(eggshell cracking) (upbeat music) - Hello and welcome back to Sorted food. - So many of you have commented saying you enjoy our
"Pick the Premium" videos. So we're tweaking out today, we're making a video
called, "Pick the Process." - Yeah and that's because, so much of our food goes
on one hell of a journey before it ends up on our plate. So today Jamie and Barry are gonna see if they can identify, which is the fresh and which is the frozen product once it's inside of a dish and we're gonna do it in
good old blind taste testing. (upbeat music) - Give me a lift. - What's the point in the cloche? - In each case A and B, what you have in front of you is a cannellini bean minestrone, With a pasty vinegarette
and a garlic crumb. And the thing we'd like you to guess is which of those was
made with fresh sofrito and which one was made
with frozen sofrito. - Okay.
- Uh that smells yummy - Free vocab badge coming into play there. - Yummy. - You might wanna see if you can get more on that spoon. - Oh, huh. - It might be hard to ever get - Right. Straight away. That is delicious. - But actually what you're eating is based off of our cannellini
bean minestrone recipe from our meal packs app in the balancing act pack. - I mean, first off, like
as a bunch of normals can you tell us from a chef's
perspective what the value of a sofrito base is? - Yeah. It's the perfect combination of kind of root vegetables,
onion, carrot, celery. Sometimes with Bailey leaves as well. Large is kind to mirepoix
in French cuisine. Small is a sofrito in Italian cuisine and it provides a wonderful base layer in which to build up flavor. And that's because it's
savory, it's got the sulfur of onion, but also the sweetness of carrot and all of that combined, just is the perfect base layer. - That is delicious. Let's see if B lives up to it. - I think there are so many levels of conversations to talk about today. Everything from getting
the best value for money from the journey of the
food, to convenience of the food ,to does fresh
tastes better than frozen? but that's some stuff that
I'd like to find out today. - B for Berry. - A has been frozen. - Why? - Because I feel like
I'm getting more flavor. I can taste more from B
and that would make me believe it's fresher. - Blindfold off. See if there's any visual difference. - I think I can see a difference. - The sofrito in B are
very, very finely diced lots of skill taking there, whereas in A, little bit more haphazard, and I recognize done by one
of our chefs here have not - There is time to shop in there, I know. - Sorry, sorry, sorry, Sorry. One looks very, it's
gone through a machine rather than done by various skilled hands. - What I've learnt so far, is that there isn't a big difference between the flavor and the
taste of those two dishes. So if one is considerably cheaper more convenient than the
other, that's a win in my book. - Oh, I have put him out of his misery. - I can tell you that, B is the frozen one. - Oh. - You are in this instance, absolutely Correct. B is the processed one. So it is a bag of frozen
Cara onion, celery sold as a sofrito mix and costs
two pounds, 40 per kilo. As a comparison, - Yes please. - We made our own with
onion, carrot and celery did it by hand from fresh ingredients. And that worked out at
three pounds, 10 per kilo. So it is more expensive to use the fresh plus you need the time to chop it. - And the skill that is. - Oh, someone's got that. - Ooh. - The only caveat curve
ball I would throw in, is obviously, it is processed which isn't necessarily always a bad thing but that process is quite costly somewhere not to you in the end
product, but you know there are entire factories that
need to be fueled and done. Plus this product then
needs to be refrozen and refrigerated through its entire journey in
warehouses, supermarkets. You're running a freezer
at home to keep it cold - But there is less wastage. - At the same time, if I'm going to the
effort of making a really nice dish, do I want them
to have the knowledge that I've done it all myself? Yeah. I probably do. Actually. Sometimes - If this removes one
barrier to get more people scratch cooking then maybe there's a good
element in there as well. - Yeah. Well stroke star bus. (upbeat music) - Alright. Spot number two. You have two cloches. - Oh. - Give them a lift. A and B give us your thoughts. - Ooh - Always familiar. But unrecognizable. Do you know what I mean? - You're gonna be
experiencing char-grilled vege one is frozen. - Oh. one is fresh. - So a mixture of yellow
pepper, red pepper, Courgette, aubergine. - Am I? - Yeah, go for it. Yeah. You good actually. - Oh, Oh Okay - Who puts a fork in their mouth sideways? - Oh, I've got some couscous. - Got a little bit couscous there as well. Like the last round, one of these comes in a bag already mixed char grilled roasted. The other one we bought fresh and we've
prepared char grilled and then roasted it. - The vege in A was quite slimy, which happens sometimes when you roasting and it doesn't crisp up B the Vege is far more crunchy, flavor wise. They both have good flavor. So with that in mind, A is frozen. - One just tastes slightly
cleaner and fresher. B is fresher, A is the frozen one here. - Take your blindfolds off. See if that makes any difference. - Once You can see them. - Any noticeable difference. are you happy with your choice. - I'm very happy with my choice. - B looks and feels vibrant. That's the only word that I can give it. - Well, those blind folks you've got in your house came in handy. - I'm actually happy with my answer. - And you should be cause you're absolutely correct. And I think structure is
a big part to play here. If you think about
berries as an equivalent a fresh Berry has structure, a frozen Berry that you then defrost is much mushier. The same kind of thing happens here. The processed bag of
char-grilled made vege and you're looking at about
three pounds, 70 per kilo B prepped them, char-
grilled them ourselves. And that worked out at
about six pounds a kilo. So 60% more - Visually they are a lot better. And within a salad, I'd say
it's important to do some fresh. - It's a lot more expensive,
but in a dish where the vege becomes the star of the show, it was noticeable. - I suppose, to get the
same effect at home. You need to have capacity and space in your kitchen to be able to char grill and create a lot of smoke a cast iron pan or barbecue in the summer. You know, not everyone has the access. And the other consideration may be is that this is a product of Spain, where the ingredients
would have been grown prepared, char-grilled and processed and then brought over here frozen. Whereas the fresh ones came across fresh and possibly
days or weeks old by the time you finally
got them home and use them. So although they are
fresh rather than frozen they are older. Like you say, J when
it's the hero ingredient I think you have to go from fresh. - I'd agree. (upbeat music) - Allrighty.Barry, this one
comes with a health warning. Please don't burn yourself. Both dishes are in hot cast, iron pan. - Oh, I can smell fish. - What you got is another dish, inspired by our meal packs app. It is spiced oil with Cod loins on top, which is steamed on top in the final few moments of cooking
finished with yogurt. (laughing) - This is amazing. It is so far away from him. - Au. - This is amazing. This is where the blind is really painful because I'm pretty sure I took this off. I could tell the fish straight away always one frozen fish is really obvious cause it doesn't flake
the way it normally does. With A the bar was set really high there. A is delicious, that has to be fresh. Moving over to B you get them, you get the delicate flavors from the fish, which I lost in this one. - A has less of the Cod flavor, but it does have a really decent texture. to red, flaky texture. - Yup. - B still has a slight bite to it. Still quite flaky, but
it tastes far Fishier. - You always say that the fresh
fish shouldn't be too fishy. In fact, something like Cod is almost got
a sweet meatiness to it. It's absolutely delicious. When it's fresh - They are both exceptionly good. B I've managed to get a big chunk of fish. Where on A I kept getting
a mixture of the both. It was a lot more mushy. So I'll go for A is the frozen one. - I prefer A, and I also think that A might be frozen. - Why we looked in, have a look. I'm not sure you'll be
able to see any difference. Maybe you will. - I'm still not convinced. I think I've got that wrong. - Put him down. I mean, put him out of his misery. - A Is skinless boneless,
Cod loin sold fresh from a UK supermarket at 20 pounds a kilo. B is the premium grade frozen Cod fillets from
another UK supermarket. And that is 12 pounds, 50 per kilos. - I shouldn't have gone with my nose. I should've gone with the pong, to me it comes down to what you use and I've had frozen Cod at home and it doesn't look as good. And the other plate, as soon as you put it into a dog
or a fish pie dishes. - Now, Jay I've got a curve ball for you. - Okay.
- Here we go. - Cause this is really interesting. And I have to be honest, we only stumbled across this. When we started really digging in on a few of these options. Most of the fresh seafood available in UK supermarkets pre-packaged has been frozen, including that one. - Am sorry, what? - Because it's caught
in the depths of the sea and the North Atlantic ocean. And it would take days
to get it back here. So it is frozen but then it is defrosted
under controlled conditions. And sold to you fresh. - Freshly defrosted. - Sorry, what? - Yeah.
- Yeah. - I've never looked into it enough to realize that that was the case. I wonder how much other food
that applies to as well. - However, Because it is more controlled. It is still a more premium product. You said it tasted better. It is sweeter and less fishy. It is probably younger in
sense of the frozen fish, has a much longer shelf
life and may have been out of the sea a lot longer. Although it's been hard frozen. - Well, that has blown my mind. - Isn't it? That frozen Fish was
Iceland, but the same applied to Tesco Sainsbury's and the Carter. - I'm gutted that I didn't get it right but I've definitely learned more from it. - One more curve ball, they also have Iceland Cod
fillets that are half the price but those are caught
in the North Atlantic, packaged in China, brought to Dublin's head office and store and then sold in London. However, despite the
fact it's been halfway around the world and
back it's half the price. - How is that even possible? - That's not just Iceland. That's the same for Tesco and Sainsbury's. And most of UK supermarkets, a lot of their frozen fish is packaged on the other side of the world. - That is mind blowing. - Sadly fish mongers are
really difficult to come by. - Yeah. - It plays with all preconceptions. - A was definitely the tastier one. Now that I know that that's
because that's fresh. That settles how I buy my fish. - But it has also been frozen. - Shh. (upbeat music) - Its Been a great day so far. - Has it? - It has. - so you've gotten three
out of three, have you?. - Has it been two or three? Come on. (upbeat music) - We've done veg, We've done fish well what we actually
want you to judge here is beef. - Is this back bone - Near enough? It's not actually spaghetti,
but it is the beef polonaise. We want you to judge. - That's a very rich regroup, I'm enjoying that - How are the piano lessons going. - Not too bad. - same, same, but different - Still hasn't learnt how to use the fork. (laughing) - We've not mixed it all together as is more traditional in polonaise. We've served the regular on top. - Oh, Gotcha. - One of those plates has been made with fresh minced beef and one has been made with frozen. Otherwise the cooking method is identical. - Straight away as the polonaise goes its very beefy. Its very rich. You guess there's a lot of red wine or beef stock in that. Compliments to the chef. - Oh, that's your first today. - I've made my decision. - Wow. - Whoa. - That is such Barry Taylor confidence. - Yep. But I'll tell you in confidence, A is frozen. - You said, it was delicious. - It is delicious, but
texture-wise, it's nitty and gritty. Whereas B I've got big bits. I've got little bits. - It feels like it is grit. - Yeah. - A, it's slightly more grainy. It's falling apart. Therefore I think A is frozen. - Okay. Well, decision was abruptly made. You've looked in, have a look. - See if that changes your mind. - Not when you are allowed to. - There are a few more longer strands beef and quite clustered. Yeah. It looks more like,
it looks more like a cereal. Like it's been broken down really. - Happy. - Absolutely definitive on that. And you were absolutely right. - And a good polonaise
with a strong stock. We have incredible base. The flavors are so rich. It doesn't matter that much. If your source game is weak then you rely more on
the minced to do its job. - A is indeed frozen UK
supermarket frozen beef minced 12% fat and is just shy
of five pounds a kilos. The fresh minced, which is B also from UK supermarket, 15% fat. So similar, maybe a little bit more also just shy of five pounds a kilos. It is a fairly cheap form of minced. You can definitely spend more but there is very little price difference. We're talking 20 per kilo difference. - I like to be aware of how much meat I'm buying and consuming. So by buying it weekly
fresh, it helps me control that a little bit better and know that I'm buying the right stuff
and cooking it well as well. Any excess I can put in the freezer. - The texture is not that's
not what you'd be looking for from good minced beef. - But the fact that they're
both a similar price it makes it an absolute, no brainer. Unless there's an Edwards curb - We should point out
they're both British beef. And they're both from trusted
sources from the supermarket. However, the frozen beef, again like so many things
we're talking about has less wastage in the supply chain than
fresh beef, which might go out of date in the
supermarket before it's bought you might buy it and take it home and not get around to using it. There is a lot more
wastage in the fresh beef. However, like with the
berries, like with the vege when you freeze food, which
is basically chemicals Kemp food is made up of chemicals. Those chemicals behave in different ways and you change the structural element. And that is what you're
experiencing there. - We talk about meat far more along the lines of eat less of it and eat better quality and buy
the best that you can afford. I'm so glad that the difference was that obvious. - You look puzzled, What are you thinking? - I think I've probably lost. - You scored three out of four. Jamie Spafford scored two out of four. So you are the winner today. Congratulations
- Good. - You get to take all of these
frozen bags of food home. Well over to you guys which food processes would you
like us to investigate next - As always comment down below
and joining the conversation over on Twitter, using
the #SORTEDTASTETESTS - And bitty and nitty it's
all of the itty words. Not titty, not that one.
