- Hey, hows it going?
We're Sorted.
We're a group of mates from London
looking for exceptional things and food
that will make a difference to you,
or just make ya laugh.
Some of us are chefs,
the rest of us (clears throat),
we're Normals. (man giggling)
But every video we make
always starts with a suggestion from you.
♪ Waste my time, I'ma make 'em wait ♪
♪ I'm a pancake chick but I take the cake ♪
♪ I'm gooey in the middle, baby, let me bake ♪
(pop electronic music)
Jamie, Mike.
Moment. - It's happening.
- In our last episodes,
the Chefs and Normals crossed land and sea
to learn all they could
about Japanese and sake food pairing.
Then the Normals faced the Chefs in New York City.
The Chefs came out on top.
So now, our two Chefs lock horns
in the final segment of our journey,
to determine who will be crowned the ultimate
Japanese Fusion and Sake Sentai of the four dweebs.
Oh, and the Chefs don't know
that there's a special guest judge.
(men laughing)
- This is it.
- The moment you've all been waiting for.
- Let's see what our Chefs can do
in three, two, one, cook!
- I'm gonna bake with a barbecue platter.
It's gonna have all the meat,
it's gonna have loads of sides,
and it's all gonna have a little Japanese twist.
I'm gonna start with my slow-cooked meats.
My dish is inspired by the fact
that meat and sake pair so well.
My beef ribs are gonna cook really slowly
in the oven at 140 degrees.
- My dish was inspired by Aquagrill in New York.
It's gonna be an Italian homemade pasta dish
filled with pork, and spinach,
and topped off with a sauce that's got a nod to Japan.
Red onion and garlic, diced up, nice and fine,
we'll come back to that in a minute.
I wanna make my pasta next,
so double zero flour, with two large eggs, pinch of salt
a little glug of oil, if it needs it.
(heavy rock music)
- Straight off the bat,
I can see exactly what both of them are doing.
Ben is playing into your mouth,
and James is playing into my mouth,
and I'm a fan of that.
- Are you?
I'm not sure about that.
Evers, what's the biggest risk factor here for you?
- I think when it comes to pairing
with sake and Japanese, less is more,
so the pasta has to be perfect.
- Less is more is an interesting route.
James would you agree?
- Erm (sputters)
(men laughing)
- You've got one hell of a balancing act
to mark, haven't you?
'cause there's so much going on.
- There's a lot going on, but it's all pretty simple,
so I'm not worried about getting it done.
I am worried about it all working together.
I'm gonna cook my pork with lots of veg,
tomato puree, chicken stock, and beer.
- [Jamie] What you doing?
- Just stealing a bit of beer.
(chuckling)
Like with all homemade pasta,
this just needs half an hour or so to rest up in the fridge.
- I've just put my barbecue sauce on.
It's got all the normal barbecue-saucy type things,
but it's flavored with teriyaki instead of ketchup,
which I'm excited about.
I think you should be too.
- [Jamie] Whoa! James, James!
- [James] It'll still be fine.
(funky rock music)
- Sniff test.
- Aniseed.
- Fennel chili, it smells delicious.
- James, have you got a wooden spoon
of something that we can smell?
(men laughing)
- I haven't really--
- Curveball Time! (alarm blaring)
(snickering)
- Right, let's do it. - Okay.
- Boys, you ready?
- So ready.
- At one point in this battle
you must switch places with a Normal
for five minutes.
- When you swap with a Normal, and who you swap with
will be up to the other chef.
- I like that. - I like that, that's a good--
- Clever, I feel like that's-- - Good caveat.
- strategy.
- [James] I've fried off Pancetta, shallot and,
garlic for my baked beans.
My beans are now going in with some brown sugar,
chicken stock, and tomatoes.
(techno music)
- You gonna wash that up?
(snickering)
- I've already done all your washing up.
And don't get sarky with me, 'cause I've got another point.
- Oh, oh, oh! - Bone pick with you.
- He tries to win a chef battle
by stealing one of the key ingredients
that Jamie used to win his chef battle.
- [James] I wanted to put your furikake seasoning
into the baked beans to make them really smokey.
- Obviously being a two Michelin star chef myself,
I think it's only perfectly natural
for you to take inspiration from me for your dish.
(mischievous orchestra music)
- You alright Ben?
Enjoying yourself, eh?
It's very therapeutic.
- The best way to get good seasoned sausage meat
is to start off with good sausages.
I'm then gonna personalize it with my sauteed red onion,
garlic, and fennel, and chili.
- I'm bashing out my chicken so it's all just one even layer
so it cooks really nicely.
Then I'm paneeing it in Panko breadcrumbs
to make to it crispy.
- The sauce in my pasta
is going to be a take on a béchamel or a velouté.
Basically a roux, then made into a sauce, using a stock.
The stock that I'm using--
- [James] So definitely a velouté, not a béchamel.
- Wait, yeah.
- [James] Like 100% a velouté.
- Yeah.
- My velouté!
(men laughing)
- [Ben] So it begins with butter and flour
but then instead of dairy or regular stock,
I'm going for tonkotsu ramen stock.
That is my nod to Japan.
That's gonna have umami elements of miso in there
and all of the boniness that a pork bone broth gives you.
A lot of pasta, especially layered pasta recipes,
have an awful lot of cheese in it.
I'm going for the cheese, 'cause one thing I've learned
is sake works so well with cheese.
So mozzarella going into my sauce.
- I microwaved my potatoes for my mashed potatoes
because that gets them really dry.
- [Barry] You keeping the skins?
- No.
- Don't waste the skins.
Can you just put them on there
and we'll put them in the oven.
They're so good, delicious.
(mischievous music)
- [Mike] Yeah.
- [Jamie] Are you out-chefing James?
- [Barry] Yeah.
- Yeah, it's these little final touches that may
turn you into a chef, isn't it?
- Yeah.
Furikake, yeah furikake, that's great.
There is a chance
- [Mike] Oh yeah.
- [James] We might win the Chef vs Chef special.
(men chuckling)
(mischievous music)
- Well, not straight out the oven!
(chuckling)
- Shall I plate them up?
- Yeah plate them up.
- I'll plate them up.
- Oh mate, they look amazing.
Furikake, smoked paprika, bit a garlic powder.
You know what that would go well with?
This Nanbu Bijin sake, which I just happen to have.
It's very clean,
it's got some really nice fruity notes to it.
I think it'll actually pair perfectly
with those perfectly prepared potato skins.
- Shall we try it?
- Let's give it a go.
(laughing)
(upbeat music)
- We are good!
- We are very good.
- Now mashing them with a little bit of hot milk and butter,
just to keep the whole mixture hot,
and miso because mashed potatoes
are literally just a vehicle for fat, and salt.
Miso is really salty
and it works perfectly in mashed potatoes.
Now, I'm gonna pass them through a sift
because that's what a chef does.
I'm about to start griddling, which is my barbecue element.
It's gonna get quite smokey, Jamie's on hand.
(funky rock music)
- All I need to do now, is roll the pasta,
and then shape it.
First couple of goes through the machine,
I just want to then fold it back on itself,
so you get nice square edges.
(funky rock music)
- He thinks he's funny,
but that really is just the weasel's last fart.
(laughter)
- (mumbles) what!
- It's the what?
- It's a Japanese proverb, it means the final straw.
- [James] He has been waiting to use that.
(men laughing)
- He has been waiting.
- There's now nothing I can do
except for sabotaging when he's got his back turned.
- [James] Oh come on now, jealous little weasel.
(men snickering)
- It suddenly feels like we've got a battle on our hands.
- Mmm.
- Right, here's the logic.
Something else I absolutely love is a swiss roll.
I thought, what happens if you do a swiss roll with pasta?
Can you get really awesome spirals of filling,
that's then baked, almost lasagna-style, our full know
with the tonkotsu sauce over the top?
I tried it, turns out you can.
I really liked it.
That's what I'm doing.
- Japanese, Italian, swiss roll pasta fusion
- [James] Careful.
(gasps) (alarm blares repeatedly)
- [Ben] With who?
- Oh, I haven't even thought that far ahead.
I'm gonna say, let's go with Jamie.
- Good luck, mate.
- Thank you, thank you.
- You have five minutes from now.
- First thing that you should do is wash your hands
before you start playing with pasta.
- Clever, clever. - Smart!
- Okay, pasta's rolled for you.
I've started the spinach,
if you can do the same with the rest of the spinach,
you want as even a layer all the way
over the pasta as possible.
Then we're gonna sprinkle over the chopped parsley.
So far so good, next up the sausage meat.
We wanna basically put a layer
all the way over that's nice and thin.
Yeah, much smaller.
So think dainty portions, not Jamie portions.
Rolling it over, rolling over, rolling it over,
stopping there, and that's one of them.
Then into our baking dish.
- I really hope this wins you the battle
because I feel like you're doing a great job.
- [Ben] Then ladle the sauce over the top.
The final umami is the parmesan.
- [Mike] Five, four, three, two, one.
Step away.
- Give me one of those.
- [Jamie] Yes!
(upbeat rock music)
- What is going on?
- [James] My pork is cooked perfectly.
I'm pulling it now
and then I'm gonna put it through the barbecue sauce
to make it even more delicious.
- [James] What do you need it for?
- Pasta.
- You've done your pasta.
- No, Jamie's done some pasta.
- [Jamie] Oh, ho, ho!
- Now, I've made (laughs).
- I thought I did a good job.
- [Ben] Ah, you did!
- It felt like a lot of pressure.
I gave it my all.
- I'm gonna use those,
I just pity to waste the other half
of all the other stuff I've got.
My approach to this battle was to
pick my personal favorite sake,
and then find a dish that I'd thought worked with it.
So taking inspiration from the pesto pasta,
I've come up with something that is meaty and rich,
to pair with the richness of the cloudy sake,
but the sweetness in the sake
will work beautifully with this
because it's spicy, and fragrant, and fresh.
- I was inspired by big flavors in New York
and in particular, the restaurant called Osamil,
which we just had loads of amazing slow-cooked meat.
So we had beef short rib there
and it worked perfectly with a punchy and rich sake.
- An oven at 200 degrees so that parmesan gratinates.
- There are only 15 minutes remaining
and we're not seeing nearly enough panic.
- For my salad, it's super simple,
I've just sliced cabbage really, really thinly
along with some celery.
It's got maple syrup and muzen juice as a dressing.
- These are pretty much all part of the radicchio family,
which is quite a bitter leaf.
I'm gonna dress it salt, pepper,
lemon juice, olive oil that's it.
But I kinda want that fresh bitterness
'cause remember, that Nigori?
Super sweet.
(thumping hip hop music)
- Curveball! (alarm blaring)
- [Barry] Who's it gonna be?
- [James] I don't know, I'm excited.
- Mike, I reckon James needs you for the final five minutes.
- So here's the deal buddy,
Ben has picked you because he thinks
you're the weakest at plating up.
- Yep.
- We're gonna prove them wrong, okay?
- I, yep.
- [Jamie] Let's start with the short ribs.
- Oh, it's beautiful, yeah that looks good.
- [Barry] One minute remaining!
- [Ben] Aww Jamie, your pasta rolls look wonderful, mate.
(dramatic music)
- Look the pan, look at the pan!
Bottom of the pan, bottom of the pan on the beans!
- Five, four, three, two, one!
- I think it looks great.
(dramatic music)
- That was
(snickering)
a really interesting battle.
- Well done. - Well done.
- Where's Mike?
- I've forgotten something.
I'm really sorry.
- He's doing that awful acting thing again,
this worries me.
- There is another curveball
that I completely forgot to tell you about.
- Wait, what?
- [Man] Hey guys!
- Oh, a chef!
(men laughing
- Konichiwa (giggling).
- Konichiwa.
- [Ben] Wow!
- [Man] Hello, konichiwa.
Well that changes the game a little bit!
(men laughing)
- I'm very hungry.
(men laughing)
- Okay.
- Happy?
(men laughing)
- No, no, no, no, you should do
same as Japanese style, Japanese tradition.
Thank you very much.
(men laughing)
- Thank you.
- [Ben] There you go chef.
- Thank you.
- Enjoy.
- (speaking in foreign language)
- [Barry] I'm intrigued by this.
- [Jamie] I don't wanna give my verdict
until Chef Ishii-san speaks.
(men laughing)
- I want to agree.
I don't wanna say one thing
and then him completely disagree with me.
- [Barry] Mate, that velouté is something special,
to say the least.
- [Ben] I like the pairing.
- They both work together on a level of creaminess
and it cuts through slightly.
- What do you think chef?
- Good.
(men chuckling)
- That's good for me, that works for me.
(men laughing)
- Should we move on?
- Where do you start?
- So I've paired it with Heart of Oak, which is a June wine,
and it's got a lot of depth to it.
It should hold up to all these strong flavors,
so it's very rich.
All the meats, but I'm just saying,
don't neglect the size because they are equally as good.
- Never experienced mash like that before.
So creamy.
- Oh wow.
- [James] Yeah?
- Oh wow.
There are so many flavors going on in that.
Across the whole board.
But I do think you're right.
The mash and the beans are stand out for me.
- [Ben] And all the meat,
or certainly the ones I've tried so far,
they pretty much melt in your mouth
along with the beans and the mash.
But the things like the slaw,
the crunch of the rawness of that
is really good just to kind of pull it back.
- I don't eat very often this kind of dish,
but is that a Japanese influence?
- Slightly Japanese influence.
- Yeah, I totally understand it's different but it,
I don't know, it's got Japanese influence.
I don't realize maybe, but that's quite good.
Very natural, good balance, and I can enjoy your dish.
- See, in the past,
if someone had put down a load of meat in front of me,
I would never have paired that with sake.
I would've had a beer, or something else,
but that pairs beautifully.
- Even the unusualness of the cheese, and the mozzarella,
and the sauce, cheese and sake works.
- It's judgment time.
Shall we go have a chat?
- Sure.
- Can I come?
(men laugh)
(eerie music)
- First chef battle of the year,
and I'm even more nervous than normal.
- We had a long chinwag,
a long, long chinwag.
But Chef Ishii-san has come to a decision, haven't you?
- So Umu Restaurant may appear,
he's very strong for freshness of the dish,
I don't doubt, so Umu Restaurant is winner.
(men laughing)
- That I do not discern.
This doesn't come anywhere close to that beef we had.
- I'm sorry.
- It's fine, yeah.
- It was confusing a little bit, which is better
but winner is
Ben.
- Aw, thank you very much Chef.
Thank you.
- Your dish was much, much simpler.
Flavor and very, very well done with all the sake.
So I don't doubt it.
Your dish is great as well, dish side.
But if you think about pairing,
you're a little bit confused.
- Chef, thank you so much for coming in
and for judging the battle.
We hope you enjoyed it.
We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Come and give a big round of applause to Chef Ishii-san.
(men applause)
- Thank you.
- And a big round of applause to the chefs,
but not for James 'cause he lost.
- There's so much more food left, right?
Dig in, finish up.
- Can we have the winning dish back?
(men chuckling)
- What a result, do you agree?
Comment down below, let us know what you think.
- If you like the video, make sure you give it a like,
and you can try some actual sake yourselves
at restaurants where there's a specific tasting menu
prepared for you at New York Sake Week.
If you wanna know anything about that,
then all the details are down below.
- This is probably a great opportunity for us
to say thank you to JFOODO for sponsoring
this whole series, and for you guys for watching it,
enjoying it, loving it, commenting on it,
and telling us about your sake experiences.
This has been
- It's been brilliant. - Great.
- Only one way to round off this video.
(exciting music)
Run into a girl at a vegan restaurant who said she knew me.
I had never met her before.
(men laugh)
- You liked that one!
- I did like it.
- [Jamie] See ya later.
- [Mike] I liked it.
- [James] As we mentioned,
Sorted is just run by a group of friends,
so if you like what we're doing,
then there are loads of ways you can support us
and get more involved.
Everything you need to know is linked below.
Thanks and hope to see you in a few days.
(saxophone blares)
(beep)
- [Jamie] That is one of the more disturbing things
I've ever seen you do. - It's not gonna go in.
- [Barry] It will. - [Jamie] It will.