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We have four of the most purchased food items in the UK. All very simple, but have different methods as to how they're commonly cooked. Jamie does them a certain way, I do them a different way, and what no one's ever done is cook them both those ways side by side and then compare how they taste. Has anybody temperature probed beans? Massive difference. And we're starting baked potatoes, oven or microwave? If you haven't cut there, this is really awkward. So, baked potatoes, how are you doing them at home? I know the way I should do them. Which is? In the oven to get a lovely crispy skin, and it's going to take like an hour or 2 hours to get it completely right.
I have no time for that because by the time I realize that I want a baked potato, it's lunchtime. So, I'm You're microwaving. You're a mic I'm forking it and putting it in a microwave. Great. I always do them in the oven. So, we're going to start with the oven method because it's going to take between 40 and 60 minutes. When we're about 10 minutes out from those being ready, Jamie's then going to do his microwave method so that they're both hot when we compare them. I'm rubbing these in oil. We're not doing that with the microwave. We're not doing the exact same preparation method because the whole reason you oven bake a potato for me is to get the crispy skin.
So, the idea behind all of this actually was sparked by an article from 2002 which I read about baked beans. And it was from the food scientists who worked for Heinz saying there was a very specific way in which to get the most out of the beans. So, there is all centered around the hob and actually even the specific temperatures you need to heat them up to. However, when you look on the back of the tin, how to cook, the first thing is microwave, 2 and 1/2 minutes. So, it's built around convenience. Then, the hob instructions say heat gently in a pan. Very nondescript. We pay so much for our shopping now. Why wouldn't you cook these very basic things to the best of their ability to get the most out of
them considering how much you pay, even if they are just basic? And also, you're not talking about large amounts of time. Like the potato, it's an hour versus 10 minutes. Yeah. [snorts] 2 and 1/2 minutes versus 5 minutes. Okay, it's twice as long. Is it twice as good? Does it make that much difference? I don't know. Let's find out. Ah, look at 2002. The internet was so simple back then. Everyone looks so happy. So, according to the article, we want to heat these in a pan until the temperature reaches 67° exactly.
Has anybody temperature probed beans? And we want to maintain some credibility, so we've got some really lovely fresh sourdough. So, me and my wife have very different methods of cooking our beans. I always do it on the hob, but I do it slowly. Never ever boil. Very clear. Says in the article, never let them boil. I know that cooking in the microwave doesn't always give the best results because it burns some of the sauce around the edges. Yeah. sometimes it burns the beans and they kind of they burst. Yeah, and they're they're hard. Yeah, that's true. But, it's beans on toast. For the microwave, the cooking instructions on the tin say 2 and 1/2 minutes. I'm going to stop it halfway
through and stir to try and remove some of the It's getting a bit messy now. Yeah. Perfect size bread for the toaster. You're going to have to do a flip. 67 Oh, timing, mate. Yes. Just from looking in the pan and the bowl, I've got exactly what I expected. Little bit of burnt the burnt ring. Yeah, the crustation. Yeah, and then the little pot Even though you stirred it halfway through. Yeah. I'd say your sauce is a more vibrant orange. Mine looks less vibrant, but thicker.
Should we pour? Let's pour. this is going to reveal all. There's definitely a texture difference, look. In the sauce, at least. And actually, do you know the beans themselves? Yours are shinier, mine look like they might be softer. Hob first? Hob first. Cheers. I don't know how to describe that, because that is just baked beans in a sweetened tomato sauce. Yeah. Massive difference. Microwave beans have more of a bite to them. Yeah. It's like they're more al dente. The Italians will love that. Than the hob beans.
The sauce is definitely looser. So, I was doing a little bit of reading. And the claims were because you cook these slower, the starches release more into the sauce, thickening it. Well, I would say that's far more of a pleasant eating experience. I would say you're getting more of the acidity from the tomato sauce in these. Whereas that feels more rounded. I think the hob beans have a more luxurious feel to them. Yeah. And maybe I've been cooking beans wrong my whole life.
Cuz for an extra 2 minutes I can get a better experience. That took, I timed it, 5 minutes 19 seconds on a low to medium heat. It is nicer. 12 and 1/2 minutes on my potato. I'm going to stick a potato in the microwave, but I'm going to fork it first because of rumors about potato explosions and I don't want a potato explosion. Cushy said he's never had a potato explosion. So he doesn't fork. Everyone forks. Okay, we've got two chefs with differing opinions. He's had potato explosions.
Fork it. And then popping it into a microwave for 5 minutes and then I'll flip it over another 5 minutes. So there's an opinion that the microwave method will produce a slightly more gummy texture. Okay. And that's basically down to the swelling of the starch at high speeds which then ruptures. So more starchy inside of the potato. I've never heard of the word rupture being used in a good way. No, it's true actually. Yeah. If something ruptures, it's usually bad.
Yes. Yeah, yeah. Whereas with the other method, because it's slower and more gradual, the starch structures are allowed to actually change as the moisture escapes out of the potato, meaning that you get a more fluffy middle. I know I always do the microwave method. I'm feeling fancy. Do you dabble? I dabble in the two. In the hybrid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll I'll cook it in there and then try and crisp it up in there. Yes. So I go 10 minutes in the microwave and then cover in oil and then on a high heat, like 200 for 10 minutes, but I just keep an eye on it until it's crisped up.
Is that what you do? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe that's the middle ground. We're not testing that today. See my wrinkly Ready for the review? Ta-da! It's what I expected. Yeah. But actually like once you've opened it, what's the inside like? And then actually does it make any difference once you've loaded it full of load? Load. Okay, so this is what I expected to see. You get the sort of joining of whatever like fibers This starch is It is that gummy look and feel to it. Whereas yours has gone instantly fluffy.
I wouldn't get a job as a fluffer. No. Super fluffy. Really fluffy. You've got the color which we know is going to taste great. Bit of color, bit of crisping up on the skin. I suppose you could leave that for longer. Yeah, you definitely could. Come on, microwave one. Here we go. Very sticky. There is no fluff to it. At all. It is a completely different eating experience. Which I expected. I actually didn't expect that to be I didn't expect the difference to be that big.
Fast. No, I didn't. Actually. Well, now let's fill it with some garlic and herb cream cheese. Delicious. Does the cream cheese save this? I think it saves it a little bit. It does. I mean I just had some of the skin there as well. The skin is really chewy. Oh, no, it's so dry. I'm just not sure I expected that to be so bad, but I wouldn't even I don't think there's a world where I could ever consider eating that. The other method is substantially better.
I don't know if I can go back to that. You can't. What, that physically or that method? Either. Next, bacon. Streaky bacon. And this, a cooking method that has divided the Sorted studio. James Curry, chef, swears by putting it on a lined tray and baking it in the oven for 20 minutes. I don't ever do that. I never do that. I always do mine in a pan. Do you know what? The only time I do it in the oven is when I'm cooking loads. Yes. So, streaky bacon on a tray. We've also got an oven rack, which we're resting it on because this will enable all the hot air to heat it from underneath as well.
Um and then the fat will drip down. 20 minutes at 200°. We'll see how this turns out. Whereas for the pan method, I'm going in with a cold pan, cold bacon, little drop of water, and then heat it all up. So, and then you fry in the rendered fat from the bacon. Yeah. And the water provides the steam that helps that to happen, which in my mind is backwards because lots of bacon seeps water. you cook when you cook bacon, the first minute is poaching it in the water that's escaped from it. Yeah, and you know you're not getting a good crispy bacon at that point. But, comes through. Do you want to hear some theory?
Yes, please, Mr. Huddlestone. So, the fact that the rendered fat that this is going to cook in has thermal mass, meaning that it spreads the heat evenly around the pan, so you don't get hot spots. More likely to have an even heat radiating from the pan up. That's going to be a big difference, actually, between the pan and the oven is that this is cooking in its own fat, whereas yours, all the fat is dripping away, yeah, actually. So, I'm guessing it's going to be less greasy. Is it going to be as crispy? Yeah. Is it going to be as tasty? Don't know. So, the water's now evaporated. Yeah. And it you can see it's like spread around. And now it's sizzling rather than boiling.
Yeah. I want it to crisp up a bit on that side first before I flip. Pan or oven. Instantly, [snorts] you've got a more even cook across your bacon. has evenly crisped everywhere, whereas you've got crispy bits, you've got softer bits of fat, you've got far more color Yeah. in terms of a darker color in spots across yours. It's curled up a little bit. it's been touching the pan. Yeah. Whereas you've got a non-contact cook. I'd say that's a perfect combination between crunch and chew. Mhm. The fat's rendered out. That's good bacon. It's good streaky bacon, well cooked.
Yeah. Cheers. It's more of a single texture across the rasher. Mhm. And that more even cook. I'm getting less flavor from the oven cooked one, which I'm guessing is because it wasn't cooked in the fat or the fat dripped away. I mean, I know fat carries a lot of the flavor. Yeah, what I would say is the crisped fat, when you get that, Mhm. is Mhm. really crunchy, really delicious. That's where actually a lot of the flavor comes. Texture, agree. Like you've got very, very, very crispy, consistent fat throughout, but it's more rigid in a texture. I think for me, that is much better bacon for how I would consider eating it for breakfast or with other things.
Yeah. I think this is good for chopping up. It's a This is a texture thing. The hob took about half the time that the oven did. It's hard to pick a winner of this one. For the way that I like my bacon, that wins hands down. Yeah. I prefer the flavor of that one. I prefer the look of that one and the ease of that one. Let's talk about fish fingers. But not just any fish fingers. We've got posh fish fingers.
Lightly battered, so it's more like the fish and chips style fish. Yeah. Fish fingers massively purchased throughout the UK. Uh I've started rebuying them since having a 3-year-old. Mhm. So, I have the Birds Eye version, which are breaded. Yeah. Some people, traditionally, put them in the oven as packet instructions. Yeah. Some people put them in the air fryer. Yeah.
Some people fry them in a frying pan. So, we decided to go air fryer versus pan shallow fry. Air fryer-wise, preheat 180. Sling them in. It's going to take a total of about 18 minutes, shaking them two or three times throughout. And for the pan version, we're going to shallow fry in about half a centimeter of oil, and then we're going to have to flip because these are going to need a little bit more constant flippage. Yeah. So, we brought this up to 180°. If you don't have a temperature probe, you can just dip the end of like a wooden spoon or a chopstick in it. If it
starts bubbling, um it means it's the right temperature. This feels wrong. I don't know why. Also, because that feels wrong, why are you lobbing them in? W- Because they're frozen, they don't bend. They You know how you're supposed to tweezers earlier? Yeah, I got tongs. So, having done some reading around people's logic for doing this, what is claimed to be happening here is that the hot oil from the pan creates a steam barrier effect, which is basically the internal water inside the fish finger flashes to steam.
It limits the oil penetration, so that actually you end up with a far crispier, but less fatty fish finger. Interesting. Cuz in my mind, all of the hard work of cooking has actually already been done, because I'm buying pre-prepared fish fingers. So, I just chuck them in an air fryer, and they crisp up. Yeah. In my head. Wow, they look impressive. Wow, big difference. Really big difference. Now, obviously, the temperature of the oil, things like that can make a difference, but you've got a different These are puffed up.
Yeah. Whereas these haven't. We are going to have a fish finger sandwich. But let's eat them each naked first. Crisp. Cheers. Really crispy, but oil oiled crispy outside. Yeah, it tastes fried. Taste fried, but with the steamed fish in the middle. Yeah, soft in the middle. Also, what's nice about that is the batter's come away from the fish. On You can see on the sides. And actually, that is a really nice texture. And the air fryer Cheers.
You're getting none of the fry of the batter. No. And I know that sounds silly, but these have been pre-fried, cuz they're pre-cooked fish fingers. But I'm not tasting the fry on the batter. It's there. It's adding a crispiness, but there's no flavor coming through from it. Less of an extreme between the texture between the middle and the outside. Yes, because you've almost on the inside of the batter you've still got that sort of soft doughy bit that doesn't exist in the pan-fried one. For me pan-fried tastes better but only by about 5 10% definitely more indulgent required more care attention effort clean these went in there turned on tossed a few times and are really tasty.
What's interesting is as soon as it goes into a sandwich with some wet stuff as well like the coleslaw but you're losing some of the crispiness but that's to be expected. Ooh. Can I say something controversial? I prefer the air fryer one That's why I had a moment. I think I prefer the air fryer one as well in a sandwich setting with a coleslaw with butter. I don't need more fat from the oil that the fish fingers are cooked in. You are getting more texture but you don't actually need it. No. You got cruncher carrots and stuff like that. Where are you putting your fish fingers because if you're having them with chips peas and beans then you might want the extra crisp and
you might need that whereas putting it into a sandwich where you're going to lose the crispiness anyway. I don't know. I definitely think it makes a difference. I definitely think in isolation the fried version is nicer but it's fattier. It's more indulgent. Am I actually going to go to that effort? I don't know now. Well, I've had some moments throughout that and I'm really glad there were some moments cuz I was worried going into this it'll be disaster. It's changed my opinion on baked beans. It's changed my opinion on jacket potatoes. Job done. Has it changed your opinion? If you'd like to see us do this again, comment down below with some common foods that have multiple ways of being cooked,
and we'll test to see if they're better. And if you enjoyed this, please give us a like. We're trying to get 15,000 every video, and it really helps. But only if we've earned it.
