I hope James knows how happy we are to see him

James comes fighting straight out of the gate with the classic "Ben is ancient" joke. I love it

I laughed so hard at the “It’s the coconut shredder all over again”. I was sure Ben was going to lose a limb in that video

The waffle thing is actually still being use in at least Hong Kong and Japan for street snacks! You guys had the right idea, they usually put eggy batter into it, quickly cook on both side, in Japan, they would come out as a cookie kinda snack and in Hong Kong they would some times roll it while it’s still hot, into a cigar shape, and let it cool so it’s crispy/crunchy when you eat. my dad still has one and would randomly use it when he’s bored… lol

I love how James compares everything to the scales in terms of fun "not as fun as the scales.."

Lol, seeing this antiques episode has got my brain thinking. We should make these guys do a pass it on but with antique gadgets. WOuld be nice to see them try to make something without an electric kettle, a giant ass tub and a weighing scale

James' pure joy at measuring things using the balance scale was adorable

That pattern looks japanese, and considering how thin the “pancakes” came out, I want to guess that it is a japanese waifer iron to make those okashi waifer sandwich cookies that you then fill with redbean and mochi

Gadget reviews just need James’ sassiness and Ben geeking out or being fearless with dangerous equipment.

James: From when you were a boy. Ebbers: Indignant. And just a few minutes later Ben states his parents still have a fish kettle. 😂

“Not nearly as fun as the scale” is gonna be the iconic line of James

That scale is gorgeous and I loved Ben and James geeking out over it. I would be in on the bidding.

"Is that joke still going?" For you, James, always.

The waffle iron looks like a different version of a pizzelle press my dad has. He uses it to make Christmas cookies, which have a waffle like texture. Love them!

I don't resize how much I miss James until he visits...lovely to see him again! Also, the contrast between James and Ben always gets me, James being the sort of laid back chill but undeniably knowledgeable chef and Ben, the know it all chef

Mike: "Some antique gadgets" James: "From when you were a boy! Is that joke still going on?" It's a seasonal thing. It comes around a few times a decade.

James showing up is like a Ryan Reynolds cameo is an already good movie….magic

So I like to think of James as a recurring character in a sitcom - it’s lovely to see him.

I grew up using a balance scale like this one (I’m 25), so I found it quite funny seeing it described as a piece of history! We have some family baking recipes that specifically call for an amount of ingredients based on the weight of other ingredients - I never even considered that it could be a less efficient method! I completely I agree that it’s good fun using it, and I continue to use it whenever I’m back home!

The "pancake" plate is actually a pizzelle maker. They are thin, crispy cookies.

James legit had PTSD flashbacks to the coconut shredder when Ebbers was playing around with the ripping hot waffle maker/waffle cattle branding iron 😂

A colab with tasting history with max Miller would be interesting. He does a lot of older historic recipes and ways of cooking.

Our girls keep laughing at me as we watch these and I go "oh we had some of those" 😂😂😂

I can't tell you how nice it is to see James back with the clan. I stumbled onto sorted foods because of James; and it was a sad day when I learned he was going to be moving on. A really sad day (and not in a creepy way). Truth be told, my Son died less than a year ago, and James' reminds me so much of my Son. His mannerisms; the way he stands, talks and as you all say, Grumpy... But I can tell, as you lads already know, James is a good man with a heart of gold. It's good to see you back.

haha, living for how much fun James had with the scales.

I’m hoping for a pass it on classic equipment edition

The last gadget looks like an early version of what we would now call a poffertjespan. Very common to eat these in the Netherlands, some people might even have one of those newer pans at home. I've never had them crispy before, they should be thicker and soft like a mini pancake.

Feeling my age here because when I took "cookery" at school in the 1960s, we used scales identical to those in the classroom kitchen. Very much a trip down memory lane for me.

I have my grandma’s iron skillet, it’s over 100 years old , I have her pastry blender and a metal spoon she wore the rounded edge off to a straight angle on one side from her stirring. I also have her Starter which is over 100 years old .

The "waffle iron" is a biscuit (cookie) pan. Came in various patterns some with, some without handles.

I loved this episode. Ben and James together, not competing, just having fun. It was obvious that they both had a good time together. Two friends playing with cool old toys.

That iron makes 2 cookies. Each shell is one half, makes a round cookie filled with some cream, from what I can remember. You should have a competition with different batters and fillings, see what's best!

The fact Jaime verbally said "obvs" just made my day 😂 I use that to annoy my fiancee all the time! So glad to see the old group together for a bit!

I still have a scale like that - it is used every day mostly because it’s too heavy to move so it sits out. Easier than grabbing the digital ones

I love Ben's face after he "unintentionally" blurts out a benuendo @ 11:28 🤣

James back in the videos is sooooo heartwarming

I'm pretty sure that the waffle iron was used to make "monaka", as it has Japanese motives in it, and I've seen some antique irons that are quite similar to this one. It was used to make the shelves of these traditional Japanese sweets.

My gran has one of those waffle irons, she's Dutch and usually makes a Speculaas spiced batter to go in. I can't remember the name she uses for it, but she got it from her mother (it has been in the family for years apparently). She has a few things that they brought with them during WW2 when they escaped and as a baking/cooking family many were those type of heirlooms.

It’s so nice when James comes back. Please come back for more episodes!!!!

Love it when James comes back. Gives me the warm fuzzies. 🥰 Would love to hear how things are going in his new gig.

The waffle/pancake iron looks like a earlier version of dutch "poffertjes". They are tiny pancakes, usually had with some butter and sprinkled with icing sugar.

The confidence from Mike saying "poissonnière" at 1:16 is through the roof! 😂

Yes! Our favorite sassy ginger came back for a visit! It's always enjoyable when Ben and James test gadgets together.

The waffle iron is for making Dutch (mini) pancakes, called "poffertjes". Nowadays they are made on a cast iron countertop griddle with the indented semi circle moulds. The one you have is an old version for on an open flame.

2:05 wow Ben continually proving james' comment earlier about ben being ancient 😂. Knew the exact name and such. you go grandad

More James! He has been sorely missed.

Ohhh, how I missed James on the Gadget Review videos! I love his reactions!

It's only tangentially relevant, but as a Boy Scout in the US, we used to take on campouts a single compartment version of the waffle-cookie thing. You could put whatever you wanted (coldcuts, cheese) between two pieces of bread, clamp it in the device, stick it in the camp-fire, and pull out a 10cm diameter round hot sandwich crimped on the edges. We would also use it to make our own crispy PopTarts with jams. Honestly, I've never seen one in a store, though.

Hear me out. Normals cooking from Le Repertoire de La Cuisine, but they can only use older gadgets/tools and old methods.

the reason it took so long to make that butter is it was likely too cold. Room temp cream can be lightly whipped into butter in about a minute if you use your fingers. that's how they did it in the medieval period for just home scale butter making

I very much appreciate the background of the antiques being added.

Fully convinced chef Ben Ebbrell is my spirit animal. Making knowledge annoyingly cool 1 video at a time.

"It looks cool but I'll never be using them" Waiting for this to bite James on the arse with the inevitable Pass It On - antique gadgets episode

Loving the horror at eyeballing the bicarb!!! Also, super glad to see James nipping in for a visit!

We love James. Brilliant, dry wit. Matches Ben's sassiness with his own. And he also apparently has more time to work out now that he's not filming with you guys, because his arms might be the tastiest thing on this channel in a long time. I mean squeezing the water out of the butter at 12:13... *le drool*

James, his record player, the vintage toaster, and these scales... a very "intimate" experience, to borrow his word.

ITEM 4 - Some old churches will still have these in a cupboard, but theirs would press an 'IHS' pattern on them for use as communion hosts. Interestingly; a company in Belgium who'd previously made wafers on a large scale until the decline of religion decided to press two wafers together creating a pouch for sherbet. Thus, flying saucers (sweets/ candies) were invented! (and saved the business)

For the butter churn you could have removed the rust by soaking it in vinegar, given it a good hard scrub and rinsed it off, it might have had some pitting but otherwise should have been completely functional and food safe.

My grandma had that set of weighing scales! It brought back loads of memories seeing it, she’s still alive and I think it’s in our shed, will go and have a look tomorrow! Thank you!

The waffle iron thing looks a bit like what we'd call a "munkejern" in norwegian. Broadly speaking it's for making something a bit like those donut-holes. Sort of a sweet and vanilla esque plain pastry ball cooked in there, and it gets this nice brownish crust and a soft spongy texture. Usually a bit of salt in them as well.

It’s been wonderful having James back!

Goodness, I’ve missed James. I’m so glad he comes for visits.

It’s a family tradition for us to make butter during holiday gatherings. We just throw buttermilk and salt into a mason jar and shake it up. We pass it off person to person so it isn’t that much of a chore for any one person and the kids love it. The key is to drain it once it starts separating, and keep shaking and draining until it stops leaking liquid out.

I have seen people still using the vintage scale, and I have tried that scale too. However, it was not easy to use, so I'm impressed that James can measure that accurately.

That waffle iron was probably used for either christmas wafers (which you can find in poland for example) or holy communion wafers

This really looks like what we call in the Netherlands 'poffertjes', they still sell them fresh in some street markets with some powdered sugar😊

That "waffle" iron is a rice cracker (Senbei) maker. It's got a very traditional Japanese pattern on the inside.

She doesn't really use it much anymore, but I think my mom has a fish kettle knocking about somewhere. Side note, her turkey roasting pan has a nearly identical built-in lifter (with the holes on the bottom and long folding handles). It makes handling the bird and subsequent gravy-making SO much easier.

The last one seems like an old School way of making a Norwegian christmas baked good. At least we have used a similar tool for that!

In pastry school, we had old school scales like this because "electronic scales are inaccurate" after graduating, I only used a manual scale at one job. Electronic scales do have a shorter lifespan though as a con.

I feel old now... My granpa was a baker and he had a weighing scale back in the day (already old by the time I was a child) and we loooved playing with it. James is right, it was so much fun!

James happily grabbing a teaspoon then watching in horror as ebbers eyeballs is it has gotta be the best part of this vid 👏👏

Being one of the youngest on the (on screen) team and yet being referred to as old. That joke never gets old. It’s like my youngest sister insisting on calling me her little sister because I’m shorter than her. 😂

James was always my favorite. Always nice to see him back

It's so good to James and his massive fricking forearms back on the channel.

My Grandmother had one of the irons. She inherited it from her grand mother. It was a wedding present so was bought in 1869.I loved using it as. a child and made all of these 3 things. Grandma said it was used orginally for cooking biscuit (english ones) making of fruit leathers - drying out fruit pulp - as they could take them in your lunch box both work and school. The third was as you used it to make the crisp batter. The results were used as decorations for puddings and cake, Served with rice puddings , Sago or tapicoc. preserved fruit and custard and of course Icecream Sundies The beautiful part of this is they would keep in biscuite tin for for about a week if your iron was hot enough. We were occasionaly allowed to cook our toast with it

Mike: “…antique kitchen gadgets.” Alastair to Ben: “From when you were a boy.” The title of this video could be: Gadget Reviews - The Revenge of the Sassy Scotsman.

I would love to see a cooking challenge between these two where they can only use old fashioned cooking tools from different eras.

Love to see James cook something in an old style kitchen with old style tools. Similar to Townsends but sorted version to give James a bit of the spotlight (ofc when he visits)

The waffle thing is used in Asian cooking to make little filled motchi cookie type things. Similar to the camp pies you can make while camping where you take either some dough or some bread and place it into two bread sized squares on the end of a stick that clamp together when you pull the handles together. You fill them with jelly or compote or whatever you want and make mini campfire pies. That’s what we always called them. I liked making a graham cracker crust (I guess it would be like a simple biscuit with a little bit of cinnamon and sugar in the UK) and then I put chocolate and marshmallows inside. Also would be cool to see basic snack made gourmet. Like s’mores with homemade marshmallows and chocolate etc.

As a Chef of (well about 18 years now..) it really gives me a smile to see you guys working together again, especially after a hard week or so of just trying to keep my team going. Your enthusiasm and interest keeps me inspired and I hope to have something like this with people I have worked with along the way.

It’s nice to see James shows such a delight in these things it’s under watch him especially when he’s picking on him it’s just too good.

Any episode w James is a straight up winner!

This was so much fun! Old gadgets are the best! They all still work, they are made to last a lifetime, as opposed to new ones who are made to last 2 years at most. James made a brilliant entry! His humour is great. 'still, not as much fun as the scales' Well, now you know what to give him for his birthday 😹

It's an old cookie press! "Biscuits" if you're in the UK.

Love watching James. I'll never miss a video with him in it.

I believe the waffle iron tool is actually a tool to make Osenbei (Japanese rice crackers) Thank you for such a fun content!

the waffle iron thing looks like what we use to make "plättar" 100 year ago in sweden. they are basically a thin version of pancakes and are most commonly eaten with ligonberrys!

The normals have been at the mercy of Ben and the guest Chefs for too long, so the opener of Ben getting ribbed is just therapeutic.

Those antiques actually look really cool! Could use that equipment as a Pass It On challenge! xD

The waffle iron reminds me of (Dutch) poffertjes (which literally translates to tiny puffs or tiny puffers), though the big difference is that poffertjes aren't pressed, they're more like small pancakes. We have pans specifically for making them, usually big cast-iron numbers with round indents for the individual poffertjes.

LOVE the scales!!! Where I grew up, street vendors still use these to weigh fruits, veg, legumes, nuts…pretty much everything!

Wow James is actually getting ptsd from that coconut scraper incident. He's been permanently scarred

Great to see you Sir Curry. Jamie needed to be here for the puns. I love that scale, it's beautiful.

Love seeing James back in the mix!

I got the butter churn instantly. My grandmother had one. She used to use it when she was a child. That was one of her chores.

always up for a james episode. love it when hes back

My Grandmother's hand crank egg beater is still in frequent use since she doesn't like to devote counter space to a heavy stand mixer. She bought it new in the 1950s, and it still works great and looks neat. I love these vintage/antique gadget videos. There are so many things that are actually really cool bits of kitchen engineering history.

Next time the normals do an old recipe challenge, I would love to see them using the scales and other antique equipment instead of modern equipment.

The Waffle Iron is actually an old tool used to make Dutch Mini pancakes or "poffertjes" and you would thus use pancake batter rather than waffle batter. It's supposed to be pillowy and soft with some crispy edges.