(upbeat music)
- [Ben] We are Sorted, a group of mates
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- Ben, it's not worth it!
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Hello, my name is Ben, this is Jamie
and this is fridge cam.
- Now, do you like showing off at dinner parties?
- If you do then you might want this next gadget.
- It's called a (mumbles).
- Spherificator!
Two chefs testing one bit of kit recommended by you,
and today it's this!
A Spherificator.
It allows you to turn virtually any liquid
into caviar shaped pearls,
that will produce up to 500 pearls per minute!
(cash register chimes)
It's a great tool for foodie, chefs, bartenders
and anyone who loves to entertain.
It comes with the tag line go ahead, play with your food.
And I think today is gonna be a playground.
It comes with a bunch of the chemicals
so that you can create endless possibilities.
You guys suggested it, we bought this with our own monies,
and we have not spoken to these people so,
(box slams)
let's have a play!
- It would be interesting if it works,
because, this is something that you
only really get in professional kitchens.
- [Ben] I see this today as just a bit of fun
and to play some games because I don't think,
I don't know, nobody is really gonna use it are they?
- Well, Ben as you well know I'm all about fun,
so shall we get started?
(upbeat saxophone music)
- Number one for my fancy dinner party,
I'm thinking some nice smoked salmon and sour cream blinis,
and I want chive pearls.
- How did I get dragged into prepping your dinner party?
- To make it, we're gonna blend chopped fresh chives,
into a salty water solution.
James, our sodium chloride solution is ready.
- It looks a lot like water.
- With a pinch of salt (laughs).
- Oh, damn it.
- And then while it's going round,
drop in a mixture of sugar and sodium alginate
that have been combined.
Strain it, leave it to rest!
And then add it to your Spherificator.
(bell dings)
- [James] Wow this is gonna be so fascinating.
- So you stir, about a teaspoon of calcium chloride
into 500 mil of water, and that becomes the calcium bath,
that we're gonna drop all of our liquids into.
- I haven't even put any balls in liquid yet
and I still, I, already think this is just not worth it.
- 'Cause this whole process was developed
in like the 1940s wasn't it?
It was only much later, that they applied it to food
and molecular astronomy.
- I don't know, Ben.
- Mixture rested.
- [James] And now it just goes in here.
- And then you, over here.
- And then I, yep.
- [Ben] Oh you've gone it, you've put it all in.
- [James] I want 500.
(laughs)
- In order to get the perfect balls,
it has to be the right height above the water.
So that it falls.
So the tip of the needle should be six inches
from the balls.
(group laughs)
Behave, that's what it says, behave.
If you want to know what six inches is James,
it's about a banana,
so from about six inches above the water,
you drop it in.
500 pearls per minute, up to!
This is the moment!
- Does that look about right?
- Hang on, let me get my banana out.
You can go up a bit, there we go.
- [James] Imagine if it just doesn't work!
- [Ben] I mean, it looks really awful.
- I might actually get to 500.
- You might actually get to 500 but I don't know
if any of them are actually spherical.
it's almost like pond water James.
I don't think they're supposed to float,
because the instruction is stir the water not the pearls.
- Leave to set for one minute.
(screams)
Leave to set!
- What's wrong with you, you're just disappointed,
that it hasn't worked.
You should have my mindset where I'm happy it hasn't worked.
(laughs)
- We might've ballsed this first one up.
- That would be funny if we'd made any balls.
(laughs)
We don't have any balls.
- I remember reading a comment,
somewhere that said if you're not careful,
and you do it too low then you can end up
with more like, sperm shape.
And if it's too high--
- Well I didn't get it wrong.
We (bleep) measured it with a banana, what are you on about?
- No, no I'm not blaming you I'm just saying,
you end up with more sperm shape, if it's--
- We measured it with a banana, and you're blaming me,
for the fact that it doesn't work.
- If it's higher above the water you get discs,
because as it hits the water they flatten out
so have we got any spheres?
- [James] It's kinda ball shaped.
- [Ben] Great balls of fire!
- [James] Does that look like
the type of ball that you know and love?
(laughs)
They're not balls though are they?
You didn't need to do that
- They do pop, and they do taste of chive.
(upbeat funky music)
The start to my dinner party, absolute baller,
rocking out the smoked salmon and chive blinis.
Right, bottoms up.
They look great, but with the way we've plated them,
it's not making a huge difference.
- I don't know what's happened chemically,
because I have no idea what were doing, but (laughs).
I think what's happened is that,
they're not popping, they're jelly all the way through.
- A very subtle chive,
but because we've blended the chive into the water
they're not like, chive!
They're just like, chive.
It looks intriguing and if you were serving it
on something else it is a nice,
vegetarian, vegan alternative
to caviar and a weird color that shouldn't be there.
But on that the flavor is not doing it for me.
- Honestly you're such a nice person.
- Okay chive caviar, average start.
Next up, balsamic bubbles.
- [James] For the balsamic pearls we're gonna blend
sodium citrate with water.
That was fascinating.
- [Ben] Changes color!
- Then as it blends on a low speed we're gonna mix in
sugar and sodium alginate,
and then we slowly pour in the balsamic vinegar
as it mixes again,
and then leave it to rest for 30 to 45 minutes.
- So the science here is that once you've put the sodium
alginate into a calcium chloride solution, it forms a gel.
It does that best at a relatively neutral pH.
If you're trying to (mumbles), make spheres,
out of something more acidic, like vinegar,
you need to balance it out with sodium citrate.
- Are you gonna be able to explain to me how it
forms these things?
Ben, I didn't care that much.
♪ He's a super geek, super geek ♪
♪ He's super geeky ♪
- Two molecules of sodium alginate,
plus a water bath of calcium chloride
gives you two molecules of sodium chloride,
which we don't want, that's salt,
we're not really gonna use that,
but it will give you what you do want
which is something here
which is maths (grunts).
C12 H14 012.
No 'cause that's where the calcium bonds in,
so it's 14, calcium, zero, 12.
That's the bit that forms the gel.
- I can't wait for that to go onto a YouTube video
and for a quarter of a million people to see it.
- Does that make sense?
(bell dings)
- [Both] Ooh!
- It's not gonna work.
To us the balsamic mixture looked just too gelatinous,
to fall with gravity through our Spherificator,
so we've done a few by hand,
just to see if the mix is gonna work.
It's worked.
So we'll drain these off and now we'll try with the machine.
Again, more like tadpoles.
(upbeat music)
- That is a talking point at the table.
- We will do anything for a talking point at the table,
even if it's questionable.
Before we try these,
what we actually did was create our own,
and we created some with the device,
and we put our own on the plate, we backed ourselves.
- They're certainly bigger, we used like,
a wider nozzle on a squeezy bottle,
as opposed to the device through a thin needle.
- They look like they're gonna burst
- [Ben] On it's own first.
- [Both] Cheers.
- More so than the chive.
It's still not a pop is it?
- No it's more like a jelly thingy.
- What is nicer with these is they have more flavor,
because of the vinegar, but it's not like, acidic.
It's kind of already been mellowed out.
- Okay so we've tried ours,
were gonna try the ones that came from the (mumbles).
- Spherificator.
- I can't, I just can't.
- They're bigger but they're not better.
- Neither of them are right are they?
- No, on their own they're a pop of balsamic.
- But they don't taste of anything, like,
if you put a drop of that balsamic vinegar on a tomato
or a mozzarella,
you would taste sweet, acidic, balsamic vinegar.
And with that they just disappear completely.
- It has been diluted.
- You can't taste it.
- I think we've got the ball rolling though,
I think we need to move on, I need a gin.
Number three, I think I need a gin and tonic,
so let's make cucumber pearls.
One English cucumber, pealed, water
and sodium citrate, in and blended.
Then add cucumber, then while it's going round,
add in our sugar, and sodium alginate mixture.
- [James] It's looking smooth.
- [Ben] It's looking smooth.
- [James] I wonder if we shouldn't have peeled it.
Does it say peel?
- It does say peeled.
Oh maybe it doesn't say peeled.
It says pureed.
I just read it from a distance.
- Says pureed, wow.
We cannot even do the most simple, basic scientific stuff.
We shouldn't be allowed to test this (bleep).
- We shouldn't be allowed to do anything.
- We shouldn't be allowed to test this.
Why bother, honestly, like, why bother?
- Shall we start again?
- No, I can't take it again.
- Remind me to book an optician's appointment,
when I get home.
- I'm not sure it's the glasses that's the problem.
(upbeat rock music)
- It's definitely got kind of mucus feel about it.
Hasn't it?
Smells cucumbery.
- [James] Let's put it straight in.
- [Ben] I've replaced our bath and our draining water.
- I don't think I need a banana anymore.
I think I can guess.
- Are you getting good?
We should have gone big or small nozzle?
- [James] I've gone big.
- Pretty spherical, still not particularly big.
Gut reaction.
These are our best confetti pearls bubbles yet.
Application, I'm not sure I want that
floating on the top of my drink.
Taste-wise it's fine, it's cucumbery.
And I don't mind cucumber in a gin and tonic.
It's just still not,
I don't want it as a drinking experience.
- They're so close to popping though.
- Best ones yet and shape wise.
- I would rate, best ones yet.
- Okay I think we need to go sweet.
Number four.
Blood orange beads, on our cheesecake.
(upbeat jazz music)
So far we've tried the chive, the balsamic vinegar
and the cucumber,
they have all been recipes from the little booklet.
Now we're going off pieced, with blood orange juice.
- They've all been so easy and worked so well but,
why not just try something that's not in the book?
- So we're gonna try and calculate something,
that's roughly the right amount of all of our ingredients.
Based on logic to get something that sets.
- Imagine if this works so well?
- [Ben] 250 mil of that.
- [James] Done.
- [Ben] Three quarters of a teaspoon of sodium citrate.
- [James] There must be a way to keep the color.
- You lose all the color as soon
as the sodium citrate goes in.
It has to go in because the pH is too low
for the reaction to work.
And then we'll stick to the same ratio
of sodium alginate and sugar as before, blend it,
strain it, rest it.
Then we add it to our device.
James I'm up 50, 50 here.
Device and handheld.
- Well we can do 50, 50.
Let's go wild, Ben.
- This is not something you just knock up mid-week is it?
And I think even if you're doing it
for your dinner parties at the weekend,
or as a bartender,
you're doing it to impress, to go the extra mile,
for the wow factor, for the experience
and the talking point.
I wonder if molecular astronomy , we're past that,
were back to basics now with food.
Less is more on a plate.
- Yeah less is more, nature, back to nature.
Ready?
(device whirls)
- You got a little something trapped in yours?
- Yeah, think I do.
(upbeat jazz music)
- No you're right James,
It's definitely not 500 a minute.
But I'm still having a ball.
These are my first balls that have dropped.
- We've come to the forth recipe,
we've tried to put our balls through this and it's busted.
(device whirls)
- [Ben] Oh, it's working again James.
- [Man] It's working, quick!
- [Ben] Look at those, I'm pretty chuffed with those.
- It's actually more satisfying to do it yourself.
- Oh no!
What's going on there?
We had a go with the blood orange.
We've ended up with the same batch
which has rested for the same amount of time,
through our 90 pound machine, we get that.
By hand we get that.
Our version is much more spherical.
Definitely not 500 a minute, but who needs 500 balls?
(upbeat guitar music)
Number four, I think it looks the most
like it's supposed to look.
- Yeah it's still the color is still not quite there.
- [Ben] It's not as vibrant as I was hoping.
- Try it.
I think they are the best.
- They're citrusy, they're orange, they're fragrant.
They're not like, zingy hit you in the face.
They're still quite diluted,
but they are the best in terms of the mouth feel.
it's a nice little touch, to round off a desert.
And I think it looks better on a desert than perhaps,
on a salad, and certainly better than floating in a drink.
- If you try them on their own,
they taste citrusy and blood orangy.
As soon as you put a cheesecake with it,
you can't taste it anymore.
So are they necessary?
Would a blood orange syrup be much nicer?
Would a segment of blood orange be much nicer?
- Yes.
- Okay wow!
- I think this is style over substance.
- That was easy.
- But I like the fact that it encourages us to play.
I'm not convinced that I would recommend anyone
go and buy a Spherificator, but.
It has encouraged us to play and think about plating,
and that's a positive thing, I just think perhaps today,
was a slight curve ball.
- Made us think a lot about flavor,
and color and texture.
More so than we usually do.
Which I quite liked.
- Go ahead, play with your food.
- Well I think it's fair to say that,
that was quite an honest review of the (mumbles).
- Spherificator.
If you want more kitchen gadget reviews like this,
send us examples of weird ones that we can't pronounce,
and we'll try and review them, and pronounce them.
- Otherwise, we will see you every Wednesday,
every Sunday back in this very fridge.
Until then!
Spherificator!
We've also built the Sorted Club,
where you can get tons of foodie inspo
using the Packs Mid-Week 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.
(upbeat music)
And now a blooper.
♪ He's a very geeky chef ♪
♪ Who'd get on well with your grandmother ♪
♪ Memorizing all his magic tricks ♪
♪ Because his mind is photographic ♪
♪ He's a very cheeky Ebbers ♪
♪ But knowledge isn't always power ♪
♪ 'Cause although he aces all his tests ♪
♪ He scores an F for fashion sense ♪
♪ He's a super geek, super geek ♪
♪ He's super geeky ♪
♪ He's a super geek, super geek ♪
♪ He's super geeky ♪