How to Build One of the Largest Food Communities on Friendship
Gourmet Toulouse Style Cassoulet, Allotment Slaw
In this episode of Chef AF, I chat with Chef Ben Ebbrell, co-founder and director at SORTEDfood, about his background as a trained chef and how a conversation at a pub with friends sparked the idea and the sentiment that got Sortedfood started. SORTEDfood began over ten years ago and their mission is to get people SORTED by empowering them with passion, knowledge, skills, and tools so they can confidently cook with whatever they have available.
SORTEDfood’s youtube channel has over two million subscribers. Ebbrell says that their youtube channel started in 2010 and has changed over the years. He says, “It's changed and now it's more sort of entertainment and inspiration. First, we promise that if you watch a video on youtube you'll always learn something. There's always some factual takeout but it's more about just hanging out and having fun together there are lots of challenges and a bit of Jeopardy and some competition elements and we invite other expert guests and chefs in so that we can learn from them as well. It's kind of just one big happy family of food, drink, and cooking an open invitation.”
“We've realized as with many subjects once you open that treasure chest and you start to explore and the more you learn the more you realize you don't know and I think food is one of those things that can just keep going and people's perceptions and habits and behavior around food is changing and evolving. The kind of food that we were cooking ten years ago and to be honest with the kind of food we were avoiding ten years ago are now very very commonplace and absolutely important and topical and timely. We would be stupid if we didn't kind of feature that and celebrate that now,” Ebbrell says when I asked if the possibilities are endless for SORTEDfood.
To hear how SORTEDfood was able to shine light on restaurants by highlighting their meal kits when creating video content during the pandemic, the gourmet beans on toast recipe, Ebbrell’s thoughts on sustainability and more, check out this episode of Chef AF “It’s All Food” or you can listen at Spotify!
RECIPE
Gourmet Toulouse Style Cassoulet, Allotment Slaw
Gourmet version of Beans on Toast (Tin of Beans with mini sausages)
For the meats
2 tbsp coarse sea salt 1 sprig rosemary
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
1 tbsp peppercorns
2 garlic cloves
4-6 pork cheeks, trimmed 2 duck legs
For the beans
600g dried cannellini beans 2 litres water
For the base
2 tbsp stock fat
100g smoked lardons 1 celery stick
1 onion, peeled
1 large carrot, peeled 6 garlic cloves, peeled 2 plum tomatoes
Method
(DAY AHEAD)
For the meats
2 sprigs thyme
1 sprig rosemary
2 bay leaves
1.2ltr fresh pork and duck stock 300g Morteau sausage
Allotment Slaw
150g runner beans
150g kohlrabi
150g beetroot
1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
2 anchovy fillets
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
10g parsley
To serve
1 large sourdough loaf
2 tbsp butter, melted
Mixed leaf salad from the allotment
In a spice grinder, process the salt, rosemary, bay, thyme, peppercorns and garlic to an even mix.
Lay the pork cheeks and duck legs on to a medium tray and dust over the seasoned salt and rub it into the meat. Cling film and store in the fridge overnight.
For the beans
Wash the dried beans in cold running water and then place them into a large container. Pour over 3 x the volume of water (the 2 litres) and allow the beans to soak overnight.
(ON THE DAY)
For the base
Preheat the oven to 150℃.
Drain the soaked beans and discard the soaking water.
Place a large casserole pan over a medium heat and add the stock fat and the smoked lardons. Gently fry the lardons and cook until golden brown.
Roughly chop the celery, onion and carrot. Smash the garlic. Cut each tomato into eight wedges. Strip the thyme and rosemary from their stalks.
Add the celery, onion, carrot and garlic to the lardons and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and herbs and cook slowly for a further 5 minutes.
Add the stock and drained beans and bring to a boil. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 90 minutes.
Brush off any excess salt and peppercorns from the duck legs and pig cheeks. Cut the garlic sausage into 8 thick discs.
After 90 minutes lower in the pig cheeks, duck legs and sausage, bring back to the boil, skim off any scum that forms. Return the pan to the oven for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally until the beans are tender and the pork and duck can be cut with a spoon.
You may need to cook it for longer than 3 hours (say up to 3½ hours) to get to this stage.
For the slaw
Finely shred your runner beans, kohlrabi and beetroot.
Zest and juice the lemon into a large bowl. Add the olive oil, anchovy fillets and mustard. Finely chop the parsley and add this too, before whisking together. Dump in the shredded vegetables and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
For the bread
Cut the top ⅓ off the loaf of sourdough and, using your hands, hollow out the loaf. Tear the inside of the bread into chunks and dump into a large mixing bowl with 4 tbsp of olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper and toss well.
Tip on to a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown and crisp along with the hollowed out loaf.
Serve alongside the salad leaves, slaw and croutons.