(bowl clangs)
(egg cracks) (pan sizzles)
(upbeat rock music) - Hello,
and welcome back to SORTEDfood.
It's been a while since we've done one of these.
We've got two of our normals, Mike and Barry.
We're going to feed them
some potentially polarizing pretentious ingredients.
- Gentlemen, are your engines running?
(record scratch)
- What? - What?
- Are you ready?
- Yep. - Y-y-yeah.
(bright indie guitar music)
- Lift une cloche!
- Go on, Basil.
It's always unidentified powder.
- No-no-no, no-no-no.
That.
That looks like pollen,
or like Szechwan buds.
- I was going to say,
that looks like ground up Szechwan buds.
- We are such pretentious foodies. (laughs)
- It tastes like dry sambuka
- Boys, what we have in front of you,
is dehydrated sambuka. (laughs)
- Excellent.
- Oh, what is Aniseed?
- It's from a little star, isn't it?
Tastes fennel-y. - It looks like a pollen.
- I'm hearing lots of interesting words, Ebbers.
- Most of them are correct.
That is fennel pollen.
(they react cockily)
- What's the point in moving forward?
We know everything. (jar scrapes counter)
- [Barry] We know it all.
- So this is something
that we've probably seen popping up for the last few years.
It is a wonderful finishing ingredient,
to sprinkle over all sorts of dishes,
to give it that kind of earthy, licorice note, the aniseed,
but also kind of a bright zestiness,
plus it's a nice color.
- There is a citrus-y note.
There's a florality.
- Ooh. Sure. - Yeah. You're welcome.
- Pretentious language.
- That makes it not just a fashionable variation
on something that already exists.
- It's going to add something.
- I feel like it could.
- Food please.
(screen wipe whooshes)
- Whoa! - What is that?
- That's a lot of mayonnaise.
(bright rock music)
- [Jamie] So what the food team have prepared for you
are porchetta skewers,
mashed potato and charred cabbage.
- [Barry] Oh.
- Where is the potato in that?
'Cause that is whipped butter.
- This is what happens when you get a chef
to make mashed potato.
- That is stunning.
- [Barry] As aniseed-y product goes,
I'm not a massive fan of the taste of aniseed,
but here, you get more of the aromas than you do the taste.
I quite like it. - It's quite commonly used
just to liven up veg dishes,
from literally some braised carrots,
or some cabbage,
wonderful in roasted root vegetable dishes.
Can be used in baked things.
So things like fennel cookies,
is a nice touch,
but also on fish and pork and poultry.
- This as a product, is really tasty and it's nice.
Personally. I don't know.
I don't know if it's got that much of an impact,
to justify going out to buy yet another spice
in the cupboard,
that I don't really fully maximize the use of.
- You've probably seen fennel as a bulb.
It's essentially the same plant,
but it is the wild version that's often foraged.
At the right time of year, it flowers,
you get wonderful fennel fronds,
and then that becomes the flower and the pollen,
and that is the bit that's harvested.
This particular brand is harvested from Italy,
and is done so in the height of summer,
by long generations of people,
who have gone out there in the early morning,
before the midday heat,
to capture that pollen at its best.
- Let's talk about cost.
How much would you generally have in mind,
when buying spice jars?
- Somewhere between £1.50 and £2.00.
- And with that baseline in mind,
how much do you think the wild fennel pollen is?
- £5.00 for that jar.
- £10.00.
- Fennel pollen can be bought in the UK at the moment,
for just over £1000.00 a kilo,
which makes that £15.50. (register rings)
- Oh. That's pricey, isn't it.
- All of a sudden, I wish I'd harvested
more of my fennel pollen last summer.
So is it pretentious or not?
- I'm going to say it's not pretentious.
I am going to say also,
as a home cook,
I could achieve something very similar using federal fronds,
or frying off fennel spices,
and getting a similar experience.
- I think if you did standard fennel or fennel seeds,
you'd get halfway there,
but added with the zest of a lemon,
and perhaps a little bit of saffron,
you'd kind of get all that collective element going on.
- If I was to get this out as a product at home,
I've got to tell a story,
which therefore- - Absolutely cane you for it.
- makes me even more pretentious,
so I have to say it is a,
it's a pretentious catalyst.
- Whoa, - Ooh.
That's a new category.
- Should we move on to another dish?
- Yeah. Quick.
- [Jamie] Lift the cloche.
- [Barry] I trust this one less.
- Oh, that's got a gelatinous wobble,
hasn't it? - Yeah, yeah, Shimmer,
a shimmer and a shake.
- All right. Let's look at this up.
- I'm pretty sure it is something we've all eaten before,
but not necessarily in this form.
- Gelatinous, smooth peanut butter.
- Oh, I've got in my nose.
- Oh, it's fishy.
- Oh. It's the orange bit.
You know when you get a mussel,
and there's like little orangy bit on the side of it?
- It's that.
- The bits that I used to eat around,
'cause I was scared them,
but actually delicious.
It's that, blended up.
- It's like a really smooth, subtle, fishy flavor.
- Yeah.
- It is a puree of
sea urchin sex organ.
- Whoa.
- What sex organ do they have?
- Well, it's like their gonads, basically.
Pureed up. (Jamie snorts)
- Sorry. It's sea urchin (beeps).
(Mike laughs) (jar scrapes counter)
- This is an Italian product,
that's used a lot in Japan,
but also across the Mediterranean, sort of Italy.
Some French cooking.
- I am fascinated about how you use that in a dish.
(screen wipe whooshes)
- Ah-Ooh, yes.
Mixed feelings.
- We are going to learn some stuff about ourselves,
and each other.
- This is Sea urchin beef tartar.
- Put it with some very simple toasts,
but it is already all seasoned up.
- That is absolutely stunning.
I take everything that I said previously, back. Wow.
- You know when you have mussels?
I like the flavor, but I can't stand the texture,
but I'll pretend to like it,
'cause it makes me look more grown up.
- [Mike] And I also love garlic and cream.
- This gives you that beautiful, fishy flavor,
but with the texture of meat, (laughs)
which I'm much more comfortable with.
- [Mike] That is great.
- But I think you hit the nail on the head there,
that you say it's sort of mussel-y,
and I think the first time I had it,
it reminded me of like really intense mussel.
It's got that sweet seafood-y flavor,
but also the salty umami-ness,
and then the texture, which is almost buttery and creamy.
Some people almost compare it to like
the foie gras of the sea,
not in flavor, but in texture and richness.
- It's absolutely worldie, in this situation here.
But realistically, I am never,
ever going to make steak tartar at home.
- Here's a few ideas for you.
So 80% of sea urchin is consumed in Japan,
and it is very much sashimi, sushi,
the kind of dishes that we had and loved when we were there.
But it's also used a lot in French and Italian cooking,
so it could be passed through pasta.
It can be added to mayonnaise or bechamel.
It can be mixed through scrambled eggs.
- That feels like a really good way
to elevate quite simple dishes.
- As a lot of these,
I'm like, okay, I get it.
I kind of get a couple of usage scenarios
in preexisting products I own, that I could replace,
like oyster sauce,
like fish sauce- - Sure, got ya.
- But, is it going to change the dish that much?
And it will probably change my bank account, quite a lot.
- So that particular jar is 55 grams.
How much do you reckon we paid for it?
- I am going to say £4.99.
- I'm going to say £10.00 again.
- I think you should have just added them together.
It's 14.99. (register rings)
- What teamwork.
- This is why sorted works so well,
because I do my bit over here,
you do your bit over here,
and it comes together to make pure magic.
- By accident. - Sex organ.
- £273.00 per kilo.
Again, you don't buy kilos of the stuff.
So final question, pretentious or not?
- Again, I don't think it's pretentious.
I think, in the right hands. It's phenomenal.
- Yeah. And I'd leave it at that,
because I wouldn't dare-
- I'm not ready for it. - Try it at home.
- I'm not ready for it yet.
- Super interesting.
How would you use it at home?
Comment down below.
(bright indie music)
- Lift the cloche.
See if you change your mind about this one.
- You know what? Let's put it back.
- What is it?
- Looks like spinach eggs.
(they laugh)
- I need to talk to you
about the birds and bees again, Mike.
- Oh, hang on.
It smells smoky.
It's so green.
(Jamie laughs)
It's drying my mouth, it's green.
- It's been scraped off the top of a pond, hasn't it?
It's like, pond algae.
It's got the weirdest mouthfeel,
'cause it's almost like eating eggs.
They're all popping.
- That is Tonburi,
otherwise known as land caviar.
(jar scrapes counter)
So you were kind of right with the whole kind of
popping egg thing.
Think a bit like caviar and roe,
except it's from the grass. (graphic tingling)
So it is the seed of a fruit of a grass.
Would you like to try it in situ,
because probably on the end of a fork,
out of a bowl, isn't it.
- Yeah, I'm gonna stop eating it.
- Yeah, actually. I'm going to stop eating it too.
It's weirdly moreish. (chuckles)
- Stunning. - Okay. Yeah.
- Quail egg and salmon blinis.
- Blinis. - Blinis.
- [Barry] Right.
- So we absolutely prepared something
where traditional caviar might have a place,
and therefore we've used land caviar as a substitution.
- I didn't know I was eating it until the very end,
when it was popping,
and it was left in my mouth.
- In flavor,
you've made it less of a royale more of a Florentine,
in terms of it tastes like spinach at the end.
- Ah. - Interesting.
- So interestingly,
a lot of restaurants are using it
as a vegetarian or vegan alternative to caviar
to make all sorts of canapes,
that might traditionally have caviar,
which is obviously fish eggs,
to give you that same pop and texture,
which does add a dimension to food that is so unique.
- Yeah. But it's just got a completely different
flavor profile. - Yeah.
- So I get the pop. It's great.
But why?
Like, in my mind that is not a direct replacement
for caviar because it's hate completely different,
- [Jamie] But is it adding to the dish?
- No.
No. I think the dish would taste delicious.
You are adding another flavor,
- Okay. - I would say.
And another texture and experience.
- It's adding something different,
but I'd prefer it without.
- So it's the summer cypress plant,
which is an annual grass.
The actual grass bit is what's used to make brooms.
You know, the really stiff bristle, brooms.
That's the plant.
What they do is take the fruit,
boil the fruit,
then they break it down and take out the seeds,
once it's chilled and peel them
to get rid of the outer flesh,
and then they dry it and then they inspect it.
It's a very time consuming and labor intensive process,
That jar is 170 grams.
How much did we pay for it?
- I'm going to say £20.00.
- I'm also gonna say £20.00.
- I'm going to be honest.
You're closer if you combined them,
it's £35 for that jar. (register rings)
Which makes it £205.00 per kilo.
- That's a hefty amount for something that actually,
probably deserves that price tag,
but we're not made to appreciate it.
- So a very traditional preparation
from the Akita region of Japan,
there, they've been eating it for a while,
but it's definitely popping up
in some of the world's top restaurants.
The question is, pretentious or not?
- Having tasted it,
realizing that personally,
I don't think it's very nice,
hearing the price tag,
for that reason, I think it's pretentious.
- Probably in the ways in which it's being utilized,
outside of its native environment, is pretentious,
but as a product, it's not.
- Split decision.
- Mike's sitting on the fence. - I am.
- Barry's decided,
it sounds like neither of you are coming to a black tie do.
- Number four boys.
And I think it's fair to say,
we've come back into a comfort zone.
- Okay.
Instantly looks like cheese.
It smells and looks like little cubes of Edam.
- [Jamie] It doesn't come like that,
the food team have cut that up.
- It's almost like a parmesan-y halloumi.
- Okay. - Halloumi?, Okay.
- [Barry] Actually, that's really nice.
- It tastes so sweet, at the end.
Does it not?
Is it just me? - Juicy.
- Juicy, juicy cheese. - Juicy cheese.
- It tastes like one of those sort of paler,
more milky cheeses.
- Caciocavallo
Podolico.
One of the noblest cheese varieties of Southern Italy.
- Ah. - Ah, yeah.
- Cool.
- [Ben] So it is a form of hung cheese.
- It tastes like that as well.
- Like a snowman.
- It is made with the milk of a particular,
and now relatively rare breed of cow,
the Podolico,
and those cows basically graze in one part of Italy,
in the Apennines,
It's becoming increasingly difficult
to produce dairy in that area.
- It's quite a fibrous spongy cheese,
you can see from the texture, when you bite into it.
- So it's a stretched curd cheese,
which puts it in a similar vein, in terms of production,
to something like provolone,
which you will remember
from things like Philly cheese steak, even.
- Does it melt well?
- Shall we find out?
- Oh yes.
- Oh. - Yes.
- I'm instantly salivating.
- This is Barry. - What am I about to eat?
- [Jamie] Fried Caciocavallo with roast mushrooms,
shallots and oregano.
- It's like a cross between mozzarella and halloumi
when it's melted. Okay.
- Hmm. This is
a cheese,
a cheese that can go both stretchy and crispy.
- [Mike] When it's crispy, it's delicious.
- Boys. You've seen what the food team can do with it.
What would you do with it?
Where would you use this.
- Chicken parm.
- Oh. Ooh.
- I'd keep it Italian.
- Cheesy garlic bread.
- That also would work.
- Straight out of a pizza oven,
like a good char, good smoky.
- A bit basic for someone who's been
on a cooking channel for 10 years.
- Couple of other fun stories.
The cheese gets its name except for the Podolico bit,
from sort of a translation of two horses,
because traditionally it's a hung cheese.
They would literally hang up the cheese
in pairs over the barn door,
over a beam or a gate,
like you would tie up two horses.
- I thought you meant,
I thought you're gonna make a hung like a horse joke.
(drum sting) - Oh no, I wouldn't.
I wouldn't stoop that low. - Ebbers.
- But the thing I find really interesting here
is increasingly, it's very difficult
to support the production of this cheese,
because of climate change,
very arid environments,
that these cows are struggling
to get the rich grass and stuff.
So it's actually had support from the Slow Food Movement,
which we covered in a podcast a couple of years ago.
It's almost like a living museum.
So it gets the support and the recognition,
and the brand awareness
to try and keep artisanal traditional foods alive.
So for that cheese, there,
720 grams worth, the kind of Olaf.
How much?
- £40.00. - Holy whoa.
I'd say like, I'd say £25.00.
- Mike, you're closer.
It is £35.00 for that. (register rings)
I think it's £43.00 per kilo.
- I love it. It's very expensive.
Probably will never buy it, but I love it.
- Is it pretentious?
- Yes. But it shouldn't be,
It is one of the best cheeses I've ever eaten.
(Ben whistles)
And, but it's still expensive.
- No, but the way I want to use it,
I will be pretentious.
- Wonderful.
Well, that wraps up another episode, over to you guys.
Of those four items, which, if any,
do you think are pretentious?
- Comment down below,
let us know and make sure you give the video a like,
and we'll get buying
some more potentially pretentious ingredients.
- I'd love to see if the comments are polarizing.
- Mm.
(lively jazz music) - [Mike] We have an app.
It's called Meal Packs and helps you plan and then cook
a week's worth of meals, using one set of ingredients,
saving you money, cutting down on food waste,
and answering the age old question,
"What shall we have for dinner?"
It's free to try for a whole month.
The link is in the description box below.
(production card beeps)
- I mean, it's very unlikely you're going to get it
unless you've heard of it.
So we could put you out of your misery.
- I'm not miserable, Ebbers, it's delicious.
I'm having a nice time. - Yeah.
- Good point.
- You could put me out my happiness,
as you do so regularly.
(they laugh) - I hate you.