Ultimate CHEF SKILLS Challenge: VOLUME (30 Portions) | Sorted Food 

I was thinking the same thing. We saw the normals do it so now we need to see the Head of the cooking team do it, and kush is great becuase of the way he explains things while on camera.

He did great work during the Wild Weekender, where he had two segments of, essentially, 'Kush preps team dinner while chatting food with Ebbers." The Skinny-Dipping Segment in particular was really cool, even if the approach there was basically "Make a fairly "normal" amount of 6-7 different things, so everyone just fills up on smaller portions of more stuff.

I would love to see that as a series! A video out every couple of months for example.

I’m so confused. They had enough food plus leftovers, how is that not a badge?

@sailorbrite Ben touches on it a little. Basically, the problem was that they didn't display enough "chef skills" vs "brute-forcing" the problem. They have "leftovers" in part because they made way too much mashed potatoes, meaning in a "real" kitchen that they'd be going over budget/wasting a lot of food. For instance: while I assume Ben is being at least a little hyperbolic when he says "5 kilos of extra mashed potatoes", if he ISN'T, that's ~20 servings, meaning they almost doubled the amount of potatoes they should have cooked. And as Ben pointed out, the potatoes were never truly seasoned, Jamie and Barry fought about if the potatoes were cooked long enough or had enough fat, all things that could and should have been calculated and prepped earlier. Similar issues with like, burning the bottom layer of the leeks (suggesting that they cranked the stove too high to try and cook the large volume faster rather than roast them or use two pans), not realizing their pie would need something acidic earlier and cooking out the wine with the veg, etc. It does feel comparably stricter than several other badges they've given for relatively thin results, but obviously, we can't see all the little details or taste the dishes to know how it panned out. I don't recall any discussion, positive or negative, for the broccoli, so if the overall reaction was "the pie's good, the potatoes are terrible, and the broccoli is so-so", it makes some sense to say that one true success out of 3 isn't enough to say they did well.

I want this to happen, so much.

And then after a bit of experience they can do it in other prior guests restaurants?

ooo yes

A small restaurant operation with prep work for different dishes from an A la carte menu. And then the actual cooking when orders come in.

With Gordon Ramsay as a special guest to call them donkeys.

Same!

I said it before too, been watching them for the past 7 years. I've always admired their camaraderie because they look so happy together, they give me the feeling I'm at peace with the world.

Please, try to find 1, one single 1 hateful comment on any of their videos. It's a dare and might take ages cause I've never found one.

It does make sense I suppose. The lads on camera, the chefs (not just Kush/Slater, but those working with them), the camera and audio crew. I assume some editors, and a maintenance worker. Then you have people working on thier community efforts, the programmers and artist working on thier sorted app. People doing planning and logistics for their trips, events, and shows. Someone handling budget. Surprising, but makes sense when you think about it. Only way they could crank out so many videos all the time.

And they get a Kush cooked lunch - an excellent perk!

DO NOT GET BORED 😆

Cutting veggies for the bibimbap midweek cooking...to wich he still lost :,(

@@SortedFood I always like to pretend the person replying from ur acc is ebbers it makes it ten times funnier

@@SortedFoodI’ve always wanted to know- do you have running water in that sink? You always seem to use jugs

Honestly, I find myself using that mantra whenever I’m cutting things now.

Famous last words 😂

​@@SortedFoodI KNOW!🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤😂😂😂😂

I think Baz, Jamie, and Mike took together to mean "in the same general area".

@@tiacho2893 Mike and Baz did. Jamie was actually helping constantly. He even took charge when others where flapping by making the decision.

Finale next, we promise 😆

@@SortedFood Can't wait!!!

@@SortedFood will it be a restaurant?

​@@SortedFoodThen you'll have to level it up and let them all go for eagle scout of chefing.

@@SortedFood Please, don’t stop 😃 Love this series ❤😍

Yeah Jamie threw another stick of butter into the mash and it was still underwhelming. I can only imagine how it would have been with even less fat in it.

In fairness to Mike, he did specifically tell Barry to salt the water for the potatoes and kept calling him over to give him the opportunity to season everything else. I'd have to watch again to see how much extra Jamie was doing in the background, but Mike was definitely going above and beyond to help Barry - surely the definition of teamwork?

And that's why I would like to see this done again, volume badge challenges in various ways. When you cook for volume, you need to start thinking about ingredient ratios and portion sizes. This is a skill that's not often shown in any sort of RU-vid cooking video that I've seen.

This is honestly one of the true chef challenges to me. Making one dish very well is doable. Being knowledgeable is doable. Meeting the volume demands of a professional kitchen though. That is what separates a pro and a normal.

How much you wanna bet they released the bay leaf video a few days ago just to prevent backlash from Ben's bay leaf comment today 😄

@@AngryAlfonse Meanwhile, I thought they released this video now because there was another recent video where velouté was mentioned and no one made fun of it. 😆 Kudos to Mike, though, for learning from the "2 Easy Ways to Make Cheese Sauce Like a Chef" video and picking the velouté over the béchamel.

@@AngryAlfonse Backlash? Usually the comments are filled with people yelling at the lads because they agree with Ben. There would've been confused cheering XD

Yeah i think that would be a great help and unbelievably valuabale for me !

Yep, always a recipe for chaos 😂

​@@SortedFoodand loved it!😂😂😂😂

Which seems to be what Sorted is all about these days.

Great idea! Thank you.

That would be great. cant tell you how many times ive been making a meal, and oops no mushrooms. oops no something

Taking away the main ingredient may be a bit harsh and in my opinion takes away from being "educational". If I planed to make poached eggs - to stick to your example - and ran out of eggs I would make something completely different and not trying to substitute them. But e.g. if the milk for my mashed potato is spoiled, especially if I recognize it last minute when everything else is already prepped/cooked I would **have to** come up with a way to fix the mashed potatoes. Maybe it's a different concept/idea to take away staple ingredients while they are cooking: "You though you still have vinegar but you put the empty bottle in the pantry", "The onions/garlic/milk/... you wanted to use are spoiled and can't be used", ...

Oh this would be hilarious

Jamie and Mike are great team players. Barry on the other hand comes in and chooses to ruin // think only for himself?? Super frustrating when the two are flowing so well and Barry just refuses to work with others

How to scale potatoes: think how large a single portion of mash should be and how many potatoes would you need for it (depending how large they are), multiply by 30 and that's the number of potatoes you need to peel. So probably about 45 larger ones to 60 smaller ones should be enough.

The best rule is a pound of potatoes feeds 3 people. 10lbs for 30.

@@joelcarpenter7243 So around 500g for three, I'll try to remember that

There is also the "better off cooked" standard. It doesn't really apply in a restaurant (or Sorted) setting, but it is much easier to simply eat leftovers than it is to cook a new dish, especially if the fate of the extra ingredients is yet to be determined. It's amazing how stretchy recipes can be; if the recipe says 3/4 lb mushrooms and you had to buy a whole pound, use the whole pound. Of course that relies on your ability to adjust the seasoning, but so does scaling up. No recipe scales from family size to banquet size without needing some kind of fix (it's where we volume measure cooks have an advantage). Cooking all of the potatoes wasn't a bad call, letting them taste terrible was where Barry produced wastage.

@@joelcarpenter7243 That very generic rule doesn't take into account how many courses there will be, whether the potatoes are going to be main carb, etc. You don't need as many potatoes when you serve them as a side for pie, compared with for example bangers & mash.

He does get paid mate...

@@ticketyboo2456 Yeah and? Go tell your boss to give you more work, you're getting paid right?

Someone (Kush?) still planned out what to cook, got the ingredients, and setup everything they'd need - that's half the battle of making dinner! The entertainment bit is watching them cook 😂

This is a good idea.

😂 glad you like this little touch!

What did I miss? I only saw him do a cameo or two?

@@TanukiSC yeah it was only 2 times, but seeing how he reacted to the guys trying to do the same thing he does every day, was just so funny

This makes me appreciate Kush even more.

😂 love this! Make them so hungry that they don’t notice. Haha

Indeed.

😂😂😂

Love the image of the dog carefully setting the peas to the side. 😂

You know it! 😂 Are you feeling better now Alex?

Glad you like them!

@@SortedFood always guys!

Real question was what was the back up XD

Kush panicking in the back is the back up lmao @@RexZShadow

We’re here for it! 🙌🙌🙌

🤣🤣🤣

Ben is an amazinnnnggg teacher!

Finale next….. we promise!

​@@SortedFood if you must end the badges, (NO!) how about a Luau? Menu has fish, pork, chicken,salads, veg, fruits,etc...would love to see the boys roast an entire pig

Nope, we didn’t forget…. Just so many exciting formats to bring out!