(egg tapping) (egg cracking)
(egg sizzling)
(upbeat music)
- Hello and welcome to Sorted Food.
Today's gonna be a very good day.
We've teamed up with Visit Florida
to challenge our two normal home cooks, Jamie and Barry,
to see if they can beat our chef, Ben,
in the Ultimate Key lime Pie Battle.
(intense music)
- When someone told me we were teaming up
with Visit Florida,
I expected a slightly different location.
- Hence the shirt.
- Yeah, you've dressed for the occasion.
Yeah - holiday! (friends laughing)
Now, not only is Ben a trained chef,
but he's already been to Florida.
A few years back, he took a tour of Key West,
trying out some of the finest Key lime pies
as recommended by you, the community.
And ever since he's been referring to himself
as the Key lime connoisseur.
- Hang on a minute!
No, no, no, no, but it is those memories
that I'm using to construct my dish today.
- Jay, Baz, how on earth are you gonna beat him?
- Don't worry about us, Mike.
We've got over 500 comments from the Sorted community,
giving us all of their top tips.
- We've even got an executive pastry chef from Florida.
- And, well, I've got Barry.
- Come on, this is a team thing!
- Well, you know, there's pros and cons.
- Scared, Ben?
- Forget limes, I'll leave these to like a pair of lemons.
(crickets chirping)
- Right, Let's crack on.
In three, two, one, battle!
(bell dinging)
(rock music)
Guys, what we're looking for is the perfect balance
between tart and sweet.
We're looking for multiple differentiated textures
and this has got to be light, refreshing,
but also indulgent.
- My dish is gonna be like a celebratory, Floridian dessert
with Key lime pie as the centre point.
And to start that I need a biscuit base.
I'm gonna use biscuits, pecans and browned butter.
- Now on top of the hundreds of recommendations
from you guys, we also reached out to
a Floridian executive pastry chef
whose favourite dish is a Key lime pie.
Carissa solved everything for us.
- She explained all.
- Hey!
- Hey, Carissa. - Hey!
- How are you doing?
- Okay so we need some serious help
when it comes to Key lime pie.
- What does the iconic Key lime pie look like?
- Key lime pie is super simple.
There's 70% filling.
So you have Key lime juice,
which has to be actual Key lime juice.
We have condensed milk and egg yolks.
20% crust, the crust has to have graham crackers
and you don't want a crumbly crust.
You want a crunchy crust.
Like if you squeeze it with your hand
and it doesn't stay, add more butter.
And 10% whipped cream.
- Okay. - Okay.
- All right. - That's cool.
- That adds up to 100, mate.
- Cool, thanks, it's very specific.
I've never had a Key lime before.
What's so different about that to a normal lime?
- The difference between a regular lime and a Key lime
is that tartness and it's beautiful!
- Are there any like key skills that we have to apply?
- I call it the wiggle jiggle, smack that side of that pie,
and if it's still jiggles it ain't ready yet.
- We'll do the jiggle test.
- We'll do the wiggle jiggle, that sounds good.
- You gotta do the jiggle test.
- Everything that we do, we just got to beat Ben.
So have you got any other final tips?
- Love, believe it or not.
Take time and put your heart into it.
And your taste buds are gonna love it.
- So for our Key lime pie, we want to go as traditional
as we possibly can from our studio in London.
- We need to use graham crackers
but they're really, really challenging
to find here in the UK.
- Really challenging but we are always up for a challenge.
- And we found these bad boys.
Eat that, chef!
- Valid.
But what I wanted was a salty, oaty, crispy golden base.
And I've pimped mine with browned butter and pecans
because in the north of Florida
there's some wonderful pecans.
- And digestive biscuits?
- Well, no.
In East London, digestive biscuits,
and a touch of Florida of pecans.
(processor buzzing)
- We're gonna blitz up our graham crackers
in a food processor, add sugar, melted butter,
some vanilla extract, a little bit of salt.
- Are there any badges at stake in this?
- I mean, I can't award badges because I'm on the side here
and I'm in the competition with you.
- Well, we said the badges break down into technique,
creativity and organisation.
And sometimes organisation is in your pre prep,
in your planning, in your research.
So if you can bring that to the game and make yours
a traditional offering, then there is a badge up for grabs.
- It's still gotta taste good though.
Remember that.
You can't just say, oh, we knew what we were doing
but we can't execute it.
- We've got this.
- So as the only remaining member of the team
who's actually eaten a Key lime pie in Florida,
I'm gonna be judging this.
I am gonna be using the criteria from the experts
and you guys and the food team to do so.
The guy that could barely boil an egg two weeks ago,
is judging a Key lime pie battle.
- [Barry] Perfect, that's on the money that is.
- There's enough butter.
Carissa, there's enough butter.
- Rather than serve a slice of Key lime pie,
I'm gonna serve it as a dessert with the base
in the bottom and then the set element,
and then all the extra garnish.
- Now Key limes are really,
really tricky to get hold of in the UK, but we
are such a good team that we have got Key limes.
- Aren't these are from Egypt?
- These are from Egypt.
We were able to get hold of Egyptian Key limes,
but they are still Key limes,
which is a different "breed" of lime to lime.
What are you using Ebbers?
- Well, the key to this dish-
- Is Key limes.
- Is to get the citrus, the tang,
the floral note you get from Key limes.
I'm gonna do that without Key limes
by making a Key lime style panna cotta.
So the natural yoghurt is gonna give it a tang.
I'm gonna finish it with floral later.
Lots of zest, set with gelatin,
and that's going on top of my pecan biscuit base.
- Did you see anywhere in the comments
saying the main part of the Key lime pie is a panna cotta?
- It sounds like you're going to a lot of effort not
to use Key limes or graham crackers.
- We could both have made a traditional Key lime pie,
but I figured you guys have got that nailed.
What I wanna do is a celebration of my time in Florida,
Key lime pie elements throughout,
but also a nod to all the other wonderful things
that I experienced when I was there.
- Fine, let's get cracking then.
- This is gonna freeze for 20 minutes to cool and set up
and then I'll bake it for 10 minutes.
- Caramelised pecans, egg white, bit of water,
some sugar whisked up, toss the nuts through it,
strain off the excess.
And they go into an oven about 170
until they're crispy, golden and delicious.
- We need about one cup or 240 millilitres
of Key lime juice.
So how, 'cause these limes are a little bit smaller
than normal limes?
- Little small, and all of the zest.
So I think it's quite a lot of limes to get through
but I can't work out how many.
- [Ben] But you're only weighing the juice, right?
- Yeah, I know, but it gives you an idea.
- I think you'll get about five mil
out of that. - Put that back!
(playful music)
- You're kidding me.
- That's not even gone up a gramme.
We're gonna need to set up a conveyor belt
'cause we also need to zest those lines.
And let me tell you, we need-
- It's easier to zest them before you juice them,
...just saying.
- Shut up! - Shut up, Ebbers!
(Ben laughing)
(rock music)
- You want something that's really tart and tangy,
but also has that sweetness.
So all of the limes that I zested I've now juiced,
whisked in a bit of sugar and I'm gonna freeze it.
And as it freezes, kind of whisk
and scratch it up with a fork to end up
with the most tangy, delicious lime granita.
- I'm quite excited to see what Ebbers
is gonna come up with.
- So the mojito is muddling a couple of limes,
add in brown sugar, mint, white rum,
and then I'm gonna strain it off.
And I'm gonna use that to macerate cubes of dragon fruit.
- What are you doing?
- [Ben] Mike, do you like mojitos?
- Yes I do.
- 'Cause I can always add a bit more extra in for you
as well if you want.
Include everyone, a bit of love, sharing.
- Barry, Barry, Barry!
Barry, Barry!
What are you doing?
He squeezed one lime, got bored and got a machine out.
- They can't be doing this in Florida.
They can't be doing it one by one, can they?
(processor buzzing loudly)
(lighthearted music)
- There you go, Mike.
- [Mike] Oh, Ebbers, I love you.
- [Jamie] I'm up to 63 millilitres, including pips.
- Ebbers, we gotta address the elephant in the room.
You're not using Key limes.
You're not using graham crackers.
How on earth are you justifying the brief in your dish?
- What I wanna do is create the journey
that I took down Florida.
So I'm even gonna try and create the kind of the bay in
the sweep of Florida down the Keys.
I'm gonna take all the flavours
and textures of Key lime pie,
but then also throw in inspirations from the other people
and places I've visited.
Mango groves, an organic edible flower farm,
pitayas on the side of the road, mojito, pecans.
It's all gonna come together into a dish
that will look as stunning as Florida
and taste like Key lime pie.
- Oh, now that sounds amazing.
Will he be able to deliver it?
I'm intrigued.
(lively music)
- Is that?
(Jamie laughing)
How tart is that?
(Barry coughing)
- Dragon fruit or pitaya
'cause it does look stunning outside and in
but it's a bit... meeehhhh
Which is why I'm soaking it in the mojito.
- Okay, so bearing in mind.
Now you're gonna have the bitterness of the pith
included in 50% of that juice.
How are you going to supplement that balance?
How are you gonna supplement
that with additional sweetness?
- With two tins of condensed milk.
- I've sealed in all the goodness
and the other great thing about my recipe
is it's kind of all make ahead.
The panna cotta sets, the biscuit base.
You can prep this, the granita's in the freezer.
I'm now gonna make a mango foam for that final wow.
- Carissa said there were three really important parts
to this filling, Key lime juice, egg yolks,
and some condensed milk.
Are you all right there?
- [Jamie] These are harder to open than those limes!
(Barry groaning)
- Florida ruined mangos for me,
it was the most phenomenal mango I've ever had
and I've never had one better.
So I've used tinned mango pulp because they're tinned
when they are the freshest, the most ripe.
Absolutely perfect.
I'm now blending in xanthan gum to thicken it.
Then I will charge it in the syphon gun to create a foam.
- [Barry] And we thought limes were hard to squeeze.
(friends laughing)
- So Ebbers as a chef,
what was your view on the culinary
sort of food scene in Florida?
- I wasn't actually there that long, but I loved Miami,
a really cool food scene.
There was some great Cuban influences in Little Havana.
I loved all of the produce and how fresh
and tropical it all was.
All the fresh fruits, the agua fresca was so amazing.
Lots of seafood all the way down the coast.
I had conch for the first time and one spectacular memory
was when I went to an organic edible flower farm,
and Gabriele showed me around and we just walked around
and we just picked colourful things and ate them.
And the flavours we got from these flowers was incredible.
So I want a little nod to that on my dish.
I'm gonna finish it with nice edible flowers.
- Look, I know Ebbers has been giving it the big one with,
"I've been to Florida!"
- He's bringing a lot of added value,
I have to stand by him.
- Well, the thing is, we've done our research as well, okay?
- Great!
Can't wait for this.
- Mike, did you know that over 1 1/2 million acres,
the Florida Everglades
are actually the largest subtropical wilderness
in the whole of the United States?
- Florida is also the boating
and fishing capital of the world.
And no wonder there's over 900 world fishing records.
- It's also worth pointing out that Greater Miami
is the only metropolitan area within America that has two
national parks.
- I mean, you've done some Googling, but what is impressive
is you've done some memorising as well.
So I'm actually genuinely quite impressed with that.
- So we're gonna pop that into an oven, 20 to 22 minutes.
We can stick a temperature probe in it,
70 degrees Celsius internal temperature.
That's how we know it's gonna be done.
- All right - Okay.
(energetic music)
(audience applauding)
- Oh, my goodness.
- [Jamie] 74, it's definitely done.
It's got a lovely little jiggle
that will hopefully disappear once it's cooled down.
- So I couldn't get hold of fresh Clitoria flowers.
So instead I've got the powdered form.
It's also called butterfly pea.
I'm dissolving some in a sugar syrup
to give us a wonderful blue, turquoisey colour
that will change pink with acid.
- Final bit of our pie is the topping.
We're going for whipped cream.
It's exactly what the community said,
it's exactly what Carissa said that we had to do.
We're gonna smear it over the top.
So we get our 20, 70, 10.
- [Mike] Two minutes remaining!
- I've got the mango puree in here.
I now need to charge it with nitrous oxide.
(bouncy music)
Under pressure.
- [Jamie] Baz, remember the love.
- Lovely, mango foam.
- 60 seconds
left.
- Get it on, just get it on.
What the hell is that?
- He's not making a Key lime pie, I know that much.
- Talking of crunch time, I'm adding the texture,
which we know is so important for Key lime pie.
- Are you just smoothing it over like a driveway?
- [Mike] 20 seconds remaining!
- Where's the zester?
- [Ben] Last few bits of flower.
- [Mike] Go, go, go, go, go!
What are you doing with that?
- A celebration of Florida. - Five, four!
- [Mike] Three, two!
- [Barry] Why you putting limes on top?
- [Mike] One!
Step away from the pie!
- You've 'Spaffed' it.
(upbeat music)
- Excellent job, excellent job.
Wow, can't wait to eat that.
- So what this is, is a pecan and biscuit buttery base
with a lime, yoghurt panna cotta,
and then on top the shape of the Florida state
around the bay towards Key West.
We've got caramelised pecans,
dragon fruit macerated in mojito.
We've got a mango foam, a lime granita
and some edible flowers.
- Is it a Key lime pie?
- It's got a biscuit base and a creamy tang... you tell me.
- Cheers. - Cheers.
- Cheers.
(bouncy music)
- That is zingy.
- The granita gives you that (woaaahhh)
like a Key lime pie should do.
- If you don't look at it,
even though it looks beautiful and eat it,
you could tell me that that was a variation
on a Key lime pie, annoyingly for you both.
- It really, really is delicious.
Damn!
(Mike laughing)
- Let's move on to this one.
- Well, regardless of the taste and who wins the battle,
I like the fact they came armed with the knowledge
and the insight, hundreds of comments, expertise,
having sourced the ingredients.
That alone is deserved of a research badge.
- [Mike] Oh right.
- Before he's even tasted it. - Just like that.
- Amazing! - Just like that.
- [Barry] Thank you very much.
- [Ben] Straight off the bat.
- I waned to try and make them work for it, Ebbers,
but you just badged him.
- We could not have made this without all of the help
that we got from the community and from Carissa!
- [Barry] Hello!
- I reckon you've got 30% base, 55 middle
and 15.
It looks brilliant.
- Cheers.
That is really,
really good.
- That tartness is what makes that so special,
but I can see Carissa's point
about the graham cracker base as well.
That is a base, that is a Key lime pie base.
- That is so different from using digestive biscuits.
- Okay, so judging criteria.
Apart from maybe a tiny bit of the ratios being out,
you know, I think that's pretty much bang on.
I'm genuinely taken aback, well-played.
Ebbers, what a dish.
It tasted fantastic, I think the story was lovely.
- Shoehorned a few.
- Shoehorned, but cool, liked the brief,
liked the execution.
So our Chef Kush said that is like eating a cloud
from the food team.
It hit all of the judging criteria that was outlined
at the beginning and for a Key lime pie in East London,
which is something we keep coming back to, it's outstanding,
and therefore that's going to win the battle today.
- We've done it!
- We've beat the chef! - We've taken him down!
- With that in mind, fantastic.
And it only makes me think how good
is one of those gonna taste actually in actual Florida?
- Well, I think we're all in agreement here in the studio
but what do you think?
Comment down below who would've taken your win today.
- And a massive thank you to Visit Florida
for making all of this happen.
I suppose the next step is that we should be travelling
to Florida when it's safe to do so
and testing the Key lime pie for real.
If you'd like to see that happen, give the video a like,
and we'll see what we can do.
- [Mike] What did he say?
- He said, I was driving through Florida
and I saw a mango farm.
(Jamie laughing)
- And I thought I wanna go farm too.
(friends laughing)
- Thank you!
Thank you.
(friends laughing)