Taste Testing Pretentious Ingredients | S2 E1 Sorted Food

To kick off a brand new season, Ben has found some potentially PRETENTIOUS INGREDIENTS for our normals, Barry and Mike, to review!! Will they be worth splashing the cash? Watch to find out!
Below are links to the Pretentious Ingredients reviewed:
Fennel Pollen: www.ninelife.uk/products/17-g...
Sea Urchin Puree: www.nifeislife.com/tinned-pac...
Tonburi (Land Caviar): rareteacellar.com/products/to...
Caciocavallo Podolico: www.finedininglovers.com/arti...
Wanna become an awesome home cook? Sign up to our Sidekick app and be the hero of your kitchen: bit.ly/3tfFgsR
#SortedFood
#PretentiousIngredients
#ExpensiveIngredients

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Mike being salty and never disappointing us: “A bit basic for someone who’s been on a cooking channel for 10 years.”

[@endymallorn]

Right after suggesting Chicken Parm.

[@zoe9190]

I find most chefs usually end up going back to basics and letting the ingredients speak for themself and going minimal, not more complex

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@endymallorn Well said 😂

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@zoe9190 Yes, I suppose that’s the case.

[@delphinerudd5142]

R pzzaaze e @@endymallorn you should try pecffecto pizza and pizzeria they do remaining pizzas anď

[@fabianguerrero5390]

Remember when pretentious ingredients could almost be called "Whats in Barry's cabinet"

[@SquidandCatAdventures]

I love that they are finding things that he doesn't know. Also, they didn't seem to know that the uni in sushi is also just the gonads of the animal judging by their reaction. So plenty of room for more pretension. :) I actually enjoy this format quite a bit because they often find things that I don't know too.

[@Koibito247]

Yes lol!

[@Anna-uh3jq]

“Where is the potato in that because that’s whipped butter.” Being Dutch I of course love mashed potato. And now I need this recipe. 🤤🤤🤤

[@SortedFood]

Drooling 🤤

[@Anna-uh3jq]

@@SortedFood just drop it in a Meal Pack entitled: Anna needs to eat this. 😉

[@DominicPannell]

The trick according to James Martin who trained as a chef in France (and also Joël Robuchon who made his reputation on mashed potato) is 50% fat - can be any combination of butter and cream that you like - and 50% spud... I tried Robuchon's once and couldn't eat more than one spoonful... my dinner guest at his restaurant gobbled up her portion and the rest of mine, too. Delicious, but very, very rich!

[@danceswithdirt7197]

I'm not Dutch but mashed potatoes are probably some of my favorite things to eat. I love the texture of those in the video. The food team is definitely on point and deserves raises all around.

[@Zelmel]

Chef John of Food Wishes has a good restaurant style mashed potatoes recipe that's worth checking out.

[@xorinzor]

They should have a wheel of fortune kinda thing where they each individually get 3 random pretentious ingredients, and have to do a battle with a dish including those ingredients (each their own).

[@JAF30]

OHH I like this so much.

[@jaceeeee33333]

Great idea!

[@Anna-uh3jq]

“We are such pretentious foodies.” Good to hear that Baz has some self knowledge. 😉

[@amontpetit]

He broke out the A-levels vocabulary in this one!

[@Balletwingert]

We’ve all known it since he said he had a Himalayan pink salt block at home.

[@seedmoreuser]

It's like 1:30am here and making me wish I had garlic bread with this cheese is just evil.

[@SortedFood]

Mmmmmm cheesy garlic bread - lush.

[@Alphax36]

I really miss mystery box challenges. How about a threeway between normals for the win and improvisation badge or something?

[@Coentjemons]

Yeah and after they can do the mystery box!!!

[@chrisfeltner]

A mystery box when they have to use all the ingredients to make a randomly spun dish like breakfast lunch dinner or dessert and a random style like Mediterranean Italian Indian Japanese Etc

[@mcronin1494]

To play on that idea. 3 mystery boxes for a starter, main and dessert. And the lads pick a box at random and then a envelope with which dish they have to cook.

[@jakeglazzard4173]

I really miss big night in. It was a nice glimpse into their friendship as well as very entertaining and informative to watch.

[@wrathofrock8323]

One thing that I wasn’t a fan of the mystery box is because they were told what was in it upon opening the box. I feel they should just immediately upon opening it start cooking. True improv.

[@melodytsai7971]

“What’s the point of moving forward, we know it all” Yes, let’s bring that clip back the next time you don’t win a badge 😂

[@jowka.a2081]

U7777hht

[@MakiTheOriginal]

Need some aloe vera gel to treat that burn😂🤣

[@mr.blonde9395]

I would love to see a battle where the celebrated ingredient is cheese! The final ingredient sold me on the idea.

[@Mirala0618]

They did do an ultimate cheese battle 4 years ago

[@kt_ty]

Ben: “I need to talk to you about the birds and the bees again” AGAIN? Again, Ben? That implies the existence of a first attempt. And I can only imagine how that went.

[@Erdnussbuttertoast]

0:42 i love sorted's decade-long commitment to the bit of not making their high-fives 😂

[@matreames]

Someone should make a compilation video of every missed five

[@stiffk666]

@@matreames that's very funny, I thought it looked vaguely familiar 😀

[@caelandemaziere7939]

I'd love a blind tasting between veggies and herbs from Ben's allotment/foraging vs the same ones bought at the store!

[@martymohawk8360]

Oh, yes please !😍👍

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Barry: “What’s that?” Mike: “That’s a lot of mayonnaise.” After the UK version of ‘The Office’, there’s this beautiful Workplace Sit-Com I like watching.

[@sebeckley]

I want to meet the "food team." Oompa loompas? Culinary school interns? One dude wth a hot plate in a cupboard? 😉

[@SortedFood]

They pop up often on our Instagram live streams :)

[@jarzz3601]

I don't know why but I love the idea of it being one dude in a cupboard with a hot plate cooking these fantastic meals

[@G0d_Ginrai]

@@jarzz3601 So… Ben.

[@mintasturgill3058]

Fricken funny as hell!

[@Oberky]

They replied to a comment like this in another recent video as well: some of them show up in the background here and there in other content, but a bunch of them also just don't enjoy being infront of the camera. And I'd say that's fair.

[@ucebuffer9946]

I did my Samoan grandma proud by immediately spotting the sea urchin! I never thought to use urchin to serve with a tartar but now it's all I want to do bc that dish is gorgeous 😍

[@danicas.4484]

I do love all of these on-the-fence ingredients that depending on your use for it, could be pretentious or not, but i do have to say i kinda miss the first few episodes where there was an ingredient in every episode that was hands-down pretentious as soon as you saw it

[@Sigurn27]

Agree - a lot of the products in the last few pretentious videos have just been niche, or have incredibly involved production processes. Not complaining, I've enjoyed seeing these products, but "pretentious" doesn't feel like the right category. Show me black pepper laced with gold leaf after being sieved through a spider silk mesh, not a cheese from a dwindling breed of cow.

[@mistled]

I think they’ve just changed their personal definitions of pretentious so much that it’s becoming extremely difficult to label any ingredient pretentious.

[@courtxthexcutie]

Totally, and I also think they used to call out the branding a bit more. To me the 2nd dish is pretentious BECAUSE they call it “land caviar” more than because of the food, ya know?

[@DimT670]

So that ludicrous essential oils chicken

[@Getpojke]

Must admit I thought the Tonburi was a escargot pearls/snail caviar at first though in a colour I hadn't seen before [You should give them some of that to try it's delicious]. I think Mike & Barry raised some important points there though. Is food ever really pretentious or is the the chefs/suppliers/copy writers that describe it in ways that makes it so!? At some points in their history many of the "pretentious" foods have been staples or even food gathered in hard times. But the rarity or difficulty in harvesting it in normal times pushes up the price making it a delicacy. Oysters used to be a filler or a poor mans food, same with snails & a lot of foraged plants & fungi.

[@ulvotaro]

The same Tonburi jar in Japan costs around 6 euros. That's quite the markup

[@jonathangill6584]

You know the boys’ tastes and culinary expertise is evolving when Mike calls fennel pollen (of all things) NOT pretentious. 😂

[@bobroxshard]

We need a taste the premium, but its against homemade things. Mayo would be super interesting as to who would get it

[@PiggyQuacks]

Didnt they just do one 3 days ago? Mayo and other stuff i can't remember

[@bobroxshard]

@@PiggyQuacks they did a premium, but it was with all store bought stuff.

[@PiggyQuacks]

@@bobroxshard aaah you are right. Missed the word homemade. That would be interesting indeed!

[@depressiespaghetti9979]

I hope its not just me that looks forward to every single video Sorted puts out. And If I video hasn't been posted I will just rewatch their videos on repeat

[@cocoapuffs3187]

can we just acknowledge how phenomenal the food looks today? fangirling a little over the food team!

[@khuddle731]

So glad to see Mike has moved on from mint choc chip cheese and enjoys the good stuff!

[@melissalambert7615]

I was very surprised and pleased.

[@kevlar5150]

Mike has a great point. The cheese may not be pretentious itself considering it's rarity, but if you put it in a quesadilla, it becomes quite pretentious.

[@hiddenbutdeadly]

Second product arrives Me: "ah, it;s like a pureed sea urchin" And then 10 seconds later Ben clarifies...what PART of a sea urchin it is...

[@SortedFood]

🤣 Mike wasn't expecting that!

[@MistressOfPain86]

As a southern Italian, it's really interesting to me how other people can find caciocavallo podolico and sea urchins pretentious :)

[@professortrog7742]

What is the local price for a good caciocavallo posolico ? Probably half of what they payed.

[@giraffesinc.2193]

I would LOVE to try that cheese!

[@joffff]

Came here to say this. It might not be the podolico variety but Caciocavallo's such a staple around the dinner table - and no southern-Italian Nonna's are paying £43/kg for it 😆

[@bcaye]

@@professortrog7742, and then you pay for shipping to the UK.

[@bcaye]

They literally did *not* say either is pretentious. They said it's expensive.

[@TeamDreamhunter]

I'm with Baz on that last one: it *is* pretentious by nature of being an artisanal cheese from one small region that you would only really buy to say you've got it, but it *shouldn't* be pretentious because if it weren't becoming more and more difficult to produce, it would be a more common cheese, and it's quite good just as a cheese.

[@deadtotheworld22]

Don't think any of them are pretentious on their own - they all have their place and can evidently serve a purpose, and as far as I can tell, the price is generally fair based on the difficulty/labour/scarcity in gathering them. It's not like just taking an existing product and either branding it up to 1000% or just bunging in gold or truffle and using that to whack up the price tag. That being said, if you're getting them/using to show off rather than on their own merits, then I'd rate that as pretentious.

[@sarahwatts7152]

I agree! I think it's the person and the presentation rather than the ingredient itself.

[@radmoonable]

Fennel pollen is definitely marked up. So is tonburi. These aren't rare or fancy ingredients. Just made pretentious by so called connoisseurs who jack up the price of humble traditional dishes.

[@mistled]

That’s true of most things. I’d prefer they account for why would the normals buy the product. As in “this is marketed to normal people, and Barry would buy it to show of… so it’s pretentious.”

[@pimvanbalkom3380]

Mike is so right on the cheese, I'd stick it in a grilled cheese tosti and be proud of it

[@Pcy-tn2bk]

Sea urchin in scrambled eggs is such a nostalgic dish for me! My uncle is a fisherman in northern japan,and when I was little, my cousins and I would wake up super early to go out on the boat with him and he would make it for breakfast when we got back. I especially recommend eating it with thick slices of toasted milk bread🥰🥰

[@mcronin1494]

Perfect content for the train. Always a pleasure gents

[@SortedFood]

Enjoy :)

[@fisheyecam]

You should try an Austrian/Swiss candy called Älplerschokolade (roughly translates to Alpine Chocolate) or Sig ☺️ it’s basically caramelised whey 🍫🧀

[@morgann521]

Everybody laughed when Mike called the Tonburi spinach eggs, but he really wasn’t wrong lol

[@sainjawoof3506]

Uni is the name for the internal, fleshy bits of sea urchin, usually served raw. Each sea urchin contains usually five individual lobes of uni, which fan out along the inside of the spiny shell. These are the gonads, or glands that produce the sea urchin’s sex cells and hormones. These sex cells are squeezed out into surrounding water, where they combine to create new sea urchins.

[@beckyrudolph5535]

Thank you. This is the comment that I was looking for.

[@beckyrudolph5535]

(I also genuinely mean that. Hearing them just call it the sea urchin gonads hurt my soul.)

[@rrett44556]

Food like this really inspires you to think outside of your normal cooking habits, but ide have no idea where to get ingredients like that without these videos!

[@jeffreypalumbo8667]

I knew that was cacciocavallo right away! My grandfather used to make all the Italian cheeses when he moved to Canada and used to source his product to all the nearby restaurants! You should let Mike try aged cacciocavallo, it is arguably one of the strongest cheeses I have ever eaten!

[@dpchiko17]

We used to sell cacciocavallo where I work, even had a smoked one It was amazing, like a mix of fresh mozzarella and fresh cheese curds from Quebec (where Im from) I miss it a lot Mike's description is spot on

[@KevCampbell]

"Caviart" seaweed pearls taste a lot like Caviar, have the same mouth pop, and are much more affordable.

[@JM_Karting02]

I appreciate the throwback music at the beginning to old school sorted

[@sofiavinciguerra3492]

Great video guys! Caciocavallo Podòlico is an absolute treat!

[@SortedFood]

It really is huh? So delicious!

[@elizabethkizzar5489]

The "land caviar " is really useful especially if you have to host a party when you know there are going to be people don't eat meat or fish.

[@dot_the_O]

i've never tasted that one, but i prefer seaweed caviar as a vegetarian alternative. that tastes like sea, so not even that much of a stretch. actually prefer that to fish caviar honestly

[@ruthbugeja6158]

I live in Malta (tiny island just below Italy), and I remember growing up, going to the beach with my family, we'd dive for sea urchins (there where everywhere) and crack them open and eat them right there on the spot, fresh taste of the ocean! Sadly nowadays due to the ocean being much more polluted, they are much more scarce.

[@KristalSiderglace]

Loved this pretentious, very Italian oriented, ingredients video 😂❤️ it made me laugh to think about the caciocavallo as pretentious as the caciocavallo is something very "rustic" here and we often eat it at village festivals. We do it "hanged", basically we hang it over burning coals and as it slowly melts we cut it and spread it on a slice of bread, it's the best thing ever!

[@Grayson.P]

For the sea urchin, I thought about doing some truffle fries, with a sea-urchin mayonnaise dip.

[@endymallorn]

Now that would absolutely be pretentious!

[@VAFFANFEDE18]

43/kg is expensive for a cheese but doesn't cross the line. It's as expensive as a really old Parmigiano for example, or an expensive but not too much steak

[@_old_man_]

ULTIMATE BATTLE IDEA: MILLIONARE'S SHORTBREAD!!!!

[@_old_man_]

There's 3 layers to be customized so would make a fabulous episode!

[@CarlGorn]

There's a really simple, stunning southern Italian pasta dish where you swirl tinned anchovy fillets through barely melted butter until they disintegrate and then toss that with the pasta. I could see the creamed uni working very well as a substitute for anchovy to level up the dish. Thought you'd probably have to either salt your pasta water less or use unsalted butter.

[@jamesbarisitz4794]

"A pretentious catalyst." A Barry mic drop moment.

[@samnightqueen6445]

I love it when Barry gets floppy... I live for it!

[@jasonanderson8324]

I was just thinking, I would love to see an episode with you lads cooking either gluten free or FODMAP friendly meals. Being both myself I would love to see how you blokes tackle it

[@aislingmurphy1822]

It would also be interesting to see how they would handle contamination in their kitchen and if they would remember to check for ingredients handled in a wheat/gluten environment

[@jasonanderson8324]

@@aislingmurphy1822 it would have so many applications for a chef skill challenge I think, multiple badges could be awarded in one sitting

[@savviipotatii098]

"Lift une cloche!" is my new fav 😂😂

[@sarah8028]

Not to shill too hard for a company, but is why I love the Canadian store chain Bulk Barn. You can buy whatever quantity of an ingredient that you want, packaged in your own reusable containers that you’ve brought from home. It’s a great way to experiment with “pretentious ingredients”. I bought like $1 worth of pollen to see if I liked it, an absolutely minuscule amount, and I actually really hated it… I was really glad I didn’t spend $15 on a big jar at the supermarket 😂 I wish everywhere had bulk stores like this in every shopping centre!

[@svsguru2000]

Will we ever get to see the mysterious "food team" on camera? They need some on-screen love.

[@petembb]

"keep it Italian" and instantly goes for an American dish.🤣🤣🤣

[@teasallstedtelming2664]

Video suggestion!! Get all the Easter themed food you can find from various chains (Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, M&S) and challenge the normals to cooking an extravagant/fine dining meal using only Easter food and cupboard ingredients. The posher the better!

[@zyphbehr]

Barry’s comment on the cheese at the end is the best response I have ever heard to “Is it Pretentious?”… “Yes, but it shouldn’t be!”

[@SlickWillyTFCF]

Love these videos because I get to try and figure out what they're looking at before it's revealed. Their views on whether or not the items are pretentious are fun to see as well.

[@chelseafort7991]

The blooper was bloody brilliant 🤣🤣🤣

[@heidilee_13]

Barry, your hair is looking luxurious these days.

[@Alfonso__]

I find it really interesting how the pretentiousness of an ingredient highly depends on where it comes from. If the tonburi was from a little artisanal shop in California, it would've been the most pretentious thing I've heard in a while (land caviar...cmon), but because is Japanese it instantly falls into the different culture/kinda weird category.

[@maddyxx3395]

Whenever I need a pick me up, I get it from you guys. You feel like old friends to me and your positive attitude is greatly appreciated!

[@DerpyPannycake]

Taste Testing "Pretentious" Ingredients is one of my favorite series just seeing what Pretentious stuff you guys find is amazing

[@frozzenshadows]

So glad to see these back, favourite sorted series :D

[@Tharr-cx4uq]

Always a good day when the sorted guys upload

[@SortedFood]

Happy Wednesday!!! 😄

[@Tharr-cx4uq]

@@SortedFood thank you for your content. Always enjoyable.

[@theclassics25]

I love the description "they react cockily" in the closed captions 😂

[@Jamie9356]

I think MY definition of pretentious would exclude products that are very specialized or rare. If they are expensive because of the production process or hard to source ingredients, that make it more worthwhile to me. However, if the price is jacked up just to be 'on trend' for something, that's a different story. I'd say that cheese is very specialized, not pretentious. I think I'd say the same for most of the things on this ep, actually.

[@SAPD]

1:11 - whoever slid that jar in deserves a bonus!

[@ArvidOlson]

It would be great if you could bring in a “true” normal for these. Someone random, or other youtuber, that isn’t a foodie at all. Would nice to see a cooking battle between them and the “normals” as well.

[@Britt590]

Ben's hands while he describes flavors always makes me chuckle

[@shirleycastle5170]

Your food team are brilliant .

[@SortedFood]

We're very lucky :)

[@tarren452]

That cheese looks out of this world!!! So many of these ingredients are things I'd love to have in a restaurant and wouldn't necessarily find them pretentious there, in a context where someone's prepared them who really knows what they're doing - but would be pretentious if someone whipped them out at home!

[@westhamfaithful]

Top work guys as always! Love the regularity of the content… 👍

[@kerryanne28]

These episodes are one of my fav ❤❤❤

[@Louboshki]

Yay! I love it when we raid Baz’s cupboards!

[@angelkisses5933]

This is one of my fave series along with trying premium ingredients 😍 xx

[@greteukulele4561]

17:30 That's the most loving "I hate you" I've ever heard.

[@elisazedda7291]

It's so interesting seeing how you talk about all the Italian products I grew up with, I will never consider them pretentious and yet you're here to change my mind!

[@kanika_k2]

I absolutely want a recipe for that mushroom dish. It looks INCREDIBLE.

[@haleymasterson3931]

I love your Robuchon style mash. I've been a long time fan of your channel, doubt you'll see this, but it has made me start my journey from the southern United States, to England. On a culinary adventure. thank you so much to Mike, Barry, Chef Ben and Chef Charles

[@TommyVance12]

Astonishing cardigan display there, Huttlestone

[@Rifimusic]

“You can put me out of my happiness like you do so regularly”- Mike “I hate you” says Ben while laughing ✨Friendship✨

[@julia-07]

Thank you very much for making this video italian :) I always love your reactions about food from my country

[@jake1928]

Glad you finally did fennel pollen! I’ve been suggesting it for a while, and it’s one of my favorite ingredients.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Mike and Barry should get a spice badge for identifying Fennel Pollen in my opinion.

[@rviaud]

I love the basic way that the fennel pollen is just caught as it arrives from offscreen

[@chevonmahabir5403]

I love watching these, I always learn someting new....then I can go out with my friends and talk about pretentious ingredients and appear to be pretentious without ever having to buy the pretentious ingrediant.

[@zivbarr]

LOVE seeing mike always

[@siblacklockhughes612]

I remember podcasts, they were fun - I miss them

[@LaurenWatson97]

Sea urchin is also used in Māori cuisine, we call it Kina. We have it on toast. The absolute best way to eat it, is to have it straight out of the ocean. You crack them open, give the first one to the fish around you, then eat your next one.

[@vincentx2850]

Sea urchins are often used basically in the same context as eggs in many coastal Chinese cuisines. The edible part, being reproductive organs, is basically equivalent to eggs, and therefore works great in fried rice

[@assassin_renata]

I love these videos. But I wouldn't say they're as pretentious as they used to be. Rose gold glitter and all that had these beat.

[@FrolleinMiez]

How did I just find this channel? Loving it!

[@Joliie]

2:34 it makes so happy that the struggle is real and not just me :) , by the way, whipped butter sounds delicious.

[@hilllauraann]

***the spice of angels*** Mike: “Not pretentious.”

[@MrMillsy1986]

That was an awesome episode.

[@MusingsFromTheDen]

I knew we'd segue into bush tucker trials eventually and here we are with the Urchin willies. 🤣 I think I'd try everything and definitely like the tonburi. 😊 I don't think I'd be able to resist popping some googley eyes on the cheese. 🤣

[@s_i_m_o_ns_a_y_s5064]

Love this series!!!

[@KennethAndrews]

when he mentioned the texture thing with the sea urchin and how it interacted with the tar tar it made me think about incorporating in other meats or meat substitutes it made me think of how it could be used to flavor something like a falafel or even a chicken nugget.... and now I can't stop thinking about how that could work.

[@frostedsiren]

That fancy cheese would make good poutine

[@SortedFood]

100%

[@omarmunoz4409]

You guys should try Huitlacoche and Huauzonotle, mexican delicacies!