I want to see a video where you guys make a pasta dish with "1-5" rated products vs a "9-10" rated products so we can truly see how much it affects the dish.
Blind taste test: 3 unmarked pastas, 3 unmarked olive oils, and 3 unmarked tomato sauces; each one being a low, middle, and high ranking Create 3 dishes using any ingredient combination and see where they rank once combined
I honestly have always liked the great value Olive Oil. People think im crazy but its genuinely not bad, its one of the few GreatValue products that holds up to the name brands.
People don’t seem to understand that store brands are sourced from name brands and just relabeled. They don’t actually manufacture their own product, they purchase them from other companies.
You never realize how many varieties of a certain product there are until you see them all displayed in front of you. I thought they were like five different brands
Not so fun fact, 95% of the products you see in the supermarket are owned by companies that are owned by the same 5 companies so it's not really that different
Just because frito lay owns something or any other the other giant companies that own everything, doesn’t mean that those smaller companies just become ghost kitchens for that big company, they still run their business and they still do things how they like doing it. It doesn’t mean there are only 5 variations of any product just because of that.
@@mikaeljensen4399probably depends on what place youre shopping at too. a giant grocery store is more likely to have bigger, more well known brands that it is efficient to get product from en masse, while smaller more mom-and-pop type stores and markets may have smaller, more local brands.
as someone who works at an "expensive" store here in toronto, its actually really interesting to see you ranking our fastest sellers fairly low, and your higher rated ones dont move as quick on the shelves as the, for example, bertolli bottles!
He clearly doesn't like something that all the EVOO snobs key on, and prefers the ones that have softer, more generic flavor. Maybe it's linked to his cilantro thing.
@@blairhoughton7918except most of the ones he ranks higher BECAUSE they taste more spicy and robust to him. so to him, its the expensive ones that have the gentler flavors.
@@ashleyjohnson9651 Totally boring ones he ranked low. But the expensive ones kept getting downgraded for bitterness. They are stronger and it does come off as a little more bitter, and maybe he's more sensitive to it.
Tasting the oils raw doesn't really give you the greatest idea of what they actually taste like in use, I think. Even adding a pinch of salt totally changes the flavor!
@@blairhoughton7918 that’s because he doesn’t know what flavors to look for. Just like how someone will only like barefoot wines and doesn’t understand higher end wines. Sure, he can like what he wants, but he still doesn’t understand the product.
i want to see him rank all the cheap ones or all the 7s and 8s or even just the 8s to find his number one EVOO (im at like 36min so idk if he ranks any higher than 8 yet)
@@ashleyjohnson9651 I won't spoil it. I was just in Trader Joe's, and they have something like 6 Trader Joe/Giotto EVOO varieties now, plus a couple that didn't obviously look like TJ's but probably are. That could be a whole episode.
I think the quality is kinda hit-or-miss with Partanna. It's usually my go-to and I really like the flavor, but every once in a while I'll get a bottle that's kinda funky. Not exactly rancid, but noticeably different and kinda unpleasant.
My takeaway is that olive oil tastes better when it's blended with a wide variety from around the world which is pretty cool. I feel like a lot of time you get a lot more homogeny, but with olive oil it seems to almost do the opposite and give the oil a bit more life and character
People have espoused the opposite in the past. Without evidence, probably. They just think that since the more expensive ones are single source that it means it's better.
@@F0XD1Eit kind of makes sense in a way. certain areas and soils are going to have different specific nutrient amounts and stuff, so they may just have a specific singular flavor profile that is hard to put your finger on. but when put together with different ones from their own specific areas, the different flavors can kind of push back against each other and make themselves known
There was a test here in Sweden on olive oil just a few days ago, made by an independent company, and three of the more expensive ones were deemed Not suitable for Consumption... While some of the cheaper ones were in the top three.
Andrew finally beating the "only likes expensive things" allegations Also it would be really funny to give him the same one twice and see if he says different things about them
I didn't expect the assigning of Agent 47 to one of them, but I kinda love that you did. These videos have been super fun, and I love the banter with the crew too.
Andrew, you have a gift for distinguishing between ingredients in an entertaining way for the benefit of home cooks everywhere. I would love to see you rank brands of supermarket black tea, perhaps with some specialty teas thrown in!
I am thinking that a lot of these rankings would change if they were tasted with foods like maybe a drizzle on mozzarella, bread or a pesto. A grassy, peppery and bitter olive oil is going to diluted by the food pairing. Babish is tasting these like you would wine, coffee and well olive oil to perceive the tasting notes. While wine and coffee are able to be enjoyed without a pairing, olive oil isn't one such thing. I'd like to see his staff take the top 3 oils and some of the mid oils, the ones that he specifically noted bitter and or peppery tasting and serve them to him as a tasting. A drizzle on the mozzarella, a dip for bread and the pesto probably served on the bread as well and see what his opinions are.
Spain makes some of the best olive oil, they make something like 40% of all world production. My aunt lives in Spain and speaks Spanish fluently. Too bad the literal oil mafia are making fake olive oil, it's a massive problem.
If taylor swift came to town and put on a free show, there would be a zillion little girls who could easily say “I was forced to go” sure no one shoved you into doing it, but, I mean it’s an offer one can’t refuse, which in turn is kinda force. I hate your pedantic comment and had to waste my time explaining this, in fact, you forced me to. Get it now don’t ya?
I think the $8 bottles may have the freshness advantage. Walmart's opening a case or two of Great Value every day. The $40 bottles are going to sit on the shelf longer. You might have a freshness preference that's aided by high volume sales throughput.
yesterday i had a joghurt that was expired in march, there was nothing wrong with it if you store things properly, packaging isnt damaged etc they can last long time after expiration (only things i would avoid are meat and idk something like soft cheese)
I always think in these videos that we need at the end a roundup which shows the rankings with the cost/unit so we can see where the high performers are
Portuguese avid watcher over here, best olive oil you'll ever taste is your grandparents' olive oil tree plantation's that the local agriculture cooperative sends you to pay for the olives you've collected and sold them ❤
You have no idea how happy I was to see one of the brands that I use ranked as a 10 (the other brand was not tasted and I can't remember the name) and the brand the old SBUX uses ranked last
Ranking Ideas: Frozen Dinners (pasta and rice dishes), Frozen breaded chicken (nuggets,strips & cutlets), Jarred Olives, Pickles (cucumbers only) and Best Orange Juice (pre-made and from frozen)
Definitely a difference in where the olives are grown and at what stage of ripeness they’re harvested and pressed. I’m personally a huge fan of Graza as I’ve found Spanish olives to be very flavorful. The blends are, as you stated, very hit or miss. Love these videos and I feel your pain! That’s a lot of tasting and it will wear down the tongue buds after a while!
The Graza Sizzle was only OK, and a bit disappointing for the price. But the squeezable, opaque bottle with the twist nozzle? I'm keeping that until it falls apart. It's currently full of Partanna.
My biggest takeaway is that as a Canadian I'm paying way too much for olive oil. Here it's like, 2-3x the (face value) price, so way more than just the difference in currency.
I hate bottles of oil like Lucini- totally busting the bell curve for the rest of the class. I can feel the resentment in all the 6's and 7's. Seriously, look at that classic curve at the end of the video. Well done Babish and crew. Thank you.
I started buying the California grown CA Olive Ranch stuff after Test Kitchen and have been happy with it, but they only tested the global blend here. And neither you guys or test kitchen had Mutti marinara in your taste tests!
Have you tried the red label yet? It’s “robust,” but also blend. It’s very olive-forward and fairly peppery. Definitely not an all-purpose choice, but I really like it when I want the flavor of the oil itself to stand out
fun fact, if you want the "best" olive oil, i heard australia and i think brazil? have the strictest regulations around olive oil and companys arent allowed to cut it with anything
I'm actually wondering if the reason the mass-produced ones taste better is because they keep getting pressed through huge amounts of equipment that are in constant use. If you've ever seen footage of an olive oil factory, the machines have residual buildup that most likely flavors whatever sits in it, like how wine becomes more complex if you age it in a whiskey barrel.
EVOO should be slightly grassy and peppery, maybe slightly bitter, but not offensively so. If it's too mild then why bother? I have a mass produced one for cooking, and a single sourced one for drizzle and dip. My lemon agramato is for drizzle and dressing.
I think your taste in olive oil is not cheap but the method of your testing made it lean into how the cheaper olive oils taste. Really high end olive oils seem to be “too bitter” when compared to the cheap mass produced ones but I believe that is because the experience of throating a shot of oil olive is too much to experience in a pleasant way. The more high end ones are meant to be paired with another thing to balance their flavor while still providing a strong olive oil flavor. I feel it’s a less is more situation with the higher end stuff. I could be totally wrong but the way you ended up describing all the high end oils vs the cheap ones made me consider how the oil is meant to be presented and consumed. Sorta like a nice cologne needing to be used with moderation and care.
Pompian from Baltimore! We just did a project there, and they are expanding their facilities. They even have one of their original olive presses/wheels outside on display along the road.
Watching Andrew swig olive oil for 40 minutes invokes the same feeling I got when I saw the pie eating contest in Stand By Me, except I can’t look away this time
A lot of companies that blend olive oil with other oils use a much larger font for "olive oil" than the rest of the label. Sometimes even bigger than the name.
I gonna tell you a secret, most of the olive oil that you think and in the la les said so that are from Italy or Morocco really are from Spain and it's because they are big buyers of Spanish oil, in the Italian case is because by government rules they could export o ly the 25 % of the Italian oil production so they buy from Spain and label it as Italian and Moroccan do the same. Regular people usually doesn't know about that so normally they think the Italian oil is the best when is all a big lie.
I prefer Spanish olive oils (the ones labeled so) over Italian or other provenances. And if they are really relabeled Spanish, then I guess Spain is not selling them the best they've got. :)
I think he likes the mass-produced oils so much because of the blending of olives from around the world, which makes the complex flavor. When he tasted 2 californian olive oils, he mentioned they tasted exactly the same. It's kind of like a single malt scotch vs a blend.
Rank store bought chicken stocks / broths please! That would be super useful and that’s a continuously growing aisle with both shelf stable and refrigerated varieties and huge price variations
I usually use the Tunisian stuff. It's the best tasting of the value brands, in my opinion, and comes on a nice, large, glass bottle that's easy to hold.
In Canada we have President's Choice, which is the store brand of Loblaws grocery, but it's the higher end of store brand. Their bare bones basic brand is No Name. I absolutely love the PC olive oil and now I think I know why. It's probably blended. It's grassy, fruity, and peppery. Everything I want it to be. But now I have to pick up some Lucini to compare and contrast.
I get my olive oil shipped from family in Greece in big metal cans and I feel like Babish wouldn’t like it. Spicy, peppery, cloudy, punch you in your face flavor.
I could not be happier that you picked my favorite olive oil and the only one I buy. Technically I buy the organic one, but having tried both it’s even better (they’re both great). I use it with everything, but my favorite use is on a scoop of quality vanilla ice cream with a few fresh cracks of black pepper. Might sound crazy, but it’s an absolutely divine savory dessert that everyone should try at least once!
