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Testing Secret Cheats Used in Professional Kitchens

Sorted Food

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Ever wondered what real chefs are doing behind the scenes in professional kitchens? Today we reveal the pro kitchen secrets that chefs actually sent us... and we put every single one to the test. 👀

From unexpected flavour tricks to techniques used in restaurants around the world, we try out four chef-approved secrets to see if they really work… and our reactions say it all.

Do these pro kitchen hacks make your cooking better?
Should home cooks be using them?
And which secret completely surprised us?

#sortedfood #chefsecrets #prokitchen #cookinghacks #foodexperiments #cheftips #tests #secrettechniques

Check out our fabulous chef friends:
Romy Gill - Instagram: romygill | https://www.romygill.com/
Nikos Roussos - Instagram: chef.nikos.roussos | https://www.opso.co.uk/
Poppy O'Toole - Instagram: poppy_cooks | TikTok: poppycooks
Ben Slater - Instagram: slaterchef | TikTok: slaterchef

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20 Comments

@WheelieAlexDavis 9 months ago

Yes another James video- I love how supportive and encouraging he is of the normals but pushes for fun/ cheeky side. He’s like a primary teacher and the normals are the children!

@hedonismunderstands2469 9 months ago

would love to see an episode just on stocks - difference between roasting off meat/bones first vs not, freezing vs just in 'fridge, etc...

@BritJim 9 months ago

Ben has taught these guys 7000 times how to not only make mayo but recover a split mayo. How do they not remember by now? 😅

@ben.c97 9 months ago

I swear Ebbers has mentioned before that adding water helps to stabilize an emulsion, which is why he recommends using the whole egg, because the white contains the extra water.

@charlesrovira5707 9 months ago

I definitely want more.
This was one of the more informative shows. Thank you.

@crystalsea72 1 month ago

when teaching my youngest how to cook, I taught her "its not what you break, its how you fix it" mistakes happen, learn the fixes

@bentoth9555 9 months ago

"Tell that to my cardiologist." I was thinking the same thing, Jay.

@MelindaRohdy 9 months ago (edited)

The tip about herb butter, if you do several cloves of roasted garlic, you will have frozen garlic butter ready to put on bread right before a meal. 😮😊😊😊❤❤
I saw someone once make mayonnaise from the oil out of a sundried tomato jar. It imparted a tomato flavor without the tomato pieces. 😊❤

@atDavidHex 9 months ago

Please reach out to more chefs! Both for their expertise but also because I like to know that they like to participate! It's really meaningful that working chefs acknowledge how this channel benefits everyone!

@wombat.6652 9 months ago

The freeze herb butters is great idea for single person.
I hate the waste of buying a bunch of x herb and throwing out 80% of it.

@lavenderlucy90 9 months ago

What a nice surprise to see Slater back (and always good to see James make an appearance too). I like the old school Sorted feel - just missing Ebbers!

@DaveDenning1953 9 months ago

Lard is a much underrated fat, in my opinion, many moons ago I was a mainly self-taught baker, and under advice from the mill we bought our flour from, we used pure lard as our shortening agent. It has a high smoke point, and, unless produced as the boys did above, it has no taste so does not mar the bread's natural flavour. It gives the bread a wonderfully soft texture, and helps extend the shelf life. In the days when the Chorleywood process (high speed mixers and chemical "improvers") were speeding up production times, but ruining the flavour of bread, we remained as traditional as we could, using bulk fermentation to develop the flavours! Big shout out for lard!

@Oriandu 9 months ago

My sister, who is a Culinary Institute of America trained pastry chef, once told me to add a tablespoon of water to my Hollandaise when they split. That trick was enough to get me through the learning process of properly making the sauce. I don't need the water very often now but it is a great tip.

@mme20 9 months ago

Please do more of these. I know what I'm doing for 8 hours during the live this weekend. Another thing added to my weekend christmas prep

@brentmckinnon7762 9 months ago (edited)

Yyaaay, it's James !! ❤ He seems so kind and polite.

@strumcrystrum 9 months ago

What your friend left out was that you really want to double boil trotters. First boil gets out the impurities and yields a brownish broth. Second boil, if you lower to a simmer for eight hours you get a milky white stock that is used for tonkotsu ramen.

@Timoshenko 9 months ago

"You can't have too much butter". Deep fried butter says hello lol

@shllybkwrm 9 months ago

Most ghee is not fermented. It's just cooked til the milk solids brown, like a bit past brown butter.

@arjc5714 9 months ago

I spent a month turning all of the basil in our garden into pesto and then freezing it before the outside temperatures killed it off. We often use it with pasta, especially instant bags of microwave pasta. In the winter, when it’s dark and cozy and you don’t want to cook, nuking a bag of Barilla and then cooling it down with a cube of pesto is so nice.

@heatherlewis4477 9 months ago (edited)

That trick of adding a bit of water to mayo also works for Hollandaise sauce. When I made the sauce, it split because the pan was still on the heat. To fix it, I removed the pan from the stove, and added a tablespoon of cold water. After a vigorous whisking, the sauce turned out perfectly smooth and glossy.