(upbeat festive music) - Hello, everyone. Boys, you are in for a treat. - The pressure is on you. - Our chefs have bought you a few little gifts for Christmas. Jay, you're up first. Lift the cloche. - Have you cloched and blindfolded me? - Yeah, it's Christmas.
- Right. - Special time of the year. That's for the audience. That's for you!
- Oh, ooh! A surgical tool. - As gifts go, without the context, is it underwhelming?
(Jamie laughing) - I mean, I could have
put a bow on it, but... - Yeah (laughing). - So it's massive tweezers, which you're more commonly known as tongs. - These are Rösle tongs,
Swiss-German made, stainless steel. We're talking 1810 stainless steel. So obviously rustproof, dishwasher proof, and all the things you want in a kitchen. But they are precision,
both for tiny little things in terms of plating,
but also strong enough and with enough physics
involved in their leverage to pick up chunky things too. It's an all in one. You won't need another set of tongs. - [Mike] I actually think
that's a great gift. - Like all good Christmas mornings, once you've opened your presents, you wanna play with 'em, right? - Yeah.
- Yes. - Yeah.
- Would you like to? - Yes. - So we're gonna get you to sear and turn some chunky piece of steaks, but also the finest thing
we had in the fridge, which is Tenderstem broccoli. A bit more fiddly. - I want you to tip
the oil with the tongs. See if they can handle
an an olive oil bottle. - Don't be ridiculous.
- No, not from there! - Don't be ridiculous.
- What, I'm just... - [Ben] There you go. It's not replace... It's not like Captain Hook where you only have one utensil for life. - [Barry] There we go. - Do I have to pick up the
salt and pepper with this? - No.
- Yeah, one grain at a time. - One grain at a time. (upbeat festive music continues) - Oh.
- That was easy. (all laughing) - So I know what you're
thinking, straight off the bat. Whoo, tongs.
(all laughing) Thanks. - Thank you, Ebbers, yeah, you've done it. - 100%, yeah.
- But... They are an extension of a
chef's hand, basically, and arm. And they are so useful in the kitchen. Over the years we've used
countless, this is an example. And we've raved about the use in the past. They also work just fine. But if you're in a kitchen,
they are more difficult to clean and to get in and out all those bits, especially when they get greasy and dirty. Whereas these ones are
much easier to clean. The pair we've had there
with the silicon tips, it's already lost silicon off one side. I mean we have had them a couple of years, but there are things that can
fall off and go wrong with it. Whereas the ones you're
holding in your left hand, they have a lifetime guarantee. They are really easy to
clean, really easy to use. And they just work. - The only thing these don't have Ebbers, is they don't have your... - When have you ever
needed to go that wide? (all laughing)
- I mean, in a food sense. - You're not tonging a bottle of oil. - I do think these have
got enough dexterity for what you would use 99% of the time. - That's surprising, 'cause I... When I initially saw them, I
thought they look a bit flimsy. Maybe they're not gonna be able to actually hold anything substantial. But, I have been proved wrong. Are these prominent with the type of tongs that exist in professional kitchens? - Every chef is gonna have
their own personal approach and some kitchens won't use any tongs. Probably, unlikely. However, this is an example
of a set of tongs that Kush, and Kush has chosen this present, used in a kitchen previously and was like, "Yeah, they're great." And the moment he got home,
ordered one for himself. - Multiple. (upbeat festive music continues) I feel like it's a thoughtful gift though, because it's for somebody who
enjoys cooking, enjoys food, and you're trying to help
them get better or improve. I think it's just a nice
like, "You like this. It's something to make
it a little better." - I'm not suggesting
that on Christmas morning you also walk into their kitchen and throw away their current tongs. Because they will very quickly realise they don't need those
and do it themselves, when this becomes the tong of life. (all chuckling) - Shut up, Ebbers (laughing). - Perfectly medium rare.
- Well done. - Mmm. I like them. I've probably been through
three or four pairs of tongs over the last few years, just... - 'Cause he likes to get really wide. - Yeah, yeah (laughing). - But to know that I've got a set of tongs that will last me for a long time, I think is a really nice, thoughtful gift. I think I do like the fact
they're a bit more precise. They do feel very sturdy. I like it. I don't think I'd buy them for myself. But I also know that I'm
quite difficult to buy for when it comes to presents. - That's why you got a set of tongs, mate. (all laughing) - I have no idea how much that costs. - I'll put you out in misery, 23 pounds. - I had about 20 pounds
in my head, actually. - Good gift.
- Yeah. - I'd gift these to myself.
- Really? - I actually genuinely will. I'd buy those 'cause I can
see when I'd really use them. - But that's the problem
in the run up to Christmas. You buy so many things for yourself and you forget to buy for other people. And that's perhaps gonna be the slightly different approach to this
video is these are things that chefs have thought about for foodies. Well, as chefs we like them. We hope you do. But Jay, good gift? Or are you re-gifting? - Good gift. - [Mike] If you are enjoying this, there are some small things you can do that make a big difference to us. Like the video, subscribe if you aren't, click the notification
bell and select all. Thanks. (upbeat festive music) - Okay, Baz, your turn.
- One for you. - Ooh.
- One for me. - Okay.
- Ooh! Looks like it's a spicy trio. - So it's Christmas day,
you've just been handed that. How do you feel? (Barry sighs) (all laughs) You ungrateful, little (beep). - The answer is, "Oh, thank you. What are these?" - So straight away I'm going, "Someone's made something at home." If you're a Secret Santa, I'd be worried. But because I know this is from chefs, I'm confident in what
I've got in front of me. - [Mike] Nice. - [Ben] These are three of
Kush's preserved chilies. - Oh, and I know that man
grows a lot of chilies. - Precisely that. Right, let's get you some food. - Oh no, okay, right. I'm excited. - So this is Kush's homegrown red chilies that have been pickled. So a little bit of sugar
to sweeten it slightly, but mostly vinegar and blended down into something that's fiery, fiery, fiery. So it's a hot pickley, sweet chilli sauce. Wherever you want put hot sauce, but perhaps some fried chicken. - How much do I trust Kush?
- Go in. - [Jamie] (laughing) Go in, come on. - Mmm. Spice levels very manageable. The biggest thing from
that is the fragrance and the freshness you get from it. It doesn't taste like it's
been jarred or bottled. It tastes like it's
straight from his garden. This is calling me. What is this? - It's a cheese and ham sandwich. But that's not what I've gifted you. That's just the serving suggestion. The gift, the bit I want
you to be excited by is the lacto-fermented chilies. So these are a year old. These have been a year
doing their funky thing. - [Mike] So when you say lacto-fermented, what is the exact process of that? (Barry exclaims) - Not dissimilar to like a sauerkraut. So you're basically, you're
adding into a salt brine and then it is the
natural organisms in there that give you the lacto part of it. (upbeat festive music) - It's making what is
quite a heavy sandwich, feel quite light and refreshing. - And it works so well with cheese. Chop up a few of those
through mac and cheese or something like that.
- Oh, now we're talking. - [Barry] Finally, what we got here? - [Ben] So this is a lemon
chilli pepper that's been grown. - I already love the sound of that. - And then it's been turned into a chutney with other flavours. So some ginger, some garlic,
and bits and pieces as well. - Do lemon chilli peppers taste lemony? Are they citrusy?
- They have a citrusy. Yeah, they have a citrus element to them. And they are wonderful
with, as you might imagine, a lot of Indian food but also cheese. - Sharp cheeses. - Wherever you might put a
mango chutney, which is sweet, this is adding a whole nother dimension. - Oh, Barry's surfing.
- The dance. He's got a dance. - That's a bit, whoa, there we go! I'm up, I'm up! - He's riding it!
- That's brilliant. - You don't need to be a chef to be creating these kind of things. So chutneys and pickles,
infused alcohols, chilli sauces, spice nuts, like all
of these kind of things are pretty easy to do. So easy in fact, I did a course on it. - [Mike] Oh, yeah. - [Jamie] Oh, this has all
just been a massive plug. - [Barry] Oh, okay. - [Ben] The legitimate category is, especially this year, money is tight. - Yes. - So why not use a little bit of time and a little bit of preparation to create very personalised gifts. There are so many options for you to try. They're all on our edible gifting course. In fact, if you didn't want
to gift the edible gifts, you could always gift the
edible gifting course. It's about making personal gifts. If the person you're buying for, or making for, or gifting
for doesn't like spicy food, make some fudge, make
some cheese biscuits, make some cheese straws.
- Yeah. - There's so many different
things you can create at home that are relatively cost-effective, but you're giving
something that's priceless. So...
- Price. - Priceless.
(Barry laughing) Absolutely priceless.
- Perfect. - And upcycle jars, it's
good for the planet. And he grew them so they
had to go somewhere. - It'll be incredibly rude
for me to re-gift this and it's absolutely delicious. I'm definitely keeping it. - Please check the person
you're gifting it for, their allergies and intolerances. (upbeat festive music) Right, Mike, if you can lift
cloche, this one's for them. - One for you.
(all laughing) - [Barry] Up, up, up, up, yeah. - There's a cloche.
- There it is. - Someone's been a good boy this year. - One for you. - There's the reveal 'cause they didn't know
what it was before. And now for yourself. - One's for me. Oh wow. I thought it was a massive shaver. The world's largest attachment system. I love it because it's a toy. It's a Christmas toy.
(all laughing) - [Ben] It's a Christmas toy
with lots of attachments. It's the Braun nine-in-one stick blender, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus. - Do you know, I worry when things claim to do nine things in one because a lot of the time they do one or two things brilliantly well, and that's what the main thing is. And then the extra is
just a marketing add-on. So I'll be intrigued to see
whether this really does... Oh my goodness, that is so weighty. - It is weighty because it's
got a pretty big motor in it. - Okay.
- It's beautifully packaged. Comes apart really easily and carefully. - Wow, okay. Instantly, what I like about
it, it all feels pretty solid. Like, that is heavy. That is heavy. I'm getting a mini chopper, I'm getting a stick blender, whisk. - And then lots of rotating
discs for food processor, which will do a mixture of slicing, and grating, and fine rasping. It's very rare that as normal home cooks, we are doing large volumes of anything. So to have an entire thing
that's just a food processor, have an entire thing
that's just a stand mixer. It's a lot of space on kitchen counter. I guess the idea here is it's for a foodie who might be short of space, have one or two of these
maybe, but not all of them. And therefore with all
the added attachments, it should do everything. Should we give you some stuff?
- Okay. Yeah, let's try it. - So to start off with, we've given you something classic, a nice potato and watercress soup. - That's a stick blender joby, right? - Yep. - In.
(upbeat festive music) I'm going on max power. Well it works. The give on the suspension
is really useful. - Is it bringing the blade closer to the bottom of the pan? - Yeah. - The good thing about a stick
blender is we use it a lot, midweek cooking on Sidekick
to get sauces, to get soups, to get like pestos, to
make quick mayonnaises, and all of that. But it's also the kind of
thing that will be used to make delicious purées
and really smooth sauces at high-end cooking. So you've kind of got
the best of all worlds. - Well it blended easily. What am I trying next? - Use the mini chopper to
make up a little paste. You've got some ginger, some
garlic, some chilli there. (chopper whirring)
(upbeat festive music) Fair play, like, that is
a really good little dice. - Now what is always the case with these is you take it straight out the box and obviously they're razor sharp. We spoke about the chef's
knife last Christmas. It's like out the box, it's like perfect. But this is one that Kush
has personally had at home and personally brought
today to this video. And he's had this for six years and he uses it like all the time. - Here we go. (chopper whirring)
(upbeat festive music) Voilà. Nice, there's a couple of
chopped bits around the side, but that might have been
down to my plunging. But pretty much 90% of this,
super thin, nice slices. But it's nice when it actually follows up with what you expect. - This isn't a hashtag ad. There's lots of other
multifunctional tools out there. They've all got R&D teams who spend years developing to create something that works. We are just saying in
this episode, as chefs, this is one that we have used,
do rate, and continue to use. - What I like as well
is the Braun nine-in-one is not just for Christmas,
but housewarmings, wedding presents, stuff like that. It's a really useful gift
if you know your giftee is genuinely gonna use it and cooks enough to
utilise it all, which I do. So I love it. - As with all these
gifts, difficult to tell, because prices fluctuate. But we bought this one for 159 pounds. (Jamie whistles)
- Oh. - [Ben] So this isn't a gadget review. - [Barry] No, no. - This is chef's
recommending kit for foodies. - Yeah. - And this is a great gift if you've got that kind of
budget to spend on someone. - Yeah, it makes absolute sense. If it's already lasting Kush six years, you can see that that's a good investment. - Not even 10 pence a
day and it's still going. - Great gift. Would genuinely use it. I answered your question
before you asked it. - Job done. (mysterious music)
(dog howls) - [Narrator] Deep in the
remote English countryside lies an inn where Sorted Food are hosting their Christmas weekend away. With nothing around for
miles and nowhere else to go, this weekend of live streamed fun may become a weekend of survival. (rock music) (mysterious music)
(wind howling) (upbeat festive music) - [Ben] This one's from me to you. - This looks very interesting. One for them. - Ooh. - That's a good reaction
when someone opens a gift. - That's a, "Oh, a project." - A Spain 1,000 wine puzzle. So 1,000 pieces, or 1,000 wines? Put your phone down,
relax, and make a puzzle. At Water & Wines, we
want to share our passion for oh, oh, oh, oyonol, oy, yep... in a fun and creative way. Learn about grapes,
aroma's, food pairings, and so much more. Play your way into the world of wine. It's an image of Spain. It's all the regions of
Spain for wine making. - Puzzles are back. It's kind of back to
just slow entertainment. And I feel like, you know me, shoehorned a little bit of
learning everywhere we can. So this has been crafted
by wine sommeliers to basically give you a
snapshot of the regions of Spain that grow grapes, the grapes they grow, the tasting profiles, the pairings. And it's 1,000 piece
learn-as-you-go jigsaw puzzle. - What you've done is awesome. You've given a very colourful puzzle... (Mike laughing) to a colorblind person. - I picked Spain because
I know it's his love, and I like to make things challenging. (upbeat festive music continues) - Excellent.
- Go on, Jay. - All of a sudden, what
you're gifting to your foodie- - I like it.
- is a experience, a challenge, and a learning opportunity. - We did so many jigsaws during lockdown. - Yeah. - You know, just in the
evening with a bottle of wine. And it does, it takes ages to
do like a 1,000 piece puzzle. - [Ben] Learning on the inside of the box. - Oh, yeah.
- Oh, yeah, red wines. - [Mike] Know your wine glasses! - Roses, desserts. (upbeat festive music continues) Found a corner piece!
- Well done, mate. - Excellent.
- Have a sip! You've earned it. - Salud. - So it gives you the regions, it gives you the grapes that might stereotypically
be grown in that region. Bearing in mind anywhere can
grow pretty much anything. And then it'll also give you
the flavour notes and profiles and aromas you'd expect from those grapes, and some sort of serving
food suggestions too. - It's awesome. - This is why a puzzle is
good for more than one person. Because what we would generally do at home is that I would go and find
like all the edge pieces and then Luce would figure out... - What colour they are.
- Yep, and where to put them. (all laughing) - I bought this one for you,
Spain, for obvious reasons, but they have most of the
wine regions of the world so you couldn't actually
get the collection. They even have whiskey ones. So there's one of Scotland with whiskey. - That's cool. - You can learn about
the different regions and the different notes you'd
expect from those grape types. - Again, this feels to me
like the perfect present with an accompanying bottle
of wine or drinks of wine or- - Yeah, somewhere on a map. - So, yeah. - Hours of entertainment
and just 35 pounds. - Okay. That feels like a good gift giving level. - An expensive puzzle. - Yes.
- Yeah, but useful. - So Jay, are you gonna
keep it as a good gift or are you re-gifting it? - I mean I've already found
15 of the edge pieces, so if I re-gifted now that
was time wasted wasn't it? I'm gonna keep this. This is a great gift. Thanks, Ebbers. (upbeat festive music) - Something for all of you. Baz, lift the cloche. - Are we gonna have to share this? - One for us. Oh! - I can't see it.
- Hang on a second. - And one for them.
- Oh. - We always like to gift
cookbooks at Christmas and these are three that
have stood out to us... - Donal. - for a couple of different reasons. Jay, yours is Donal's
book, and actually... - [Jamie] Our favourite boy band member. - Oh, yes!
- There he is. - Back to the Roots.
- Yeah. I love Donal's style of food though. It's proper comfort home food, cook in the middle of the
week, cook at the weekend. It's like really lovely,
just warming food. - Feels like by parents for parents. (all laughing) Do you know what I mean? - I know, yeah. - Like with a bit of zhuzh.
- Yeah. - It's great. - Gochujang Slow-roasted chicken, hello. - Now we've known Donal
for many, many years. And I think this book, actually,
if you flick to the front, the introduction is a snapshot of the last seven or eight years of his
life when he moved to LA, and then basically has
been trying to work out where home is, and coming back to Ireland. This is the book that he's
written that it's just like, this is to me now home food. So it's all about, yeah, midweek cooking, prepping ahead at the weekend, easy entertaining for like
date night kind of vibes. It's got a lot of beautiful photography of kind of the lifestyle shots. Baz, yours is from someone
I actually have never met, but I do admire. Alex Jackson, he's a
head chef at Noble Rot, which started as a wine magazine then it's a venue of great
sort of wine and food. But this is his snapshot of almost like the borderlands of France. So he's a Brummie by heart,
but he did a degree in French and that's where he fell
in love with French food. But this is all about
regional French food. And interestingly, I think
so many people often think of French food as particularly fancy and high-end, and haute cuisine. This is the more kind of
rustic, regional, seasonal food of different areas of France. And when I say areas, I
mean France's borderlands. - Yeah, 'cause right here I've got a dish from San Sebastián. - So this book has got
a little bit of insight into each area at the start
of each kind of section or chapter about what
that food and cuisine and style is like and then
loads of recipes with it. A philosophy to this
book, which I really like, is that the word borders
can be quite divisive, economically, politically,
all that kind of stuff. Like borders is a sketchy kind of subject, especially right now. Whereas what he's saying is borderlands, i.e. the area either side of borders is actually this wonderful fusion place where ideas exchange and
people swap and change. And as someone who isn't French, but with a pretty good
understanding of France and the language, he can
step back and look at what those borderlands are doing with food and how those regions,
including North Africa, where there's obviously a lot
of French influence as well. - Where I find these books are great are actually flicking through
and reading the recipes and getting inspiration from them. I might only cook two
or three actual recipes, but when coming up with like battle ideas, or things that are achievable
for me when entertaining, I love flicking through
these types of things and picking up on stuff
that I can replicate, and also like plate styling ideas as well. - And last but absolutely not least, Mike, - [Mike] Take me back to Vietnam, Ebbers. - "Vietnam Made Easy." This is Thuy's book. So this is her kind of
homage to the change in her almost identity as she's put it. Like she used to think that food had to be wholly authentic
when it comes to Vietnamese. And she wanted to stand
proud for the kind of food that she grew up with
when she was in Vietnam. She came to the UK quite a young age. And then Little Viet Kitchen
was kind of her playful space where she started to simplify
and mix and match things and make it a little bit
more accessible and easy, and give it her own stamp. And then more recently during
COVID, she's had a kid, so she's like, "Now I'm also a busy mom, so I haven't got all the
time that I used to do." And you remember, Thuy used to be the busiest working
person I've ever known. She was in that basement
kitchen, the restaurant, churning out amazing food, but everything had to be
done absolutely perfectly. This is her sort of saying,
"Actually everything that I love of authentic Vietnamese food
made easy, made more convenient for busy moms and families." And the kind of food that she loves now, I quite like that journey. Again, knowing Thuy for many years, it's just a lovely
snapshot of what we know. - I bet she's still a
proper feeder though. - Oh, she's always feeding. - We've rolled out of Little
Viet Kitchen, didn't we? Countless times. - I think this style of
cooking is right up my street in that it's easily accessible, but the authenticity of the ingredients and the flavour combinations
of Vietnam run throughout. So it is a really lovely... I look at these dishes
and I think rack of lamb with papaya and red onion salsa. - Whoo!
- I think I could do that. And what I do love about these
books based on other cuisines is that as you cook them,
you start to understand really how the individual
ingredients from that location start to pair with other
similar ingredients. And then you can just
take those combinations that taste great and apply
them to your own cooking. And so it's really inspirational. - Again, prices fluctuate
an awful lot with these. These are all the hardback copies, and they range between 15 and 20 pounds. - When it comes to
cookbooks for me, as a gift, as long as they're personal enough and useful enough for the recipient, definite good gift. - So I like cookbooks because I find them good for inspiration. - Yeah, 100%.
- Like, and ideas. I like a coffee table cookbook. - [Mike] Yeah. - And then I'll kind of
make my own recipe up or do a Sidekick version of it. - And that one you've got there Baz, I've already thumbed through it. And actually without
cooking anything from it, I've already learned loads. Stop sniffing it. (Barry laughing) Over to you guys. What do you think? We will put all the
links to all of the gifts in the link downstairs. But what other great foodie gifts do you consider at Christmas? (gentle orchestral music)
