- [Narrator] 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. - [Narrator] and cookbook challenges, to a midweek meal packs app. - [App Audio] Crack your eggs, bake. - [Narrator] We uncover the tools that'll help us all cook and eat smarter. Join our community, where
everything we do starts with you. - Hey, welcome to "Sorted." Now, today we are revisiting our first ever ultimate battle from 2015 to see if our home cooks,
Jamie, Mike and Barry, have improved. Let's remind ourselves what
they got up to last time. - In the first pancake battle I made the fluffiest pancakes ever with a bacon weave and maple syrup on top. It won, but it wasn't perfect for Ebbers. So this time I'm going to make it perfect. So they're gonna be more fluffy. They're gonna have bacon in the pancakes, and they're going to have
the most amazing sauce Ebbers will ever have seen. So it's perfect. - Last time, mine was an
attempt at pancake art, but let's face it, I let myself down. This time, I'm adding substance to style and I'm going for
beetroot, salmon, and dill. I'm mixing the entire thing up and I'm going a bit crazy. I'm going bold, but I think
it might win me this battle. - Last time I made salted
caramel pretzel pancakes. Ebbers said it was too sweet
and the pancakes didn't deliver but what really stays
with me after six years is that I lost to a Barry Taylor spillage. So I'm taking the exact same recipe, but just refining the technique and hopefully some of
the flavours this time, because I've got it all to do. - So evidently room for improvement. Here we are six years on. They've each worked with our food team to tweak the original recipe with all the tips and tricks
they've learned over the years. - Aargh. - 30 minutes to whip up your pancakes and your time starts in
three, two, one, pancake. (buzzer sounds) - First up, oven preheating
to 200 degrees Celsius. I have a baking tray with
a cooling rack on it. Our bacon is gonna go in there. No weave today. The fat is going to drip
through the cooling rack, onto the tray, and we're gonna use the
fat later for some pecans. - You complained last time that
my pancakes were too sweet. So I've tried to alleviate that with flavours like brown butter. So, I'm heating off a
massive chunk of butter. Basically, cook it down until
it becomes brown and nutty. And I'm going to use that to try and take the edge
off some of my sweetness. - Pancake art relies on
incredible skill by artists. I realised very early on
I didn't have that skill. So I tried to hide that skill by throwing it at a piece of paper and pretending it was Expressionism. - You did put the caveat of blaming the diner.
- I did. - You said, I wouldn't
expect you to understand. - Best thing, as the years have rolled by, I don't feel like it's just
my skills that've improved. Also, I feel like I've understood more about the judge in front of me. How sophisticated and how
incredible your palate can be. So I've designed this
dish purely for you, Ben. - As before, gonna sift my flour. I want these pancakes
as fluffy as possible. And that means air. Baking powder, pinch of salt, eggs, and last little addition, Ebbers, some maple syrup in my batter. Add some flavour, add some sweetness. - I can't even remember
whether I did this last time. - You've always been a
crowd-pleaser though, Mike. This was a fusion of kind of cookie dough, salted caramel, pretzel. You were just taking
everyone's favourite things and put them into one plate. - It was very Internet-y, wasn't it? As we know, wet into dry, and that is three eggs and
milk, a little bit at a time. Whisk it together to get
all that air into it. - That's not how you did it six years ago. - That's true, actually. I've already improved. Here to point out, I'm making two different types of batter. All will become evident very soon. Two batters, two whisks. The other thing I've learned is multitasking is really
important in the kitchen, And I've absolutely nailed it. So, another sprinkle of sugar in both. - Oh, it's
- That's salt. - That's salt, thanks mate. (Barry laughs) Evenly season both. Also important to point out that I am making savoury pancakes. Work this hard, get rid of the lumps. Running some butter through this as well. - Now, I feel like, over the years, beyond just learning about basic recipes, we've learned a lot about the
science of cooking as well, and why we do certain things. Learnt anything about pancake
batters or batters in general? - Cooling time is important - Or resting time. - Resting time. - So, yes, the cooling,
resting, time is important. Do we remember why? - Uh, because of the air and the gluten - The gluten. You've just beaten it up, you want the gluten to kind of relax and hydrate with the liquid. - Now, I'm looking for ribbons that will stay in the
batter for a few seconds, 'cause that thickness is
what's going to help me create thicker, more fluffy
pancakes than last time - I love it when the butter
sort of laces its way, all the way through the batter. - Just leave that to rest, just here. - Hey, I'll tell you something
completely unrelated, Ebbers, about cooking in butter, and that's to wait for it to stop sizzling and to stop bubbling. And once it's stopped making
a sound, then to cook in it. Oh, that is looking amazing, though. That is a good pancake batter. - You've had seven minutes. - One batter done, into
the fridge to rest up. Now, the second batter. This is where it gets a bit crazy. And I dunno if this is going to work, because I've never made this before. We're replacing the milk
with beetroot juice. - I think as we've all adapted,
none of us like washing up. It's about efficiency too. Interesting you've gone for two whisks. - The biggest thing I've
learned is how to multitask. So I'll just show that element off. I can't multitask multitasking, can I? - It's wonderful and vibrant now. What happens to it when it cooks? - Now, last time, I
went very, very simple. I went for maple syrup, and
then right at the last minute I poured over a load of bourbon and, for some reason, blow torched it,
- Yeah. which didn't have any effect.
- No. - This time, I'm gonna take it up a level. I'm going to make a butterscotch sauce. It starts with the caramel,
heating sugar up in a pan. No water. - What I want to do is
split that browned butter. Can tell this is right,
because it separates and you can start seeing some
of the bits at the bottom. And that shows that it's good to go. No! Just as I poured it, it turned itself off. (Ben laughs) Right, let's try again. That'll do. It's lovely and smooth,
and, because it's a batter, it needs to take on all
that flavour and rest. - Whilst they're resting,
I'm gonna put my pans on. When I say my pans, I've actually bought
in my own pan from home because I don't trust the pans here. I've used it a lot and
it definitely works, so. - I've never had a problem
with the pans here. - For my flavour pairing
to go with my pancakes I'm going for a lemon cream cheese filling with smoked salmon on top. Sophisticated, much like yourself, Ebbers. - There's something on your nose. - Just gonna mix this together and start loosening it up. This is just cream cheese, lemon zest. Bit of lemon juice. - [Ben] You have had 12 minutes. - The final element of my dish, that's gonna go on top, are some roasted pecans. Now, roasted pecans in
themselves are delicious, but what about if those pecans
are roasted in bacon fat? Better. - This all looks wonderfully
calm and controlled. - Oh no, oh no. Caramel's coming. - [Ben] A lot of smoke
coming off that pan. - I think it's okay. - I'm gonna put my butter
in, give it a nice stir. Looks like honeycomb. Go in with scotch. - Are we gonna get a little flambé? - Now, where? - [Ben] I think it's probably gone now. - Nope, too scared. - And he lets us all down. You're such a tease. He's not learned anything about nonstick pans and
metal spoons, has he? - It's beautifully rich, creamy,
and really, really smooth, apart from the big lumps
of crystallised sugar. - Gently heat it up and it'll all come back
together eventually. - [Jamie] Pancake pan,
I'm going to oil it, and then kitchen towel to
get rid of the excess grease. - Nice even layer, and
then you can use that paper time and time again, in
between each pancake. - Look, it's beautifully smooth now. Stop getting your knickers in a twist. - Nice colour though. - And also, the smell does have
that richness of the scotch which I'd worry that you'd lose if you burnt all the alcohol off. - So cheat's cookie dough. Last time I got in a mess. So I'm going flour,
sugar, vanilla extract, the rest of my brown
butter, into a blender. Add a tiny bit of milk. (blender whirs) Oh, look at that. That is cheat's cookie dough. Chocolate chips go straight in there. I'm going to give it a
mix, use it as a bowl. - Halfway through. - The first one always goes wrong for me, so I'm not expecting big things, but what I am gonna do is
put this one on the bottom and then get tiny little
bits of cookie dough and just place them in the batter. So don't need too much. I am just smoothing over
bits of cookie dough now. Once it starts bubbling,
it's time to flip it. - [Narrator] If this has got
you in the mood for pancakes, then check out the amazing
sweet and savoury recipes from our Cookbooks app. It's completely free for a month, including the other Sorted Club products. You know the drill, all the info is below. - I wanted to put pretzels
through this batter, and I forgot, which is why
we call that a test pancake. So I'm going to take some pretzels. I'm gonna crunch them up and they're gonna go
through my pancake batter. Hopefully, that saltiness
will cut through the sweetness once I add dulce de leche. - Here, it's all about getting a nice delicate
spoonful of batter and then Pollocks, Pollocks, Pollocks. This is where I start
panicking because, in my head, this was going to be bonkers and irregular but it's just not splatting
the way I thought was going to. I'm gonna marble it instead. My thinking here is cook one side a little
bit more than usual, because as soon as I flip
this, the color's gonna go, and I want to keep as much of that beautiful
ruby red as possible. - 10 minutes left. - Okay, right, now, it's time to multitask because while that's doing there, I need to whip up cream
and some icing sugar. Because again, to take the
edge off some of the sweetness I want some fluffy cream
sandwiched in between the pancakes. - Eight minutes remaining. - Okay, well, after the seven minutes it takes me to whip this cream, I might be okay. Looking good. Goes into the oven. - Oh, that was good. One worked, one did not. - Okay, so straight off here. Yes, the beetroot's giving
you a wonderful colour, but I like the fact you've
upped your game on flavours. Five minutes remaining. - Ah, I need this pan to
come up to temperature. - [Ben] They are very thick. - It is quite thick, isn't it Ebbers? I've added a bacon slice into the middle and I'm gonna gently push
over some of the excess batter and top it up if necessary with some more. - Hot spots in the pan is
always an interesting one. So I would say there the best thing to do is to allow that pancake pan to come up to temperature for
longer, so it's more even. - I'm gonna put my
pecans in whilst I wait. - I was just gonna say
about the multitasking. I'm glad you remembered. How's that hot spot doing? - This pan is all over the place. - Six years on, and we're
still blaming the tools. - The last pancakes I
made in the last battle weren't cooked all the way through, so I really want to make sure that we're getting
enough heat through these and that they're cooking properly. - Hmm, I was gonna put that
vanilla extract with bits in it in there, and I forgot, so it's going in. I'm going to have to stir
it through so, so carefully. Otherwise you're gonna get vanilla butter. - Three minutes left. - You want to see some art? And then we're gonna go for a little- Okay, gently does it. Dollop of beetroot on top. Okay, ready for this? Art. - Lucky you've got a rimmed plate. - I kinda like it. It's not what I expected,
but I kinda like it. - You now have one minute. If there's one thing we've learned, you can always hide the
naff ones at the bottom. - That's not what I've done. - Nuts on top. - 30 seconds. Interesting that you've
gone for really hot pancake and cream, in a stack that's
gonna slide and dribble. - No, no, no, it was going so well. - 10 seconds. - Dip your dill in some ice cold water. Brings it to attention. - [Ben] Five, four. - Why is everyone laughing?
- Three. - Stop laughing everybody.
- Two. One. - Six years on, still got the panic. - I've learned nothing, nothing. - Let's get them into the sexies. - That was unexpectedly disappointing. - We haven't tasted them yet. - Do you know what? I think they're gonna taste great. - Pancakes thrice. Let's start with Jamie's. I'm going to take a wedge from the middle so I get some bacon in there as well. - Oh, there's bacon all
the way through, Ben. - Well, I cut my first
mouthful off the end, didn't have any, which is
why I made the comment. - Cheers.
- Cheers. - That is a Jamie flavoured pancake. - There is so much going on. The pancake actually almost
gets lost, but it gets lost around an incredible
caramel butterscotch sauce. Those pecans have got a
real bacon hit to them. Probably more so than
the bacon in the middle. You can see it's spongy, it's airy. The baking powder has done its thing. Relatively good, even colour
on the four we've tried. That is definitely an improvement. If I had to pick holes, I would say the consistency
and uniformality of them wasn't great. - No more excuses, you're right. - This mess. (all laugh) - I can't deny that. - Cheers. - Cheers. - That is an excellent pancake. And the little bit of cookie
dough in there is good. I love the texture, which I liked before, but I think it's even better. through the batter and
on top with the pretzel and the little pocket of chocolate. The cream melted a bit, but- (Mike laughs) - You're so generous. - Jamie's was an improvement on last time. Yours is a vast improvement. Straight off, I'm glad you
bothered with a plate this time. I actually think it looks really good. - Cheers.
- Cheers. - That jumps off the plate. I'm not getting beetroot flavour, but I've got so much of the lemon and the smoked salmon and the dill that it's a very fresh, very savoury, very delicious stack of pancakes. - They're three banging pancakes. - My challenge is best plate of pancakes
versus most improved. The third best plate of pancakes, - Kind.
- rather than the worst, isn't even a plate. It's a basket, it's over here. I think it's great. I think you just, lacking a
little bit on uniformality, but it was yummy. - Did you bump your head
from that fall from grace? - Second place is the most improved, but Barry wins, 'cause that looks great, but the flavour combination is so different to what you
did before and is yummy. - Well done, mate, good work.
- Well done Maz. - But I mean, they're all
good and all a huge step up, but I think testament
again, is how you can take one pretty standard pancake batter recipe and take it in three completely
different directions, and they're all delicious. - Whilst I try to figure out where my life is heading right now, why don't you comment
down below and let us know which pancake would have
been your favourite. - Yeah, and which videos, recipes, overall fails from our back catalogue, should we be trying to
recreate and make better? Tweet us with the hashtag #failssorted. - I didn't sort my fails at all. - The nuts were a winner,
a standout winner. - They obviously weren't a winner. - Being a pancake battle,
you under-delivered. (all laugh) - There'll be other times
where it just doesn't work. Radio waves. - You Ebbers and flow. - I Ebbers and flow. That's your DJ name, isn't it? I just realised. Ebbers and Flow.
