(egg shell on pan clinking)
(egg cracking) (egg sizzling)
(upbeat rock music)
- Hello, and welcome back to "Sorted Food."
Today, two of our normal home cooks, Jamie and Mike,
will be blindfold taste testing two dishes.
One made with a premium, or more expensive ingredient,
and one made with the same ingredient
but a more basic, cheaper version.
The question is, can they pick the premium?
- Hopefully, after today, we should all be
a little bit wiser about what ingredients
we should be spending our money on.
- Or where we can save.
- I'm ready.
- Bring it on.
- Dish number one.
(upbeat funky music)
♪ Yeah ♪
Same as always,
A and B,
one of those made with a more premium version
of the same ingredient.
As with all of the dishes you're trying today,
they are made identically.
Weights and measurements do not change,
neither do methods or cooking temperatures,
however, only one ingredient has changed.
We've swapped it out for a more premium version.
- Whoa!
- Uh, it's so fishy!
- [Ben] What you're eating is two savoury onion pies.
Think pastilla (indistinct)
but kind of encased in puff pastry.
So yes, there's anchovy, yes, there's red onion.
- Ugh, I'm not saying it's not tasty.
(Barry laughs) - Your face says otherwise.
- I'm just not an oily fish person.
- What we're looking at is the puff pastry.
- Oh.
- This pastry tastes a little bit drier.
This tastes crispier, butterier,
but also has a little bit more give in the texture.
Like there's a little bit more to it.
- [Barry] Ooh.
- So, we're gonna have to ask you
to pick your premium, which is it?
- I feel like I'm getting more butter,
more taste from the pastry from B.
And on that basis, B is my premium.
- Ooh. - B.
- Bold. - Very confidently B.
You can now remove the blindfold with B locked in.
Not that you're allowed to, but would you change your mind?
- Visually, I'm not actually seeing
too much of a difference.
- There are subtle differences.
Like if you look at the edges,
you can see it's puffed out with the layers,
whereas this almost is two separate layers fused together.
- [Ben] I can indeed reveal that the premium pastry is B.
- Yes! (bell jingles)
- Correct.
A is Jus Rol's puff pastry, sold as a chilled product
and ready to quite literally just unroll and use.
It is one of the cheapest options on the market.
Now they do do a butter version,
if you want their all butter puff pastry.
This one is the oil and vegetarian, vegan version.
And B is Dorset puff pastry,
and it is made using very artisanal ingredients.
So local regional Dorset butter
and even locally milled flour.
And they actually say the taste and characteristics
of their pastry might even subtly change throughout the year
and throughout the seasons.
But what they do is they make it fresh,
no additives or preservatives
and then lock that freshness in and sell it frozen.
- And no diminishing of the quality from freezing it.
- No, and although the Jus Rol brand, that one is chilled,
you can also buy frozen versions of it
and it's perfectly suitable for home freezing.
So if you were to buy it chilled,
and then you you didn't get around to using it
in the next couple of days, your plans change,
you can always freeze it, defrost it,
and it behaves much the same.
- If I do use puff pastry, I use pre bought stuff.
I have gone for this in the past.
- So you use the Jus Rol a lot.
Are you happy with what it gives you at home?
- Yes, because in my mind the only alternative
is to making it from scratch,
and everything that I've learned in the last 12 years
of doing this is don't bother
making puff pastry at home, buy it.
- It's great stuff,
and there are even restaurants out there
that are using that because it is just not economical
to have people in house putting
the time and effort and labour
and having the space in the fridge to be folding
and chilling puff pastry when you can get a product
as good as that.
Price wise, A, not the most basic, but more basic version,
(cash register ringing) £1 a roll.
How much for B?
Bearing in mind, they're pretty similar size.
B, I think it's about five centimetres bigger,
but in terms of weight, they're pretty much the same.
- £2.50.
- I'm gonna say £2.50.
Yeah, I think it's two and a half times tastier,
in my opinion.
- It's £5 a roll. (cash register ringing)
- [Mike] I think that's okay.
- I would still buy it.
- And if you're not wrapping premium fillet beef,
but actually you've got a filling of things like onions,
then the pastry is where you can spend your money.
- Yeah. - Make the pastry premium
and put the bits inside it that are cheaper
and more accessible,
like tinned anchovies and onions
cooked down for a long slow time.
Nice. Well you got that one right.
Let's move on to number two.
(upbeat funky music)
Dish number two, Mike.
Two plates in front of you.
- Man, that's delicious.
I think it's a risotto, isn't it?
- Yeah! Made you a little risotto.
- For goodness sake.
Am I on a date?
'Cause I did not agree to this.
(Barry laughs) - Why do you think
you've got a blindfold on?
- Oh, no! I am on an Ebbers date!
That is delicious.
We have to be talking cheese.
- [Ben] Not many ingredients involved in a cheese risotto,
which ingredient has changed?
- So, instantly, I'm thinking things like pecorino
or maybe Gruyere, but we haven't covered Parmesan
in one of these.
So I think it's Parmesan.
- Correct.
Two plates of risotto bianco, which is Parmesan risotto.
- What would you expect from a more premium Parmesan?
- I'd expect more funk but less harshness.
- Can you pick the premium?
- I prefer B.
It's got more flavour.
I think it's the premium
because it's a far sharper, punchy cheese.
- A is the premium.
- [Ben] Okay. You've locked in your answer.
You can take off your blindfold.
- [Mike] I don't think I can see any difference at all.
- I can reveal that the premium Parmesan is A.
- Woo! (bell jingles)
- Awh, it's one of those ones that's like subtle
and widespread, not sharp and punchy.
- So, A is 30 month Parmigiano Reggiano.
Whereas B is Ocado's Parmigiano Reggiano.
Interestingly, they are both PDO,
which means they come from a protected designation.
They both have to be, by definition, from Italy.
They both have to use unpasteurized cow's milk.
They both have to use a combination
of morning and evening milk.
They both have to be aged for a minimum of 12 months,
but they also have to be brined,
which just gives it that saltiness as well.
The difference is that A all comes from a single herd
that's a specific brown cow in that region
and is aged for longer.
- So, I'm sorry.
(record scratches)
A cow's milk tastes different
in the morning. - Morning to the evening.
- Than it does in the evening?
- Yes.
- In the morning, it's had a night to-
- [Jamie] Rest?
- Yes. Rest, yeah.
- Whereas, if the cow's been running around all day,
it's like a milkshake, I suppose.
(all laughing) (drum rim shots)
- Now, what I mean is,
the morning milk is like naturally whole milk,
whereas the milk from the night before
is naturally skimmed or semi-skimmed
because it's had time to settle
and they take it off and they mix the two together.
It's the same way it's been done since Roman times.
It's a protected cheese making process.
- You can instantly tell the difference.
- They look very, very different.
The texture is very, very different when you bite into it.
B is more funky.
It does have more, I'd say it has more flavour.
- [Ben] B has?
- Yeah, B has.
A is more subtle.
It takes longer to come in.
- So when you're using it a home,
I'm guessing grated over pasta,
which one would you go towards?
- B, because I'm not necessarily using it
to add a specific flavour.
It's adding the flavour of Parmesan
to a dish that already has other flavours in it already.
- I still stand by my original that this is my favourite.
'Cause I think you lose some of the subtleties.
- So, B, £15.50 per kilo.
(cash register ringing)
Obviously, that's not a kilo bit, but £15.50 per kilo.
How much for the more premium?
- I'll go double. £31.
- We'll go £25 a kilo.
- It is, in fact, £48.50.
- Whoa.
- [Ben] It's about three times the price.
- How much did this wedge cost then?
- [Ben] That wedge was £16.99.
- Whoa!
- I couldn't pay that much.
- And in your application it doesn't warrant it.
- No.
- And we have to pinch ourselves time and time again
that we are fortunate enough.
- Yeah. - To sit here and spend
all this money on ingredients,
but those artisanal products from their original place
of origin can be exceptional.
(people cheering) (upbeat funky music)
- Right, mate.
Third one up.
Dig in.
- Oh.
- (laughs) It went in whole, blimey!
- I shouldn't have done that.
- Oh, it's like a kofta.
- [Ben] It is like a kofta.
- [Jamie] Whoa. Oh, it's nice.
- [Mike] Holy crap, that's good.
Lamb?
- No. - Damn.
- [Barry] Try the other one.
- There is a lovely salad of lentil and pomegranates,
some yoghurt and some dressed herbs.
As always, made exactly the same,
one ingredient has changed.
Can you tell what the ingredient is?
- God, that is stunning.
- Is it the lamb?
- It is not the lamb.
But that is because there's no lamb present.
- What?
(Barry snickers)
- Beef?
- Correct.
Interesting that both of our normals thought lamb,
and I think sometimes
it's that association. - Association.
Yeah, that- - Kofta.
- That shape and with that spicing,
you might think lamb, but this is in fact, beef.
- [Jamie] A is a lot, I would say it's chewier.
B is more tender.
There's more of a crisp to the outside.
- B is slightly fattier
and therefore carries a little bit more flavour.
It's juicier.
- Need you to pick a premium, which do you think it is?
- I think it's B, but it's close.
- B is my premium.
- [Ben] B is locked in. You can take the blindfold off.
See if it makes any difference.
- [Mike] I can't see much difference.
- I can now reveal to you that the premium beef,
and by that we mean more expensive, is A.
- Damn it! (buzzer rings)
- Oh, I screwed that up then.
- [Ben] So A is Daylesford organic pastured beef, 5% fat.
And B is Ocado beef mince, 20% fat.
- You need to explain yourself.
- As a bit of a curve ball,
and I think you spotted it and identified it
and absolutely took us on that red herring,
the better eating experience and better flavour,
in this case, was the cheaper, more basic version.
Because it has the more fat and fat is cheaper.
- So not only does A have a higher meat content,
but also I'm guessing that meat has, well,
better animal welfare.
- The cattle have been reared on the farm.
They have more space, they're more free rein.
They are fed on locally foraged and pastured land,
so grass fed, and therefore drives a more premium price.
It also then means the chances are that beef is more marbled
with fat and has more fat through it
and has more things that need to be cut off
in order to produce a lean beef mince,
which consumers demand.
So there's even more labour that then goes into it,
not just love
and the animal welfare. - Gotcha.
- But then labour in cutting that fat off
before it can be minced.
So there's a lot more process
which therefore makes it more expensive.
In a dish like this, is that necessarily what you want?
- I don't think so.
I think it was subtle, but there was a difference.
- From the blind taste test,
I would say, personally, no.
Because I wanted the kofta that felt better to eat.
- I think like so many things, Parmesan included,
it depends on where you're going to use it.
You know, in this instance,
the fat content makes a big difference.
Now we've always said, buy the best you can afford.
And actually, Daylesford, you could buy Daylesford mince
with a higher percentage of fat and it would be
a premium price, you'd get the welfare,
and it would be more suited to the dish.
What we wanted to give you is something that shows
an understanding of what the dish you're creating
and buying the best product for it.
Even B have high welfare standards.
- Yeah. - And better than
a lot of places all over the world,
you know, it's not intensely reared livestock.
- I think from a blind taste test perspective,
that was a sneaky move by you and the food team,
but it has provoked an interesting conversation.
- What is good about the higher fat percentage is, again,
as a normal, extra fat means extra flavour,
it helps you create a tastier dish.
- I would also say it helps you in the construction,
moulding the koftas.
- Yeah. - With a slightly
fattier mince is easier.
B, our more basic option, is £3.60 a kilo.
(cash register ringing)
What do you think for A?
- Well, I'll say double.
So I'll say £7.20 a kilo.
- £12.
- Not a bad shout. It's £15.
(cash register ringing) - Okay.
- So it's about four times the price.
And as always, we say buy the best that you can afford.
But in this instance,
also buy the most suitable for the dish.
(upbeat funky music)
Two more beautiful plates in front of you.
Not that you can see them.
Dig in.
- Is it tapenade?
- Oh, it's a very good nose, again, Jamie.
- Well, it's easy to pinpoint things
that you don't like, isn't it?
- [Ben] If it helps, on the plate, you've got some cheese,
some sort of herb oil and some balsamicy bits as well.
- Blergh.
- Eck, yeeck!
I like the toast.
Tapenade, right?
- Tapenade is what we're looking at.
Tapenade is obviously an olive sort of paste.
- A is far more pungent.
- I feel like A is an oilier tapenade,
and I feel like it's saltier.
- I hate A far more than I hate B.
- (chuckles) What does that tell you?
And therefore, if you were to pick the premium,
which would it be?
- I do not know what I prefer.
Maybe B, the argument could be it's subtler.
- I'm gonna have to take a stab in the dark
and say that B is the premium 'cause I hate it less.
- I'm gonna go with A as the premium.
- Interesting. - Interesting logic.
You can take off the blindfold now that you've locked it in.
- Now you can see it,
change your thoughts at all?
- B is darker and I have no idea what that means.
- I think I'm right in that this is oilier.
- I can reveal to you
that the premium pitted black Kalamata olives are B.
(bell jingles) (buzzer rings)
Correct.
So we deliberately made sure that we picked
black olives, so both, and Kalamata olives.
So we're not specifying that.
And they are both pitted.
B, the more premium, Harvey Nichols olives,
are harvested by hand from trees over a thousand years old.
Picked and cured the same day.
And they come from a specific small village
on the island of Evia in Greece.
Whereas A is The Greek Kitchen Kalamata pitted olives,
described as ripened to dark purple colour,
plump in size and meaty in texture,
the olives are carefully hand picked and naturally treated.
The premium olives you're buying,
the jar is actually only 49% olive.
The other 51% is the liquid and the brine
and the vinegars that keep it.
Whereas, the more basic option is nearly 60% olive
and 40% brine.
So, again, different pinch points to consider.
- There's a definite difference, raw.
That one's meatier.
It's got better texture,
and it actually tastes quite fruity,
other than just the oily and saltiness.
That one actually tastes more complex and less olivey to me.
It's amazing that when you combine them on a plate
with other ingredients, they taste like olives.
- [Ben] Very little difference.
- There is very little difference.
- So, if we talk prices, I'm gonna keep it nice and simple.
By the kilo, again, A, the basic option, The Greek Kitchen,
£8.62 per kilo. (cash register ringing)
The jar self was £2.50.
How about the Harvey Nichols, again, per kilo.
- I mean, interestingly, and I know we talk about this
in our pretentious series,
but there's a Harvey Nichols tax
added to any quality improvement as well.
- I say £20 a kilo.
- £30.
- It's not high enough. £39.50.
- Oh. - So nearly £40
per kilo. (cash register ringing)
Works out at about 20 to 25p per olive.
- There's noticeable difference in my opinion.
Again, when you eat them in their purest form.
- And here's the thing, for me, I think they're both
great actually. - Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. - And I think
you're 100% on the Harvey Nichols tax,
which is a brand that you trust.
They also sell so many other things,
but it doesn't mean they're necessarily specialist
and consistent in any.
If I was buying a product for use,
quite often, I'll go to someone
who's probably more qualified
and The Greek Kitchen might well be that.
- Yeah. - We deliberately
didn't choose the cheapest, most basic of olives.
They are still great olives
and they are four or five times cheaper.
So Ebber's shopping tip,
buy from people who know what they're doing
and do that one thing sometimes over and above,
like you say, the department store tax.
So now, scores on the doors, with three out of four correct,
Jamie, you have won
today's Pick the Premium. - Yes!
- [Ben] And you can take all the olives home.
- Awwh.
(Barry laughs)
- Over to you guys, comment down below,
those four ingredients, do you buy them regularly?
And if so, where on the scale do you prefer to purchase?
- And what premium ingredients we should be looking at next.
Comment below, subscribe, and, you know, all that jazz.
- Do all the stuff.
- Ebbers, is this only related to cows?
- Yeah, it must be 'cause they're drinking in the day,
therefore they've got more water in their milk.
- I don't know.
I mean, you are drinking a glass of water now,
if I was to milk you now as opposed to five minutes.
(all laughing)
- Okay, let's round this up.