- [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'll help us all cook and eat smarter. Join our community where
everything we do starts with you. - Today, we've teamed up
with BASF's agriculture team in an exciting mystery box challenge in which Jamie and James
are gonna go head-to-head to see who can best celebrate
a secret ancient ingredient by cooking up a dish of their choice. You've both got a mystery box. It's full of ingredients you can use. Take a look. (upbeat music) - [James And Jamie] Ooh. - None of these are the secret ingredient, because if they were in here,
they wouldn't be secret. Is that right? - Would you like a clue? - Yes! - A five-letter word,
I'm used to make bread, remove one, and I'll burn you instead. - It's wheat. It goes
into bread and flour. - You're already winning the
battle, James, it is wheat. But the best part is, before
the actual cooking battle, I'm gonna send you off to learn all about the ancient ingredient from some wheat experts. Right, boys, have fun on the farm, and I'll see you back here in a few days. So first up I sent the
boys to meet Hannah, an arable farmer in Cambridgeshire. On Hannah's farm, she grows sugar beet, oats, and field peas. But James and Jamie are there to learn all about our key ingredient, wheat. - What kind of foods does
your week go into making? - Historically, mainly bread, but that could also be crumpets or any other kind of baked goods. We're growing now more biscuit wheat, which does what it does on the tin, goes into biscuits (laughs). Like that one.
- He's a biscuits guy. (Hannah laughs) - Some of the wheat will also
go into animal feed, though. - So how do you grow wheat? - So if we start wheat as a seed, we would plant this winter
wheat seed in October, normally, and we use what we would call a drill, and we cut a slot, and
we plant the little seeds in that slot, about that deep. And then after the wheat is planted, we will put a herbicide
on the top of the soil that will protect the wheat from any weeds that will come through
in that initial period. And the wheat itself then will grow. So, I planted these about three weeks ago. So this is kind of what wheat
would look like over winter. Hopefully, it will grow
lots of shoots and leaves, and then when it comes down to the spring, then that's when our
management starts increasing a little bit more. And so the wheat itself will pick up quite a lot of the
nutrition from the soil, so it will pick up some
nitrogen from the soil, but we also have to feed it as well, and we put on some nitrogen fertilizer and any other fertilizers that
we feel like the plant needs. And then, in the end of the day, we come along and we have, hopefully, a wheat plant with a lovely big ear on it which will fill and
therefore produce the grain that you've got in your hand. - It all sounds big and
scary, and chemical based. It feels like that's where a
lot of controversy comes from. - There is an amount of
resistance built in to it, and I suppose this is the difficult bit about growing a lot of the same variety, but we have a lot of
diseases that affect wheat, something called septoria and something that's called rusts, and what these do is
they live in the leaf, and they stop the leaf
from photosynthesizing, so if we didn't apply a
fungicide, which is a spray to control a fungus,
to stop it reproducing, then that leaf wouldn't be
able to photosynthesize. Therefore, you wouldn't get the starch going up into the grain and you wouldn't get a wheat
ear that was full of grain. I'm not the first farmer to say that I definitely don't spray anything unless it's absolutely necessary. - [Ben] They also learned how the ancient varieties of wheat aren't grown by farmers as
often as the modern varieties. - We've gone to this what
we call semi-dwarf variety from things that used to be much taller because this produces a lot more grain and therefore is more
profitable for the farmer and more usable to the millers and the people that are
using our wheat now. So it's how the whole system has adapted. - [Ben] Next up Jamie and
James met Mike from BASF to understand how climate change is impacting wheat production. - The Nirvana for farmers would be to have a wheat that required less input, and that would be from water, as well. We've seen, ourselves,
the changes in weather. So, something that can root effectively and use less water if
there's less water available. But our job is to actually find the tools and find the processes
and the opportunities to actually bring that
stability, if you like. - I don't think, as a chef, I know enough about where ingredients come from, so doing this kind of thing I think is really beneficial for me, and it does make me appreciate a bit more where things come from
and how they're made, and how much effort it takes to make these things available to us. We have a lot to learn. - We have a lot to learn. - [Mike] Back in the studio,
the guys met with Alex Waugh to learn how flour is made. - So how do we get flour from wheat? - White flour is the
inside of a wheat grain. A wheat grain's shaped a bit like a rugby ball
or American football with a crease down the middle. What millers are trying to do is unroll that and scrape
off the white flour, which is the inside of the
grain, so it sits inside, and the wholemeal flour is
everything ground up together. - How has wheat consumption
changed over history? - So wheat's always been a popular grain. It was first farmed, I suppose, 10,000 BC. In Northern Europe, we
probably had started off more with oats, and perhaps rye, as grains that were better
adapted, originally, to our climate, but wheat's always been
there as part of our diet. (upbeat music) - [Ben] Okay, boys, three
hours to best celebrate wheat. - [Ben And Barry] Three, two, one, wheat! - In the mystery box, there were things like
a massive chunk of beef, there were shallots, there were mushrooms, so given everything that we've learned, I'm gonna try and incorporate
wheat wherever I can. I'm gonna make a steak and whiskey pie. That's gonna look like a beef stew where the sauce is made up
with flour to thicken it, but also wheat whiskey, a wheat beer, and obviously, on top, I want
a really crisp short pastry made with beef suet, and obviously, flour. - Ah, that couldn't get
any more Jamie, could it? - First up, I'm chunking my beef shin into three to four centimeter pieces. I'm gonna roll that in some
seasoning and some flour before putting it into a really hot pan, browning it all off. - Sounds a bit run of the mill. - Are you having a laugh? This isn't just any pie. - [Barry] You'd have put whiskey in this with or without wheat in it, wouldn't you, really? - One of the ingredients
in the mystery box that stood out to me
immediately, was blackberries, and I thought, yes, sweet dessert. Alongside what we learned about flour, I thought I'd use spelt
flour in a carrot cake, put it with blackberries
macerated in Pernod, and then put that with a beer caramel, a creme fraiche, and a crispbread. - I feel like some of those flavors are going against the grain a bit. Like, what was your inspiration? (beep) - He's absolute torture. - The first thing I'm gonna
do is toast off my nuts that are gonna go into
my sponge for flavour. It's gonna be hazelnuts, pecan nuts, and I'm gonna throw some
fennel seeds on there. - I really hope those flavors combine. - Oh.
- Combine. - Combine? - No!
- Come on! - You know when you're having
a conversation with someone, and they're just waiting for
you to finish so they can talk? That's Ben.
(Jamie laughs) - Next up, I'm "combining"
brown sugar, castor sugar, four large eggs, vanilla
paste, and vegetable oil, and then all my dry
ingredients for my sponge in a standard mixing bowl, and I'm gonna combine those two together with some apple sauce and the nuts. (upbeat music) Also, I'm gonna add
carrots to my carrot cake. So, I haven't mentioned that yet. I'm just gonna peel them and grate them. (upbeat music) Getting the moisture out. Well, I'm gonna make my batter over there. (upbeat music) That looks good. I just tasted my batter and realized that I haven't put any spices in it. Well, it tastes delicious 'cause it's already got
nuts in it and stuff, but I'm gonna put some
cinnamon and ginger in it. (upbeat music) Into my crispbreads is
gonna go plain flour, wholemeal flour, pumpkin
seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and caraway seeds, which are gonna add a little
bit of savory element to it, and then I'm gonna put extra
virgin olive oil and water in, mix it altogether, and then bake it. (upbeat music) - With my beef browned off, I can now add my shallots,
mushrooms, and bacon lardons into the same pan. They're gonna fry down,
get a little bit of color, get a little bit of flavor going on. And we're gonna add a little
bit of flour into those to thicken the sauce as well. I've added some wheat
whiskey to deglaze the pan, and then beef stock and wheat beer. That is gonna form my sauce. So that now needs to come up to a boil, at which point it's gonna
go into my pressure cooker along with my beef, some herbs and some dry porcini
mushrooms for (claps) flavour. - James, how're you getting on, mate? That looks like a odd technique. - Getting on wonderfully well. It's just so deliciously oily
that I can't roll it out. I've gotta pat it out. - [Jamie] With sugar? I decided last minute
to put some sugar on it. - Let me put some carrots in my cake. Let me put some sugar on my bread. - You've had one hour.
Two hours remaining. Bear in mind, Jamie needs 50
minutes of pastry baking, and an hour of pressure cooking. That leaves him 10 minutes
to do everything else. - I'm gonna make a beer caramel. It's got sugar and beer in it, and then I add butter and cream. (upbeat music) This is going differently to how it went when I tested it. (upbeat music) - Come on, you gonna have to
plough on. Not much time left. - Oh, Ebbers! Whoa. All right, it's going in. Didn't drop a drop. Smells sensational. (upbeat music) Thyme and bay leaves going in, and here's the part where I work out how a pressure cooker works. (bouncy music) (Ben laughs) (bouncy music) - He's in.
- I don't know if that's pressurizing. I don't know why I'm looking
at you, you're not gonna help. - I'm waiting for this to
go like a deep, amber brown as you would caramel. It's quite difficult with beer caramel 'cause it foams up so much. (upbeat music) - For my pastry, there's
plain flour and baking powder. Then, as the fat, instead of butter, I'm using suet, which is
beef fat, more flavor, and nigella seeds with some water. I have never excelled at making pastry, and I'm not gonna know if it's good pastry until it's rested, at which point there's no time to make another pastry. - In the past, as Normals, we've either won or lost
the battle on the pastry. - [Ben] You lost one once. - Yeah, that was terrible pastry. (Barry laughs) (upbeat music) - I'm gonna have to do this again. - Why? - It doesn't taste very
beery or caramelly. - Sounds like just what you
want from a beer caramel. - What's wrong with that? - It's pretty good (laughs). - That's unbelievable. - And I'm gonna reduce the
amount of butter and cream in it so you get more of like,
a bitter beer caramel rather than like a
buttery, creamy caramel. (upbeat music) - So look, my recipe as
written now has a break in it. I'm gonna use some more
wheat somewhere else. Gonna make some semolina roasted potatoes. - I have to admire your ambition here, but do you not think you've
got enough going on already? - What else am I gonna do in this time? The pastry needs to rest for 30 minutes. That needs to cook for an hour, and I'm sure it's gonna be good enough to beat a carrot cake. Why not go an extra level?
Why not push myself harder? - I'm gonna prepare my blackberries. I'm gonna macerate them
in sugar and Pernod, but I'm also gonna dice up some fennel and put that through with it as well, aniseed flavor throughout the whole dish. - I'm going to use Pernod, because nobody's ever heard of it before, and it'll make it sound posh. I've heard of Pernod. I just
don't know what it is (laughs). So I'm gonna heat up some oil in a tray, drain my potatoes, ruffle them up, add thyme, garlic and oil, semolina, and some salt and pepper, then I'll pop them into the
oven until they're golden. I'm going to very calmly
depressurize my pressure cooker. I'm going to gently strain my beef stew through a colander into the frying pan, so that the sauce can beautifully thicken for five to six minutes. - My final few tasks are to
trim my carrot cake domes, and I'm gonna try and mix
a little bit of citric acid into my creme fraiche just to make it even
more acidic and cutting for the rest of the dish, 'cause it's all very sweet. (upbeat music) - I need to work fast. I've rolled it out into a square which just is gonna sit perfectly on my circular skillet pan. This has thickened. It hasn't thickened as
much as I want it to. I don't think I have a choice, it's gotta go into the pan. I'm egg- washing the rim of my pan so that the pastry will
stick to it, I (indistinct). I'm full-on stressed. - You making a little omelette
on top of that? James! - Into an oven at 190 degree Celsius for 45 to 50 minutes, until
beautifully golden brown. - Boys, you've got just
under five minutes left. (dramatic music) - Roast potatoes have
come out of the oven. In the next five minutes
I'll have to cook the peas. I'll have to plate the peas
up, plate the potatoes up, and at the last second, pull out my pie. (upbeat music) - [Barry] Aw, yes! - I did all that work and
I'm actually gonna hide it underneath the bread crisps so you get a little surprise. - Oh, Ebbers, a slotted spoon is the worst way to drain peas. - [Ben] Last minute! - What? - Jamie, the pie, please
don't forget the pie. - Five, four, three, two, one. Step away from your wheat celebrations. - I made a pie. - It's exactly how I wanted it to look. We'll see how it tastes. (upbeat music) (cursor clicks) (bell chimes) (group cheering) - Aw, look at it, it's not every day we get main and dessert. - This is my steak, whiskey, and ale pie. - Straight off, J, cutting
into the pastry was good, but even better than that, the consistency of that
sauce, it is great! The flour has done its job. Will it taste good? - Cheers. [Group] Cheers. - Oh, I've talked too much,
now I'm behind. Hang on. (laughs). (upbeat music) Okay, it's beautifully rich. Perfect thickness as well. - I'm always shocked at
what a pressure cooker does to turn beef into tender,
succulent beef in an hour. - Ah, semolina potatoes, just well done. - Kind of know where to
hide with a dish like this. The beef has got to be succulent, the sauce has got to be thick the pastry's got to be
perfect, the potatoes crispy. Thing is, I think you've done that. - Honestly, mate, I think
you've done a great job. I'm nervous. (upbeat music) - [Barry] Okay, new plates, new cutlery. - Dig in, James for the reveal. - Oh, I still don't
know what to expect. (group chattering) - I know, I'm kind of
nervous for you guys. - It is the dish that
I would order on a menu purely out of the curiosity, whereas this is the dish
I'd order on the menu because I know what I'm gonna
get and I can't wait for it. - [Group] Cheers. - This could be ugly. - All those components take
you on an incredible journey from crunch, to sour, to sweet, and then that spice and aniseed, that's not just good, it's clever. - Having now processed that
and accepted what I'm eating, mate, that is spectacular. - I'm quite proud of that. - The best celebration of wheat. Tough brief, two excellent dishes. - Should we do this one at
a time and see if we agree? - You go for first.
- Right. So my winner is... I've gotta put it out there, James Currie, that was spectacular. - Thank you. - Ben? - It was so tight, but my winner (dramatic music) was also dessert, James Currie. It's just clever use of wheat. (group applauds) - Thank you. - Both dishes celebrated wheat perfectly, but I also learned something
new as a dish from James's. So I think that's why
that's the winner for me. - Do you guys agree? Comment down below, who
was your real winner? - And if you wanna get the
recipes for both of these dishes, they're in the description box below. - We'd also like to
say a massive thank you to the BASF agriculture team for taking us on a
journey to discover more about the world of wheat. And if you'd like to learn
more about wheat farming and see us ask the experts your questions, then click the link in the
description box down below to see our behind the scenes video. - I'm gonna dunk a potato, but if you've got more carrot cake - In the kitchen.
- No, no, no, no, no, no. You don't like my one.
You don't like my one. I'll have the peas. (James laughs) [Mike] We've also built the Sorted Club where you can get tons of foodie inspo using the Packs Midweek Meal app, discover and share
restaurant recommendations using the Eats app, listen and contribute to
our Feast Your Ears podcast, and send us ideas for the new cookbooks you'll receive throughout the year. Check it all out by
heading to sorted.club. (upbeat music) - [Jamie] And now a blooper. Mike's now got bored with wheat and is filming insects,
spiders, beetles, bugs, anything that he can see
that's moving on the ground.
