- [Barry] We are Sorted,
a group of mates who have your back
when it comes to all things food,
from cooking battles, to gadget reviews.
- That is not worth it!
- [Barry] And cookbook challenges,
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- [Phone] Crack your eggs, bake.
- [Narrator] We uncover the tools
that'll help us all cook and eat smarter.
Join our community, where everything we do starts with you.
Hello, I'm Barry and this is Mike
and welcome to fridge cam.
- You know that we here at Sorted love a good cookbook.
Today we're reviewing this, "Signature Dishes That Matter."
- And Ebbers has an absolute meltdown.
- I'm excited for this.
- I dunno what we're doing.
- My favorite videos are the ones
where Ben has no idea what's going on.
- Yeah, and I like the ones with when you had stubble.
(laughing)
- Lift the cloche.
- [Ben] That's not much better.
- [Mike] Wow, woo, pow!
- "Signature Dishes That Matter."
- [Mike] Do you know, have you heard of this book before?
- [Ben] I've heard of it, I've never seen it,
I've never used it.
"Celebrates the most iconic and influential dishes
of the last 300 years, from the very first restaurants
to today's innovative dining scene."
- This is 300 of the most important dishes ever.
Why am I involved in recreating them?
- [Ben] So it's, essentially, chronological,
starting all the way from gelato in 1686.
- Great, hang on, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
I just saw something.
- [Ben] Yeah, I mean, it is iconic.
- I mean, we've done quite a lot of
old recipes recently, haven't we,
in these cookbook reviews.
Why don't we skip forward a little bit?
- [Mike] You're turning to page 162.
- Oh, so we're not going that far forward.
This is still only 1994.
- [Mike] This is cool.
- [Ben] Oysters and pearls!
"It's an unassuming name for a spectacular dish,
one that helped shape both careers and
how dishes were named for more than a decade."
- [Offscreen] Thomas Keller,
one of the first American-born chefs
to hold multiple three-star ratings
from the Michelin guide.
- I like this. This is awesome.
This is cool.
No idea, really, what it is still.
Apart from it's got oysters, and tapioca.
- (whispering) He's so happy.
- Ben?
- Uh, yeah?
- Are you okay?
- Yeah (giggles).
- Would you rather have made the Big Mac?
(Ben laughs)
- It just could not be further
from the food that I enjoy cooking.
- This is really gonna be a challenge, then.
(intense music)
- Well, I'm excited.
But then I feel the least accountable
out of the two of us.
- Mike, are you ready?
- So ready.
- Igor timing it, and you're gonna start in three,
- [Both] Two, one. (siren blows)
- All right. Head, sous. Tell me what to do.
- So first of all,
soak the tapioca in one cup of milk for one hour,
setting it in a warm place to
speed up the rehydration of the pearls.
- You guys.
You've already soaked our tapioca,
that's very kind of you.
- So for the next two paragraphs, shuck the oysters.
- Meow.
- Now, I feel like I know how to shuck oysters.
But I feel like we should do this his way?
- Yup.
- Do you want me to read and then you do it,
or vice versa?
- Um, you read it, I'll work out whether I can do it.
- Come on.
- To shuck the oysters,
hold an oyster in a towel with the rounded side down.
So that's the bottom.
Lean the wider end of the oyster
against the table for support.
Push an oyster knife under the hinge
at the narrow end of the shell.
You will hear a pop.
- [Mike] Oh, here we go, popped.
- [Ben] Twist the knife to loosen the shell.
This will release the top shell, which can then be removed.
Slide the knife under the rear
to detach the second mussel holding the oyster in place.
Reserve the oyster and all of its juices in a small bowl.
- Oh, this one's a tricky one.
Ebbers, I'm struggling.
No I'm not. I'm a mothershucker.
- [Ben] So you've got the mussel.
You've got this kind of frilly edge,
that's the bit we wanna cut off
so you're just left with the mussel.
- So with this recipe, mussels come with a lot of caveat.
- That's caviar.
You were thinking it.
I was thinking it.
You're welcome.
(Barry laughs)
- [Mike] Really cool thing about this book is,
I like that it's not pretentious.
I like that it's got the Big Mac.
I like that it's got spotted dick.
It's not saying it has to be fine dining
or even really technical to be iconic.
- I think a lot of the magic from here,
eating at what I would describe as posh,
restaurants is knowing that I could never recreate it.
- Yeah.
- [Jamie] And that is the magic,
that's why you go for that experience.
If this can give us an insight into how--
- Impossible it is?
And I'm sure that's gonna happen.
- But an insight into how some of that magic is made.
- That's amazing!
- What makes it a posh restaurant for you, then?
Knives and forks?
- Tablecloths.
- Yeah.
(both laugh)
- Right, Ebbers. Oysters, shucked.
- These are probably much smaller than they should be.
And part of that would be where we got them from,
part of that would be the season they're in.
- Season. (laughs)
- (laughs) You're an idiot.
So what you get is the mussel meat
and then the trimmings.
And the trimmings we're gonna put in a saucepan,
the mussel meat we'll save for later,
the reserved liquid, that becomes flavor
we add into a number of different things
as the recipe progresses.
Right. Next job!
In a bowl with half a cup of cream,
just until it holds its shape,
and then reserve the different dregs.
Next up we're gonna drain the tapioca
and then rinse under cold water.
Thomas Keller probably has a kitchen with running water.
What I'm gonna do is dip it in this bowl
to try and get the same effect.
- What do we reckon?
- I reckon that it's holding its shape!
Tapioca in a pan and to that we then add
three quarter cup of milk,
a three quarter cup of cream.
- Okay.
- No we don't. Well, this jumps around a bit.
- It's telling you you're using the ingredients as we go,
that's how it's structured, isn't it?
You can't use the cream there
until you've whipped that up and used it there.
- [Barry] Ooh. Ooh, I see.
- [Ben] Pour the remaining three-quarter cups of milk
and three-quarter cups of cream over the oyster trimmings.
Come up to a simmer then strain it off
and use that infused milk and cream,
so wasting nothing from the oyster, to cook the tapioca.
Then we wanna cook over a medium-heat,
stirring constantly with a wooden spoon
until it's thickened and the spoon leaves a trail
when it's pulled through, seven to eight minutes.
- Is this a dish you'd ever order?
- Nope.
- If you went into the restaurant, however, saying
I'd like to try your signature dish, which is.
So knowing that information, then would you try it?
(both agree)
That's what I think that this book is so good for.
Is that it's like,
there must be a reason why this is so iconic.
- Right, saying that this is
Thomas Keller's signature dish,
it's in both of his main restaurants
that are both three Michelin stars.
- Never gone off the menu.
- [James] It's part of the tasting menu.
Or, if you're sat at the bar, and you have a bar menu,
you can order this dish by itself for 50 dollars.
- This is a bar snack, Ebbers!
- It's a 50 dollar bar snack.
- We're only making a bar snack.
This is easy.
Are we having fun now, Ben?
- Every learning experience is fun, Michael.
- Yeah. I'm having fun.
I just wanna know if you're having fun.
- I'm gonna make a Sabayon.
Four egg yolks with quarter of a cup
of the reserved oyster juice in a metal bowl
over a pan of hot water.
- [Mike] How the hell-
- [Ben] It looks quite sticky, doesn't it?
- [Mike] It looks very sticky.
- The mixture will be sticky and
if you lift some on the spoon and let it fall,
some should still cling to the spoon.
Remove the pot from the heat.
Set aside in a warm plate.
Of course you're doing plates?
- Roll.
(James and Barry laughing)
- You're not going anywhere near it.
- I think it's behind.
- The reason that I don't-
I'm gonna get the piss taken out of me for this.
- Mate, look at you.
It's happened already.
- [James] Imagine.
Doing all of this work, eating it,
and it doesn't even fill you up.
(all laugh)
- [Ben] The finished sabayon will have
thickened and lightened, the foam will have subsided,
and the sabayon will hold a rhythm
when it falls from the whisk.
Stir the hot sabayon into the tapioca
along with a generous amount of black pepper.
Mix in the crème-fraîche and the whipped cream.
The tapioca will be a cream, pale yellow
with the tapioca pearls suspended in the mixture.
Season with salt if required.
Note: it may not need it because of all the oysters.
- Why, it tastes...well, chef-y!
(all laugh)
I mean... - It's good.
It's really-- - It's really good.
Really, good.
- [Ben] Immediately spoon a quarter cup into our dish.
Cover and refrigerate until cold. (mumbles)
- That's snacking tapioca for while we make
more of a sauce.
(James laughs)
- So, that chills. We're gonna make a sauce.
Out of butter and stuff.
- [Ben] We need one half tablespoons of minced shallots.
- [Barry] Ooh, this'll be interesting.
- Oh, I love that this is a competition.
- [Barry] Go on Mike, you can do it.
- [Mike] Thanks mate.
- [Ben] Uh, yours is--
- [Mike] I thought I did well there!
- You did do well.
- That right there is like a perfect visual demonstration
between chef's skills and a good normal's knife skills.
- I think we need to stop using the word normal.
You guys are far from normal now.
Combine the vermouth, the remaining reserved oyster juice,
one half tablespoons of minced shallot,
one half tablespoons of white wine vinegar.
And simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated
but the shallots are glazed, not dry.
Then whisk in the butter piece by piece.
Do you wanna do more mincing or should I do more mincing?
- What, are you gonna mince that butter?
- I meant to mince some chives.
- Oh, I can mince that small, I reckon.
- [Ben] Place the dish of tapioca on a baking sheet
and heat in our oven for four to five minutes,
until it's just begins to puff up.
Okay, nearly ready to finish this now.
Add the oysters, which we carefully trimmed earlier on,
and the chives to this sauce,
which is nearly finished mounting.
- What are you doing?
- Nothing.
- You're re-chopping my chive?
- No, no, your chives are there.
I'm not re-chopping your chives.
- So what are you doing?
- Well, do you know what, it's not often
you actually get the chance to perfect your knife skills.
- You're gonna use those though, aren't you?
- No.
- If you do it...
- I'm not! I think your chives are excellent.
- Right.
You are using this as a ego boost for yourself.
- No, (James and Barry laugh) we're using yours,
we agreed that.
- I don't wanna use mine now,
because they're so much better!
(all laugh)
- No.
- Your chives look like green tapioca.
I hate these.
(all laugh)
- [Ben] Right, tapioca. I think--
- [Mike] It's done!
- [Ben] Add the oysters and the chives into our sauce.
- No, Ben, right.
That is such a pity use.
(Ben laughs)
- [Mike] And it makes me feel worse!
- Right. Couple of oysters over our tapioca.
Spoon over some of the sauce.
And then a crenel of our caviar.
- A crenel of caviar is the chefiest thing
that's ever been said in this building.
Aw, yeah!
- That's--
- Wait! No, wait.
- Think that's hot. - It's hot.
(James and Barry laugh)
- That then gets put on to there.
(James and Barry laugh loudly)
- It's very hot.
I didn't want you to burn yourself, so.
Oysters and pearls!
(James and Barry applauding)
- [James, Barry, and Mike] Well done, sir.
- No, that's good!
- Great job. - Team effort.
- That is a great job.
- As always, it's incredibly easy
to poke fun from the sidelines.
But that is very impressive and
looking at all of the photos that
I've seen online of that dish,
it looks very very similar.
- [Mike] So shall we try it?
- [Ben] Yeah, let's go for it.
- [All] Cheers!
- Wow!
- That is a bloody excellent dish.
- That is remarkable.
- It's heavenly.
- [Barry] We've never say this,
but it needs caviar and oyster and fishiness
to counteract that really rich, buttery, vinegary taste.
- Seeing you go through the process of making that
somehow makes it even better?
- [Mike] D'you think?
- I think if you got served that in a restaurant,
you'd go, wow that's incredible.
I wonder how they made it.
Seeing you go through the process of making it,
I have more appreciation for it.
- I can taste every element.
It's all there!
- Just taking little nuggets from it.
Make a sabayon, but switch out the alcohol for oyster juice.
Imagine what else you could switch that out for.
And it can just be a little technique
that you may well see crop up
in a Chef verses Chef battle soon.
(all laugh)
- Fair.
- Did you like cooking from the book?
- I liked cooking from the book.
Once I had time to plan and prep.
Once I got that, that is brilliant.
And I actually look forward to trying
some more recipes in there.
- We would love to know from you guys,
did you enjoy seeing us try and cook from this book?
Would you like to see us do some more recipes?
Comment down below and let us know!
- Also, have you tried this dish in the actual restaurants?
If you have, let us know.
Be honest. How did we get on?
- If you like this video, and this cookbook, give us a like.
And also, we'd love you to choose
the next set of recipes that we use from this book.
So you can vote via poll on our Instagram page.
- And don't forget, you can get three Sorted cookbooks
delivered to your door every year
if you join the Sorted book subscription!
- So pluggy!
- Now Mike is a newly married man,
and he's obviously got some plans.
Cause today - I have none.
He has a dad joke of the week.
- I'm just telling the joke, I'm not having the child.
(Barry laughs)
I made an abacus using a Polar mint and a piece of string.
Trying to improve my menthol arithmetic.
- I like it! I get it!
(both laugh)
- [Barry] 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 Fears Podcast,
and send us ideas for the new cookbooks you'll receive
throughout the year.
Check it all out by heading to sorted.club.
(upbeat music)
And now a blooper.
- What happened?
- I decided it was time for a change.
- No you didn't.
- He's going bald.
- Essentially, I felt like my weight loss journey
had reached a dead end.
And I thought, what is one way I can make myself
look as fat as possible?
(Mike laughs)
I'll shave off my beard so you can see
the full extent of my fat face.
- [Barry] Ironically, you probably lost some weight from it.
- I'm taking all this off next week.