Hello.
Welcome to SORTEDfood.
This is Fridge Cam.
How is your week going?
We have already had messages from people
who have started receiving their club welcome packages.
Look at these pictures of excitement.
Now, if you haven't received yours yet,
it's probably because you're in a much nicer climate
than London.
And it could take a bit longer to get to you.
But it's coming.
If you've already received your welcome pack,
then you probably already know the name of the next book
that we're going to be making.
If not, hang around until the end of this video
because we have a title, we have a front cover,
and we have a thing.
But we do need your help.
But before all that, if you like ramen--
and we know it's one of your favorites--
then enjoy this.
Today, we're looking at ramen.
We have three different versions in front of us that we've made.
Each takes a little bit more time than the other.
Each takes a little bit more expertise than the other.
But does it make a difference?
First up, a five minute instant ramen.
Now, I'm guessing when we talk about instant ramen,
you're thinking about the thing that comes out of a packet,
and then you get the mystery flavor packet,
and you put that in, and suddenly you have flavor.
Yeah, we're not doing that.
But we kind of are.
Because we're making our own sachet.
We're a cooking channel.
This is the "can't be asked" method.
And we need a lot of ingredients for this,
but not a lot of skill.
We've got shitake mushrooms.
Porcini mushrooms.
Bonito flakes.
Kombu.
Chicken stock cube.
Ginger powder.
Onion granules.
Garlic salt.
Clove.
Black pepper.
Chili flakes.
And star anise.
Who's niece?
Star-- star anise.
And one of these--
a spice grinder.
If you don't have a spice grinder, don't panic.
You could use a pestle and mortar or a blender.
And we're going to put all of that in there.
A tablespoon of it into a pan with 1.5 liters of water.
Nailed it.
Somebody borrowed a kettle for me.
You can't even take a moment to boil a kettle.
That will boil away for five minutes.
Then we'll chuck our noodles in-- cook them.
So it's so simple.
That's with two people to make.
I know.
Ahh!
Ooh!
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
You're thinking.
However, the next one--
a little bit longer, a little bit more going on.
He's the man of ramen.
Man of ramen.
Yeah.
One singular raw man.
He loves ramens.
Time to take our ramen game up again.
So where our instant ramen used a lot of dried ingredients,
we're going to replace them with the fresh version.
And it does use a couple of cheats,
so you're going to want fresh chicken
stock, some cured bacon, smoked bacon, and a bunch
of fragrant ingredients.
We've got leeks, shitake, ginger, garlic, kombu,
and star anise.
So it begins with about a liter and a half of chicken stock
in a pan heated up to a boil.
Smoked bacon-- we've taken the fat off,
and that's going into the broth.
And our bowl of fresh stuff.
This is all going to go in there.
Anything we chop up is the peak.
Thank you very much.
So the key to this one is a few less spices--
no clove, no black pepper, no chili flakes.
It's all fresh, fragrant, and needs about 30 minutes
to rubber away.
Once that's boiled away for 30 minutes, we need to strain it.
Then we use the broth to cook the noodles.
Then we season it and serve.
Oh-oh!
Yes.
It's the same.
Does it taste any different?
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Come over here.
Come on.
This is a traditional ramen.
(MOCKING) This is a traditional ramen.
For our traditional method, we are going the whole hog.
And we need the foot of a pig, the ribs of a pig,
the carcass of a chicken, and a number of aromats,
including onion, leek, garlic, ginger, and shitake mushrooms.
All of the animal bits into a large pan with cold water,
enough to cover it, and heat it to a boil.
So he said animal bits.
The reason we're using those is because that
is where all the flavor is.
It's got all the gelatin in it, so it makes it all
like meaty and delicious.
Once it's come up to a boil, you get that wonderful layer
of "scum."
We've drained that off, rinsed it in cold water,
and then put it back into a clean pan
and topped it back up with cold water.
Ben's done that.
All I have to do is add the aromats,
which are things that flavor the broth.
After eight hours of bubbling and occasionally topping it
back up, we're going to do a two-phase strain, which
is colander and muslin or cheesecloth.
So cheffy.
So we're using a cloth because this
has been roughly boiled for so long
that it's broken down a lot of the meat
into very, very fine shreds.
So we're just getting rid of all of those bitty bits.
Now, that's our traditional broth.
We're going to use it to cook our noodles in,
season it just like the others.
We should stress that every single bowl
has been served the same--
identical seasoning of meso and soy, identical noodles,
identical egg, and garnished.
Right.
Let's dig in.
Give a bit of a swell, and let's start with the easy one.
What?
Can we mix up?
I like that.
What I think it has is kind of spice to it.
And it's kind of very all rounded.
The depth of it--
like, you're getting a lot from the broth.
You're getting a lot of different
of flavors coming out.
Again-- the mushroom.
I find it really hard to comment on that
without tasting the others.
Because I need the comparison to know
whether I like that better or not as much
as any of the other ones.
That's very true.
I don't eat ramen enough to know if that's good or bad.
It's delicious.
Second ramen.
Move along.
Always.
It looks darker.
Oh, wow.
Oh.
This is going to be the hardest thing to feed back on,
because I can't work out what I'm tasting.
But it is different class.
I'm getting a lot more of the garlic, and the ginger,
and the kind of fresher flavors.
Yeah.
The first one isn't grainy.
But there's a slight--
Dryness.
Dryness to it, whereas that is just all about explosion
of flavor in your mouth.
That one can taste a little bit too much salty.
And that one is mellow, and rounded, and delicious.
These are all about delicate flavors,
so it's quite difficult to describe.
This is like an instant coffee.
And that-- that's like an espresso.
Now I need to know whether that one
is like having a personal barista who knows my roast
and knows my grind.
I'd have to say-- even without tasting it,
just looking at it--
it's a bit more--
it's got oil.
Yeah.
Gentlemen, that is like gravy.
First one-- instant gravy.
That tastes like it's been like de jus of an animal.
I think ramen is like sandwiches.
Coffee, gravy, sandwiches.
They're so bespoke.
And it doesn't matter where in the world you go,
or which region of Japan, or which town or village,
or which personal family member makes it, or restaurant,
they're all slightly different.
But when you understand what the difference is doing--
so the time and the animal bits--
is giving it mouth fill and body.
Whereas this one is much fresher,
but it's also a tenth of the time.
And I wouldn't say it's a tenth as good.
No.
I'd say it's as good for different reasons.
Instant satisfaction of ramen-- have that.
Because it works is a ramen.
If you want something that you can have on a regular basis,
go for this-- if you want a naughty treat.
Definitely the last one.
If you want to win an ultimate chef at a chef ramen battle,
this is the way to go.
Please do comment down below, and tell us
what you think about each one of these
and which one would be your favorite.
What should we be comparing next?
We've done ice cream.
We've done ramen.
What should we cook next?
Now, funny enough, three different ramen
at three different effort levels leads quite nicely
into the announcement about the theme of the next book.
Seamless segue, as we announce the theme is--
"Can't be asked."
We heard from you that as much as you want a great food,
you really can't be asked to go to the effort of all
the cooking.
Yes, this is like rewinding to sort of day when
we want quick, simple, tasty, easy grub you can cook in--
well, when you can't be bothered.
My mum watches these.
So we have a title, we have a theme, we have a front cover,
we have some ideas for recipes.
But we still need your help in shaping the book.
So please head over to the forum and let
us know all of your ideas for your favorite
"can't be asked" recipes.
And not just ideas, actual recipes.
If you want your actual recipe in a cookbook,
that's the place to leave it.
And if you didn't get to sign up to the club
or you have absolutely no idea what we're talking about,
then sign up to the club letter in the link down below--
give you all the information you need on how to join.
And we will see you on Sunday.
Goodbye.