(upbeat music)
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(energetic guitar music)
- Hello, everyone. Now our mate James is a chef,
and he's in our studio.
Hello, James.
- Hello, Jamie.
- And we thought even though we're in lockdown,
we can still explore the world of extravagance
see what we discover.
- So as always, we have picked
some potentially pretentious ingredients
and sent them to the studio for James,
plus, I've left very strict instructions
for Mike to prepare at a safe distance
a few food items that might work with them.
- Shall I lift the cloche?
ooh wow, it's oil a nut oil.
It's not great you think oil off the spoon
it taste peanutty
but I can imagine it's not peanut oil,
'cause that's not pretentious enough for this video.
- [Ben] This is arganics virgin Argan oil.
It's 100% pure, lightly toasted, organic, cold pressed
and perfect for culinary use
delicious nutty taste perfect as a finishing oil.
It was a best kept secret
of the Berber people of North Africa.
It's a nutty golden oil
that comes from the fruit of the Argan tree
which itself is ancient and UNESCO protected.
- It looks good, the branding is nice.
It looks expensive.
- So Argan oil products
generally fall into two camps.
You've got cosmetics
and you've got culinary use
and in culinary use, it's very much a finishing oil
or you can literally take it almost
as like for the health benefits
you just take like a tablespoon a day
you might take a cod liver oil, similarly.
- I've heard of it as a cosmetic thing
but not as culinary thing.
I've got some bread to dip it in.
It's not the nicest thing to eat with bread.
To me it doesn't taste like you're finishing oil
in the same way that I want to cook with peanut oil
'cause it imparts and amazing flavour.
I wanna cook with this
but this has been marked as a finishing oil.
I have two other pots.
- [Ben] Well One is an extra virgin olive oil
and one is a pistachio oil.
- This one's the olive oil.
It's quite mild olive oil actually.
It's nice.
So I also have the pistachio oil.
Woo, it's not got the same satisfaction
as the olive oil.
It's actually quite similar to the Argan oil.
It's very mild, therefore it's more oily than flavourful.
Weirdly, I'm enjoying it more
now that I've gone back to it
after the other two oils.
- Interesting.
- Maybe it's because I've tasted olive oil.
It's now kind of tasting a little bit sweeter.
- We've said that before we things like whiskey tasting,
you need to get your palate in the right place sometimes
- Yeah.
- To be able to tastes tasted properly.
- Yeah, well, my palate is now in the right place
and it's actually tasting nicer.
- I think as always,
we come back to the question,
what's the definition of pretentious?
just because it's something unfamiliar to us.
Is that pretentious?
I think the story behind this is really nice,
because the founder of Arganic,
basically spent a couple of years
researching the Berber communities
'cause she loved the heritage of the story.
- Says over 600 Berber women benefit directly
from the production of our oil,
it's on the label, which is cool.
I don't know whether it inspires me
to use it anywhere that I wouldn't use olive oil.
For example, we've tested pumpkin oil as well before
and that flavour kind of blew me away.
It adds a different element to a dish
this it's nice to have on bread
and I started appreciating the flavour.
But it's very very mellow.
- And price wise James that bottle 250 mil
any guesses?
- £9.99.
- It's a lot more than £9.99
the 600 Berber women who spent 15 hours
hand crushing 30 kilos of UNESCO protected nut.
- Right (mumbles).
- Is a little bit more than £9.99,
it's £28.
- £28.
- For premium oils and cold pressed extra virgin,
it's on par.
- If anyone actually does use Argan oil
to finish their dishes
or any other weird and wonderful uses for it,
let me know, I'd be really interested
to know how it differs from olive oil
if you use it in a different way.
- Pretentious or not.
- Definitely not pretentious.
(soft upbeat music)
- What's it gonna be? It's some dried things.
I think they're crispy tomato slices.
- Good, so we've we've established you can read
- It looks pretentious.
Shall I taste them?
I've got a lot of reservation.
When you pick them up,
they're a little bit crispy.
They taste of tomato.
The taste is good.
But I'd rather be sun dried tomato, I think.
These are not crispy anymore.
They're chewy.
- [Jamie] Well James,
theses are the Dardimans tomato fruit crisps
this savoury snack makes a healthy alternative
to traditional crackers,
dehydrated and served in slices.
They make a great accompaniment
with cheeses, salad, pasta, and best of all charcuterie.
- They're a great ingredient.
They're not for snacking.
- Is that the issue?
You're saying because they're dehydrated
you don't like them?
- Yeah, perhaps the freeze dried one would be better.
I don't dislike them,
they have a nice flavour
because they're obviously really nice tomatoes.
- What they say is that
because they dehydrate rather than sun dry or freeze dry,
they're able to retain all of the fruit's vitamins,
you get to keep the earthy colours, the natural flavours,
and there's no sugars or preservatives.
So that is as tomato as a tomato could get.
- And it's nice, it tastes good.
I think the issue I have is probably
the claim that it's fine snacking
soon as I saw that it was game over man
I don't mind the chewiness
but it's not great on its own.
- Well, what if we served it to you as instructed?
- Look at these.
My goodness.
- [Jamie] There you should have some canopies
with piped garlic and herb cream cheese
on top of your tomato fruit Crisp.
- [Ben] Well have a taste, see if it changed your mind.
- No.
- Oh, come on.
- What do you want from a canopy base.
You either want something that kind of carries
the topping and then disappears completely
or you want something that
gives a bit of texture to the canopy.
What you don't want is something
that stays in your mouth for five minutes
after you finish the actual canopy.
I wanna be clear and say
that I'm not saying it's bad.
Like it tastes nice.
And I'm sure it has a uses.
You just can't use it straight out of the box.
- Do you wanna have a crack at how much it costs?
- £5.99?
- It was £5.95.
- Ah, what a guess.
- Okay, James.
You know what I'm gonna ask you
pretentious or not?
- In my opinion.
I'm gonna have to say pretentious,
it's a good product,
but it's trying to do something
that it's not delivering on,
put them through pasta
put them through like a dressing in a salad,
chop them up and put them on a cheese platter.
Just don't snack on them
and don't expect them to be crispy
as soon as they hit your mouth.
(upbeat music)
- What on earth is that?
Oh, it smells like a condiment.
- That it is,
can you narrow it down anymore?
- [James] Well, it's sparkly.
(Jamie laugh)
It smells acidic, pickle-y slightly mushroomy.
It's kind of a little bit split, separating in the pot.
It doesn't smell great,
but I don't know if I'm being influenced by the looks.
I'm not looking forward to tasting it.
- Good, well in that case,
put some on your tongue.
Try it
- Oh.
It's really salty,
slightly vinegary,
it's slightly mustardy.
- [Ben] It's mustard.
- looks horrific.
- So James, this is Savor and Sens gold mustard
add a subtle sheen to meat sandwiches
and salad dressings with this mustard
from French food pioneers Savor and Sens.
- I'm still going with the mushroomness
I don't know why.
- so it does have a little truffle essence in it
or a natural truffle flavour.
So it is a truffle mustard as well.
- Thank you everyone, thank you.
- I potentially put you in this category
but it says, this will instantly elevate
any dish's visual appeal,
presented to Culinary minded guests
for unexpected yet undoubtedly appreciated finishing touch.
- No, surely if your guests is a culinary minded
they're gonna prefer a good mustard.
I have been presented with
some more beautifully plated food.
It's an open salt beef sandwich
with a single pickle on the top.
It has two different types of mustard on it.
One has wholegrain mustard,
which looks delightful.
And one has gold mustard,
which looks off putting.
(Jamie chuckles)
- I love some salt beef.
- Okay, that was the gold,
this is a whole grain.
I don't know how fair a comparison says
mustards can be quite different.
And it's very subjective,
like I prefer it without the truffle.
I can't really taste it on the salt beef
'cause it hasn't got much of a kick to it.
All I can really say is
their main selling point appears to be the visual appeal.
And it's kind of splitting
and I think it would look nicer
if it was the Dijon or an English mustard.
I think it would have a better visual appeal.
I think it's also worth me saying
that I'm not adverse to using a little bit of gold
in dishes to make it look good,
but this just doesn't look nice.
- What about price wise James?
- I'm trying to think of like an average price of mustard.
- I'll give you an average price of mustard,
a quality, wholegrain mustard,
averaging out about 72 pence per hundred grammes.
- I'll go for £5.99.
- Not high enough.
It's about seven pounds a jar
and available in very high end shops
like Harrods and Harvey Nichols
- Seven pounds.
You know my opinion already.
- Pretentious or not?
- It's totally pretentious.
(upbeat music)
- Oh, it's very yellow.
And fruity.
It's very subtle shimmer,
but it catches your eye every so often.
- [Jamie] Give it a taste.
- It's really sweet.
- More so than a more regular Prosecco.
- Compare it closer to Fanta than Prosecco.
(Jamie lough)
In terms of, if we're going for sweetness scale
tastes a little bit artificial. You've said Prosecco.
So I'm assuming it's alcoholic.
But it doesn't necessarily taste alcoholic
it could easily just be a soft drink.
- This is the Pearl Cuvee
alcohol free sparkling wine.
Give it a shake and glitter swirls around in the bottle.
So it's sparkling in more ways than one
flavours of white flowers, grapefruits
and orange rind dominate.
So, mixed with soda water and a slice of orange.
And now it's a refreshing summer spritzer.
- Is the serving suggestion to spritz it,
or is it like a white wine
where you can spritz it?
I can imagine in this kind of bottle.
It's intended to be drunk like this.
It doesn't say wine on the bottle anywhere.
It's just shaped like a wine bottle.
- The place where we bought it from
described it as sparkling wine.
- What's going on?
Okay, so you've given me an alcohol free sparkling wine.
It's actually really similar.
- Is it really?
- Yeah, the pearl is more soft drink.
This is more winey
It's got a bit more of a tang.
I like the idea of alcohol free wines
'cause it means that you can kind of
have a drink with your mates
that are drinking alcohol
and not feel left out.
But if I wasn't drinking alcohol,
I think I'd prefer to go for something
that isn't trying to replicate alcohol,
but it's just a nice drink.
- And what you'll also find there
is everything that you need
to turn this into a spritzer,
which may or may not be
the right way to drink it,
but is a serving suggestion, at least.
- Well, it's alright, you know.
Tastes a bit more winey,
I guess, 'cause it's not as sweet
'cause it's been diluted.
The fact that they've made it yellow
means that it doesn't look like wine,
which is another tick in my opinion,
like they're not trying to be wine,
even though they kind of say
it kind of don't I'm not sure.
I've gone on the journey from thinking
oh, this is a nice off alcohol free drink to
is it sparkling wine or is it not?
And do I serve it with soda water or not?
If I picked up the bottle off the shelf.
I'm not sure what I'm getting.
- How much you think it costs?
- £4.99.
- [Jamie] Add 10 quid to that.
It's 14 pounds 90 pence.
- That feels quite expensive,
especially when you can buy other bottles
of sparkling flavoured water
which is what this essentially is
for a lot cheaper,
- Soooo, pretentious or not?
- I'll err towards pretentious,
but I can't say it is pretentious
'cause it's not really trying to be wine
but is it? But isn't it? I don't know.
(upbeat music)
Turning round,
opening the cloche.
Woo, yokolato.
It feels premium.
Feels like something you'd buy in an artisan
little deli shop.
- [Ben] Now what you got?
- It looks like a cake,
but it's incredibly heavy.
It's a solid block of chocolate.
It smells good.
- [Ben] It is La Molina's Millestrati Gianduja.
a milk white and dark chocolate layered Gianduja cake.
- Okay.
- [Ben] it is indeed solid,
even for James's arms.
- [James] Ah,
- [Ben] It looks sticky and fudgey and delicious.
- [Jamie] I mean, that looks incredible.
- [James] It's crazy.
- We should definitely point out that La Molina
is an Italian chocolatier.
They have incredible handcraft chocolates,
they deliver excellence throughout.
- It's good.
I think the layers are probably like really traditional
and it's like a feast for the eyes,
- But there not different flavours
within the different layers.
I can't believe I'm saying this,
but I have taken this and separated it into
milk, white and dark chocolate,
I'll go for milk.
(mumbles)
They do taste different,
but you'll never get to taste them differently.
Why would anyone do that?
(Jamie and Ben chuckle)
- [Ben] The layering is more about the visuals.
Whereas I think traditionally
Gianduja is used as like a filling for other thing.
- It tastes like praline,
like you could put a hard chocolate shell outside of it
and it would be a praline
that you know and love.
- How much for that two kilo cake.
- I can imagine it's quite expensive,
maths wise I'm coming out at like 100 pounds,
although I'm basing that on like 100 grammes
of pretty decent chocolate,
90 pounds,
- [Ben] it's actually less than that 79 pounds.
- What a bargain.
(Jamie laugh)
you look at that, and you think,
wow, that's 79 pounds for a cake,
but actually, it's 79 pounds for two kilos of chocolate.
See... it's quite reasonable.
(all laugh)
- And it sounds crazy to say that.
But we come back to the same question
and the same narrow word of pretentious or not.
- It's not pretentious.
It's not trying to be anything that it's not.
I'd say you know what you're getting when you buy it,
but I'm not sure we're 100% knew what we were getting
When we bought that.
But if you know what it is,
you know what you're getting,
and damn, it's gonna serve a lot of people.
It's a celebration thing, you know.
- Well, I can't wait until
we all get back into the studio to celebrate.
- Yeah, I don't think that's going anywhere.
- I wanna put my face in that.
Well, there were our thoughts,
but we'd absolutely love to know what you think as well
list the products down below in the comments
and give us your opinions pretentious or not.
- We've also built the sorted club,
where you can get tonnes of foodie inspo
using the packs midweek 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.
(energetic upbeat music)
And now a blooper.
(beep)
- But I like a little bit more of a kick
to my dipping olive oil.
- Maybe James wasn't the right person.
- Shut up mate, I can see you
well I can still see Jamie.
A judging look.
- Yeah, but this olive oil
is not to my tasting and my sourdough is too chewy.