermarket,
and feel justified in spending.
- Now, if you buy these directly
from the brand online, you're looking at £4.50.
- Oh really?
I think that's okay, because you'd only serve them up
on an occasion.
And if you can justify, you know
attributing your budget smartly
across the rest of, you know, your antipasti board.
Watch pick the premium videos.
We'll help out with that.
I think you could attribute more of your budget
to something like this, because it's got a really cool
story behind it and they are fundamentally a great product.
- But are they pretentious?
- No.
- I don't think they're pretentious.
They are what they are.
- While I leave you to much on that,
I'll fetch the final one.
- Excellent.
I'll only be a minute.
- The one we've all been waiting for.
- Well, you've already given me snacking meat, Ebbers,
how's it going to get better than that?
- Number four.
- Here we go.
Oh.
- Oh, we're back to unidentifiable pastes on spoons.
- Oh, what is that?
Smells like fish food.
- It's not pleasant.
(upbeat music)
Oh, it's anchovies.
Is it anchovies? - Yeah.
- Are you going to give this to Mike?
- Yep!
(Mike chokes)
(Mike coughs)
- It tastes like seawater with dead fish in it.
- Well it's better than having live fish in it, innit?
- Oh, I'm going to be burping that up
for the rest of the day.
Right, so that's some sort of like mackerel spread
or something, isn't it?
- This is a contemporary version
of the very British 19th century treat, AKA
gentleman's relish.
- Oh, you've been dying for years to give us
your gentleman's relish.
- [Ben] This is not mine.
This is Fortnum and Mason's.
- It comes in a jewellery pot
- "Distinguished by the sheer quantity of anchovy,
to this salty armada, we have added dill,
garlic, and fragrant Sarawak pepper
to make a delicious contemporary version
of the very British 19th century treat.
Fabulous on hot, buttered toast."
I'm sure we've had it or used it before.
It's very good to add to things to give it
a real kind of incredible depth and umami saltiness.
We've talked about adding anchovies to meatballs,
into sauces, into stews.
Things like Worcestershire sauce
is preserved and fermented anchovy.
This is even more pungent.
- Pungent is a really good description of that.
But, there is the most astonishing amount
of flavour in that.
- Key phrase, use very sparingly.
- No denying, it does say use sparingly.
It also says can be added to mincemeat for different
tasting cottage pie.
To fish cakes, potato cakes, or croquettes.
Alternatively, it can be used as a topping
for jacket potato.
In a Welsh rarebit, which is what I've created for Jamie.
For you, scrambled eggs.
- [Mike] Ah, so you've made something with it.
Let's see.
(upbeat music)
You get a very, very subtle
hint of fishiness, but you get more salt than anything else.
Have you seasoned the eggs at all?
- I deliberately didn't,
because the paste is so well-seasoned,
and no pepper either, because again,
it's got the pepper in there.
It's got a little bit garlic, it's got little bit dill.
It is its own seasoning paste.
- Really tasty eggs, mate.
- Cheers.
You're a git.
When you have it like that,
obviously it's gonna slap you around the face.
In a Welsh rarebit, it becomes much more of a background
note flavour.
It enhances all of the flavours around it.
- If you didn't know that was in there
you'd say that was delicious, and it has, urgh,
I'm gonna say it, depth.
But really nice seasoning and a bit of warmth.
- And I'm not sure you'd buy it if fish wasn't your bag.
I'm going to throw something else into the mix.
What you're eating is anchovy relish.
They can't actually call it gentleman's relish,
because that can only come from the company
you've got there in the white pot.
Gentleman's relish, created in 1828 by an Englishman
named John Osborn, has to have a minimum of 60% anchovies,
and it is so top secret there is only one person
in the business who knows the exact recipe.
What all the other spices and herbs are.
- What I would say is only having one person in the business
knowing the exact recipe feels foolish.
- It looks exactly the same, doesn't it?
Why's it called gentleman's relish
when it's probably not pleasant for all genders?
- Good question.
I guess it was named after the gentleman, John Osborn.
But they used to do angler's relish with smoked mackerel.
They do poachers relish with smoked salmon.
The original is £2.85.
- Oh.
- But how much for Fortnum and Mason's anchovy relish?
- There's a couple of different taxes
going on there, isn't there?
There's a ceramic pot tax.
There's also, and we know this is a hefty tax.
The Fortnum and Mason tax.
Part of me is saying five pounds,
part of me is saying eight pounds,
So I'm gonna go somewhere in the middle and say £6.50.
- £6.85.
- £18.95.
- Whoa.
- Ooh chi mama.
That's a lot of money.
You know the one word that comes to mind?
Excessive.
- It's probably a very, very good product.
- It is, I love it.
- But it is pretentious.
- Yeah, pretentious A F.
No.
- D'you know how pretentious it was?
That's why I cooked for the Queen on her birthday.
- Really?
(Jamie laughs)
- Welsh rarebit with a bit of gentleman's relish.
- Oh my god, you gave the Queen your gentleman's relish.
- Okay, over to you guys.
Comment down below which of those d'you think
was the most pretentious if any,
and come and join the conversation on Twitter
by sending us links to potentially pretentious ingredients
that we should have a look at.
And to do that, use this hashtag.
- [Mike] Before you go, just a quick shout to say
thanks to all of you who are using and sending us
your thoughts on our Packs app.
We wanted to create a tool to help you boss
your midweek meals, cut down on food waste,
and reduce the cost of your weekly food shop.
And you are helping us do just that.
So thank you.
We wanna make this as accessible as possible right now.
So if you haven't tried it, you can now,
for a full month, absolutely free.
The link is in the description box below.
And now for the bloop.
(box bangs)
- MDF.
- No, balsa wood.
Used to make model aeroplanes out of that stuff.
- Shock.
(Mike chuckles)