- Four, five, six.
That's it.
(Jamie laughing)
(sizzling)
- Welcome back to the Sorted Food cheap dog trials.
I'm joined here by farmer. Hoggett
who's going to explain to us about what Babe has been doing.
- No, I've been to auction.
I've picked up some vintage kitchen gadgets
and today James is gonna take a step back into the past.
The good old days.
- [Jamie] You excited for this?
- I'm excited, I'm ready.
- Tell me when. - This is gonna be
so much fun.
Lift the cloche on number one.
- Oh, it's a gun.
It's a squirty gun.
Oh no, am I make, is it sausages?
No, yes, no.
- [Ben] Plungey plunge.
- Plungey plunge.
- But what is it that you're plungey plunging.
- Don't know what I'm plungey plunging.
- Cookie dough.
- Cookie dough?
- Yes, James, this is a vintage cookie press?
Italian, and we think it's from about the 1960s or 1970s.
Vintage is a very broad term, but technically
anything over 20 years, so we are vintage,
but less than a hundred because then it becomes antique.
But we should bear in mind when we're thinking about these,
cast your mind back when they did exist,
what were they like?
And as opposed to comparing it to today's gadgets,
would you have one now?
I think we should think retro.
Would you like some cookie dough to try?
- Yeah.
- James, what I have given you is some cookie dough.
It's for spritz cookies from the German of spritzen cookie
which means to squirt.
Basically we need you to squirt cookies onto your sheet
and bake 'em off.
- Press the trigger once or twice depending on the size
of biscuit required, release and lift gun
off the oven sheet.
I feel like that worked better than I expected.
I don't know what you're expecting,
but I was expecting a mess.
- Oh now you're getting into a rhythm.
- You can always change the dial and do different rows
of different ones, and the good thing about this,
unlike a piping bag, is you can change the dial from one end
without having to take all the mix out.
- Was that a passive aggressive suggestion
to change the dial?
- I was just thinking about the thumbnail.
- [James] It was wasn't it.
Splafta.
- No, to splaff something is to do it well.
(James laughing)
- Well done Ebbers, I'm really glad you suggested
that we change the nozzle.
- It was going so well.
What's that for? - That's another
passive move from Ebbers to say clean up your (beep).
(laughing)
- No, I'm just offering help.
(laughing)
- Well, I filled the sheet.
- 177 degrees Celsius till they're cooked.
- These are going in.
- Okay, while those are baking off let's talk price.
So obviously this is 60 years old,
and we bought it in auction.
On Mike's eBay account.
(Jamie laughing)
What do you reckon we paid for it?
- 20 quid.
- Not a bad shout because that is the price
of a modern day one if you bought it
from an online retailer, but this one 11.99, bargain.
- This is obviously the first time that we're using
the cookie press, but if you've got one at home
or you have used one, let us know
what your results were like.
Did you get the lovely, intricate details?
Send us some pictures.
- It's done.
I'm going for it.
I think you're gonna be very pleased with the results.
(Jamie laughing)
Ebbers, your one came out nicely.
It's very hard to judge the gadget
by the result of these cookies
because it doesn't necessarily mean
the gadget isn't working.
- I mean, I'm sure they taste okay.
- Well, you know, the price you've seen the results.
So there's only one question to ask you.
Is it highly rated or is it just outdated?
- I think it's hard to test baking equipment
because it relies a lot on us
and the recipe that we've used.
So I'm gonna say highly rated
because I think that works with a bit of practise.
Our cookies are not highly rated.
- All right James, onto number two, lift the cloche.
- Wowzer.
Wow, wow.
Is it a tea or coffee machine?
- James, this is a vintage Goblin Teasmaid, model 854.
I'll have, you know
A Teasmade is a machine that will automatically
make you a cup of tea.
And this used to be really, really popular.
My nan and granddad used to have one.
They'd lie in bed.
The alarm clock would go off, yeah.
- No.
- Yeah, and you'd set the alarm and it would make
a cup of tea at the time the alarm clock goes off.
So when you get up, your tea is already made.
That's better than some of the gadgets we have nowadays
where you have to open an app to boil a kettle.
No, set it to an alarm clock.
Does it automatically, 1978 wow.
- I get it now, I get it.
I totally get it.
- But what I didn't know is that Teasmades
actually first came about in the Victorian era.
Very, very rare.
I don't know how they worked.
How did they work?
- They were lethal.
They used to have a like ignition
that you had to have on for the entire time.
So it was kind of a fire hazard,
which is why they weren't particularly popular
until electricity became a thing in homes.
- That must have changed your life.
- It made life a lot easier. - Yeah.
- So these go in here, right?
- Teabags in the teapot.
Water in the kettle.
Adjust the clock to the right time,
which we've done like a couple of minutes to 6:00 AM.
- So then I switch it to auto.
- [Ben] I think so.
- [Jamie] The light. - [Ben] Bedside lamp.
- Hello. - [James] That's cool.
- When the tea made and the alarm sounds,
the knob of the rotary switch may be returned
to light on or off, so you can just have
the bedside lamp on.
And that will silence the buzzer.
- That's gonna heat the water up, right?
- Yeah, and then- - [James] And then it's
gonna come out here.
- Into your teapot.
- So at what point does that happen?
- [Ben] Once it's hot enough.
- Whilst that's heating up, let me show you the box.
- Nice.
- [Jamie] Doesn't that look like
the most 1960s thing you've ever seen?
- Yeah, I recognise that tea set.
- When describing the image on the box,
Teasmade collector, that's a real thing, John Atack said,
"It portrays an immaculate apparition in a nylon nightdress
about to lift a cupper to her scarlet lips.
The rest of her make up and quaffer is clearly undisturbed
by a solid eight hour kip.
Best of all is that her hand on the point of grasping
the cup handle already has the little finger
crooked and raised in the classic style
of the refined imbiber, wonderful."
I also have another fun fact for you.
Something that you might have see is the Queen music video
of I Want to Break Free.
Brian May gets woken up by a Teasmade, I'll have you know.
- Iconic. - Yeah.
- It's working, I don't know if you can see it.
Guys, I don't like it.
(buzzing)
- Wake up!
- It's ready! (Jamie laughing)
Did it spit some stuff into your teapot?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
We have maybe one full cup of tea.
I actually got genuinely scared though.
I thought it was going to explode.
- The only thing I'm seeing with this is
once you're awake you absolutely want to snooze
or switch off that alarm.
Can you pour me one James?
- [Jamie] Is that the same, did that come in the box?
- [Ben] No, no I brought this.
- [Jamie] You had the same cup?
♪ He's a super geek ♪
- [Ben] I mean I think the tea's probably gonna be tea.
I think- - Oh that is tea.
- All right James, it's made a cup of tea.
It's turned the light on.
It's scared the (beep) out of us with that alarm noise.
How much do you think we paid for it?
- 30 pounds.
- We bought this for double that.
It's 59.99.
- Okay, that did cross my mind
that it might be about that,
but I thought it couldn't be about that.
- Well let's get your thoughts
through a very simple question.
Is it a Teasmade or is it tea shade?
- It did what it says it's supposed to do,
which is make tea, tell the time,
and scare you out of bed.
(Jamie laughing)
So I guess it's a Teasmade.
- You were worried by that one James,
should we have a look at number three?
- [James] Yes, let's.
- [Ben] Okay James, lot 7483, lift the cloche.
- Oh god.
Is it a, oh it's a toaster.
- James this is a 1940s
Ball Pit and Sons Swan brand electric toaster.
- I think it looks really cool.
- It could be on the table of an independent hipster cafe
called Toast, yeah. - [James] Yeah, exactly.
Yeah exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Ben] Give it a go.
- It's really hot and it doesn't have an on off switch.
It's just plugged in.
Is this right?
- So- - Toast needs to be smaller.
This is insanely dangerous.
It needs to be a very specific size of bread
that kind of catches on the grill.
- [Jamie] I would say that's good coverage,
and a good colour.
- It is good.
So it's vintage, it's manual, and,
but I can't complain 'cause it's kind of like
turning a record over you know?
It's like nice, it's intimate.
- Really silly question,
I'm guessing the only bit of that whole machine
that you can touch
are the tiny little black knobs 'cause everything else
is stupidly hot? - Really hot, yeah.
- Yeah, cool.
It feels like it's got good grill marks.
- Yeah, I mean it's toasted the bread really well.
It heated up insanely quickly.
Slightly dangerous, but exciting.
It's not as good as a toaster,
but that's 'cause they've just evolved
but it works really well.
- I think what's fascinating about
some of these vintage gadgets is actually
it's 80 years old and it works,
and it still does exactly what it says on the tin.
And I don't know how many appliances you could buy today
that would still work in 80 years time.
- [James] That is so true.
(upbeat music)
- [Jamie] What does it taste like?
- I can confirm it is toast.
- Okay, now for the impossible question.
How much do you reckon we paid for an 80 year old
vintage toaster of off eBay?
- 40 pounds.
- [Ben] 22.
- [James] 22 pounds? - [Ben] 22 pounds.
- [James] What a bargain?
- Is this the best thing since sliced bread,
or would you just stay in bed?
- It's the best thing since sliced bread.
I enjoy it very much.
- Right, the final gadget.
Give the cloche a lift, lets find out
if it's the best of the bunch.
- It had better be.
(upbeat music)
Oh, oh.
- Oh it's written on it.
- It is written on it.
It's a Soda Stream.
- James this is a Soda Stream.
Now this one is from the 1970s, one of the original ones.
The company's still around today.
They're still making Soda Stream so they must be good
'cause they're still popular.
We wanna know your thoughts on this one.
- Cool, I'd like to try it.
- Look at how happy the family are
when basically you can create your own
diner soda at home.
Look it just, it brings smiles to everyone's face.
- I like the photography.
I like that kind of fake-ness.
- Let's also talk about the wrap around image though.
- [James] Yeah, that's cool. - [Jamie] That's cool.
- James, how worried were you
by the Teasmade and the toaster?
- Oh no that's like gas under pressure (Speaker drowned out)
- 'Cause we bought this and it came with original syrups
and an original canister of gas.
- I hate, oh that's so heavy.
- The original gas canister?
- Okay James, the instructions are in front of you,
good luck.
- Lay her down.
Red cap off.
I screw the cylinder
clockwise using finger tight pressure only.
(dramatic music)
That's finger tight pressure.
- So far so good.
- Okay, yeah, safety base on.
Fill a Soda Stream bottle with cold water
up to the line marked on the bottle.
Pull the bottle holder towards you and insert the bottle
into the tube, done.
Close bottle holder and pull the operating handle
fully forward.
- I'm gonna take cover.
Janice!
- Between four and six presses will usually be sufficient.
One, two, three, four.
(shocked gasping)
Five.
- [Ben] Sounds fizzy.
- Six.
- [Ben] I think you're carbonated mate.
(dramatic music)
- God I hate this.
(Jamie laughing)
I've carbonated water.
- [Ben] I think they're really cool and retro,
and we're glad they came with the thing,
but we did buy Soda Streams more recent cola syrup.
- Slowly down the side of the neck.
Nice, well I am alive.
I'm uninjured. (Jamie laughing)
- [Ben] Tick! - Tick tick.
Screw the cap securely onto the bottle
and gently turn it upside down a couple of times
to allow your concentrate to fully mix with the water.
- Let me give you a glass.
- [Everyone] Oh.
- Should of done that while Ben didn't have his ass
in front of the camera.
(Jamie laughing)
(upbeat music)
Ebbers you get the small glass
'cause you've been a naughty boy.
- [James And Ben] Cheers.
- That's a very sweet tasting cola.
- It's carbonated, maybe it could've done
with a little less syrup, but it's not bad.
- You can carbonate anything,
that's what I love about it.
- Milk.
- Apparently only water, so the instructions say,
but I'm sure as a kid we carbonated all sorts.
That's why I brought you some white wine over.
Little bit of sparkling wine, wanna give it a go?
- [Jamie] Oh yeah, do that.
- Do you want me to.
I'll do it. - Yeah.
- Yeah, sure.
Honestly why did I agree to do this a second time?
I'm alive and unhurt.
- You shoulda quit while you're ahead mate.
(dramatic music)
- Two, three.
- [Ben] It pops, it tells you when it's ready.
- Four, five, six, that's it, seven?
- [Ben] I can hear it fizzing.
- That's it, that's it.
- Release the pressure.
(Jamie laughing)
So what we learned from this is that wine carbonates
at a slightly different rate to water,
so when you release it you get a bit more of a (swooshing).
(upbeat music)
(Jamie laughing)
- Fab fab fabs.
- Yes!
- Ah it's horrible.
Ask me the question.
- We've all had a really great time.
We've all got a little bit wet and wild.
How much do you think we paid for the Soda Stream?
- I think you probably paid 50 quid.
- It's a good guess mate.
We paid 50 pounds.
- [James] Did you?
- [Jamie] Yeah. - Bang on.
So James, just one question left to go.
In honour of their tag line and slogan,
would you get busy with the fizzy
or does it leave you in a bit of a tizzy?
- I got busy with the fizzy and I'm in a tizzy.
- Do you like it though?
- I can see why it was so popular back in the day,
because I think it allowed people to make fizzy drinks
at home, which was cool.
And now it's changed to it allows people to make
fizzy drinks as an alternative to sugary soft drinks.
So that's kinda cool.
What I would say is don't try wine at home.
Just don't listen to Ebbers ever, ever.
- Well over to your home.
Did you enjoy our journey into the past
and which one of those gadgets was your favourite?
- And of course if you want us to check out
more vintage kitchen gadgets,
then you're gonna have to suggest them,
so comment down below.
- And you can join in the conversation over on Twitter
using the hashtag Sortedgadgets.
Should we go dry you off?
- Yes please, would you come in with me?
- Of course.
- Thanks.
(beeping)
When you said vintage you know I was thinking naughties
but this looks a bit older than that.
- Oh what do you mean naughties?
Did you look at him and think naughties?
- Naughty.
(laughing)