- [Mike] We are Sorted, a group of mates who have your back when it comes to all things food. From cooking battles, to gadget reviews. - Ben, it's not worth it! - [Mike] And cookbook challenges, to a midweek meal Packs app. - [Jamie] Crack your eggs, bake. - [Mike] We uncover the tools that will help us all
cook and eat smarter. Join our community where everything we do starts with you. (upbeat funky music) - Today we are reviewing and comparing some chef recommended kitchen tools. - Now James, you are a chef, so what are the things
that you look out for when picking the perfect kitchen tool? - We're looking for stuff like durability, and precision, and ease of
use, and that kind of thing. - We're gonna ask Jamie to
test each one of these tools. We've got an affordable one
and a more expensive one, and we want to see from Jamie which one is worth the money. Jamie, are you ready for number one? J, please turn around. - Ooh, blenders. - [James] Although they're not essential, they're really, really useful, and a lot of people have them because smoothies are quite popular. - [Barry] So our cheap option is the Philips Blender
that we got off Amazon. It's 1.25 litres and has a 450 watt motor. The more expensive version is a Food Ninja foodie
blender and soup maker. That has a capacity of 1.75 litres and has a 1000 watt motor. - Blenders are really interesting because they're not something
that I use every single day. But when I need to use one, I need it to work, and I need
it to do a really good job. - So what are your first
impressions of the two machines? - The Philips one is
obviously a lot smaller, feels quite plastic-y, but it also looks very simple. It feels like I can't
really go wrong with it. Whereas this one, it's
obviously a lot bigger. That's gonna take up a lot more room, either in a cupboard or in a work zone. It also seems to be
able to fly to the moon with the amount of
buttons and stuff on it. - Jamie, would you be so kind as to make us two smoothie bowls? One in each blender. One green, and one pink. - You know I'm not good
with colours, James. (Barry laughing) - So for my smoothie base for both, if I use banana, milk, ice,
honey, and a nut butter, is that a good place to start? - That is a great place to start. - Right, now straight off, this is like, the proper test here is
how well it copes with ice. (blender whirring) - Whoa! That went, yeah. That sounded and felt a lot more powerful than I was expecting for
such a small compact machine. Right, flavours? Avocado, kale, and a squeeze of lemon. (blender whirring) - It sounds like it's got
a thing, like a pulsing? - Very pulse-y isn't it? - [Barry] Yeah.
- Very pulse-y, right. - Sounds like it's made for smoothies. - [Jamie] Well that is thick. - Ooh, yeah, smoothie bowl thick. Are you gonna decorate it? I've got some little
sprinkles for you if you want. (Jamie sighs)
(Barry chuckles) - [Barry] Come on, care a
little bit more than this. Let me see, I can't see. - [James] No, you don't want to... You don't want to. (boys snickering) - Sure. - [James] Should we move on? - This is glass, this is very weighty. - It's probably worth saying that, although we're comparing these two, this one does a lot more,
so this is heat proof, so you can make soups and stuff in it. - I have to press the power button, and it says "Hello." Well, there's a smoothie button. - It does makes sense to do smoothie, right?
- Yeah. (blender whirring)
(beep) (blender whirring) - That was vicious, wasn't it? For this one, I'll do frozen
berries and a squeeze of lemon. (blender whirring) It still shocked me.
(blender whirring) - So I think the first
one is made for smoothies, so it's got this kind of
pulsing action, I guess. Second one kind of goes
high to low, to high to low. Probably works for a lot of things. - Two Instagram famous smoothie bowls. - So flavour wise, they're Sorted recipes, they're gonna be delicious, but I guess here, you're
looking at how smooth they are. - This has made a great smoothie bowl. It's thick, it's smooth, it's very tasty. I'd have to say that the
second one is much smoother. It's more yogurt-y. - Wow, interesting, because that one had to work a lot harder to get it smooth with those berries. - What do you think, J? What are your impressions? - This one feels far more like statement, but it does do a lot more, think, like, the cooking
element is unreal to me. That's fantastic, that feels like I'd love to explore, actually, the capabilities of that. Whereas this one feels more limited, that feels more a traditional blender. This is a blender for 2020. - Ah, right, let's talk moolah. - Hmm. - [Barry] What are you
reckoning for the cheap one? - 40 pounds. - 20 pounds, 82 pence. And for the expensive one? - Part of me wants to say 100 pounds, another part of me wants to double that. - I'll tell you what, how about you find yourself in the middle, because it is 149 pounds 99 pence. Seven times more expensive. - I think for 20 pounds, the Phillips one is a really good price. After our test, probably not. I'd like to do more research into how extensive the capabilities are. - I think I'd buy that and hope it lasts 10 years or so.
- Hmm. - As a straight blender, I'm
quite happy spending 20 pounds. (upbeat funky music) - Okay, J? Ready for this one? - Ooh, we've gone- yeah, wow. Whisks are important
because you are using it in that moment to do a job, and if it's not helping you do
that job quicker than a fork, then it's pointless. - [James] I don't think anyone can argue that a whisk is not an
essential thing in a kitchen. - So in front of you, you
have two balloon whisks, they are called balloon whisks because, well, they're
shaped like balloons and they fill whatever
you're whipping full of air. - That is sensational! A complete and utter lie but whoo! - I don't know if it is.
- It is. - I mean I made it up, but it might be true.
- 100% lie. - [Barry] The one you have
there is the cheaper of the two. It's from Nisbets, it's
their essentials whisk, and the more expensive one is the Schneider stainless steel whisk, with a heat resistant handle. - I'm in two minds, 'cause
this one is nice and light. This isn't going to weigh down my wrist
- My arms. - and my arm whilst I'm whisking. - You're gonna be whipping
up some egg whites, and we are gonna start with the cheap one, so please grab a bowl, and
you'll be up against a clock. - [James] I think maybe
you should do three? - [Both] Three egg whites. - Excellent. What's happened there is not fun. (boys snickering) - So your challenge is to
whip these into stiff peaks and then lift it over your head. We'll be timing you from start to finish. Okay, your timer starts now.
(alarm blares) See here, how much of it is in the bicep, how much is in the wrist? - Oh, I think it's a whole arm workout. - So is it like a wave
action the whole way across, or that?
- Yeah, like that, and sometimes like that, and then I go back, and then like that. Sometimes I'll swap
hands if I get really... - Swapping hands is important. - It's worth saying that
this is not a fair test in any way,
(Jamie giggles) 'cause he's gonna be knackered after this. Do it! Do it! Do it!
- What'd you mean, no? - [Barry] Commit! Commit!
- [James] Hold it over! - [Barry] All right, okay. - [James] All right, all right. - You need to stand up
straight, go like that. - [Barry] One, two, three, passed. - [James] You did not back yourself. (boys chuckling) - In terms of a whisking experience, it was firm, it did the job. It didn't feel like I
was wasting any effort. Round two.
- Are you ready? - Yes.
- Go! (alarm blares) Oh my gosh, this is so much firmer. - Oh?
- Come on, push through the pain, through the pain. Come on, through the pain. Almost, almost.
- Commit! - Little bit more.
- Commit! (Jamie screams)
(Barry laughs) - [James] Get it over your head. - [Barry] Come on. Well played, well played. Right, how was that? - Well, (laughs) this sounds ridiculous, but that was instantly a much
better whisking experience. It was firmer. Every stroke made a bigger difference. It's longer and thinner. - [James] Less balloon.
- Less balloon-y. - The cheaper whisk did it
in one minute, 52 seconds. - Quite proud of that, if I'm honest. - Second whisk did it in
one minute, 11 seconds. - It's quite a lot different. - Right, can we start
with the cheaper one? Where are you thinking, price-wise? - Eight pounds, based on nothing. - Pound 99.
- One pound... - One pound, 99. Okay, so there's, there's, there's... - There's the benchmark. - Yep, now let's work our way up. How expensive, your new favourite whisk? - Eight pounds.
(boys laughing) - [Barry] This one is 14 pounds, 99. - Okay, right. Regardless of this being 15 pounds, the fact that this is two pounds, a ridiculously low price
for the amount of times that I whip up eggs or
double cream, stuff at home, I'd spend two pounds. - My opinion has probably now changed, and I guess you're looking
for a slightly heavier one. That is not necessarily a worse thing, it's probably a better thing, with thicker metal and quite stiff. Not too much flexibility, right? - Yes. The firmality of the spindles is one of the most important things. - [Mike] Hello, Mike here, again. Sorry, we've just paused the video to ask you to subscribe and hit the bell. You won't regret it, promise, and it really does make a
difference, so thank you. Back to the video. - Number three J, turn around. - Ooh!
(Barry exclaims) Hobs.
- Induction hobs. - I've never thought about
buying an induction hob. - [Barry] Have you not?
- Have you? - Yeah. For, oh no, I sound like Ben, camping.
- Camping? - I know, sorry.
- That's not camping. - Camping?
- That's not camping! - I know, glamping. You plug it in on the road.
- Plug it in?! - Camping?! - Cooking on the road, I could use one of those.
- What road?! - [James] So, induction hobs. Some people might not have a full kitchen, and might want to add to that kitchen. Some people might have electric hobs, but wants something that
gets really hot, really fast. So induction creates heat
with a pan through magnets, so it's never hot unless
there's a pan on it, and it heats up really, really quickly. And you need special pans for it. But most pans, I think now, are induction. - This one feels very sleek and modern. It's obviously more compact. It also has a hook.
- [James] That's kind of nice. - That one is from Ikea.
- Is it really? - [Barry] Yeah. This is the Tillreda, it's
their portable induction hob. So the more expensive one
is the Buffalo touch control single induction hob. With it's strong stainless steel base and large capacity ceramic glass top, the Buffalo single zone
induction hub is a perfect choice for the professional kitchen. 10 temperature settings. Should we test their power?
- Please. - I'm interested to find out
how they deal with mushrooms. It needs to be a really, really hot pan, and they need to fry very, very quickly. Right, so oil goes in. See that, that is getting hot already. - That is getting hot already. - [James] Must be on for
what, 10 seconds, if that. - So mushrooms... (Jamie exclaims) - So, one of the drawbacks
I've heard about induction is the fact that when
you take it off the hob, it stops heating. Whereas with a flame, you can control that more
by lifting up and around, and you can't really use
a wok with one of these. - It's true, it's definitely true. It's very hot, eh?
- Very hot. It definitely felt to me
like the Buffalo got hotter. - It looked like it got hotter. - But it's not like this
was far behind it at all. - I think the real test here would probably be durability and the long-lastingness of them. - Right, do you have a guess at price? - I have no idea where to pitch this. - We'll help you out. The Ikea one is 39 pounds. - [James] They've become
really affordable, haven't they?
- That's really affordable. - [James] That's really good.
- Yeah. - Bearing in mind all the added benefits and additional features of the Buffalo, How much do you reckon that is? - I'm gonna say that that
probably adds a hundred pounds. - Oh, okay.
- I'm going to say 140. - This comes in at 155 pounds, 98 pence. - For what I need at home,
I'd spend the money in Ikea. And also, I wouldn't feel like if this
went wrong after five years, I wouldn't feel like I've
been hard done by it all. - Yeah, two different jobs. Both good products.
- Yeah. - Last one mate. - Ooh, ooh! Ooh, ooh. Interesting. - So we are talking espresso, and there were lots of
different ways you can get it. - [Barry] Right, so first
up we've got the Moka pot. This is the Bialetti Moka Express aluminium stovetop coffeemaker. - It is weighty and solid. It's a nice big water
reservoir compared to mine. - Right, next up. This is the Swan Retro Pump
Espresso coffee machine. - It looks quite smart, and I think that retro
design helps with that. - Right, moving on.
- This feels like a step up. - [Barry] This is by Sage, it's the Bambino Plus
Espresso coffee machine in a brushed stainless steel. - I love the sound of that. So, can I test them and see how we get on? - [Barry] Please. (funky big band music) So how'd you find that? - I already know how to use a Moka pot, I've got one at home. It's a bit of admin, particularly when it comes to
cleaning it out afterwards. But it's very, very simple. There's not a lot that
can go wrong with that. The Swan one, also very
local that I have at home, in terms of just a simple
barista style machine, you have to know when to switch it off. You switch it, you are still in control
of switching that off. It doesn't measure it out for you. The Sage one, for making an espresso, actually is a very similar
process to the Swan one, there's not much difference there. I think you'll be able to
tell a bigger difference if we were using the milk wand and we wanted the milk to be heated up to a certain temperature. This machine does it for you, and I think that could
be a really big win. - Do you want to start tasting some coffee? - Nice coffee, it's very nice coffee. Very strong, nice coffee. Number two, when it
came out of the machine, it was very, very frothy.
- It was really frothy. - Like there is, yeah, like, there's a crema, which is
the kind of the pale foam that you get on top, but it's usually a very thin layer. When this came out of the Swan machine, it was like pouring a Guinness. - I was just going to say, it's like a Guinness. - And has left a type of crema on top, but not what I would expect. Very different from the Moka. - Same beans.
- It's thinner, so it's got more water going through that. I was in control of how much water was poured into it. So that could, that's probably down to me. But flavour wise, I'm getting far more coffee
flavour from the Moka. The Sage coffee tastes much
better than the Swan coffee. - How?
- Interesting. - I don't know how. - It must be the pressure
that it's pushing through the grind. - The Sage coffee tastes
far more like the Moka pot. - So that's a plus for the Moka pot. - Yes, yeah. In that respect, yeah. They're all very drinkable. Very, very nice. I wouldn't be disappointed
with any of them. - So let's talk money. Now bearing in mind that
the two espresso makers, they're not the highest end,
they're not barista standard, and people have spend 1000
pounds on these machines. These are definitely at our sort of level, and the Moka pot, it's kind of just to
prove how simple it can be just to make a good pot of coffee. - Moka pot, 20 pounds.
- 23 pounds, 32. - Really, really simple
way of making coffee. Well worth the money. - That's my favourite way
of making coffee at home. - [Barry] The Swan?
- 80 pounds. - 90 pounds, 49. - If you want to learn about
how to make coffee at home, that is probably a really
good way to do that without breaking the bank. - I have questioned it. I feel like if I was going that far, I would probably spend a little bit more. - Right, how much more though? So Sage, have a guess. - 172 pounds. - 329 pounds.
- Okay, cool. (Jamie groans) - It's the closest you'll get
to being a barista at home for a reasonable price. - When it comes to the Sage, if I'm looking at
spending that much money, I would probably look to take
my craft of making coffee somewhere new without the
computer aided temperature of the milk and stuff.
- I totally agree. So over to you guys, what kitchen tools and
equipment do you want us chefs to recommend these normals to test next? - (whispers) Comment down below. - [Mike] Have you ever got
to the end of a long day with no ideas, ingredients,
or energy to cook? Takeaway? Hmm, it'd be the fourth this week. Well, that's why we built our
revolutionary meal Packs app. Thousands of people are using it to shop, cook, and eat a whole
lot better and easier while saving money as a result. You can go and use it
in its entirety for free for a whole month and see if it's for you. The link is in the description box below. (big band music) And now for the blooper. - You know when your
wife's having a go at you and you can't work out
when to step in, it's like, never mind.
- Yup. (Barry laughs)
