you know what i kinda miss from the old days...the bloopers... if its not much to ask,perhaps once a month,a small video with the funniest bloopers/cuts that did not make it, yk when the fridge cam was a thing etc. just for the laughs.

Mike had some incredible tasting notes. The cupcakes tasted like cupcakes. The steak tasted like steak. And the wine tasted like wine. Glad to see all his years at Sorted really enhanced his food vocabulary.

JAMES!!!!! We missed you!!! James always had the prefect calm energy to balance out this group of lovable muppets😁.

17:37 goodness James is such a beautiful being. Him leading mikes hand to the table is just so cozy.

Haha, James gently taking Mike's hand after Mike accidentally grabbed James'. Nobody really acknowledged it which is so funny and awkward.

Jamie appearing when the steaks come out. Lol

Regarding the wine or cooking with any spirit, the rule I was taught and always stick to is that if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it. Any of the off flavors you don't like in the alcohol won't disappear in the cooking, they'll just mix with other flavors and bring the whole dish down. I've found this true in beer for stews/batters, wine in savory sauces, & hard spirits in sweet sauces (such as whiskey caramels).

Happy james is always a sight to see. The accidental hand grazing by Mike with James just pulling him into it was hilarious.

As a kid, my mum and I would bake together quite often. I was a clumsy, accident prone baby so I was barely allowed to use the electric whisk or go near the oven. I was, however, allowed to sieve the dry ingredients. So I always sieve dry ingredients to this day, because its a core childhood memory. Add it as a step if you want to give your kids something to do to help in the kitchen 😂

Love seeing James again!

hi hi I’ve been professionally baking for the last decade and I’ll say that sifting isn’t always necessary. But it is definitely needed for recipes calling for baking soda! It clumps so badly and you’ll find big chunks throughout your baked goods if you don’t sift it!

James is the yang rebel to Ben's obey the rules Yin. Together they make a great team. Honestly great that you have multiple personalities on set that complement each other so well

Am loving seeing James back in videos. Also loving this concept, seeing if rules that have been passed down families for generations are actually worth listening to and doing or if we can ignore them.

Barry trying to contain Jamie like an excited dog i'm crying

I think the only time sifting flour needs to be followed is when the recipe states (for example): 1 cup sifted flour. As Mike stated, the amount of flour in a sifted cup is less than a cup of unsifted flour. And it’s really nice to see James in the Sorted kitchen again.

Loving the new ginger Chef, he sounds calming , even when he says "wheres the dish!" too... :D missing the fridge cam of the early times, and the bloopers. been a long time fan

Mike and James cooking together! That's all I need to see to know this will be a great video.

I think the wine rule is not "don't cook with cheap wine" and more "cook wine that you would drink" it's not really a matter of better wine makes better food. It's that if you cook with grape flavored rubbing alcohol, it will be worse for your dish.

Great video and so good to see James and Mike hanging out. Really like these chill videos. Thanks!

I find that sieving ingredients for cakes varies greatly on what you are baking. For a simple sponge it's not too necessary, but if you are working with something very light in texture, like a soufflé, then sieve.

More james videos?! You guys are spoiling us! Thanks! Seeing james again has been wonderful🎉🎉🎉

I love how just the mention of steaks summons Jamie.

I’m happy to see James always. He has been missed. Also that look on Jamie‘s face as he comes out for the steaks is priceless.

Back when I worked at a winery, we had a chef come in to consult on food and wine pairings. The advice he gave me was to never cook with anything you wouldn't drink, and that using the same wine in your food that you're drinking that night serves to sort of prime the palate for the flavor profile of the glass (and vice versa). I don't use anything too pricey but a standard $20-30 bottle from one of the local wineries suits me well.

One of my favorite quotes that can be applied across many different parts of life are "cooking and working out are a lot alike- there's always gonna be people telling you that you're doing it wrong but as long as you achieve what you're aiming to do, the path you take doesn't really matter"

Every time James comes on his arms just get more... impressive...

Meathead Goldwyn has a very interesting article (with graphs!) about how taking meat out of the fridge for less than, like, 2 hours really only changes the outside surface temperature unless it's quite thin (under 1 inch thick). And that time just increases with the size of the meat. So unless you're willing to let bacteria breed at unsafe temperatures for longer than is "safe", don't bother. Cooking technique is way more important. Also, smoke adheres to cold surfaces better, so if you're cooking on a barbecue then you're actually better off with straight-from-fridge.

As a baker that doesn't bake everyday, I find that sifting my dry ingredients really helps to avoid clumps you get from product settling that are otherwise hard to get out. I doubt that was a problem in your studio kitchen, though, which is why your results were so similar. And my rule for using wine has nothing to do with price, it's simply "Always cook with a wine you enjoy", why use a wine you don't like the taste of to begin with? So I do cook with the wines I keep on hand to drink, and I don't buy cheap cooking wines (not because they're cheap, but because they don't taste good to me). And yes, I always season my hamburger before cooking with it. And I've always set my meat out from the fridge while I gather the rest of my ingredients, so it's ready to cook when I get started. This was a really interesting episode, guys, thanks! Always love seeing Mike & James in the kitchen.

The one rule for rice in my house is always wash the rice until the water runs clear to reduce the starchiness. So nice to see James appearing in multiple videos! This was another fun one! Great job, team!

17:40 James guides mike's hand back to the table while saying guidelines lol

Aww James 😊 it's good to see his smiling presence 😊

I’ve definitely missed seeing Mike and James together! Loved this video and definitely learnt a lot more than I thought I would

Fridge cold steak is not an issue, just cook it low and slow as James indicated. You get the same result in the end, just check the internal temp with a probe.

When it comes to wine I've also always followed the rule if you don't enjoy drinking it, don't cook with it. The price varies so much with taste, I've had a cheap $15 bottle that taste amazing, and $50 plus bottle that I haven't enjoyed. I'll cook with what I enjoy and what flavours match the dish. Also Great video, always love seeing James.

Hi, I'm a big fan! I've studied and worked in baking, pastry, and chocolate. #1 Sifting dry ingredients does not always make a difference, BUT certain dry ingredients like xantham gum really need to be sifted in order to disperse properly. Used it a lot working at a gluten free bakery and it was the one ingredient we always, always sifted. We had a special sieve just for it. Xantham does wonders to bind, but also clumps super easily the moment it makes contact with moisture. Same thing with things like cornstarch, and occasionally baking powder. These ingredients can clump in their storage containers and if you don't whisk dry ingredients properly, can show up as pockets of what might look like flour in the end result. If you've ever had a bitter mouthful of powder in a muffin, it's likely a clump of unsifted baking powder that didn't get mixed in well enough. Again, you don't have to sift these if they aren't clumpy to begin with. If you want your cake to be light and fluffy, such as an angel food cake, you'll find sifting your flour a couple times (aerating it) will help you get that result. In dense products like bread or cupcakes or sponge cakes, it doesn't really matter as long as it's well combined. It really depends on what you want as an end product. Techniques like sifting have their place and purpose, and knowing what it does is helpful to know when you may want to use it :) Love these types of vids! Cheers from Vancouver, Canada

Not Jaime waltzing in when there’s steak involved 🤣🤣

That was fun to watch. I like seeing James again, but what really made me laugh was when Jamie turned up the moment the steak was mentioned...

I love how Jamie heard steak and immediately came out. James has a great idea though, we need a video about cooking steak.

James can break any rule he wants anytime

With the most absolute respect, James’s arms give me motivation to make myself a better person. 😂 Also I just aspire to be as chill as James on a daily basis.

Sifting dry ingredients - I only do this for cocoa powder and confectioners sugar, if it's particularly clumpy. However, I usually whisk the dry ingredients together. AND I ALWAYS grind up baking soda & Baking powder in the palm of my hand before adding it. Nothing worse than a finding a little pebble of leavener in a cake!

As James was starting to say, rules are guidelines. What works for you may not work for someone else. Or for the circumstances from which you are cooking.

I love everything in the episode; from the testing concept, more James, James and Mike cooking together, Barry as host, le wild Jamie appeared for the steak, and James holding Mike's hand. Aaaaah chef's kiss 💕

aw i love seeing james back. such a chilled, gentle, relaxed vibe to him and this video. love it.

The sifting issue is really one of “It depends…”. What you’re making, how much you can work stuff to incorporate everything, it all matters for whether sifting is necessary or just maybe helpful. I would never make macarons without sifting, but because I bake GF I can work a cake batter forever to incorporate it without worrying about developing gluten.

An important note on the dry good sifting: I lived in Nigeria for a year and you always always always had to sift because of flour mites. You would sift it straight from the store, get any mites and eggs out then store it airtight and it was fine for use. The mites got in during production, and would only live long enough to lay eggs. Then they would die, and any flour they ruined would clump around them. It was gross, but we had no other option aside from driving a long ways to buy flour imported from Europe for 3 or 4x the cost.

Will we ever get to see the A-Z dishes series? Loved that one! 😊

Thank you for doing this. You boys answered many of the questions I have had for a long time!

Interesting video. Love the concept. For #3: I've always heard the rule to only cook with wine that you'd drink, regardless of the price, because the flavor will concentrate. Also, I'm very happy to see James back in the kitchen 😊

Mike & James cooking, doesn't get better than this 😁😍❤

One of the best videos you’ve had in a VERY long time. This is practical stuff I can use on a regular basis. Reminds me of some of the early videos when your channel was growing. Plus, love seeing James! I’m a baker and I only sift things like baking soda or powder, which can sometimes get little clumps.

I love seeing James and Mike together...there is a lovely connection. Hence why it wasn't awkward when Mike accidently put his hand on James' and he simply recipricated as, all is ok :) Now, sugestions: when a recipe calls for more than one egg, do you put them all together and mix or one at a time and mixing between; toasting whole spices or not for flavour

I honestly think the "sausage texture" people get when adding the salt into the mix is from over working the meat. I think that should be the main rule to follow with cooking burgers, don't over work the meat, distribute the seasonings evenly and gently fold in.

The sifting rule really did come about as a way to make sure that there were no flour weevils or other foreign matter in your flour. Especially when flour was stone ground you could have tooth crunching bits of grit in there too. As well as milling techniques improving we also have anti-caking agents in many of our powders now to stop lumps forming. (Also at certain points in history flour & other goods could be heavily adulterated with things like gypsum dust & other unsavouries - due to their weight & particle size, sifting could let you see if you had good or bad flour).

Being from New Orleans, a typical rule is “you have to soak your dried red beans before you cook them” I personally don’t but I believe a lot of people do. That would be a fun one to test.

10:40: "Boys, you have two Ebbers portions of wine in front of you..."😁

Salting pasta water. Vinegar in poached egg water. Seasoning eggs before or after scrambling. Softened butter or melted butter in baking.

love love love Mike and James together in the kitchen. they have such chill friend vibes together!

I think I've got a new candidate to test if you make another video of that topic/format: Since many many years, I don't make bechamel as you showed but the very lazy way: Measure what you need and just pour in all the milk at once and stir it vigorously with a whisk. I've never had lumps with that method. I also use it for white sauces made with fond. Easier when heated because you don't need to stir it until it heats up and thickens but it's kind of instant. I'd be happy if you could give it a try because it saves me so much time and effort and it might help other home cooks too. Well, either that or you can explain why it shouldn't be done that way. What makes the difference/changes the properties of the sauce. But as mentioned, I've never had any problems with that. Thank you!

I have some follow-up thoughts! Hack 1 (sifting) - personally, to mix together dry ingredients/get out lumps, I use a whisk in a bowl. Probably aerates the mixtures a bit as well. Hack 2 (steak) - absolutely am a firm believer in the room temp steak! Hack 3 (red wine) - as an alternative, why not use a can or small bottle of wine? My local shop sells cans of wine and small bottles, which I keep on hand for adding to recipes. Alternatively, if my recipe just wants a splash (like a bolognaise sauce), I will open a nicer bottle that we will drink. If I'm using the whole botte, like in the red wine gravy I recently made for Easter, I used a cheaper bottle that we had for ages in our wine storage. I also wonder how the hack would work with a longer cooking time. Hack 4 - no initial thoughts, but I would interested to do a side by side comparison myself! I would also disagree with James. I think food rules are designed to help people get a more consistent product, not perfect. Ideally, they should also teach people the why as well as the rule, so they can use it and break it, but that's me expecting a lot of general society who probably has a lot on.

Video idea: let viewers send in pics of their fridge ingredients they can’t get rid of/ combine and let the normal vs. a chef battle with them. When judging give extra credit to those with more ingredients included

It is so nice to see James back in the Sorted kitchen. Ben, James and Kush are all good chefs, but with three distinctly different personalities.

I am really enjoying seeing James in videos again. He brings a unique dynamic being rather camera shy but with oodles of confident snark.

Some more rules... 1. Rinse rice before cooking? 2. Bolognese, just 1 meat or a mixture of meats? 3. Cooking pasta, just a bit of salt or heaps of salt like the sea? 4. Poached eggs, vinegar in water? 5. Crisp packets, store leftovers/open bags secured with a clip in a cool dry place or store in freezer? 6. Yorkshire Puddings #1: use fridge cold batter or room temp batter? 7. Yorkshire Puddings #2: use batter made approx 30-60 mins before cooking or use batter that was made previous day and has 'rested' overnight.

Love seeing James back! Also, I really like this series

Those steaks may have been the same cut but not from the same cow. They should have bought a slab and cut steaks out of it.

I remember hearing that you don’t cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink. That doesn’t mean that the wine has to be expensive, it just means that you have to like it. I’m not sure why you do anything with the wine you wouldn’t drink, but maybe there’s some application where the flavor of the wine doesn’t matter? I can’t imagine that being the case.

James is right about not needing to make the 'best' product. What matters about food is that the one eating it finds it tasty, and that's so subjective a thing.

It's awesome to see how much confidence Mike has when hes got his buddy back with him. They had so much fun.

Love to see more James and his two friends... also glad to see Mike and Barry

Great to see James again, really easy to listen to😊

American here, I think that what James said was spot on. The part about rules in cooking were made to make the perfect dish but, no dish needs to be perfect. In my opinion, cooking is as much an art form as a science and so there is no perfect dish. I think each person's palette is different and their interpretation of dishes are different which makes each dish a chef cooks a lot like a painting that a painter makes or a song a musician will perform. For example, I've always mixed onion and garlic powder with salt and pepper into my burger meat then I will season the outside with more pepper and light salt. Most of the time, I don't even add cheese because it doesn't need it. Just a little ketchup to add that natural msg and chow down. To me, it tastes better than anything I've gotten at a restaurant and I love cooking so a double win.

This was an exceptional episode. Thanks so much. ✨

I'd imagine the wine rule should be more along the lines of "use a wine that you like the taste of" more than just price point. If you use a bottle of wine that costs 4x the price but you don't like the taste I doubt reducing it and intensifying those flavours won't do you any favours. Also, I think on the burgers I think part of the concern with seasoning through the meat is some would have a tendency to work the meat more, I noticed James was careful to not do that.

God I love James, his journey from first joining sorted to now is such a beautiful thing. I'd love to hear what he's been up to and how he's improved since joining a "Professional Kitchen"!

I'd like to see a video on the rules of making a Paella, starring Jamie and Kush. Mainly because I want to see the terror in Jamie's eyes as Kush does Kush things.

I find sifting can be good to get a real thorough mix of multiple dry ingredients in a large batch of something. But honestly it's not worth the extra time and equipment (and mess) to me

Nice to see James back for a couple of videos lately. It's like when Janice made cameo appearances in Friends... Oh My Goddddddd! You could say James is Sorted's Janice. Ebbers is Ross, Mike is Chandler, Barry is Joey... Sorry Jamie that means you're Phoebe Consuela Banana Hammock.

I know thaf several people have already commented on softing flour, but i wanted to add my little bit of knowledge. Yes, sifting removes any lumps, but if youre sifting together with other dry ingredients, it ensures that they are fully combined into your batter. Nothing like biting into a clump of baking soda, yuck! That being said, i have found that jus whisking the flour/dry ingredients or mixing them with a fork works just as well as sifting

Ah, It's always just lovely to see these guys together again

Love James so much, so glad to see him back for a bit 🎉

Sifting is useful everywhere, but only necessary in certain recipes (such as macarons). When making muffins, cakes, etc, just whisk the dry ingredients together and you're fine.

0:25 The sifting thing is to ensure that volumetric measurements (mL, cups) are consistent, since packed flour takes up less volume than sifted flour. It also helps with batters that require you to fold the flour into an aerated medium (meringue for example) because you need less mixing to get out the lumps. It absolutely matters in no way to cupcakes when you have premeasured ingredients like this.

Using a copper bowl for making meringues or other whipped egg whites. Some of the copper ions detach from the bowl and bond with a protein in the egg whites coined as conalbumin. This forms a strong, stable conalbumin-copper complex. I've found it really does make them whip up faster & stay fluffy longer, especially when whisking by hand. I love my copper cookware but the copper whisking bowl really did surprise me.

Oh Man, The wine one is super interesting, I would love to see a deeper dive on that. There is so much at play there beyond just expensive vs cheap. Even within a "cheap" wine, there are levels... very cheap wines could have actual sugar/sweetner added, which would affect it. Is it more expensive because of aging, or are we talking a cheap 2017 vs expensive 2017? Alcohol content... which is also somewhat a factor of sugars in there... are they the same? And even beyond that (which is obvious but..) the type of wine used....

When James gently grabbed Mike's hand and put it on the counter. If I was there and he did that to me, I woulda gone bright red and smiled like crazy, even watching him do it to Mike my heart raced a lil

I miss James so much! Love seeing you cooking together again!

Always great to see James !

baking has a ton of rules that I think need to be obeyed. One is sifting almond flour into macarons. Two is adding wet and dry alternately (1/3 wet, 1/2 dry, then another 1/3 wet, 1/2 dry, remainder wet) or all at the same time in a cake batter.

LOVE this series!!

On the whole wine argument, I buy a fair priced bottle that I like the flavour of but did not pay a ridiculous price for

Love this style of video, we gotta see more of these

I watched some history program about food and they did the same sieve test. With the same result. The historian said its actually included in recipes to stop foreign objects and lumps getting into your mix in the first place, not to add air to it.

Hallos, Just to put here a point of knowledge. For the burguer subject, putting salt in the burguer meat helps the creation and bonding of proteins, making a firmer burguer. Also it needs some time to function well. Not salt helps them to turn flakier. Also point to consider is how much you work the meat before making the burguer. For me, as a chef (yes, i have worked in the industrie for almost 12 years at this point), the rule of thumb is ading salt to fattier burguers and work them well to help them stay in one piece (caution, overwork leads to a bouncier burguer, something more akin to the asian cousine fillings). For the leaner burguers i perfer to use salty condiments like soy sauce, because it lets you to integrate everying uniformly and easily without to much work, letting them stay softer and crumblier, wich lead to the ilusion of a juicier burguer (also the adition of liquids also helps). In the wine matter, and thats only my opinion, i never put in a sauce a wine that i wont drink. Here in spain theres some really cheap and horrible wines that can ruin a sauce. Intead i prefer to and some apple vinegar and some sugar to obtain similar resoults. For the steak, yes it matters. But you can defenetly can cook a steak from the fridge, just takes some more time and a lower heat. FOr last, yes, sieving doesnt do a lot. Just remember to no over work batters and take care of flour lumps that can form. (Yes, i know, crappiest english in the world)

There is absolutely no way those steaks were the same thickness. A 'relaxed' steak may change the thickness by 10 or 12% but that was insane

i think a lot of cooking rules that don't have to do with health or safety, they were created to give people who burn cold cereal an idea how to cook at home. but, once you have gained a few levels, you can find your own feet and cook your way. and so long as it works out, it doesn't matter. the only health and safety rule that could be defined as controversial (that I know of) is with burgers. considering the Americans cook and eat their burgers while they are still pink, but elsewhere like Canada, the ground meat must be fully (well) 165+F cooked.

17:38 hands! Always enjoy seeing James back with the gang, hope you're well James!

"you're cracking open a bottle of wine, it may as well be a delicious one, and you can cook with it." I agree. But there are plenty of cheap wines that fit that criteria.

One of the biggest thing about sifting flour is some recopies say like 1 cup sifted flour and there is is like a 1/4 cup difference between sifted flour and un sifted.

Rule: Always lemon juice or vinegar your mixing bowl before whipping meringues (i've personally never done that, and never had an issue) Rule: Don't open the over door when making a cheesecake, otherwise it will crack (I abide by this one religiously, love my cheesecakes) Love these videos, guys! Welcome back for a little bit, James! Sorry you didn't get steak, Jamie!