BLINDFOLDED Chef vs 3 Home Cooks! | Sorted Food

Kush has said time and time again that he can beat all 3 normals blindfolded… so we’re holding him to his word in today’s challenge!

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– A few weeks ago, our
friend and chef, Kush, famously said… – I reckon I could beat
the normals blindfolded. – [Mike] So today, we’re
holding him to his word. (dramatic instrumental music)
– Ah. (laughs) Can a chef cook completely blindfolded? – Up until five minutes
ago, Kush was confident. (Kush chuckles)
(Jamie laughs) – Cocky. – Yeah, definitely cocky. – Yeah, but how are you feeling now? – I’ve got that weird kind of
fish tank feeling in my belly. – Is that what that smell is? (Kush laughs) – Flutters. – So this is what we’re making? – Yep. – [Barry] A shawarma rice bowl. – This will be interesting. – Let’s. Bye, Kush.
– Bye, Kush. – Night, night. (bell rings) – Oh dear, just don’t prank me. (timer beeps)
Oi! – Shawarma, chicken. – Marinated. – [Mike] Char grilled.
– [Jamie] Yeah. – I can break down a chicken. – Yeah. – Probably (bleeps). (all laugh) Can I break down a chicken
better than a blindfolded chef? I kind of wanna find out. – First, I’m gonna make the
spice marinade for the chicken, which should be about here. Spices are all on this tray. I need whole spices first. (upbeat music) Ha, that’s cumin. Okay, I’ll put the pan against my waist with the handle, right. – I think the key to us winning will be the quicker we
can get that marinating and the longer,
– Yes. – We can get it, that’s where we can beat him. – Whilst you break it down. – Yeah.
– Shall I make, like a yogurt-based spicy… – A spice? Yeah. The spice blend.
– A spice yoghourt marinade? – Yes.
– Yeah? – Oh, that’s aromatic. That’s star anise. Tiny bit of star anise
for that fennel flavour, goes nicely with these
Middle Eastern vibes. Cardamon. – I’m looking over my shoulder. I think he’s gonna be toasting off spices. – Okay.
– So toasting. – Toasting spices, fine. – [Barry] Let’s go! – [Kush] Coriander. Want loads of this. (Mike laughs) – This is already amazing. – Then toast those for about five minutes. Is that all the spices? That’s a lemon. Use that for this marinade. (bell pings) This chicken’s gonna
cook itself at this rate. Let’s make the marinade base. Oh, this is potent. This is the chicken powder. I have to use my hands. No! Yeah, let’s put my thumb down the spoon. That’s about half a spoon. (laid-back music) Oh, that’s, that’s smoked paprika. Let’s do six fingers of smoked paprika. Generous amount of cinnamon. What’s, oh, that’s turmeric. I can smell turmeric. A little pinch of turmeric. (laid-back music) – I am toasting off a
load of whole spices. There’s lots of different things in there. I’m then gonna mix that with
some ground spices as well into yoghourt.
(timer beeps) (Jamie laughs) – Kush!
– Yeah, I set it and then I put it down. (timer beeps) Which way is up, this? That’s three minutes, I think. That means my, Ooh, spices. Yeah, spices smell ready. Let’s turn them off. Ah, I’ll keep this
actually attached to me, then I know where it is. That’s smart. Right, gonna grind the powdered spices. – I’m gonna whiz them up into a bowl with some ground spices, yoghourt, and some lemon. And that’s gonna become our marinade. – That’s not a spice grinder! (blender buzzes)
(bell pings) (laid-back music) (grinder buzzes) (bell pings) Who’s just turned the power off for my… Barry, that is such a you thing. (grinder buzzes) – I’ve done nothing! – [Kush] Right, I think
I’ve got a spice powder. – Okay, so from a quick Google, turns out Lebanese rice is a combination of long grain rice and vermicelli
noodles, which were out. They were over by Kush, but I nicked some. So I’m gonna toast this off in a pan. And then I’m going to
cook it as normal rice, so like a two to one ratio, water to rice. No idea whether this is correct, but that’s all part of the fun. – I’m gonna keep them spoons in my pouch. – I’ve got he thighs and breasts done. I think the, the rest of
the carcass is too bony. So I use that for a stock
or for fried chicken. Mike, what do I do with the chicken now? – Yeah. – How, should I butterfly it? Shall I… – I think you want thin and as much surface area as possible. – Should I bash ’em out? – [Mike] You could bash
it out really thin. – [Kush] Has someone taken the yoghourt? – Yes, yes. – Jamie has the yoghourt. (laid-back music) – What else goes in this marinade? Ginger? Ah, lemon. There, lemon juice for acidity
to cut through the yoghourt. It’s not gonna do much
tenderization in this time, but it’ll add a nice flavour. I’m guessing the bin is there? (lemon lands in bin) Oh, that went in! Did it? Mike? – Sure!
– Cool. I need salt now. Where did I put the salt and pepper? – Salt. So I’ve blended up my whole spices. – Is the pepper cannon here? – No.
– Oh, dear. – So I’ve blended up my whole spices along with some ground spices. Yoghourt. – Ah, no pepper.
– Lemon juice. Little bit of garlic. And that is gonna form our marinade, maybe with a little bit
of oil as well, actually. – There are fresh herbs. Mint, mint, mint. – In with the marinade?
– Yeah, I would. – Oh, okay.
– I would. – Right, I hope this is kind
of a burnt terracotta colour. That means I’ve put everything
I think needs to go in it. Right. ,I’m gonna get the rice cooking, ’cause that’ll take about 15 minutes. And then I’m gonna get
the chicken marinated. Where’s the, where’s dial gone? Have I just put that on the dial? Oh yeah, I’ve covered the
dial with the pan lid. (bell pings) (laid-back music) I’ve chosen to use butter for this. ’cause I can smell when
it’s the right colour. Oh, that’s the pepper cannon. Some black pepper in the marinade. I left the butter near the hob. (laid-back music) That’s empty. That’s empty, oh. Can I have some butter, please? – It’s right in front
of you, mate, genuinely. – Right in front of you. (laid-back music) – Right. I’m gonna put in this
much butter into the pan. I wanna toast this in
like a beurre noisette-y golden butter. So that should smell nutty, and I wanna be able to hear it. (laid-back music) Let’s go find a spatula. (laid-back music) – [Jamie] Baz’s marinade
is ready for the chicken. – That smells amazing. – Last thing I’m putting
in there, fresh mint. (Mike laughs) – You’re not gonna chop that. I mean, I know he can’t see, but that, that is the wrong knife. (laid-back music) – That’s smelling a bit bubbly. – Oh, damn. You’re doing it in butter! I didn’t think of that! – So it doesn’t matter what measure I use as long as I do two to one, this rice to liquid. So on a wash, no, two to one. Oh, I’ve forgotten how
to cook rice, I’m blind. No. One rice to two liquids. All right, that’s one rice. Put this down here out the way. I need to wash it. This is gonna go into my vermicelli pan. (rice sizzles) Oh, that’s a good sound. (laid-back music) – [Jamie] Shall I start
prepping some veg, lads? – Yeah.
– Yes. (Mike gasps) – Oh, why, what did you do? – There’s a stock. – Get it in your sauce. – It’s too, it’s too late. The water’s in, it’s cooking. – [Barry] That’s gonna
severely affect the flavour. – Should have cooked
it in stock, not water. – Can you, you can still add
it to it, can’t you on top? – No, the liquid ratio’s
too, it’s too much now. – Okay. Okay. – I’ll just have to make
sure that it’s well seasoned. – Right, there’s some
stock over here in a jug. Oh yeah, that’s chicken stock, right? (upbeat music) I’m guessing that’s one. (stock sizzles) Will this fill up to two? Oh, where’s this gone? (upbeat music) So, turn that onto high,
bring it to a simmer. Oh, how do I know when it’s simmering? Right, put that on full. When it’s simmering, I’ll put a lid on it and start the timer. Let’s taste if the stock is seasoned. Yes. Ooh! But it needs some sweetness. There’s some raisins over here. Oh, all right, swirl them in. Lid, start a timer. Four,
(timer beeps) eight, no, nine minutes, started. But I’ve just realised I’ve
put vermicelli in there so it needs a bit more liquid. (upbeat music) – Our chicken’s gonna marinate
for as long as possible. We’re then gonna skewer the
chicken, then we can grill it. – Mike’s now the rice. He’s now chopping. I haven’t nailed the rice. I’m really sorry that I didn’t use stock. – I feel like we’re gonna need a pickle. – I think it might.
– Yeah? – I think it might pickle-y. I think it might be.
– Pickle-y. – If I fry off… – Oh, for, Mike? – What? – Just realised, no, I didn’t realise we had our own. I’ve been using his because I
didn’t realise we had our own. (Barry laughs) – Has someone taken all the herb off this and put the stalks back on my tray? – Yeah. We didn’t realise
we had our own set of herbs. So we’ve been using yours. Would you like our herbs? – Yeah! – Now that we’ve found them? – Cool. – For the rice?. – Yeah, perfect. (Jamie laughs) Put it in there. – The crispy onions are yours. – [Barry] That always tastes good. – Crispy onions.
– Put it on the top? – No, no, in! – In.
– In the rice. – Viscosity with democracy. And apparently they want me to throw fried onions through the rice. So I have, and now we found bay leaves and all of the salad. I’ve put some bay leaves
in to the rice as well. – Right. Let’s marinate some chicken! Oh dear. This is the bit I don’t wanna do. Why is it that way round? Which way round is this chicken? Where are the legs? Did one of you flip my
chicken upside down? – No. – Are you sure you did? That’s one leg off. Pop the bone out. Run it down there. Butchery, this is. Oh no, I’ve gone straight
through the thigh, haven’t I? That’s the knuckle there. There you go. Oh, that’s messy. Jay? Thanks. – You got a hold?
– So I don’t want the breasts, I just want the juicy thighs. – [Mike] This is actually impressive. – Right, so skin side down. I’ve managed to cut through
the ribcage of the chicken, ’cause I bought this knife
especially for this battle. Let’s just take the bone
out of this chicken thigh. It’s right, that’s some
chicken, with the skin on still. I wanna take the skin off. (upbeat music) Chicken in the bowl. While my hands are dirty,
I’m gonna marinade it. So that is my marinated chicken. I need to clear down. All right, so I’ve got chicken marinating. Once the rice is done
I’ll cook the chicken so it doesn’t overcook. What should we make next? Should we make a nice salad? – Rice is done, coming off the heat and it’s just going to continue
cooking in its residual. Dicing white onion and shallot. Gonna fry that off,
stir it through the rice with a little bit of ginger and chilli. – I will pickle the red onion, ’cause I think that just
on that, on its own. that’s what you have in
like a shawarma, isn’t it? It’s pickled red onion. – [Mike] Great. – [Mike] Boys? Ginger. – [Jamie] Ginger? – Do we want that in the rice? (upbeat music) Okay, good chat. Thank you so much for your help. – No, no you wouldn’t. (Kush shouts) – Ah! I’m joking. – That’s not funny!
– Kush! (Kush laughs) (knife chops)
(upbeat music) (timer beeps)
– Don’t wanna waste all their onion, right? (timer beeps) That means my rice has
had 10 minutes. (mutters) (upbeat music) Mm. Good seasoning there. Bit under, but that’s 10 minutes. If I now turn the heat
off, that should be fine. Heat off there, right?
So the rice is done. Let’s do a quick pickle Should we do a quick pickle, Jay? – He’s doing a quick pickle? – [Jamie] He’s doing a quick pickle? What a great idea! – Absolutely love this stuff. I’m not gonna say what it is out loud ’cause I don’t want the boys cheating, but I’ll put some of this, whichever way the label
goes round in here. – [Jamie] So Baz, what I was thinking is, once I’ve got these red onions done, – Yeah.
– we’re gonna add some pomegranate molasses. – Oh yeah!
– Oh, yes! Brilliant! – Yeah, yeah, I’m gonna add
that into our quick pickle ’cause it’s a sweet, syrupy… – Honestly, your knowledge
sometimes just blows me away. – Where is the lid for this bottle? Oh, did I take the lid off? That’d be hilarious if I, who’s moving stuff? Who’s that?
– No one! – Who’s that? I keep on finding a finger in my food. I hear the bowls moving! – Can I have some
pomegranate molasses, please? – Yes.
– Thanks, mate. – [Kush] No, you just keep it. – Yeah?
– I’m done with it now. – Okay, fine. – All right. Salt and pepper. (bell pings)
Tahini. Bit of salt. (upbeat music) Bit of pep. Gonna quickly microwave
the onion to soften it and fold through loads of other stuff. – Hello, Kush. – [Kush] I need the microwave. – Oh dear. Are you also doing a quick pickle? – Yeah.
– That fills me with confidence. None of this does. – Ah.
– Do you want me to do it for you? – The knob’s normally north. That’s up.
– Yeah, that’s up. – That’s microwave.
– Yeah. – That’s, I need a minute and a half. – You are on 13 minutes. Okay, three, two, one, stop. (bell pings) Yeah, that’s a minute and 10. – Bit more?
– No, down. Now, a minute. Down. – Down?
– No, no other way. Other way.
– Up, you mean. – There you go. Stop. – [Kush] All right, cool. Can you press play? – [Mike] There you go. (bottle shatters) – What was that? What just fell on the floor? – [Barry] Molasses. – Who put it back? Who put the pomegranate back at the, in front of me after using it? – I didn’t know if you’d need it again. – You just left it there? That is totally on you! – The microwave’s gone off. – Oh yeah, great. But I can’t deal with it. Oh, what’s, why is there, Spaff? Are you struggling to wipe up the, – [Baz] There’s so much molasses. – Sticky nectar. Oh I found the bay leaves! They didn’t go in my dish. – [Mike] Oh no. – Oh no. All that flavour! (laughs) – [Kush] Right boys, how far are you off? – [Barry] We have rice, we have some veg. We have a quick pickle on the go. – [Kush] Veg? – [Barry] We have, well, fried off onions and chilli and stuff. – [Jamie] Our chicken is marinating. It needs to go in under
the grill in a second. – [Kush] Fine. Same, same. – Right, Mike, do you
want all these herbs? – Yeah, please. That’s some rice. – Lovely.
– Great. – I dunno whether it is lovely and I dunno whether it’s great, – [Jamie] But I’m gonna make it lovelier. Now let’s get it into the rice. – That’s tahini. All right, I need tahini. Let’s make a yogurty dip. (upbeat music) Has that gone in? Oh no. Yeah, that’s a lot. I left garlic on the corner
of the board, didn’t I? Yes! (upbeat music) Yoghourt. Yes! Ah, and a pepper cannon. That’s gonna sweep in, I hope, double the amount of tahini as yoghourt Salt, which I haven’t used yet. Put some salt in. Oh, I should have… Oh no, let’s mix it and see. It might be all right. I wanted to put in about half
a teaspoon of salt into this, but I didn’t adjust the
nozzle on the salt first, so, and I tipped it. (upbeat music) Mm, oh no, there’s
grains, it’s quite salty. All right, we’ll fix it, We’ll fix it. Want all this lemon zested to here. That feels a bit too thick. Like the faff and the tahini seeds. So I’m gonna go for some more yoghourt. (upbeat music) Oh that, that is nice. That’s done. – I think everything’s under control. Chicken’s cooking.
– Chicken’s cooking. – [Mike] Boys, something’s burning. – [Jamie] Did you soak the skewers? – No.
(Jamie laughs) – Boys, the only thing we haven’t done… – [Kush] I feel a bit too thick. – Is a yoghourt. – [Barry] Oh, okay. – Do you know what I mean?
– Yoghourt, tahini, – [Jamie] Garlic, lemon juice. Salt, pepper, herbs. – Honey? Needs to be sweet, doesn’t it? – I can sweeten it. – Guys, this is gonna be really bad. – Pomegranate molasses?
– If we lose this. – I know. – It’s gonna be really bad. – Why? Don’t think negatively. – I know.
– Think positive. We’ve got this. – I’m thinking negatively because of all the bits that I’ve missed and all the mistakes that I’ve made. – [Jamie] I don’t think
that’s going to be very nice. – What is it?
(Jamie laughs) – A tahini and yoghourt mix, currently with no sweetness or… – Anything. Acidity? (laid-back music) – Needs lemon. Some pepper. – I think it’s going, you know what? – Olive oil. – Have you put any olive oil in it? – Pomegranate molasses. – That might be nice. – [Barry] There’s so, there’s
too much riffing going on. – Mate, that smells amazing. – Yeah, don’t look at the skewers. They’re black. – Ah, it doesn’t matter. – Do you want some fresh- – I might do something. – Do you want some
fresh chilli on the top? What do you mean, you might do something? This is a collective effort. (Barry and Jamie laugh) Get the sign off. – I love this. – No, I was gonna put
some oil and some herbs, blitz ’em up into a green, into a green sludge
and mix it in with that and it’ll be vibrant green. (upbeat music) – Do we know that for sure? – With the leftover, those
spices would be nice. I think it’ll be all right. – Yeah?
– Just just trust. – Ironically it is now the
blind leading the blind on this team as well. (Barry laughs) Does it taste nice? – Yeah. Yeah, yeah. (Mike laughs) – Right. I’m gonna fry
the chicken off now. I’m frying my chicken because I want a dark caramelised colour that you can’t really
achieve in a home oven and grill as far as I see. So if you caramelise
it in a non-stick pan, all the protein in the
yoghourt, the Maillard reaction and the spices will toast
and go lovely and brown. Okay. One, two, three, four, five
tablespoons of olive oil. Let’s put the chicken into
the oil and it should sizzle. (paste sizzles)
Yes. Nice. I want to even it out so it’s all flat. Let’s go, three minutes, and then we’ll stir and flip the chicken. It should have some colour on it by then. And then we’ll start poking
it to see if it’s cooked. Right, back over to the salad. (blender whines)
(upbeat music) Does this remind you of the last time you tried to make a- – No, Jay, what are you doing? That tastes nice. – [Jamie] So do we keep this separate? – I would, I would use that as colour. You’ve got a contrast of two
colours for the plate there. – Okay, fine. Fine. – So if you put that over the top. – Okay.
– And then drizzle that over there, you’ve got lots of lovely colour going on. – [Jamie] I’m just gonna
add some dill into here. – [Mike] Okay, lovely. – Right, I’m going to the microwave. (laid-back music) Let’s do some very, very,
very finely chopped chilli to go through my onion. Really finely sliced this chilli. I know it’s chilli because
I’ve got a little cut on my little finger from prepping earlier and it hurts. Garlic.
(timer beeps) Oh, that’s my timer. Let’s do three more
minutes on the chicken. (chicken sizzles)
(laid-back music) Chop some herbs. Quite a lot of herbs. This is not the way that
I normally chop herbs. Normally I’d roll them up,
chop them once or twice. I wanna bruise them but I can’t see. Chicken is sounding like it’s cooking. I’m gonna start poking it with my finger to see if the texture says it’s cooked. All right, it’s got a
bit of a bounce to it and it’s got a nice crust
on it, I can tell that. I think it’s cooked enough for me to taste it without
hurt, poisoning myself. That’s cooked. A bit too charred, I think. – Okay, plating time, or bowling time ’cause there’s a shawarma bowl. Rice in. It’s tasty rice but it’s not right rice. This is the wrong person doing this job. Barry?
– What? – I’ve started plating-
– That’s fine! No.
– Nailed it. – Jamie’s frying a lemon. – Flavour and presentation. – Ah, the charring on that’s lovely. (laid-back music) – [Kush] Herbs, let’s
toss the herbs together. (laid-back music) Nice, nice, really zingy. I need to plate up in a
clean space now, so… – Use all the, shall I just- – Yeah, back up there. – Yeah, yeah, nice. – [Mike] Quenelle. – What else can we chuck at it? (laughs) – [Jamie] I mean, it looks delicious. – [Mike] It does look good. (laid-back music) – So that our blind taste
tester gets an even mouthful when he stabs at these dishes, I’m gonna try and smooth out the rice so he gets a bit of
rice with each mouthful. Boys, you’re awfully silent. (laid-back music) Have you? Have you, are they still here? (laid-back music) And now even it out. A bit of salad everywhere but not too much because
it’s quite strong. Quenelle. I, I think wanna leave it there? They feel, oh, that’s a lot of food. (laid-back music) – Ebbers!
– Yeah! – Lift the cloche! – Es.
– Es. – Can I take this off now? – No.
– No. (cloches clang) – [Mike] Ah, what’d you think? – Oh, I can smell some fun stuff. (sniffs) – Okay. Kush, now you can remove yours. – All right. Ah, that’s so bright! – [Barry] And you can for the
first time see both our dish and your own! – Ebbers!
– Yeah! – Dig in!
– I mean, it smells great. – [Mike] Tell us your thoughts. – Shall I start with this one? – Yeah.
– Yeah, that one. Shwarma A. – There’s lots going on. It’s a full and heavy plate. (laid-back music) Very saucy. It’s very cloying. It’s quite a lot of tahini,
but some wonderful spicing. Nice hit of lemon. The chicken is well spiced. It’s got quite a, I’d say heavy cook on it. Kind of charred. – Okay. Hold those thoughts. – [Jamie] Move over to Shwarma B. (upbeat music) – More herby, more citrusy, more balanced. Also delicious. Very tasty, well seasoned. It might just be the
mouthfuls I was getting but fresher, more
balanced and less claggy. That might just be ’cause I got a good dollop
tahini in the first one and maybe that offset too much. I’d say the chicken, a more subtle spicing but a better cook. So one hour of a blindfolded chef versus three hours of normals with sight. – Okay. – That’s one way of looking at it. But is it the right way? – It’s the truth. It is the truth. – Yeah.
– I have a question. – Yeah.
– Do you have a preference? – Yes.
– Which is? – B.
– B. Okay. – Now, who do you think cooked which? – I’m gonna have to back
Kush and say this was B. It feels more controlled, seasoned. The chicken’s cooked better and it’s not overloaded with tahini. – Okay. De-blindfold. – Oh, that’s bright. – [Mike] Ebbers, Shwarma A, – Was cooked by a blindfolded chef and B was the normals. (Jamie laughs) I don’t dunno if we can celebrate. – Did you win? – I don’t know! – He thinks that I cooked
the money he preferred. – No, he said he thought, – He thinks that I cooked
the one he preferred. (all laugh) – Shall we call it evens? – Call it evens. – Interesting, because
now I’ve got sight back, there’s stark differences. When I said I felt like this
chicken was better cooked, what I meant by that was
it wasn’t as dried out. But what you get with that
drying out is extra texture and a darker colour, and a better spicing. I said better spicing. – Backing out backing, he’s backtracking to
support his fellow chef. – The rice had more
individual grains on that one. But overall as an eating experience, that was the one I preferred. For me it had more of the acidity and it had less of the tahini. But maybe I just got
a big chunk of tahini. – But with that in mind, considering that there were three of us with all of our senses versus Kush managing to
butcher a chicken, do like- – That started as a whole chicken? – Identify spices and put
that other option together, What are your thoughts? – Given how some people
struggle to cook rice at the best of times, to do it this well,
blindfolded, is very impressive. And the rice is better than that. Butchering chicken,
slicing onions, plating, all of that blindfolded is, – It’s staggering, isn’t it? – You can’t wait to watch it back because I’m trying to work out if the shoe was on the other foot, how on earth I would do that. – Amazing, man. Really impressive. (laid-back music)