Update on this - in the first 18 hours since the video launched, over *1,500 people have donated a total of more than $60,000 (£46,000)* !!! You are all unbelievable, thanks so much for working with us to do this... It's amazing!!! If you'd like to donate too, click here and leave a comment saying “Love from Sorted”: bit.ly/sortedwonderbag
SORTEDfood I’m absolutely too poor to donate right now because of my own covid stuff, but I sent the link to a couple of people! I’m so glad that this community is so kind and capable
I love this community. Kudos the boys for spreading positivity and goodwill. I can't donate but please accept my gratitude to all the people who have donated.
Another fellow South African from Durban here! I absolutely love Wonderbags and even though I have a full kitchen, I still love using Wonderbags! I didn't realise they weren't common elsewhere 🤦♂️
I've had a Wonderbag for years, long before those cool new handles were added. (Jealous!) I love it. There's a lot to know about this method of cooking. Here's some of it: The Wonderbag is a wonder, but it has very specific uses. For cooking, it's only good for wet cooking methods. Water has a much higher specific heat capacity than air, so it's best to surround the food completely with water if possible, or make an entirely wet dish (like that rice pudding). The most important thing that I've learned is that you have to heat the pot on the hob to the point where all the food is heated well, all the way through. The Wonderbag does a great job of retaining heat, but it doesn't add heat. If you have a pot with boiling broth and a large fridge-cold pork shoulder, the temperature will stabilize in the Wonderbag and the meat won't get hot enough to cook. For this reason I find that rice cooks perfectly in the Wonderbag if you use the absorption method. The rice stays at a temperature appropriate for cooking while it is surrounded by water, and when the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked, the temperature drops a little and the rice is held at serving temperature for a few hours. And the rice cannot possibly burn. Power failures happen occasionally where I am, and they might last for a second or two, or for a few hours. I've thrown away dinners in a Crock Pot because power failures temporarily stopped the cooking, and it was impossible to know how cold the food got and how long it stayed at that temperature. With the Wonderbag, I open the bag and the lid and immediately check the temperature, and I know that this is the coolest the food has been since I put it in the bag. The Wonderbag is also great for the post-hurricane power failures that can last for days or weeks here. Heat the pot of food outside on the grill long enough to get it hot, then turn off the grill and put it in the bag. A few hours later dinner is ready, and there's plenty of fuel remaining. But that's just unpowered cooking. I also use the Wonderbag for transporting hot foods, or at least I used to, when shared meals were possible. And it's great for sous vide. Here's how: I cook sous vide in a large pot, which I put in the Wonderbag with no lid. When the food and immersion circulator are in place, I cover the pot with plastic wrap or ping pong balls. The temperature stays quite constant, and there's very little evaporation thanks to the balls (now there's a phrase I've never written before. Thanks balls!) And when I'm not using it, I open it up to let it dry, then close it tightly and put it on the sofa as a cushion. No storage space required. If you don't do a lot of wet cooking or sous vide, and if you don't have power failures, it might not be an essential kitchen tool. But for over 7 years, this has been essential for me.
@@kjh789az I call it residual heat cooking, but that's a broad term and isn't specific to wet cooking methods. If there's a better word or phrase out there I'd love to hear it.
You could add handles. Or kind of plait some nylon strapping ribbon, forming a base, and two handles, for carrying. Or just sew two heavy duty canvas handles to the "cushion". :-)
Actually wheezed when Ben started saying "Its not about the size, its about-" and the error screen just popped up. Also Ben bringing stuff he grew at home was such a great touch. Love it. Thats why he's my favorite. Sorry everyone else.
During WWII there was a way of cooking used in rural areas where you would cook your stew in the pot on the range/hob and once it was bubbling hot you got a box and filled it full of straw and then put the pot of stew in the box cover with more straw to insulate. You would leave it for a few hours and come back to a fully cooked meal. It helped save fuel during war time and helped women who were leaving the home to help the war effort.
I also know this with the pot being put in the bed and covered with the duvet. And you'd not only have a nice stew, but the bed was already warm for the night as well.
I went to Madagascar a couple years ago and was shocked with how bad the deforestation was. Huge expanses of land were completely devastated. Trees had been burned down all across the entire country to make charcoal. Most people had no electricity, so they needed charcoal to cook. Projects like this are really important, don't just help people get by with less and save time but it also can help save plants from extinction and land becoming destroyed from soil erosion.
We also have a similar item in Kenya only that ours come as an insulated basket rather than a bag but its the same concept and serves the exact same purpose and is mostly made by women for women Thankyou for highlighting it.
I was very confused by this video implying that the concept was novel. I feel like they did Sarah a disservice by just talking about how great the cooking method is, and ignoring what innovations she had brought in with her product.
@@edithchepkwony3816 I would love to know more about this basket? And to possibly purchase one can you give me some information regarding how to get one? Thank u so kindly.
@@ashira5763 they work in exactly the same fashion as the ones illustrated by the guys in the video only that it's in a basket form. Yes it's something you can buy and mostly made and sold by women in low income settings as an income generating activity and in some instances thought to women in empowerment projects
Hey lovelies, if you want to help Wonderbag support families and communities who really need it, we’d love you to join us in making a donation. We’ve kicked things off with a £1,500 pledge and every little bit helps… £8/$10 will feed a family, £16/$20 provides them with a Wonderbag. Click here to donate and leave a comment saying “Love from Sorted”: bit.ly/sortedwonderbag Thank you so much!!
I'm a scout leader and I've never heard of open fire cooking being harmful to peoples health if you know what you're doing, something I would imagine that many of the people the wonderbag was claiming to help know how to do. I think what they actually mean is that there are a great many parasites found in meat all across africa and that in many places food isn't prepared properly though not being a chef I'm not sure how just keeping it hot for a few hours is going to do somerthing that the heat from cooking over a hot fire wont do. As for the "hours of unpaid labour chopping firewood" line that is likely a unisex task that would be done anyway since that fire will be used to heat a home in addition to cooking and when you go camping cooking over a fire with wood you've cut and seasoned is an experience you can't beat.
@@aliboy357 the problem with open fire cooking is that when it is your only mean of cooking the smoke that comes out of the fire starts adding up and taking its toll in your lungs.
@@aliboy357 Issue is - you are talking about camping....not cooking over a fire everyday for multiple meals a day. And no, it isn't a unisex task. I have lived in multiple African nations for several years total and can vouch for that claim. Additionally, I'm guessing the initial stats and facts they mention are from this organization, which is run....by a woman....from South Africa....so I think she very much knows what she is talking about. So I think it is super cool that you are a scout leader and teach people how to camp and such safely, but maybe try not to explain something completely different to a grassroots organization that is based in an affected country?
Something about seeing Sorted grow from college meals and passing sour dough starters to international advocacies and innovative gadget reviews. Just the sort of heart warming needed in these times. Thanks for this vid and everything, everyone!
I live in South Africa and we love our wonderbag. We use it often. The sorted team should try making some more South African dishes in a future video. It will be really cool to watch them try some of our traditional foods
Hello! I'm very sorry to disturb you, but I have a question that I hope you could help to answer. I've been scrolling through the comments section of this video because I found the topic really interesting, and came across some people talking about very similar alternative solutions from other cultures like haybox cooking and using blankets to insulate the food. And I was just curious if these kind of solutions were available in your country before the wonderbag came about or were there certain limitations or difficulties that hindered the use of those solutions? i really hope i didn't come across as offensive or insensitive, i'm just genuinely curious about the topic and i've never been to South Africa, and so I wanted to seek the view of a local. Thank you very much!
I was lucky enough to spend time going around South Africa and Lesotho promoting and providing Wonderbags with the charity Africa's gift. It was amazing and we saw how much of an impact this has in the lives of everyday people. Not only does it help people's health and the environment massively, but it also provides women with more opportunities to work because they don't have to be sat around a fire all day cooking. I met some women in Lesotho who started a sewing group; sewing reusable sanitary pads for local school girls. They were only able to do this because they had more time, due to the wonderbag! Thanks so much for promoting this, you have no idea how much good this will do! P.s. Sarah Collins (the creator of the wonderbag) is such a rockstar and anyone interested should definitely look her up too. And I believe it's recycled foam inside them!
Jaime references made personal “5 or 6 years ago” Me: No. Nope. That was NOT that long ago. *contemplates how time works and then proceeds to try and figure out how long I’ve been a subscriber to sortedfood. Stops at 9 years because I have other things to do today. “It’s been a long, long time” Love you guys. It’s been a wonderful 8/9ish years! Thank you 🥰❤️😬
SORTEDfood thank you! I mean, you gave me the Thai Chicken Soup (at the table), that feeds me for at least a few days out of most months... That is reward enough 😊. It’s been so great to watch the channel grow into what it is now!! Congratulations!
Fellow South African here, thank you for shedding light into such a wonderful cause. Once this pandemic is over it would be incredible for you guys to come to South Africa and experience our culture and our food!!! Maybe even organize a meet and greet so you can see how many South African fans you have
This makes me really happy to see, and now im thinking it would be super cool if you guys started a series about food activism. Something for struggling families around London, or something like that. I would love to see one of my favorite channels continuing to acknowledge and actively work on acknowledging the privilege of food.
I'd like to see the team do something about how to reduce food waste. I understand this is one of the most significant things you can do as a household to combat climate change.
I was thinking about the same thing. I was also reminded of Orthodox Jews, who keep their food warm in e.g. sleeping bags the day they go to synagogue. Because they are not allowed to do any chores on their holy day.
Mormans have their version as well that is closer to the bag than the box. I have used a non-electric metal thermal cooker for years now and I love it.
This would be amazing to take on a car ride. Say you’re traveling to someone 3-4 hours away (or not even that long). Throw the lamb in there then throw the whole thing in the car. It’s ready when you get there! No reheating, no waiting.
I thought the same thing. Thanksgiving is usually a 3-4 hour ride for me, depending on who is hosting. Something like that opens up a lot of recipe possibilities, for next year anyway. I think we're going to all skip this year and maybe just call or Skype or whatever this time.
A nice locking lid crock pot, dutch oven, or even a smaller pressure cooker maybe. Any of those should fit nicely and be plenty of safe to travel with.
@@Coolbond2 Many years ago my grandmother lost a pot of borscht in the back seat of my grandpa's car. Looked like a goddamned murder scene for years until they replaced the car. When I make borscht to travel, the lid is held down with a half dozen rubber bands, it's double bagged, and buckled into a seatbelt.
my thought exactly. A simpler version would be a thermo flask, Asian people have been making congee by putting rice and hot boiling water in a flask and leave it over night
@@leminhthu96 That's absolutely brilliant! I use frozen washed (and soaked in some cases) rice to make mine. That way makes a lot of sense, especially if the flask stays hot for 12-24 hours. *makes note to try this method next*
@@jessica-mariegervais9800 I do soak my rice too and in case I want flavor, make broth for the congee seperately before putting them together in the flask. To be on a safe side I think you can try a hybrid model as well, same way the sorted guys pre-cook the curry. Lets say we throw the rice into the broth to let rolling boil for a minute or two. Then the flask. 1 minute is not enough for cooking it, but will bring the ingredients to a similarly high temperature.
The first time I saw this, I remember my Norwegian host dad telling me about dynegrøt (Duvet porridge) while he was teaching me how to make rice pudding. You get your rice pudding started, bring it to a boil, lid on, wrap it in newspaper, wrap it in your duvet, and go skiing. He mentioned string being involved to secure both paper and duvet. By the time you get back from skiing a few hours later, you have rice pudding. He wanted to try it out. My host mom, who loves the man she married but also washes all duvets in the house, did not. Also, there's a British version of this from WWII: hot pot of slow cooked food, wrapped in a cloth or newspaper, packed in a wooden box full of straw, saving you whatever rationed kind of fuel your stove runs on.
I'm from Denmark. We used to do this every year at christmas when I was a kid. Start it in the morning, wrap it up, done when you get home from school. No more stirring.Just wrap it in an extra towl if you're worried about spilling.
That is how I make risengrød (rice porridge) every Christmas, for risalamande (a Danish dessert eaten on Christmas eve). It saves power, labour and minimise the risk of burning the rice. I just heat it to a boil on the hob, put it on a cutting board and wrap it in tea towels and a duvet - easy!
I`m also from Denmark and this is the way we have always cooked rice pudding, if we have the extra time it takes. Wrapping the pot in a towel to keep the duvet clean.
Would you mind if I asked what are your top favorite south african dishes ? I'm looking to expand my culinary knowledge and for some reason I don't trust the internet when it comes to accuracy lol
There is a similar thing in Germany, that barely anybody uses these days. It's a cooking box, basically a box filled with isolating stuff like straw, newspaper, blankets, etc. Just leave barely enough space for the pot. All you have to do, is get whatever you want to cook (like ricepudding or a stew) boiling on a stove for just some minutes and then put it in the box to finish. It takes some hours, but no electricity, fire, etc. is needed. My grandma used to 'cook' ricepudding in the bed. They had those big, fluffy duvets filled with down. The bed was so warm afterwards, I loved cuddle in the warm bed afterwards. Wonderful memories.
My grandma did the same. And I loved slipping under those huuuuuuuge bulky duvets when it was already warm. She lived in the Black Forest (pretty high up, so goddamn cold in the winter) and often cooked on a stove with a wood fire. She didn't have heating in the house apart from those stoves, so as soon as the cold came, she stopped using the normal oven (don't remember if it was gas or electric) and went for soups and stews cooked on the wood fire stove.
My great aunt used something similar, back during WW2. An old wooden box, lined with bits of rags and straw with the pot in the middle. More straw, a lid wrapped in a bit of sacking to seal it and she'd put it under the table until supper time. I used to spend a lot of time listening to her recipes about how to use her slow box.
Yeah we had a similar thing sold in Finland in the early 2000s when i was a kid. It was basically a polypropylene box shaped for a kettle and you would use it same as that thing you described
My English Nana used a hay box to make stews, casseroles etc right up to 1969 when she dies aged 81. It was my job to fetch and fill the wooden box with a hand made quilted lining with hay. I still use that box especially at harvest time to feed the helpers.
You might not need to use something like this, but saving energy while cooking cannot hurt. Besides which, with something like this you can make chili in the summer without heating up your kitchen so much. This technique works best with cookware that has some thermal mass, like cast iron or a cooper core bottom. You also don't need to go out and buy a wonder bag. I was inspired by the technique and used an ice cooler we had on hand to make vichyssoise this evening. For good measure, I lined the cooler with some reflective bubble wrap packaging I had from a food delivery.
Makes me so proud to see our South African ingenuity on such a grand stage! We truly do come from such a special country that is do vibrantly full of great people, great food and great culture. Also I got so happy to see Durban curry mentioned as a proud Durbanite! Sorted, please try making some of our other wonderful South African delicacies like Bunnychow, Koeksisters and Bobotie! You will truly not regret it. With love from SA 🇿🇦
Aww man - so good to see some South African themed food! You guys should totally do some South African dishes, there's tons of South Africans in London :D
This is amazing! I was fortunate enough to travel to South Africa earlier this year before CoVid started getting big and the culture there is outstanding, the food is out of this world. I'll happily donate to the "Love from Sorted" collective to support this wonderful cause!
I once rea a story by a woman who was visiting an elderly relative in another country (not sure where, but it was a northern country) who was cooking something that would ordinarily be simmered for hours. The elderly woman did the initial preparation and had it cooking away, then said something like "Now we put it to bed." She pulled the blankets back on her bed, then put the tightly-covered hot pot on the bed, turcked the blankets around it, and left it there for the rest of the day. Apparently this was a very traditional way of cooking from the elderly woman's childhood years. I have never heard any other story like this ever since then but have never forgotten it.
I’m so glad you highlighted about the privilege - a generation ago the stay at home mothers were gasping for breath if they missed their asthma medicines after a lifetime of breathing in fumes from indoor fires, and today we pay to have our foods pre-smoked.
That was a brilliant speech there. I was SO impressed by it, because it's not something that I would think of. We're so entrenched into our "domestication" or "first world" or "high rate of development" that the idea of people still, day after day, work for no money and cook over an open fire is something *almost* out of a fantasy to many. We have our jobs (money) to pay for the gas/electricity in order to make meals, and we have things to cook food in (microwave, pots, stoves, ovens, useless clutter of gadgets). I know the disparity real, but it seems so far-fetched until someone hits me over the head with the mallet of reality, which this episode did. I'm going to see what the health of my credit card is, and donate.
i was literally on the Wonderbag website about to donate whilst watching this video when you mentioned you've set up a 'collab' we have donated. Love from Sorted! Can't wait to see how much good you guys do! We love you and your work!
How about sweet and savory? It's a trifle. It's got all of these layers. First, there's a layer of ladyfingers, then a layer of jam, then custard, which I made from scratch. Raspberries, more ladyfingers
I can always tell when Mike edits a video because of things like the Nope error screen. And because he doesn't get to eat the yummy food. Did you at least share with him after you finished?
SORTEDfood Could you do an episode where we get to meet the behind the scenes team? We hear of them but we never get to see them. It would also be nice to have a tour of the premises
Ben is so chuffed about bringing in the things he has grown and I’m so happy for him. If I had grown ingredients I would be pretty pleased with myself as well. 😊❤️
I have been watching Sorted for a few years....so glad to see my country being referenced 🇿🇦 can't wait to see more recipes from South Africa featured!
I love this video! My slow cooker is my ride or die as a shift worker. I can’t even imagine not having the electric to run it, which shows my privilege entirely. What an incredibly product! I’ll be sure to donate once payday rolls around.
Came here to comment this! #truestory Before having good pans I was coking rice/ grains like that as well: put them to boil, once it's boiling I was taking it off the fire and covering with towels to be energy efficient and loose :)
A viewer from Australia, donating to charity in Africa, all because of a youtube video made in the UK. The community you have created is incredible! Great work to the guys and the Wonder Bag team!
On the science of these, it likely helps to store the bag in a warm space. Therefore the insulation would have to do slightly less work. So the southen hemasphre communities this is made for might have a better exsperiance with it than us in the far north.
Seems the bag is the equivalent to pit cooking. A friend was the member of a church with a lot of members from the Pacific Islands. Every 4th of July the dug a pit on the church grounds did whatever they did and filled it was lots of roasts. That night everybody came with their lawn chairs or whatever and ate while watching much of the fireworks done at the high school stadium across the street. The meat was super tender and yummy. We now live in an all electric home. Kind of hate it. I can see how this might help us be able to cook with less electricity. And with less heating up of the kitchen in the hot months.
I use a thermal cooker. A bloke who styles himself “Mr. D.” sells them. I also cook soup in a thermos. Boil veg . and stock/flavourings 10 mins, put in a pre heated thermos and 2 or 3 hours later, soup!
Well, I know where a future paycheck is going. Seriously, between what my Scouts can do with this thing and the good cause, I think I need to help fund this
Guys I just wanted to say: I love how you always bring light to things I didn't even know existed! Thank you for that, I really enjoy it! Greetings from the Netherlands
Before watching this video, I bet it works just like some old Danish recipes that call for the pot to be put under the duvet/the bedding for hours. That insulates the heat as well and can keep things hot for many hours. :-)
If u mean abt him not being. In the videos... I think it's because they can't bring the behind the scenes crew back cos of covid and social distancing etc. So Mike is covering that side of things(filming and editing) since he acc knows how to unlike the rest of them 😂 This is my hypothesis
Classic dish here in Denmark is Risengrød - a rice porridge made with milk. Cooking time on the stove is about 45 minutes, but it's been well known for ages that just bringing it to a boil and leaving the pot in bed under a duvet all day will make a perfect result (older version was to put the pot in a box of hay).
To be honest, I'm a bit shocked that professional chefs were not already well versed with the science of heat retention/thermal cooking ... this method is ancient (100's of years old) and you don't need to buy a Wonderbag, you can make a DIY thermal cooker from repurposed/recycled items you already have. Also, in the examples you demonstrated, there were some pretty fundamental, and important errors - 1) the pan should be at least 80% full; 2) once brought to the boil on the hob, you need to cook at a 'rapid simmer for 10 minutes to create enough heat in the food so that it can maintain a 'safe heat' (over 63C) throughout the cooking period. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO AVOID FOOD POISONING and it is why your food wasn't literally steaming hot after your cooking period (which was a bit short for the meat based dishes)! With the current rising costs of energy worldwide and especially in the UK, this is something everyone should be doing every week. The following might be useful: October ’22 Energy Price Cap - Cooking with a Slow Cooker Compared to a Thermal Cooker/Hay Box (Costs using the 'new' October '22 Price Cap are for direct debits. There are a few 'regional' minor variations and the costs for pre-payment meters and 'credit' payments are different.) I first learned about hay boxes nearly 50 years ago but only got around to using one about 3 years ago. For convenience, I bought a MrD thermal cooker - the vacuum type. They are very robust and puncturing/breaking them would be quite difficult, even if you tried. All of that said, 2 years ago, I needed to make a meal for 20 people to be eaten outside (10C outside temperature). Obviously, the Mr D one wasn't big enough for that so I made one by using a cooler box. I added bubble wrap in the corners to prevent heat escaping from gaps and lined the 'pan cavity' with aluminium foil so the bubble wrap didn't melt from the heat of the pan. I used a 10L SS stock pot in my DIY cooker, adding a cushion on top of the pan lid before putting the cooler box lid on. I used both the MrD and my DIY cooker (pasta bolognaise in one and lentil & veg soup in the other. Both were literally steaming hot 7 hours later, everything was cooked to perfection. You don’t need a cooler box or cooler bag (although the in-built insulation makes it easier to construct); you could make one from other recycled items such as a cardboard box or laundry basket with an old duvet, woolly jumpers etc. as insulating material … or literally, a box filled with hay. You can also sew one like a Wonder Bag (filled with polystyrene balls); if you Google thermal cooker or Wonder bag, you can find free patterns online. Thermal cookers are VERY energy efficient (see below), easy to make, portable (you can take it anywhere), safe (no worries about leaving an electrical appliance on if you’re out) and they make a great science or craft project for children. I also did some research recently (April '22) to compare cooking a stew/casserole/curry/chili etc. using a slow cooker and a thermal cooker. If using a thermal cooker/hay box you need to: have the pan at least 80% full; bring to the boil & then rapid simmer for 10 minutes to create an on-going 'food safe' cooking temperature (it needs to be maintained at over 63C). I estimated a total of 15 minutes on the hob for a thermal cooker and if using a *slow cooker, 1 hour on high and 6 hours on low - as per most manuals. (*I researched dozens and used an average of 12 'typical' slow cookers - I excluded multi cookers because wattages varied too much.) Findings (using the 'new' October '22 price cap): Gas - 10.33p kWh Electricity - 34.05p kWh Slow cooker - ‘High’ 210W x 1 hr = 7.15p & ‘Low’ 207W x 6 hrs = 42.29p; Total cost = 49.44p Thermal cooker - using gas hob for 0.25hrs - 2.58p (Saving 46.86p and 19x cheaper than a slow cooker) Thermal cooker - using electric 2.3kW hob for 0.25hrs - 19.58p (Saving 29.86p and 2.5x cheaper than a slow cooker) I hope the above makes sense and you find it useful and interesting. I must admit, even I am surprised at the cost saving when using a gas hob for the initial 15 minutes cooking time!
I've actually been wondering for a while now, but how much 'cheffing' do the chefs actually do nowadays? Are they still employed as chefs or 'merely' the dynamic duo of SORTED?
Well, they (as far as I understand) do recipe development and testing for all the stuff you see on Sorted and in their cookbooks and app and all that. So when the "normals" are cooking something (that isn't a "try to make this without a recipe" challenge), the actual recipe they're using comes from James, who started on Sorted as a behind-the-scenes recipe/cooking guy, or Ben.
I was really surprised to see that you (or at least James) seemed so completely unfamiliar with this concept. When I was a kid (more than 40+ years ago) my mum and all my friends' mums all made especially rice porridge this way: Before work, bring rice and milk to the boil while stirring occasionally. Then wrap the pot in a towel and stick it under the covers in bed. No need for electricity and constant stirring to keep it from catching on the bottom, no milk boiling over, and this way dinner was ready when we got home. Depending on when we ate, it may have needed a gentle reheat, but most times it was perfect eating temperature, ready for a knob of butter and cinnamon sugar :D To this day I only ever make rice pudding in bed, and so I was surprised to see that this method was so foreign even to chefs in a country that also eats rice puddings. You should try it in bed next time! By the way, I'm totally gonna try the chai white choco pudding cos it looked Divine. Anyways, good shout out about the Wonderbag donation. It's so heart warming to be part of such an amazing community.
You didnt boil the beef for long enough. I dont know if it didn’t come with instruction but you have to boil certain food items for sometimes up to an hour before putting into the insulated bag. So meat needs an hour of boiling where as rice just needs to come to the boil and then you can insulate it. When we teach the public to use a hay box we usually give them a time frame for common food items. Good of you guys to support this.
I have one of these and the Wonderbags are INCREDIBLE!! Perfect for starting off a dinner prep in the morning before heading off to work and delish perfectly cooked dinner when you get home.
"That my friend is called privilege" I wasnt expecting it but I was feeling that sentiment already, like I want mad, no malice or anything but I was feeling (more than thinking) it could be so great in occasion imagine how much it would help if that was my every day
I can only hope the Wonderbag people ARE actually donating them and actually helping people in Africa. I paid for one donation and got another bag for myself. It works really well and we use it all the time for both cooking AND for keeping food warm/cool.
Update on this - in the first 18 hours since the video launched, over *1,500 people have donated a total of more than $60,000 (£46,000)* !!!
You are all unbelievable, thanks so much for working with us to do this... It's amazing!!!
If you'd like to donate too, click here and leave a comment saying “Love from Sorted”: bit.ly/sortedwonderbag
SORTEDfood I’m absolutely too poor to donate right now because of my own covid stuff, but I sent the link to a couple of people! I’m so glad that this community is so kind and capable
I love this community. Kudos the boys for spreading positivity and goodwill.
I can't donate but please accept my gratitude to all the people who have donated.
Where is Mike?
Love it
Could this actually be a substitute for sous vid?
I feel like everyone under reacted to Jamie saying he was also full of cast iron and beef.
I just thought yup sounds right and kept going
@@ConstantChaos1 I like beef :3
As a South African from Durban who actually owns one of these, this video makes me very happy! Thanks for bringing attention to this project! 🇿🇦
Fellow South African here. Makes me proud to see this video.
Yup
Another South African here. Proud to see a useful gadget. African solution to African problem as opposed to gadget to say ... cook square eggs?!!
Another fellow South African from Durban here! I absolutely love Wonderbags and even though I have a full kitchen, I still love using Wonderbags! I didn't realise they weren't common elsewhere 🤦♂️
Just another South African from Pietermaritzburg. Love this video.
I hope they explore the banana and curry combo more. I love it in a roti
"My produce grown from seed" ..... I want to introduce my future kid like this.
equitine _ 😂😂😂
"And here is my bay leaf, Tyrone."
🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@uclo9073 that's funny because when i was younger my grandmother used to call ne bay leaf in bengali
@@mamunhussain7825 does it sound cute in Bengali?
I've had a Wonderbag for years, long before those cool new handles were added. (Jealous!) I love it.
There's a lot to know about this method of cooking. Here's some of it:
The Wonderbag is a wonder, but it has very specific uses. For cooking, it's only good for wet cooking methods. Water has a much higher specific heat capacity than air, so it's best to surround the food completely with water if possible, or make an entirely wet dish (like that rice pudding).
The most important thing that I've learned is that you have to heat the pot on the hob to the point where all the food is heated well, all the way through. The Wonderbag does a great job of retaining heat, but it doesn't add heat. If you have a pot with boiling broth and a large fridge-cold pork shoulder, the temperature will stabilize in the Wonderbag and the meat won't get hot enough to cook.
For this reason I find that rice cooks perfectly in the Wonderbag if you use the absorption method. The rice stays at a temperature appropriate for cooking while it is surrounded by water, and when the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked, the temperature drops a little and the rice is held at serving temperature for a few hours. And the rice cannot possibly burn.
Power failures happen occasionally where I am, and they might last for a second or two, or for a few hours. I've thrown away dinners in a Crock Pot because power failures temporarily stopped the cooking, and it was impossible to know how cold the food got and how long it stayed at that temperature. With the Wonderbag, I open the bag and the lid and immediately check the temperature, and I know that this is the coolest the food has been since I put it in the bag.
The Wonderbag is also great for the post-hurricane power failures that can last for days or weeks here. Heat the pot of food outside on the grill long enough to get it hot, then turn off the grill and put it in the bag. A few hours later dinner is ready, and there's plenty of fuel remaining.
But that's just unpowered cooking. I also use the Wonderbag for transporting hot foods, or at least I used to, when shared meals were possible. And it's great for sous vide.
Here's how: I cook sous vide in a large pot, which I put in the Wonderbag with no lid. When the food and immersion circulator are in place, I cover the pot with plastic wrap or ping pong balls. The temperature stays quite constant, and there's very little evaporation thanks to the balls (now there's a phrase I've never written before. Thanks balls!)
And when I'm not using it, I open it up to let it dry, then close it tightly and put it on the sofa as a cushion. No storage space required.
If you don't do a lot of wet cooking or sous vide, and if you don't have power failures, it might not be an essential kitchen tool. But for over 7 years, this has been essential for me.
Thanks for this comprehensive comment! We need a term for this form of heat-retentive wet cooking.
@@kjh789az I call it residual heat cooking, but that's a broad term and isn't specific to wet cooking methods. If there's a better word or phrase out there I'd love to hear it.
I particularly love how you mention that you use it as a little cushion on the couch. That is so cute
"power failures" we know you mean "load shedding" 🤣
You could add handles. Or kind of plait some nylon strapping ribbon, forming a base, and two handles, for carrying. Or just sew two heavy duty canvas handles to the "cushion". :-)
Actually wheezed when Ben started saying "Its not about the size, its about-" and the error screen just popped up. Also Ben bringing stuff he grew at home was such a great touch. Love it. Thats why he's my favorite. Sorry everyone else.
We're not offended.... at... all 🥺😉
@@SortedFood Don't get me wrong, everyone is amazing! I just relate to Ben the most because he's a food geek like me 😂
@@SortedFood Felt so bad for saying that without context, just had to make a donation lol.
I liked that part of video as well.
@@The_King_of_Chefs I think the words you're looking for is.. SUPER GEEK, SUPER GEEK - He's super geekay ~
Y’all should do a vid where the normals cook something and the chefs guess who made it Or vice versa
Haha, this would be a good one! We think all the normals have their own little traits now.
I like this idea, also maybe have 1 of the chefs cook as well and have the other chef guess all 4.
@@Porochaz this will have the added bonus of the pride of a normal if they chose their dish as the chef's dish (and shame on the chef's part!!)
@Alicia - Sounds like "Chef vs Normal Mystery Box Battle" ... just BIGGER and BETTER ... love the idea
They literally have done that video.
During WWII there was a way of cooking used in rural areas where you would cook your stew in the pot on the range/hob and once it was bubbling hot you got a box and filled it full of straw and then put the pot of stew in the box cover with more straw to insulate. You would leave it for a few hours and come back to a fully cooked meal. It helped save fuel during war time and helped women who were leaving the home to help the war effort.
wouldnt be surprised if the idea came from that.
I remember it being on the war time farm
I also know this with the pot being put in the bed and covered with the duvet. And you'd not only have a nice stew, but the bed was already warm for the night as well.
It's still a common means of cooking here in SA in rural areas...and the not so rural areas too thanks to Eskom
Known as Haybox cookery been around for centuries
I went to Madagascar a couple years ago and was shocked with how bad the deforestation was. Huge expanses of land were completely devastated. Trees had been burned down all across the entire country to make charcoal. Most people had no electricity, so they needed charcoal to cook. Projects like this are really important, don't just help people get by with less and save time but it also can help save plants from extinction and land becoming destroyed from soil erosion.
very good documentary if anyone wants to watch it: th-cam.com/video/GqicsIDYmgU/w-d-xo.html
my idiot brain linked the wrong thing lol (though that one is also interesting), here's the Madagascar one: th-cam.com/video/3X3kDNvPxyQ/w-d-xo.html
but you need some sort of hob or fire to get it started. How is this product helping if they have no electricity there?
@@drakoran they are _already_ cooking things whatever resources they have. The bag helps in them not have to use as many of those resources.
@@nobbie01 they still need to start a fire though? Maybe they don't have to stustain it for that long but it will burn a fair bit nonetheless
We also have a similar item in Kenya only that ours come as an insulated basket rather than a bag but its the same concept and serves the exact same purpose and is mostly made by women for women
Thankyou for highlighting it.
And it was not ’invented’ by this woman. My mum had one in the 90s.
I was very confused by this video implying that the concept was novel. I feel like they did Sarah a disservice by just talking about how great the cooking method is, and ignoring what innovations she had brought in with her product.
True she didn't invent it maybe just modified it as we also had it since the 90s
@@edithchepkwony3816 I would love to know more about this basket? And to possibly purchase one can you give me some information regarding how to get one? Thank u so kindly.
@@ashira5763 they work in exactly the same fashion as the ones illustrated by the guys in the video only that it's in a basket form. Yes it's something you can buy and mostly made and sold by women in low income settings as an income generating activity and in some instances thought to women in empowerment projects
Hey lovelies, if you want to help Wonderbag support families and communities who really need it, we’d love you to join us in making a donation. We’ve kicked things off with a £1,500 pledge and every little bit helps… £8/$10 will feed a family, £16/$20 provides them with a Wonderbag. Click here to donate and leave a comment saying “Love from Sorted”: bit.ly/sortedwonderbag Thank you so much!!
I'm a scout leader and I've never heard of open fire cooking being harmful to peoples health if you know what you're doing, something I would imagine that many of the people the wonderbag was claiming to help know how to do. I think what they actually mean is that there are a great many parasites found in meat all across africa and that in many places food isn't prepared properly though not being a chef I'm not sure how just keeping it hot for a few hours is going to do somerthing that the heat from cooking over a hot fire wont do.
As for the "hours of unpaid labour chopping firewood" line that is likely a unisex task that would be done anyway since that fire will be used to heat a home in addition to cooking and when you go camping cooking over a fire with wood you've cut and seasoned is an experience you can't beat.
In Denmark, we've been making rice pudding for years, using our duvets. Hear it up, wrap it in a blanket then tuck it in to bed. BAM! Rice pudding.
@@aliboy357 the problem with open fire cooking is that when it is your only mean of cooking the smoke that comes out of the fire starts adding up and taking its toll in your lungs.
Afraid the payment options are limited to credit card owners, seeing as paypal now also requires a linked credit card for many payments.
@@aliboy357 Issue is - you are talking about camping....not cooking over a fire everyday for multiple meals a day. And no, it isn't a unisex task. I have lived in multiple African nations for several years total and can vouch for that claim. Additionally, I'm guessing the initial stats and facts they mention are from this organization, which is run....by a woman....from South Africa....so I think she very much knows what she is talking about.
So I think it is super cool that you are a scout leader and teach people how to camp and such safely, but maybe try not to explain something completely different to a grassroots organization that is based in an affected country?
Something about seeing Sorted grow from college meals and passing sour dough starters to international advocacies and innovative gadget reviews. Just the sort of heart warming needed in these times.
Thanks for this vid and everything, everyone!
I live in South Africa and we love our wonderbag. We use it often. The sorted team should try making some more South African dishes in a future video. It will be really cool to watch them try some of our traditional foods
Every home has one! I would love to watch them making samp and beans.
This makes me miss home
Great idea! I am also from South Africa and love mine 🥰
Oooh! I’d love that! I’d love to learn some tasty South African recipes!
Same. We mostly use it to cook beans haha or to keep the Padkos warm on road trips.
Hello! I'm very sorry to disturb you, but I have a question that I hope you could help to answer. I've been scrolling through the comments section of this video because I found the topic really interesting, and came across some people talking about very similar alternative solutions from other cultures like haybox cooking and using blankets to insulate the food. And I was just curious if these kind of solutions were available in your country before the wonderbag came about or were there certain limitations or difficulties that hindered the use of those solutions?
i really hope i didn't come across as offensive or insensitive, i'm just genuinely curious about the topic and i've never been to South Africa, and so I wanted to seek the view of a local. Thank you very much!
Can someone make a gif of Jamie saying "THAT, my friend, is called privelege" that's an incredibly useful clip
+
Can someone tell this snowflake to GFC
@@kilroym1a1 couldn't agree more - here I thought this was a cooking show.
@@kilroym1a1 Faaaaaart
@@Nossieuk grunting noises.
I was lucky enough to spend time going around South Africa and Lesotho promoting and providing Wonderbags with the charity Africa's gift. It was amazing and we saw how much of an impact this has in the lives of everyday people. Not only does it help people's health and the environment massively, but it also provides women with more opportunities to work because they don't have to be sat around a fire all day cooking. I met some women in Lesotho who started a sewing group; sewing reusable sanitary pads for local school girls. They were only able to do this because they had more time, due to the wonderbag! Thanks so much for promoting this, you have no idea how much good this will do!
P.s. Sarah Collins (the creator of the wonderbag) is such a rockstar and anyone interested should definitely look her up too. And I believe it's recycled foam inside them!
Things that never get old:
- Sorted gadget reviews
- bennuendos
😉
chasingtheclouds don't forget pass it on and pretentious ingredients... and battles
- Proud Ben
- Sassy James
I half expected Ben to take out his own lamb that he raised himself...
One of these days
Kasper Sirenius 😂😂
It's the right season. British lamb is lovely right now!
Jaime references made personal “5 or 6 years ago”
Me: No. Nope. That was NOT that long ago. *contemplates how time works and then proceeds to try and figure out how long I’ve been a subscriber to sortedfood. Stops at 9 years because I have other things to do today. “It’s been a long, long time”
Love you guys. It’s been a wonderful 8/9ish years! Thank you 🥰❤️😬
We think you need a medal!
That just means it's been too long and should be done again.
@@SortedFood Or maybe just some nice cookies with a bennuendo on em.
SORTEDfood thank you! I mean, you gave me the Thai Chicken Soup (at the table), that feeds me for at least a few days out of most months... That is reward enough 😊. It’s been so great to watch the channel grow into what it is now!! Congratulations!
Actually that was my thought, too! Thank god, I'm not alone with this :D
Sorted is probably the channel I follow the longest on TH-cam
Fellow South African here, thank you for shedding light into such a wonderful cause. Once this pandemic is over it would be incredible for you guys to come to South Africa and experience our culture and our food!!! Maybe even organize a meet and greet so you can see how many South African fans you have
This would be awesome! They would love it!!
Ben: "I'm excited for this!!"
James: "So am I, but I just show it in a different way Ben."
This makes me really happy to see, and now im thinking it would be super cool if you guys started a series about food activism. Something for struggling families around London, or something like that. I would love to see one of my favorite channels continuing to acknowledge and actively work on acknowledging the privilege of food.
I love this idea
Such a great idea, I’d love to see more of this
I'd like to see the team do something about how to reduce food waste. I understand this is one of the most significant things you can do as a household to combat climate change.
@@fionaclaphamhoward5876 it would be so much better if the supermarkets were more in tune with this concept.
“all those flavours getting to know each other” for a split second this became a binging with babish video 😂
Only missing the tiny whisk 😏
Or The Office.
@@marianna3253 __ and some kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper XD
Binging with Sorted crossover when?
It’s basically a modern version of a hay box, where you put hay around the dish inside a box. The concept has been around for hundreds of years.
I was thinking about the same thing. I was also reminded of Orthodox Jews, who keep their food warm in e.g. sleeping bags the day they go to synagogue. Because they are not allowed to do any chores on their holy day.
Tam de V that’s exactly what I thought of too: Sabbath day cooking.
Exactly what I was going to say. Good thing I first ctrl+f'd for it.
Mormans have their version as well that is closer to the bag than the box. I have used a non-electric metal thermal cooker for years now and I love it.
Thousands really. Before hay, you'd dig a hole and cover it in leaves. Ovens come from this, not the other way around.
Ben was so proud of what he grew. Adorable.
"that, my friend, is privilege"
TOOK ME OUT LMAO
he's right tho!
It made me roll my eyes a bit, to be honest.
@@eccremocarpusscaber5159 which part, Ben's words or Jamie's interjection?
This would be amazing to take on a car ride. Say you’re traveling to someone 3-4 hours away (or not even that long). Throw the lamb in there then throw the whole thing in the car. It’s ready when you get there! No reheating, no waiting.
just make sure there is a proper seal so if it comes crashing down that everything stays in the pot
I thought the same thing. Thanksgiving is usually a 3-4 hour ride for me, depending on who is hosting. Something like that opens up a lot of recipe possibilities, for next year anyway. I think we're going to all skip this year and maybe just call or Skype or whatever this time.
@@Coolbond2 I'd definitely use a pressure cooker style locking lid
A nice locking lid crock pot, dutch oven, or even a smaller pressure cooker maybe. Any of those should fit nicely and be plenty of safe to travel with.
@@Coolbond2 Many years ago my grandmother lost a pot of borscht in the back seat of my grandpa's car. Looked like a goddamned murder scene for years until they replaced the car. When I make borscht to travel, the lid is held down with a half dozen rubber bands, it's double bagged, and buckled into a seatbelt.
I just donated $27CAD to give a Wonderbag to a family.
You are providing a family in South Africa with a game changing tool! Thank you for your generosity!
This is a modern take on haybox cooking.
my thought exactly. A simpler version would be a thermo flask, Asian people have been making congee by putting rice and hot boiling water in a flask and leave it over night
Minh Thu Le That’s pretty much how I make yogurt.
@@leminhthu96 That's absolutely brilliant! I use frozen washed (and soaked in some cases) rice to make mine. That way makes a lot of sense, especially if the flask stays hot for 12-24 hours. *makes note to try this method next*
Or stewing food under blankets.
@@jessica-mariegervais9800 I do soak my rice too and in case I want flavor, make broth for the congee seperately before putting them together in the flask.
To be on a safe side I think you can try a hybrid model as well, same way the sorted guys pre-cook the curry. Lets say we throw the rice into the broth to let rolling boil for a minute or two. Then the flask. 1 minute is not enough for cooking it, but will bring the ingredients to a similarly high temperature.
“It’s not about the size, it’s about the seed” lol
Not going to lie I look forward to the “ben it’s not worth it” in the intro 😂
The first time I saw this, I remember my Norwegian host dad telling me about dynegrøt (Duvet porridge) while he was teaching me how to make rice pudding. You get your rice pudding started, bring it to a boil, lid on, wrap it in newspaper, wrap it in your duvet, and go skiing. He mentioned string being involved to secure both paper and duvet. By the time you get back from skiing a few hours later, you have rice pudding. He wanted to try it out. My host mom, who loves the man she married but also washes all duvets in the house, did not.
Also, there's a British version of this from WWII: hot pot of slow cooked food, wrapped in a cloth or newspaper, packed in a wooden box full of straw, saving you whatever rationed kind of fuel your stove runs on.
I'm from Denmark. We used to do this every year at christmas when I was a kid. Start it in the morning, wrap it up, done when you get home from school. No more stirring.Just wrap it in an extra towl if you're worried about spilling.
That is how I make risengrød (rice porridge) every Christmas, for risalamande (a Danish dessert eaten on Christmas eve). It saves power, labour and minimise the risk of burning the rice. I just heat it to a boil on the hob, put it on a cutting board and wrap it in tea towels and a duvet - easy!
I`m also from Denmark and this is the way we have always cooked rice pudding, if we have the extra time it takes. Wrapping the pot in a towel to keep the duvet clean.
This is a staple in every South African home ... how else do you take a biryani to the beach? #proudlysouthafrican
🙌
You guys have biryani in South Africa? Wow
#SAgang🇿🇦
Would you mind if I asked what are your top favorite south african dishes ? I'm looking to expand my culinary knowledge and for some reason I don't trust the internet when it comes to accuracy lol
Haha I saw the thumbnail and I was like... I know that thing but we do not call it a wonderbag 😂
James' biceps just keep getting bigger and bigger. Also, that blooper was such a chef moment
Well he def gained something from the virus 🙃
I grew up with my mum using these, she calls them toasty pumpkins. They’re so good
Love this!
James: "All those flavors getting to know each other a little bit."
Babish: (STARES IN ANGRY NEWYORKER)
Donated and put Sorted as the company as well as how I heard about it.
Same and commented love from sorted
Thank you for sharing the Wonderbag love! You are changing lives!
Same! Can't wait to see updates!
Same
Dito
There is a similar thing in Germany, that barely anybody uses these days. It's a cooking box, basically a box filled with isolating stuff like straw, newspaper, blankets, etc. Just leave barely enough space for the pot. All you have to do, is get whatever you want to cook (like ricepudding or a stew) boiling on a stove for just some minutes and then put it in the box to finish. It takes some hours, but no electricity, fire, etc. is needed. My grandma used to 'cook' ricepudding in the bed. They had those big, fluffy duvets filled with down. The bed was so warm afterwards, I loved cuddle in the warm bed afterwards. Wonderful memories.
My grandma did the same. And I loved slipping under those huuuuuuuge bulky duvets when it was already warm. She lived in the Black Forest (pretty high up, so goddamn cold in the winter) and often cooked on a stove with a wood fire. She didn't have heating in the house apart from those stoves, so as soon as the cold came, she stopped using the normal oven (don't remember if it was gas or electric) and went for soups and stews cooked on the wood fire stove.
My great aunt used something similar, back during WW2. An old wooden box, lined with bits of rags and straw with the pot in the middle. More straw, a lid wrapped in a bit of sacking to seal it and she'd put it under the table until supper time. I used to spend a lot of time listening to her recipes about how to use her slow box.
Yeah we had a similar thing sold in Finland in the early 2000s when i was a kid. It was basically a polypropylene box shaped for a kettle and you would use it same as that thing you described
I was thinking this the whole time
My English Nana used a hay box to make stews, casseroles etc right up to 1969 when she dies aged 81. It was my job to fetch and fill the wooden box with a hand made quilted lining with hay. I still use that box especially at harvest time to feed the helpers.
Dropped a 50 on em "love from sorted"
Thank you for your generosity and for helping to bring Wonderbags to families that need them! You are making a difference!
You might not need to use something like this, but saving energy while cooking cannot hurt. Besides which, with something like this you can make chili in the summer without heating up your kitchen so much.
This technique works best with cookware that has some thermal mass, like cast iron or a cooper core bottom. You also don't need to go out and buy a wonder bag. I was inspired by the technique and used an ice cooler we had on hand to make vichyssoise this evening. For good measure, I lined the cooler with some reflective bubble wrap packaging I had from a food delivery.
Makes me so proud to see our South African ingenuity on such a grand stage! We truly do come from such a special country that is do vibrantly full of great people, great food and great culture. Also I got so happy to see Durban curry mentioned as a proud Durbanite! Sorted, please try making some of our other wonderful South African delicacies like Bunnychow, Koeksisters and Bobotie! You will truly not regret it.
With love from SA 🇿🇦
Aww man - so good to see some South African themed food!
You guys should totally do some South African dishes, there's tons of South Africans in London :D
I just want them to make braaibroodjies
@@Tyrranid yes and it has to have jam!
Barry's acting isn't fooling anyone - his face gives away his real feelings on bananas (I'm right there with ya)
😂
In western Kenya they cook with green bananas and my face was always like Barry's. Ugh.
Meat + ripe fruit = best flavor combo ever
@@theanita1 it never tasted quite like banana though. More like potato when it's that unripe.
Yes, terrible actor😂😂😂
This is amazing! I was fortunate enough to travel to South Africa earlier this year before CoVid started getting big and the culture there is outstanding, the food is out of this world. I'll happily donate to the "Love from Sorted" collective to support this wonderful cause!
Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for your generosity!
I once rea a story by a woman who was visiting an elderly relative in another country (not sure where, but it was a northern country) who was cooking something that would ordinarily be simmered for hours. The elderly woman did the initial preparation and had it cooking away, then said something like "Now we put it to bed." She pulled the blankets back on her bed, then put the tightly-covered hot pot on the bed, turcked the blankets around it, and left it there for the rest of the day. Apparently this was a very traditional way of cooking from the elderly woman's childhood years. I have never heard any other story like this ever since then but have never forgotten it.
Yeah, that used to be done all over Europe for the longest so that inventor of the Wonderbag just adapted that cooking style...
I’m so glad you highlighted about the privilege - a generation ago the stay at home mothers were gasping for breath if they missed their asthma medicines after a lifetime of breathing in fumes from indoor fires, and today we pay to have our foods pre-smoked.
Is there a way to like a video a million times? Fantastic video, amazing product, and Jamie’s “That’s called privilege” speech was everything 👌🏼
"that my friend is called privilege"
Jamie really put things into perspective
That was a brilliant speech there. I was SO impressed by it, because it's not something that I would think of. We're so entrenched into our "domestication" or "first world" or "high rate of development" that the idea of people still, day after day, work for no money and cook over an open fire is something *almost* out of a fantasy to many. We have our jobs (money) to pay for the gas/electricity in order to make meals, and we have things to cook food in (microwave, pots, stoves, ovens, useless clutter of gadgets). I know the disparity real, but it seems so far-fetched until someone hits me over the head with the mallet of reality, which this episode did.
I'm going to see what the health of my credit card is, and donate.
That was probably my favourite part of today's video tbh
I have one of the Wonderbags. I live in Florida, US. I have it just in case of a hurricane and no power. Great company to support.
Good idea, especially because women and children get time for education.
Could be great for students too, where they start something early, go to classes and have a meal ready when they get home.
Me being a South African seeing them cook a Durban Lamb Currie just made me so happy
i was literally on the Wonderbag website about to donate whilst watching this video when you mentioned you've set up a 'collab' we have donated. Love from Sorted! Can't wait to see how much good you guys do! We love you and your work!
Again i suggest „pass it on - Trifle“ sweet or savory, each three layers with minimum height in a big glass bowl... 🙏😉❤️
How about sweet and savory?
It's a trifle. It's got all of these layers. First, there's a layer of ladyfingers, then a layer of jam, then custard, which I made from scratch. Raspberries, more ladyfingers
No
David Kahnt - ha! that one never gets old... :)
If you listen to the podcasts you'd have heard that Mike has actually challenged James to take on Rachels trifle...
I can always tell when Mike edits a video because of things like the Nope error screen. And because he doesn't get to eat the yummy food. Did you at least share with him after you finished?
Haha Mike was filming this, but it was actually edited by Rach who we work with!
SORTEDfood Could you do an episode where we get to meet the behind the scenes team? We hear of them but we never get to see them. It would also be nice to have a tour of the premises
@@SortedFood Well, now I feel dumb. Sorry Rach!
Nigel Downey they did a tour video already. I just forgot the title! Getting back to you when I do find it
Leif Concepcion Thank you!
PETITION TO SEE ‘JUDGEMENTAL JAMES’ AS A CHILDREN’S BOOK AS A MANUAL FOR FUSSY EATERS.
Ben is so chuffed about bringing in the things he has grown and I’m so happy for him. If I had grown ingredients I would be pretty pleased with myself as well. 😊❤️
I have been watching Sorted for a few years....so glad to see my country being referenced 🇿🇦 can't wait to see more recipes from South Africa featured!
You guys are my “boy band”. If I was younger and not married, I would have your pictures all over my bedroom walls.
I love this video! My slow cooker is my ride or die as a shift worker. I can’t even imagine not having the electric to run it, which shows my privilege entirely. What an incredibly product! I’ll be sure to donate once payday rolls around.
"It's not about the size"
"NOPE"
Aw, I was waiting for a punchline
@@tai2691997 "Nope" was the punchline lol
Its about the spice 😎
Donated enthusiastically - thank you for introducing this amazing cause/company/product hopefully we'll all be using them soon to save energy xx
This is an ingenious test on a product that makes a real difference. Thanks Sorted Crew for bringing awareness to this! You're doing great work!
Our pleasure!
Donated a bag. :) Also trying that rice pudding recipe, it looks heavenly. *drools*
Thank you so much for helping bring Wonderbags to families in need! We are so grateful!
Sorted: this is brand new concept!
Grandmas in Poland: we were doing this with pillows for rice or potatoes (to finish them or keep warm) for ages!
XD
Came here to comment this! #truestory Before having good pans I was coking rice/ grains like that as well: put them to boil, once it's boiling I was taking it off the fire and covering with towels to be energy efficient and loose :)
My grandmother wrapped her ricepudding (and more) in blankets and stuff it in her bed.
this is just a modern and easier solution for old knowledge.
@@gruminator1 Good to keep the food warm and good to keep the bed warm in cold winters. :D
Pretty sure this is true for majority of old eastern block.
@@GRIMHOOD99 In Denmark aswell,.
We need the ‘Wonderbag’ in India as well. It has an amazing backstory!
A viewer from Australia, donating to charity in Africa, all because of a youtube video made in the UK. The community you have created is incredible! Great work to the guys and the Wonder Bag team!
On the science of these, it likely helps to store the bag in a warm space. Therefore the insulation would have to do slightly less work. So the southen hemasphre communities this is made for might have a better exsperiance with it than us in the far north.
I’ve donated! It’s not much but every little helps. “Love Sorted” yep - we do!
Every little bit helps! We are so grateful for your generosity. Thank you for helping bring Wonderbags to families in South Africa! ❤️
Wonderbag World Yay! You GO wonder bag! YOU GO!!!
Should have kept a digital thermometer in the bags for proper testing.
I wondered if they would do a control version of each dish too, to compare against the usual cooking method.
This was really cool guys, well done!
We're glad you enjoyed it!
Seems the bag is the equivalent to pit cooking. A friend was the member of a church with a lot of members from the Pacific Islands. Every 4th of July the dug a pit on the church grounds did whatever they did and filled it was lots of roasts. That night everybody came with their lawn chairs or whatever and ate while watching much of the fireworks done at the high school stadium across the street. The meat was super tender and yummy. We now live in an all electric home. Kind of hate it. I can see how this might help us be able to cook with less electricity. And with less heating up of the kitchen in the hot months.
100% - the Wonderbag is built around this concept! What awesome memories you have too.
Donated Wonderbag, face masks and food for a month to a family. Thank you for highlighting this cause!
You're an amazing human being♥️
I use a thermal cooker. A bloke who styles himself “Mr. D.” sells them. I also cook soup in a thermos. Boil veg . and stock/flavourings 10 mins, put in a pre heated thermos and 2 or 3 hours later, soup!
I've used a thermos for 2 years to save money on food when I didn't have a kitchen. Its a really great way to cook with only a watercooker.
I call that my lunch! :D
Well, I know where a future paycheck is going. Seriously, between what my Scouts can do with this thing and the good cause, I think I need to help fund this
We would love for you to get involved! Thank you for the positive energy!
Lol I'm from SA we have one of those,food really does stay hot for hours
Guys
I just wanted to say:
I love how you always bring light to things I didn't even know existed!
Thank you for that, I really enjoy it!
Greetings from the Netherlands
Will you ever use this item again on the show? I want the truth!
James calling Ben "Chef" made me giggle.
Before watching this video, I bet it works just like some old Danish recipes that call for the pot to be put under the duvet/the bedding for hours. That insulates the heat as well and can keep things hot for many hours. :-)
“It’s not about the size...” - Benjamin David Ebbrell, 2020.
Where’s Janice with her witty comments when you need her?!
Video challenge: cooking foods with some smelliest food ingredients including (strostroming, durian, nato etc)
Donated. Love you guys, love South Africa my home country xx
Srsly, is Mike OK though?
If u mean abt him not being. In the videos...
I think it's because they can't bring the behind the scenes crew back cos of covid and social distancing etc.
So Mike is covering that side of things(filming and editing) since he acc knows how to unlike the rest of them 😂
This is my hypothesis
@@janani1826 that makes so much sense actually
Katie Bateman We have seen him filming some episodes recently.
Classic dish here in Denmark is Risengrød - a rice porridge made with milk. Cooking time on the stove is about 45 minutes, but it's been well known for ages that just bringing it to a boil and leaving the pot in bed under a duvet all day will make a perfect result (older version was to put the pot in a box of hay).
Bonus, if you put it in your bed under a duvet, you come home to a nice warm bed!
this also good for people who only have a gas burner and want to make something like ramen broth which is normally simmered overnight.
To be honest, I'm a bit shocked that professional chefs were not already well versed with the science of heat retention/thermal cooking ... this method is ancient (100's of years old) and you don't need to buy a Wonderbag, you can make a DIY thermal cooker from repurposed/recycled items you already have. Also, in the examples you demonstrated, there were some pretty fundamental, and important errors - 1) the pan should be at least 80% full; 2) once brought to the boil on the hob, you need to cook at a 'rapid simmer for 10 minutes to create enough heat in the food so that it can maintain a 'safe heat' (over 63C) throughout the cooking period. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO AVOID FOOD POISONING and it is why your food wasn't literally steaming hot after your cooking period (which was a bit short for the meat based dishes)! With the current rising costs of energy worldwide and especially in the UK, this is something everyone should be doing every week. The following might be useful:
October ’22 Energy Price Cap - Cooking with a Slow Cooker Compared to a Thermal Cooker/Hay Box
(Costs using the 'new' October '22 Price Cap are for direct debits. There are a few 'regional' minor variations and the costs for pre-payment meters and 'credit' payments are different.)
I first learned about hay boxes nearly 50 years ago but only got around to using one about 3 years ago. For convenience, I bought a MrD thermal cooker - the vacuum type. They are very robust and puncturing/breaking them would be quite difficult, even if you tried.
All of that said, 2 years ago, I needed to make a meal for 20 people to be eaten outside (10C outside temperature). Obviously, the Mr D one wasn't big enough for that so I made one by using a cooler box. I added bubble wrap in the corners to prevent heat escaping from gaps and lined the 'pan cavity' with aluminium foil so the bubble wrap didn't melt from the heat of the pan. I used a 10L SS stock pot in my DIY cooker, adding a cushion on top of the pan lid before putting the cooler box lid on. I used both the MrD and my DIY cooker (pasta bolognaise in one and lentil & veg soup in the other. Both were literally steaming hot 7 hours later, everything was cooked to perfection.
You don’t need a cooler box or cooler bag (although the in-built insulation makes it easier to construct); you could make one from other recycled items such as a cardboard box or laundry basket with an old duvet, woolly jumpers etc. as insulating material … or literally, a box filled with hay. You can also sew one like a Wonder Bag (filled with polystyrene balls); if you Google thermal cooker or Wonder bag, you can find free patterns online. Thermal cookers are VERY energy efficient (see below), easy to make, portable (you can take it anywhere), safe (no worries about leaving an electrical appliance on if you’re out) and they make a great science or craft project for children.
I also did some research recently (April '22) to compare cooking a stew/casserole/curry/chili etc. using a slow cooker and a thermal cooker. If using a thermal cooker/hay box you need to: have the pan at least 80% full; bring to the boil & then rapid simmer for 10 minutes to create an on-going 'food safe' cooking temperature (it needs to be maintained at over 63C).
I estimated a total of 15 minutes on the hob for a thermal cooker and if using a *slow cooker, 1 hour on high and 6 hours on low - as per most manuals. (*I researched dozens and used an average of 12 'typical' slow cookers - I excluded multi cookers because wattages varied too much.)
Findings (using the 'new' October '22 price cap):
Gas - 10.33p kWh Electricity - 34.05p kWh
Slow cooker - ‘High’ 210W x 1 hr = 7.15p & ‘Low’ 207W x 6 hrs = 42.29p; Total cost = 49.44p
Thermal cooker - using gas hob for 0.25hrs - 2.58p (Saving 46.86p and 19x cheaper than a slow cooker)
Thermal cooker - using electric 2.3kW hob for 0.25hrs - 19.58p (Saving 29.86p and 2.5x cheaper than a slow cooker)
I hope the above makes sense and you find it useful and interesting. I must admit, even I am surprised at the cost saving when using a gas hob for the initial 15 minutes cooking time!
Jamie saying "that, my friend, is called privilege" was my favourite part of the video
We used to use sleeping bags when I was in scouts, this is pretty cool!
Omg and they sleeping bags didn't burn?
Same
andrineslife In this way? And it worked? Very cool.
@@jvallas Yes, it works exactly the same.
@@moonbook12 not the polyester ones obv. Natural fibers only.
I've actually been wondering for a while now, but how much 'cheffing' do the chefs actually do nowadays? Are they still employed as chefs or 'merely' the dynamic duo of SORTED?
Well, they (as far as I understand) do recipe development and testing for all the stuff you see on Sorted and in their cookbooks and app and all that. So when the "normals" are cooking something (that isn't a "try to make this without a recipe" challenge), the actual recipe they're using comes from James, who started on Sorted as a behind-the-scenes recipe/cooking guy, or Ben.
I wonder too!
Donated (& noted “LoveFromSorted”) 🤓
Thanks for pointing out that firewood-gathering eats up time gatherers could be in school. 💋
YES! Wonderbags save time and help keep girls in school! Thank you for helping bring Wonderbags to girls and women in South Africa!
I was really surprised to see that you (or at least James) seemed so completely unfamiliar with this concept.
When I was a kid (more than 40+ years ago) my mum and all my friends' mums all made especially rice porridge this way: Before work, bring rice and milk to the boil while stirring occasionally. Then wrap the pot in a towel and stick it under the covers in bed. No need for electricity and constant stirring to keep it from catching on the bottom, no milk boiling over, and this way dinner was ready when we got home. Depending on when we ate, it may have needed a gentle reheat, but most times it was perfect eating temperature, ready for a knob of butter and cinnamon sugar :D
To this day I only ever make rice pudding in bed, and so I was surprised to see that this method was so foreign even to chefs in a country that also eats rice puddings. You should try it in bed next time!
By the way, I'm totally gonna try the chai white choco pudding cos it looked Divine.
Anyways, good shout out about the Wonderbag donation. It's so heart warming to be part of such an amazing community.
Same, I thought that this was actually the "normal" way to make rice pudding (being in my mid-20s and from Germany)
You didnt boil the beef for long enough. I dont know if it didn’t come with instruction but you have to boil certain food items for sometimes up to an hour before putting into the insulated bag. So meat needs an hour of boiling where as rice just needs to come to the boil and then you can insulate it. When we teach the public to use a hay box we usually give them a time frame for common food items. Good of you guys to support this.
Thank you so much for supporting someone who is finding innovative ways to save resources in this world and help others👍
I have one of these and the Wonderbags are INCREDIBLE!! Perfect for starting off a dinner prep in the morning before heading off to work and delish perfectly cooked dinner when you get home.
Talia Feigenbaum Are you able to do quite a good assortment of dishes?
Judy Vallas anything that is curry, stew, soup, stove top brisket... def a slow cooker equivalent. Cut everything into similar size.
Talia Feigenbaum Excellent!
9:39 i couldnt be the only one trying to make the sound Ben made
and fyi, i failed
As a South African, from Durban - these are popular and they definitely work. Especially good for curry.
"That my friend is called privilege" I wasnt expecting it but I was feeling that sentiment already, like I want mad, no malice or anything but I was feeling (more than thinking) it could be so great in occasion imagine how much it would help if that was my every day
Am I crazy or was part of the set smokey when they were tasting the food?
Yes, yes it was
i think it was weird lighting
i never expected jamie to be the one to call out ben's privilege! love to see the character development, he's really grown over the years 💗
If Wonderbag actually makes a difference across challenged communities, the inventor deserves a Nobels Prize.
For stealing someone else's idea?
For stealing someone else's idea?
@@theimprovgarden4132 The INVENTOR, jeesh. Are you doing ok, besides not understanding basic words?
This is not a new concept. Unless she invented this a couple 100 years ago
I can only hope the Wonderbag people ARE actually donating them and actually helping people in Africa. I paid for one donation and got another bag for myself.
It works really well and we use it all the time for both cooking AND for keeping food warm/cool.
Banana is SO good with curry, to counteract the spiciness!