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Is spending more on ingredients worth it? Today, two normal home cooks testing cheap versus expensive ingredients when applied into very simple recipes. We'll find out. Bowl of chocolate. Bring it on. Two bowls, A and B. One is a cheap dark chocolate and one is a more premium dark chocolate. All I'd like you to do, we've pre-melted it and weighed it out for you, is fold it carefully into some whipped cream and egg whites to form a chocolate mousse. And the second test, Rice Krispie cakes. A yeah, perfect. So, first of all, have a look at the ingredients and by sight alone, is there anything that would give away which one might be more premium?
A looks more smooth, oily. Oily or glossy, I would say. B, there are points where it started to reform. Yeah. Okay. Definitely a lot more higher fat content or oily content in that. Yeah, definitely. Now, be careful as you fold all of your chocolate into each bowl and fold carefully to avoid knocking out all of the air which is from our cream and egg white. I'm nervous that mine's going to set quickly in with the egg whites cuz it seems to be hardening up a lot quicker than yours does. So, we melted both to 50°. So, yes, you'll need to work quickly, but you don't want to beat the air out.
God, look at that. Yours is behaving completely differently. Oh, wow. It really is. This is ridiculous. Look at that. I mean, I know my muscles are bigger than yours. So working with chocolate can be quite an art form and using quality chocolate can help that art form. Right. Mine's really bitty. It that's not combined in any way that you would want it to. And then if you spoon your mousse into two containers, we'll get them into the fridge to set up. That might be one of the biggest differences we've ever had in one of these videos. It's confusing me about what has happened there and why it's done that.
I'll be honest, it slightly surprised us, too. But it makes a lot of sense now we've seen it happen. We'll explain in a moment. Get it into the fridge. We'll make Rice Krispie cakes next. So, what happens when you combine cheap versus expensive chocolate without the added dairy fat of cream and the lightness of egg white? Off you go. You reckon this is an all in? Half. You reckon? Oh, I like my quite chocolatey. Bry all in. It's just how much further your Wow. You are so good.
No, it's how far that chocolate goes. Yeah. With so little effort. So much quicker to buy cocoa pops. Also, it's so much quicker to do this without children. Oh, so much quicker. So, obviously there are 101 things you can do with chocolate. And this is just a couple of tests, but hopefully we should be able to see how they perform, how they melt, how they reset, and everything from the shine and the texture through to the flavor when we eat them later on. We will come back to both mousse and crispy cakes once they've set. Starting with a for both of you, the taste of our chocolate mousse.
Stark difference when it was being prepared in how it mixed and folded. How's it taste? Well, that's dreamy. Oh, well done, Tim. That's perfect. Well, yeah. You know, that is silky. It's airy. It's consistent. M. It's a really lovely rich dark chocolate with that kind of Oh, yeah. overarching mouth feel of just And you're left with a little this fruiness at the end very slightly. B. Uh-oh. Okay. I'm gone. Do you know what that's like? That's like somebody has taken a whole cornetto crushed it up into an angel of light. And so you still got the aireriness of the egg and the cream, but you've got bits of chocolate.
It's not unpleasant. I'm quite enjoying it. It's not unpleasant at all, but it is a very different experience. That's luxurious. That's just messy. Is there much difference in the crispy cakes with the texture? You've got texture. You've got the toastiness of rice. But do the flavors of chocolate. is the texture of chocolate. The way it's set alter and the richness of dark chocolate. Yeah. Is really nice. And without any fat, it's it's quite drying. Yeah. And as well, so we really less satisfying. Yeah.
Whereas B, I'm now getting more of the chocolate flavor coming through that I didn't get in the mousse that used B. So, because it's not been diluted by cream or egg white, you're just getting more of the chocolate. It's okay. It's simple. Yeah, it's a simple chocolate flavor, but it's not adding anything. There's no journey. So, any ideas which one's more premium, boys? That one. I'm going to go with a Evers. And I think everyone watching can see the difference as well as hear the difference in the way you've described it. It is a Here's what you're eating. A is indeed the more premium. It is Verona chocolate um 70%
cocoa. They describe it as having a unique and consistent flavor with a forced tanginess that should give you pairing notes of red fruits, ginger, tonkab bean, and almost a salted butter caramel. Tonkab bean. I knew that's what was coming through. I knew that. So very much the aromatic cocoa profiles from places like Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Ghana, uh Madagascar. Whereas B is Stanford Street Co. Dark Chocolate. So that is Sainsbury's own brand. Uh actually lots of decent reviews on the Sainsbury's website, especially relative to the price. But it's 44% cocoa solid, sugar, cocoa mask, cocoa butter, and soy
lethin, which will be like the emulsifier in it. As examples go, um, Ben, I think the fact you've chosen Rice Krispie cakes and chocolate mousse, best examples possible because in this setting for kids, fine. Yeah, absolutely. All you need. But when you're moving into a luxurious mousse, there's no alternative. You have to use this. Mass market chocolate is getting worse because they're using less chocolate and filling it with more fats. Buying high street chocolate is worse now than it was a year ago or 2 years ago. And a brand like Verona, they have lots of
different styles and they literally profile their chocolates based on acidity, bitterness, and fruiness. And then depending on your personal preference, but also the dish you're putting it into, you can kind of balance accordingly. It's kind of the go-to for a lot of pastry chefs working with chocolate. On price per kilo, the sainsbur stuff is £750 a kilo or 75p for that bar, whereas the Verona is £48 per kilo. So, it's over six times the price and that bag is £16.95. Outside of these videos, I need to find the middle ground. Yeah, because I know why we do those comparisons, but what is a decent chocolate that is half that price is does that exist? I don't know if it does.
Absolutely it does. The challenge will be what are you sacrificing? You might sacrifice a little bit of the flavor, a little bit of the tempering quality. You remember even at the start how glossy it was and how viscous it was. It was because of the quality of what was in it. Yeah. Or the origin of the sourcing and the price that's being paid on way beyond places you can see. Let's move on to round two. We might not need to cook this one. Evers. At a first glance, you might be correct. But let's look at where in two different applications it may or may not be worth it. M the applications. We'd like you to do a quick ragu. And by that we mean
crumble half of the mints into a hot pan. Cook it off so you get a really good color. And then we're going to add that to a pre- stewed tomato sauce and toss it through some pasta. The second test, some simple sliders. Yes. You said this is obvious. I'm not sure cuz I don't know why this is the fat content in this looks a lot higher. Yeah. Where we've done this before, we've done fat content differences which gave a difference. Is this the same fat content but different? What we've decided for this one is to go for a cheap supermarket retailer option for minced beef and a very premium minced beef from a butcher. And we've not worried about the percentage being the same. We've worried about what they sell
as a premium minced beef. So, a slight difference there in how they're crumbling into the pan. Oh, buzz. Just crumble it in. Well, no. Mine's all like Just crumble it in. It's lost its shape completely. Yeah, but just crumble it in. the mincing of it doesn't really matter. Now, that does have a bearing on how it's packaged. Barry's was vaped, so it does crush all of the air out of it. Whereas Jamie's was in a plastic container with one of those meat nappies and plenty of space to breathe, even
though that air in there is controlled. Mine needs a lot more fat. Yeah, I'm guessing yours has got a higher fat content. not certain on what is the premium. We've discussed meat and fish and dairy many times before when it comes to cheap versus expensive. And there are so many factors at play. A lot of it is the welfare of the animals, the husbandry, uh the origin of the provenence or even the breed of uh animal. And they're all really important, but today we're just looking at how they perform when you cook them.
Try a bit of each and then give me your thoughts on any standout differences. That is so much more meaty. That is much meatier. Mine's got more of a Farmard flavor, I'd say. Well, would you really? There is obviously a different texture because it's different sizes of the meat, but yeah, there is quite a big flavor difference between the two. Okay, park it. Let's make some sliders. No, but I'm Yeah, you can half it for one. Mine's already I haven't touched mine.
Mine's already compact. Smells good in here. What do we think? Before we tuck in, when cooking bee, the amount of fat that came out of that for a burger was excessive actually. I was a little bit off put by it, but the color it gave it quickly was quite tempting. Yeah. Like with the raggu, mine took longer to crisp up because it didn't have as much fat in it. Balling mine up. Yeah. I had the bits where it's all crumbling and falling apart. So, I had this the scraggy bits come out the sides whereas yours was really condensed. It felt like it's been processed just in its packaging.
Both try A. As soon as I bit into B, I just got a mouthful of grease. Mhm. Like that is excessive fat that's in that for a burger. Um so much so that it kind of masks the flavor of the beef. Whereas a is a much cleaner bite. You're still getting that beefy flavor, which is the same as what I got in the raggu, but yeah, bee is definitely different. I think what bee is doing really well is you're getting a lot of flavor from where it's crisping out. So, when you take that first bite of the burger and the pasta, you're being hit with the salt and the fat straight away, and that is satisfaction.
If you had to hazard a guess, which do you think is the more premium, the more expensive beef, A or B? I don't think my mind has changed from when we first saw them. I think A is the premium. After eating the burger, I think A is the premium as well. The premium minced beef was A. Probably no surprises based on visuals, but now let's see them and talk about it. So A is Dalesford organic pastured 5% fat British beef mints in that packaging. Whereas B is just essentials by Asda and that it says typically less than 25% fat. That is such a copout. But it says typically and when you read the actual nutritionals, it's 31%.
Typically. Oh wow. Typically less than 25, but actually when you read it, it says 31%. Wow. Okay. How is food packaging allowed to be that? Excuse me. It says typically. Isn't that mad? That is unreal. with 30% in there. That is delicious. It's obviously not the best quality meat around. But when you got that much fat, which is always good. Um, this is easier to do because it's quicker and it's fattier. You can get a better render. This just needs a bit more patience or knowhow.
Yeah, exactly. And if you didn't have the knowhow, you'd probably end up with a load of water coming out of that as well, which is I think is that kind of thing. you overcrowd the pan, you don't have the pan hot enough and suddenly you your your mint turns gray and it's watery and Yeah, it is. It's stewing, isn't it? Um, and actually, if you're looking to get more meals out of the same volume of beef, sometimes against the logic of buying a more expensive beef that won't shrink back, lose all the water, and lots of fat that goes essentially never down the sink, but in the bin, you actually end up with more meat at the end of it. That said, it's not just fat that carries the flavor. It's also the quality of the
beef. And the Dwood organic, it's grass-fed, it's steak mints, and it is a very, very premium quality with great animal welfare. Whereas the cheaper mints would be produced with UK standard minimum animal welfare. So, it's still within the standards that the UK deem acceptable obviously, but it is very much the lowest end of that. And I think it's also worth looking on packaging to read the small print. typically less than 25%. But also where it's come from and when it says it's slaughtered, where it's packed, cuz that will tell you kind of what standards it's abiding by. Price-wise, the cheap one works out at £618 per kilo, whereas Dalesford is £23.75 per kilo. So, it is almost four times the price per kilo.
Where, if at all, is it worth it? For me, part of the conversation has to come back to the quality of the meat. Yes, you're paying a lot less for bee, but you're also paying for fat. You're paying for a lot of fat amongst the meat. And I think if you worked out the fat percentages, the cost ratio would come down. Sure. Buy the best you could afford. We should say that. Did it once. I think maybe. Yeah. And therefore leaning to brands that you know are doing the right things right the way down to Dalesford. Even having their own avatar so they can control the
whole process. Like these things are important to them. And if you have the budget and they're important to you, then you know where to look. An application is always everything. So actually in the things like chili conani, lasagna, shepherd's pie, burgers where you want some more of that fat, a cheaper option, not necessarily the cheapest, but a cheaper option will absolutely do the job. Whereas if you're looking for leaner cooks, so meals that do have a less percent of fat in it, stir fry, a leaner meal, dishes where the flavor of the beef really matters, then perhaps a more premium option is better for you. Should we move on to the third one?
Yeah. Yes. Really interesting here. Really interesting. I've never thought about premium garlic and cheap garlic. There's just garlic in my head. I don't realize what I'm buying. I look down go later I go, how much was that garlic? What we've got here is one pretty cheap bulb and one more premium bulb. As always, there'll be ones in between. First of all, I'd like you to prepare each bulb. So, peel everything and we're going to weigh how much garlic you actually get in each one. And I'm going to time you. Time starts. Now, you do that well on this one. I've never peeled a whole bowl.
The reason we're asking you to prepare it is that sometimes, not always, cheaper bulbs of garlic will be made up of lots of smaller cloves, which is a lot of extra peeling and preparation. Not always. And actually, how much of that inner core and wastage in terms of the papery membrane you get rid of do you have versus how much weight and yield of garlic do you actually get for your bulb? Because a bulb is a natural thing and it'll be interesting to see what weight you actually get. I think I've done it. Excellent. In a moment, we'll get the yield of fresh garlic weighed.
Observation from Barry. Some of his are already sprouting. All done. Excellent. There's some scales on the side. If you weigh each of your garlic, a comes in at 61 g. That's more 72. 71. It went down to 71. 71 g. This turn. So, you get a six more. And now from a taste test point of view, if you can take a clove and grate it into your softened butter with a pinch of salt, we're going to spread it on some bread. Get it through the oven. And while that's crisping up, we'll do a second dish. Now, if you microplane garlic, you generally make it smaller. You scratch through more of that membrane. You get a more fiery heat than if you were to just
dice it. And actually, although you might have chunks of garlic, you actually get almost less garlic flavor dissipate through the butter. salted garlic butter onto bread and we'll get it through a hot oven. While that cooks, for the second test, we're going to do some garlic fried noodles. So, take a large clove and slice it into slithers of garlic, as fine as you can get with a knife. And then you're just going to gently fry that off in about a tablespoon of oil. Just at the point the garlic starts to go golden, but before it becomes acid and burnt in with a handful of noodles. Plenty. Little splash of soy, black vinegar. Toss, toss, toss with a wooden spoon. And onto your plates. And we'll taste that alongside the garlic bread. See
what we think about our cheap versus expensive garlic. This exactly the meal that I would have as well. Yeah. Crispy garlic noodles with garlic bread. Noodles. Both. Try. E. Okay. Looking for that garlic flavor, but that fried softened golden garlic flavor. By all means, pull out a clove to taste as well. M. Oh, nice and crispy. Just on the edge. Bitter, but still just right. Well, looks wise, B cuz it's bigger cloves. Looks a lot better.
It's cooked more evenly as well, I think. And because it's bigger cloves, you may have been able to get more precise slices from it because you're working with the bigger thing rather than something really fiddly under your fingertips. Reactions. You weren't expecting much difference, and evidently there is. Oh my goodness. I think what's happening there is I'm tasting it in my nose. M. It's like I've eaten garlic. Yeah. And then it's like I've been to a room full of garlic. It's like an That's like garlic fragrance.
Now that was with oil, soy, and uh black vinegar. What happens if you put it with garlic bread? Cheers. What a day. I'd say there's still a difference, but we've moved from like 40% difference down to 5% difference. I've bought organic garlic before and I've bought the cheapest of garlic and I'm always down to I'm just paying the farmers. I'm not paying for a better Yeah. experience. If that's what that is, I'm completely wrong cuz that was a garlic experience. That was a garlic and I just thought you had bigger cloves. No, but that is a garlic experience. That case commit A or B. Which you think is the more premium?
Well, it has to be. It has to be B. Yeah. Can reveal that more expensive garlic is B. M. So a is a cardo one large bulb. They guarantee a product life of more than 2 weeks and country of origin will vary depending on the time of year but it could be Argentina, China, Spain and as you saw and as you picked apart varying sizes of cloves. B the more expensive option. This is Nurra purple garlic. Again a single bowl uh but this is purple garlic from Spain. So, a very specific area and it's a hard neck variety which is more difficult to grow, more delicate to ship, has a shorter shelf life, but people say it has a more
mellow, subtle flavor, albeit sharper and more spicy when raw. So, sharp and spicy raw, but even more mellow when cooked out. So, it has a bigger change. Biggest difference for me, how long it lasts as an experience. You eat it, you go, "Oh, garlic." But it keeps going. And I get the feeling now when I breathe out, James's going to get it again. So, Nura are a brand who work with a lot of growers to provide sort of diversity and quality products rather than the sort of mass appeal of the ingredients we're used to. But with that obviously comes price.
Mhm. The Accardo bulb 50 for the bulb and remember it was only 61 g of y. Whereas Nura £150 per bulb, so it is three times more, but you do get a sixth more yield. It's a lot more expensive. Do you think it also comes down to freshness? I think it will make a big difference as will the fact that bee has already started to germinate. A logic that we've thought through is a more expensive, more premium garlic is probably less likely to shift as quick right now. People in a cost living crisis are thinking about where they can save money and they probably think garlic I'll buy the cheaper one. So that probably sits
around in a warehouse for longer and starts to germinate which again will slightly change the quality of the product. But all of these decisions in very complex systems make a difference where you're going to use it. a raw spicy fragrance or a mellow roast that's almost sweet, that nuance of flavor or just garlic on garlic, carb on carb. I mean, Jamie's winning at life. My question to you boys, where, if at all, is it worth it? When garlic is the main standout ingredient, splash out on it cuz it's still cheap compared to a piece of meat. Um, but if it's going into a dish full of thousands of ingredients, this is absolutely fine. Yeah, I think we come to that conclusion on so many different individual ingredients, but actually if you are upgrading all of
those thousand ingredients that go into a dish, you will have an objectively better dish. It's just when you're balancing them out, it will never come through. But yeah, three different examples of cheap versus expensive. Comment down below. There are tons of ingredients we could explore this with. How do they perform when we actually cook with them? Give some ideas in the comments.
