Im a chef in a school that turns 500 years old next year we could absolutely find a nice spot for both the knife polisher and stand mixer theyd probably get used and maintained too. E.g i regularly make bread in 100+ year old loaf tins.
Fun fact. Emery powder has been used for centuries to keep pins and needles clean, sharp and rust free so it makes sense they would use it to clean and sharpen knives. When you see the old tomato pin cushions with the little strawberry attachment, the little strawberry would be filled with emery powder and pins and needles would be pushed in to clean and sharpen them.
Omg - I had no idea that’s what the strawberry was for! I still have my mom’s tomato pincushion from 50 years ago (probably longer). Thanks for the tip!
Why would y'all give this to a museum... At this point, y'all can just start your own museum... Old cookbooks, old recipe recreations, old gadgets... You've got it all!
@@SortedFood That would be amazing; kind of like a Vegas attraction! I do hope they get out those impossible antique cookbooks again and make something; those episodes are such fun! Perhaps make them with the vintage gadgets??
Love how they finally left all of Ben's trivia stay in the video rather than cutting halfway through...It's fascinating... Love learning these new things...
Amm, that is NOT how you use the can opener. In the Caribbean, we still have all metal can openers like this. The first part was correct, as you need to pierce the can to establish an opening, THEN, you use the other end, which has a sharpened edge, and a hand guard, insert it into the can horizontally, then, either slide clockwise, or anti-clockwise, to get a SMOOTH EDGED, tin top. I'm surprised that Ben didn't look more at the engineering of the tool before using it. This reminds me of the coconut grater, we used them from small children, and Ben nearly lost his hand using one. We still use nutmeg fairly regularly as well in dishes and drinks.
Excellent video, I love old kitchenalia. Remember with the knife polisher, many of the cooking knives in the kitchen wouldn't be modern stainless steel. A lot of my old knives are high carbon steel which looks very dark grey. If you don't clean & dry them straight after use they'll rust & they can also pick up odours from things like onions. So keeping them in good condition is a must.
You lads should write to the Victoria&Albert museum. They're THE museum for historic design pieces. As this probably came from an estate sale, please absolutely write down and save every information you have on the origin of this knife cleaner. Museums want provenance on the objects they're offered, the more the better. Signed, a German provenance researcher slash historian, thank you for the video guys!
A note on the knife cleaner. The cleaning in question likely wasn't the "evening washing up in the sink" kind. You don't use an abrasive emory powder for that, especially when it's likely going to be destroying the edge of the blade. You'd be sharpening every day. So what was it for? This machine appears to have been invented either before or right as stainless steels were first coming to market. They weren't cleaning fat and meat bits off of it... they were cleaning RUST. That's the reason for the emory powder. Even if you're doing your best to keep the knife oiled it will rust a bit over time and you need a bit more than soap to get rid of it. Super cool gadget I had no idea existed. *EDIT* to mention that in addition to domestic use I'd wager you'd see this in places like butcher shops, restaurants, possibly even on ships.
As a kid I saw a gadget like that in a old house historic site. They said it was for knives that were not stainless. Also, the silver silverware was polished by hand. So I agree with you. It was used to maintain kitchen knives and flat utensils.
Higher Carbon steel knife blades rust or gain a black patina. Ask any chef. I only use carbon steel as the edge is the best - but they go black....unless polished. Table knives don't look posh mottled black and rusty so a footman would daily polish them
In the days when table cutlery was silver plated (or solid silver) the knife blades were steel, presumably because silver wouldn't take, or hold, a sharp edge. Steel blades discolour, rust, and become tainted by some foods. Polishing the knife blades was an unpleasant job usually reserved for the most downtrodden member of the kitchen staff.
I dunno if it's a German thing or just a regional or family thing in Germany, but we do actually use nutmeg quite regulary. For example added to broccoli, cabbage or spinach dishes, light sauces, anything with potatoes (for example potato gratin or mashed potatoes), soups, stews. I personally use it a LOT because I LOVE the aroma, but I've never used it for sweet dishes - time to try that out! :)
In the USA, I think a lot of people would be surprised how much they eat nutmeg, just in spice mixes, sausage, etc. We tend to use individual spices a lot less in the 21st century kitchen in general.
One thing they didn't mention for the knife cleaner is that back in the day they didn't have stainless steel so knives would rust quite quickly and need regular upkeep. I have a couple of carbon steel knives as they hold an edge longer but they can start oxidising in a matter of hours if not properly cleaned and oiled so a machine like that would save alot of time if you're using knives on a regular basis.
Former boy scout here. You used that can opener backwards. The wrench looking part is for slicing the side, where the pointy side is for safely opening the lid.
@@marshamills7496, someone needs to grow up, then. Eighty years old and screaming at a device because forty odd year old men used an unfamiliar device wrong? Seriously, ma'am.
The knife cleaning/ sharpening gadget is still available in a lot of South- Asian nations where a hawker carrying a bicycle mounted version of the gadget visits neighbourhoods, calling out to residents in need of the service! Residents can bring their blunted/ tarnished knives out and the hawker hands them back sparkling clean ones!
If you ever need more nutmeg in your life, try Townsends. Their 18th century cooking shows are well worth the time it takes to watch them. For the food, and for the history. American and British together, because for most of the 1700s we were the same people.
We weren't the same people. MANY people immigrated to North America in the 1600s and early 1700s, and not just from England. Also, there were is still way more indigenous people in the North America during the Revolutionary War than there were European colonists. What an ethnocentric statement you made!
haha, was here to say the same 😁 when I was a kid in the 80's, my 70 something year old neighbour had one that had been her mothers. and btw, @loswingman is correct with their method of using it as far as I know
Steve1989MREInfo taught me this well enough that i also wanted to start screaming at ben. the fact that he thought the can opener was shaped like that to be used as a handle for the lid killed me
My Grandma had one of those can openers. Mike did it the right way. She could open a can in less than 10 seconds. When you get used to it, it words just as good as any hand opener.
The WW2 GI can opener (the P-38) is the greatest can opener ever invented. Tiny, cheap to make, and work forever. They are still made today, and for good reason. Campers LOVE these little gadgets.
Love this series! The mixer reminds me of my 1927 Singer sewing machine, built to last and to be repaired and still runs like a dream. And, at some point in its history, a motor was added to it, much like how our modern stand mixers grow from the one shown here. I would love a mixer like that. Making it be food safe aside, looks like fun to use, and could be a good way to get people involved in the kitchen, and keep them occupied.
As a swede I use quite a bit of nutmeg. For example mashed potatoes need to have nutmeg in it. Also "stuvade makaroner" ( stewed macaroni),a real swedish "husmanskost", has to have nutmeg in it.
@@SortedFood It's an amazing collection!! If I had a great big farmhouse kitchen I'd love to have many of these on display, as Ben mentioned! If I lived in a place with no electricity, the first would be a delightful addition for cookies and cakes!
@@SortedFood I came here to say this too. When you get your pub open, just have another building showcasing all of the antique gadgets, maybe with a display by them showing how they worked.
Fun fact for Ben... If that's made from steel, it's pre-war steel and sought after because it doesn't have trace amounts of radiation. That makes it useful for making things like geiger counters that are susceptible to that sort of thing.
The thing about using a microplane for nutmeg and other stuff is that you are very likely to microplane your fingers. This solves that problem, and I want one!
We in Serbia use Nutmeg for cooked and minced wheat grain which is mixed with powdered sugar, grinded wallnuts and a bit of nutmeg for celebration of familly Saint (each Saint is in celebbrated on different day of the year) and this mixiture is serve to gest on the entrance before sit on table to eat .Also tin opener, you pierce with spear like side and then those other part you use as leverage to cut using upward motion and forward so you cut from inside out if i explain clearly. Mike was doing proper way.
@@rosejustice to be fair, kitchen gear was often passed down. My mother was born in the 1960s, and she uses a bread pan from the turn of the century passed down through generations. I love it when people share their memories of how family used to cook and prepare foods...its like a glimpse of the past. Take care
I'm 72 years old and still have my grandmother's tin opener, which is identical to the one in the video. I still use it on some tins, especially large catering tins when I am batch cooking with my daughter.
The old Landers, Frary & Clark factory in New Britain, CT where the cake maker was manufactured is being turned into apartments after half a century of being vacant. The building has landmark designation, so hopefully it keeps a lot of the 1860's architecture.
I am a home baker and have a dedicated nutmeg grater. I bought a rasp style zester just like what is shown her (minus the nifty spring holder) for citrus and hated it for that purpose. Way too much of the zest was lost down the sink in cleaning because I couldn't get it zest into the bowl. I bought a microplane and use that for zesting citrus as well as myriad other things. The rasp grater is used all the time when I'm baking because I only buy whole nutmeg. Freshly grated is so much more flavorful than pre-ground as will all spices. Ben says he doesn't use nutmeg enough. Part of that is because he's obviously not a baker. Part of that may be British flavors? Part of it is that he just doesn't think about using it, too. Ben may have been trained as a chef, but his experience is not the same as all of England, or all the English speaking world..
I absolutely love the gadgets that perform their task identically well to modern gadgets. Especially when the engineering behind it has barely changed. I mean, like was pointed out by Mike and Ebbers, that cake mixer is mechanically the exact same idea as a modern stand mixer, just without a motor. From my family's Mexican kitchen, you could try a metate, which is a stone grinding slab used for making doughs that has remained completely unchanged since pre-Colombian times.
I switched to using whole spices grated a little while back, and fresh nutmeg is awesome, makes a huge difference over the stuff in the little pots from the supermarket.
I have the feeling we here in the Netherlands haven’t forgotten about nutmeg. I’m not saying nobody here uses spices but I know several people that only have salt, pepper and nutmeg in their kitchen. It’s really nice with white asparagus.
the thing about that nutmeg grinder, considering you can buy what is basically just the rasp part of that grinder today, the fact that it can be quite difficult to hold onto the nut while you rasp it especially as the nut gets smaller, the idea of having a spring loaded hopper would make it easier to use, and I wonder if a more modern (not electric though) version is availiable.
I work in a Wetherspoons and we use a modern version of the knife cleaner to polish all of the cutlery. I love using it as it's really cool and also makes sure there are no water marks from the dishwasher. With the one that we use it's automatic and uses a sand like rough powder to polish it as well as very loud vibrations to push the cutlery through the machine to the hole at the botrom of it.
I LOVED this gadget review!... I am a somewhat older woman, and my Omi (German Gran) was a Patisserie Cook in the early 1900s, working for the local 'Big' House...I can imagine her using some of these gadgets,. And am fairly sure I saw one of those tin-openers in her house when visited! (Way back in the 1960s...)
My favorite statement ever may be “if everyone that watches this goes out and buys a nutmeg”…”that would be 47 nutmegs” I love the shows you guys put out
Love all of your videos! I have a idea for a video: "Lunch box challenge" Normals/chefs should cook 2 portions. One portion should be tried straight from the pan ("fresh"), while the other should chill in the fridge for 24 hours and reheated in the microwave, then compared. sidekick has a lot of great recipies, but sometimes i feel like the dishes don't reheat to well in a microwave.
I never opened a tin with a tin opener, I have a sacrificial knife that I just pierce the tin and then with a rocking motion cut the lid until I can open it. P.S. I think the second blade on the tool is for that rocking motion and not just opening the lid when you finished, because it has a inside blade that is can cut the lid from underneath it and a "hammer" that can put leverage on the top of the lid so that the inside blade can cut it better. P.S.2. Nevermind I need to watch the whole video before I start commenting.
Many of the old mincers are worth buying. They were never designed just for grinding meat as most people think they are essentially early versions of food processors and were used for chopping vegetables, making breadcrumbs, grinding nuts amongst other things and many even have nut butter plates which still work really well for making nut or seed butters with very little effort. No electricity needed and no motor to burn out as you can't push them too hard.
@@Nirrrina Most important thing for nut butters is the fresher the nuts the better the result. Older nuts may need several passes to get the desired texture. Roasting the nuts in the oven, coffee bean roaster, or a dry frying pan (watch carefully so you don't burn them) will improve the taste and help get the oil flowing out of them faster. I got the mincer from ebay. The nut butter plate is just a solid plate, no holes just a few ridges. If you want a crunchy texture just loosen it a bit so there is a slight gap. If i want really smooth nut butter i use my wondermill junior grain mill with the metal burrs fitted. Much slower than the mincer and a serious workout but it makes the smoothest nut butter i have ever had. Theoretically my juicer can make nut butter too mine is a JR Ultra Purus but any slow juicer should be able to although i haven't tried it. I have used it for nut milks, homous and fruit sorbets as well as juicing it does all those things very well. Just be cautious using a blender or food processor for nut butters. It puts a huge strain on the motor, i know a lot of people who burned out motors and stripped gears whilst making nut butter.
I use nutmeg in cakes (with cinnamon, aniseed and ginger), rice puddings and in mashed potatoes or potato soup... I can definitely use that nutmeg gadget!
I have a lot of nutmeg in my kitchen and use it for foods like mashed potatoes and the cheese sauce in lasagna. And also as an ingredient in homemade schnapps 🤤
In Sweden we still use those old fashioned can openers quite a lot! Many households don’t have the more modern ones that you clip on and turn. That said, you guys used it the wrong way around 😊😂
I use nutmeg a lot. Mashed potatoes aren't the same without it. The modern equivalent is a spring loaded nutmeg planer/grinder. Peugeot made my particular one.
Regarding the nutmeg usage. I use almost one per week. I absolutly love it and anything potatoy gets a load of it. I actually looked into Nutmeg grinders specifically until i got a microplane for christmas and it fullfilled all my needs.
19:07 a current day version is an emery disk which has polishing flaps that rotates on a spindle that can be added to power tools. Alternatively they sell premixed emery sollution for polishing of cutlery.
The moment I saw the knife cleaner I instantly recognised it as my grandad has the same one in his museum. Great to see it in action though, his has always just been up on a shelf
The nutmeg comments were funny to me. I love nutmeg and used a microplane years ago. Now that I’m older I no longer have the finger strength or dexterity to microplane nutmeg seeds. I just recently purchased a nice little nutmeg grinder. So I get to enjoy freshly ground nutmeg again. Regarding the can opener. You need to think back to how strong the tinplate was decades ago. Cans had straight sides, not corrugated like today, so the metal needed to be thicker to handle the pressure cook. Today’s can openers may not have been able to handle the thickness.
we have a much simpler old wooden nutmeg box with a grater as its lid. It's in one of the top drawers under the stovetop, because i love using it in bechamels, cheesesauce and such. definitely gets used a bunch in our kitchen.
That is not how that can opener is supposed to be used… you use the claw-lookin’ bit. Thick bit hooks under rim, use leverage to force blade side of claw into the inner edge of the rim. Make a puncture hole then shift forward an do it again the whole way round. They are actually pretty easy to use when you know how!
I have a small collection of Antique kitchen gear. Nutmeg I use in my house and freshly grate it for rice pudding, baked custard, My grandmother‘s gingerbread, and ethnic foods. Would love to find this one The tin opener is still around in stores. Yours is a bit fancier with wood handle. The more modern one is all metal. The expedition to the Arctic Circle did take tin cans that unfortunately had lead in the metal Which led to very ill health and death.
I have never considered using nutmeg in a sweet dish. For me, I use it in spinach and in cheese fondue, and thats about it. Maybe I should be more adventurous with spices (I love spices).
You missed the most obvious chance at a pun Mike... Should have been 'So I think that evolution has definitely TIN worth the effort' You should totally reach out to English Heritage and see if they would use it for one of their living museum manor, then it is like a gift back to the group maintaining the sort of stately manor houses that would have had one.
English Heritage are amazing. They could have Mrs Crocombe and Mrs Warwick the housekeeper do a video about it as well haha Mrs crocombe sharpening her knives for the kitchen and Mrs Warwick polishing the finery for dinner. Well, they could have an assistant do it while they make idol chatter as the senior members of stuff 😂
All of these were so excellent. Imagine our kitchen gadgets lasting 130-140 years. Only really great & expensive products do. My mix master & my Cuisinart food processor both between 25 & 30 yeaes old & I consider that fantastic.
It is amazing what we came up with so long ago to help out in the kitchen and like the old saying go they don't make them like they used to, Things of old were made to last along time and these prove that 100+ years and still going strong mostly. I liked the cake mixer it was a very cool way to mix a cake and still the basic of todays version. I could see an old kitchen with most of these spread out over the place. I love to see more Antique Gadgets as it so cool to so how it was done so long ago.
Not sure they used the can opener correctly. I've never used one, but I've seen them used in movies and stuff. You make the hole, then use the other end in an up and down motion to cut along the can. You don't just punch holes all the way around and then use the other end (the cutting end) to lift the lid. I could very well be wrong. Just know I have seen these non-electric, non-wind can-openers used in movies. ETA: Looks like Mike figured it out. Serves me right for commenting before finishing the video!
Would love to see a video where Barry and Jamie to review “kitchen gadgets”, where the twist is that none of the gadgets was originally designed for food. Just let them figure out what it could be and run with it. “Yes these sheep shearing scissors are made for pitting olives”
The nutmeg thing would have been a nice little gadget. Except with the invention of the microplane. The need to secure the nutmeg doesn't really have a need for anyone but possibly the partially disabled.
I first "found" Sorted Food when looking for modern reviews of some old kitchen gadgets I was very familiar with. I'm still here several years later, and still loving all the different Sorted Food videos! Thank you team, you really do make it worth the watch.
Oh now I watched Ben use it and that's NOT what I was expecting! The bit he used to move the tin top away we'd use as a lever to pull the metal apart following the inside rim, after you pierced the top
Love these videos, but I do have something I'd like to bring up, which is the in video ads for current events like the summer washed up. I really don't mind them, but something I've learned after watching rooster teeth and listening to them discuss practices they did, specifically in video ads is something that ended up making a lot of people mad because after the event happens, you have a bunch of ads in videos for things that they can't even access
@@starssky7884 I don't think they were saying they shouldn't advertise on their channel at all. They were making a point that in-video ads seen by people long after the event is no longer available may leave a bag taste in some people's mouths. I myself am not sure how much that truly matters in the long run, but if they were worried about it, doing it in shorts that can be easily deleted or community posts may mitigate it some.
@@craftiebrown If they can't understand that a Video has been uploaded ages ago, especially because the upload date is quite visible, then they really have to get off the Internet. Permanently....
@@lolly166541 I was only playing Devil's Advocate and trying to clarify the original statement to someone who didn't seem to grasp the point. I stated that I don't myself believe it matters. Anyone who didn't understand what I was doing should join them in getting off of the Internet permanently.
@@giraffesinc.2193 if they could track down a 1907 conservo cooker manufactured by Swartzbaugh (originally the Toledo cooker company based in Ohio) they would have baking and steaming options available too. Difficult to find one in working condition though i have not been able to track one down at an affordable price yet.
I never stopped using Nutmeg. I used to work in NPD for a big ready meals manufacturer and Nutmeg was often used in our mashed potato recipes to give the finished mash a little "something" and i still do exactly that to this day at home when I make mash.
Fresh nutmeg is the best. Put it on eggnog and truly love the holidays. I use my microplane now, but my grandmother had a simpler version of the one used here. She stored the nut inside, popped it out, and added some fresh spice to baked goods.
They are usually heat-treated to keep them fresh-tasting and dry them. They need to be very new to germinate. I am afraid it probably won't grow. The Dutch East India Company deliberately killed their nutmegs with heat, seawater and lime so nobody else could break their monopoly. They even killed nutmeg trees on islands they could not defend from seed thieves. They only grew them on the islands of Banda. That is why they almost caused the extinction of all nutmeg trees when a combined earthquake and typhoon hit the Banda islands in 1778. Weakened the Dutch East India Company so much that they fizzled out after that. Rare Palm Seeds in Germany sometimes get them but have a Notify Me button so you can buy them really fresh. You would need a male plant and a female plant to get fruit.
Im a chef in a school that turns 500 years old next year we could absolutely find a nice spot for both the knife polisher and stand mixer theyd probably get used and maintained too. E.g i regularly make bread in 100+ year old loaf tins.
I've been looking for vintage stuff to use
Fun fact. Emery powder has been used for centuries to keep pins and needles clean, sharp and rust free so it makes sense they would use it to clean and sharpen knives. When you see the old tomato pin cushions with the little strawberry attachment, the little strawberry would be filled with emery powder and pins and needles would be pushed in to clean and sharpen them.
I've always wondered what was in the strawberry part of those tomato pin cushions.
Wow! I never knew that about the pin cushions! My mom still has one I believe. Thank you for sharing that bit of trivia! 😊
Omg - I had no idea that’s what the strawberry was for! I still have my mom’s tomato pincushion from 50 years ago (probably longer). Thanks for the tip!
Emery boards are nail files in the UK. I'm guessing it's the same thing.
@@jaspercandoit Yep, the very same. It’s a super fine powder so it’s perfect for the emery boards.
Why would y'all give this to a museum... At this point, y'all can just start your own museum... Old cookbooks, old recipe recreations, old gadgets... You've got it all!
Very true. The Sorted Food museum of Kitchen Gadgets 😆
@@SortedFood I would fly halfway around the planet and come to London to see this, if it actually existed 😁
@@SortedFood That would be amazing; kind of like a Vegas attraction! I do hope they get out those impossible antique cookbooks again and make something; those episodes are such fun! Perhaps make them with the vintage gadgets??
@@SortedFoodmaybe put a rice cooker in the Museum. You certainly need one.
@@SortedFood Contact, "English Heritage, The Engine House, Swindon" about the knife polisher.
Love how they finally left all of Ben's trivia stay in the video rather than cutting halfway through...It's fascinating... Love learning these new things...
Amm, that is NOT how you use the can opener. In the Caribbean, we still have all metal can openers like this. The first part was correct, as you need to pierce the can to establish an opening, THEN, you use the other end, which has a sharpened edge, and a hand guard, insert it into the can horizontally, then, either slide clockwise, or anti-clockwise, to get a SMOOTH EDGED, tin top. I'm surprised that Ben didn't look more at the engineering of the tool before using it. This reminds me of the coconut grater, we used them from small children, and Ben nearly lost his hand using one. We still use nutmeg fairly regularly as well in dishes and drinks.
Exactly. I grew up with one of those, all metal.
"We used them from small children, and Ben nearly lost his hand using one." 😂
It doesn’t look sharp enough to cut the way you describe, nor does it seem like there would be enough torque to work... hmmm...
This hurt so much to watch...
Did you watch Mike using it? You should finish the video before posting.
15:00 Mike's little glance to the front that says "Knife Cleaner" then comes out saying "its a Knife Cleaner" sent me
Mhm🤣
Baby was being cheeky!
Did not even need to rewind, it was so obvious.
I suspect it was obvious to all that they weren't going to get it so he was putting them out of their misery.
Them complaining the cake maker isn't food grade safe, then Mike eating it anyway. Checks out :D
He took a risk for your entertainment 😆
@@SortedFood Greatly appreciated 😆💛
better not contain lead, or arsenic, or other harmful minerals.
cooking makes food safe to eat.
that and improving taste and texture is why we do it.
@@FARBerserker cooking doesn't remove potential metal flakes from your food lmao
Excellent video, I love old kitchenalia. Remember with the knife polisher, many of the cooking knives in the kitchen wouldn't be modern stainless steel. A lot of my old knives are high carbon steel which looks very dark grey. If you don't clean & dry them straight after use they'll rust & they can also pick up odours from things like onions. So keeping them in good condition is a must.
Great points 👌
You lads should write to the Victoria&Albert museum. They're THE museum for historic design pieces. As this probably came from an estate sale, please absolutely write down and save every information you have on the origin of this knife cleaner. Museums want provenance on the objects they're offered, the more the better. Signed, a German provenance researcher slash historian, thank you for the video guys!
A note on the knife cleaner. The cleaning in question likely wasn't the "evening washing up in the sink" kind. You don't use an abrasive emory powder for that, especially when it's likely going to be destroying the edge of the blade. You'd be sharpening every day. So what was it for?
This machine appears to have been invented either before or right as stainless steels were first coming to market. They weren't cleaning fat and meat bits off of it... they were cleaning RUST. That's the reason for the emory powder. Even if you're doing your best to keep the knife oiled it will rust a bit over time and you need a bit more than soap to get rid of it.
Super cool gadget I had no idea existed.
*EDIT* to mention that in addition to domestic use I'd wager you'd see this in places like butcher shops, restaurants, possibly even on ships.
As a kid I saw a gadget like that in a old house historic site. They said it was for knives that were not stainless. Also, the silver silverware was polished by hand. So I agree with you. It was used to maintain kitchen knives and flat utensils.
Higher Carbon steel knife blades rust or gain a black patina. Ask any chef. I only use carbon steel as the edge is the best - but they go black....unless polished. Table knives don't look posh mottled black and rusty so a footman would daily polish them
In the days when table cutlery was silver plated (or solid silver) the knife blades were steel, presumably because silver wouldn't take, or hold, a sharp edge. Steel blades discolour, rust, and become tainted by some foods. Polishing the knife blades was an unpleasant job usually reserved for the most downtrodden member of the kitchen staff.
Please bring back the old cookbook recipe videos. Make it a regular series. It is really fun to watch.
Absolutely! Idea! Old cookbook using only old time utensils, pots, cooking methods! Battle maybe?
Yes! Complete with historic attire! They could work with Max from Tasting History, Townsend, and/or Bernadette Banner!
Yes, or dishes that made history. Absolutely loved that format🤩🤩🤩🤩
@@Blackthorne369 Ann Reardon (How to Cook That) has a series of videos just like that. She'd be another great option.
I dunno if it's a German thing or just a regional or family thing in Germany, but we do actually use nutmeg quite regulary.
For example added to broccoli, cabbage or spinach dishes, light sauces, anything with potatoes (for example potato gratin or mashed potatoes), soups, stews.
I personally use it a LOT because I LOVE the aroma, but I've never used it for sweet dishes - time to try that out! :)
In the USA, I think a lot of people would be surprised how much they eat nutmeg, just in spice mixes, sausage, etc. We tend to use individual spices a lot less in the 21st century kitchen in general.
Nutmeg is also mandatory for nettle soup! Or at least it should be.
One thing they didn't mention for the knife cleaner is that back in the day they didn't have stainless steel so knives would rust quite quickly and need regular upkeep. I have a couple of carbon steel knives as they hold an edge longer but they can start oxidising in a matter of hours if not properly cleaned and oiled so a machine like that would save alot of time if you're using knives on a regular basis.
Former boy scout here. You used that can opener backwards. The wrench looking part is for slicing the side, where the pointy side is for safely opening the lid.
silly boys
Yeah they used that completely wrong
80 year old woman here--yelling at them for using it completely wrong. It's the only kind of can opener we had when I was a kid.
@@marshamills7496 It's the kind I used as a kid and I'm only 45. Really thought Ebbers would know how to use it.
@@marshamills7496, someone needs to grow up, then. Eighty years old and screaming at a device because forty odd year old men used an unfamiliar device wrong? Seriously, ma'am.
The knife cleaning/ sharpening gadget is still available in a lot of South- Asian nations where a hawker carrying a bicycle mounted version of the gadget visits neighbourhoods, calling out to residents in need of the service! Residents can bring their blunted/ tarnished knives out and the hawker hands them back sparkling clean ones!
If you ever need more nutmeg in your life, try Townsends. Their 18th century cooking shows are well worth the time it takes to watch them. For the food, and for the history. American and British together, because for most of the 1700s we were the same people.
Townsend's rocks 😎
We weren't the same people. MANY people immigrated to North America in the 1600s and early 1700s, and not just from England. Also, there were is still way more indigenous people in the North America during the Revolutionary War than there were European colonists. What an ethnocentric statement you made!
As much as Townsends loves his nutmeg, this is way to new for him......
I've been waiting for a Sorted-Townsends collab for the better part of a decade now.
Which country was the U.S. a colony of though?
lol watching Ben I was thinking "that is not how you use that can opener..." Glad they got it in the end.
Remember we had a tin opener similar to that one when I was a child.
haha, was here to say the same 😁
when I was a kid in the 80's, my 70 something year old neighbour had one that had been her mothers.
and btw, @loswingman is correct with their method of using it as far as I know
Used to use one like this for camping, and I'm only going back as far as the 90s yeah they still used in wrong.
as Ben started, I was sitting there saying "No Ben, No, Ben, Noooo" 😂
Steve1989MREInfo taught me this well enough that i also wanted to start screaming at ben. the fact that he thought the can opener was shaped like that to be used as a handle for the lid killed me
My Grandma had one of those can openers. Mike did it the right way. She could open a can in less than 10 seconds. When you get used to it, it words just as good as any hand opener.
Mike “I’m baby.” proceeds to eat the possible lead laced cake
Why would there be lead in a mixer?
@@bcaye The metal bowl, at least, looks like it could be pewter. Pewter of that era contained lead.
The WW2 GI can opener (the P-38) is the greatest can opener ever invented. Tiny, cheap to make, and work forever. They are still made today, and for good reason. Campers LOVE these little gadgets.
Oh, yeah, I've seen these things over at Steve1989MREInfo channel. Opening cans with them is a journey in and of itself, though.
Love this series! The mixer reminds me of my 1927 Singer sewing machine, built to last and to be repaired and still runs like a dream. And, at some point in its history, a motor was added to it, much like how our modern stand mixers grow from the one shown here. I would love a mixer like that. Making it be food safe aside, looks like fun to use, and could be a good way to get people involved in the kitchen, and keep them occupied.
Without a doubt I think the most interesting gadget was the knife cleaner. It's so different then anything I'd seen before and it still works so well
As a swede I use quite a bit of nutmeg. For example mashed potatoes need to have nutmeg in it. Also "stuvade makaroner" ( stewed macaroni),a real swedish "husmanskost", has to have nutmeg in it.
No offence but nutmeg in mashed potatoes? That feels as bad as putting hot sauce on a cake lol
As a norwegian, I concurr. Nutmeg must be present in any bechamel based dish. One of my favourite flavours!
@@danielandrews36 Nope, I'm German and its always been the thing that HAD to be in Mash otherwise it didnt taste right.
also some soups work well with a bit of Nutmeg and mashed potatoes have quite much in it :D
@erimhanse6075 I won't knock it till I try it but it just sounds weird lol
They can probably open their own antique gadget museum now.
We know right 😅
@@SortedFood It's an amazing collection!! If I had a great big farmhouse kitchen I'd love to have many of these on display, as Ben mentioned! If I lived in a place with no electricity, the first would be a delightful addition for cookies and cakes!
@@SortedFood I came here to say this too. When you get your pub open, just have another building showcasing all of the antique gadgets, maybe with a display by them showing how they worked.
I said they make a gadget and sell it
@@SortedFood did you get your own As seen on the telly Gadget yet??? Sorted gadgets
Fun fact for Ben... If that's made from steel, it's pre-war steel and sought after because it doesn't have trace amounts of radiation. That makes it useful for making things like geiger counters that are susceptible to that sort of thing.
The thing about using a microplane for nutmeg and other stuff is that you are very likely to microplane your fingers. This solves that problem, and I want one!
There is a food holder that protects your fingers for microplanes...
I feel a vintage gadgets only pass it on coming!
Same here, and I’m here for it.
Didn’t they do that? I feel like Barry got the popcorn exploder
@@LazarusLong10 That was a "dangerous gadgets" pass it on.
This needs more likes
We in Serbia use Nutmeg for cooked and minced wheat grain which is mixed with powdered sugar, grinded wallnuts and a bit of nutmeg for celebration of familly Saint (each Saint is in celebbrated on different day of the year) and this mixiture is serve to gest on the entrance before sit on table to eat .Also tin opener, you pierce with spear like side and then those other part you use as leverage to cut using upward motion and forward so you cut from inside out if i explain clearly. Mike was doing proper way.
Yay! I love the antique gadget days! Especially when you use something I’ve seen in my Nana’s kitchen.
Which one does your Nana have?
@@SortedFood Nana had one of the nutmeg grinders. To make more sense of this I’m 60 and Nana was born in 1897.
@@rosejustice to be fair, kitchen gear was often passed down. My mother was born in the 1960s, and she uses a bread pan from the turn of the century passed down through generations.
I love it when people share their memories of how family used to cook and prepare foods...its like a glimpse of the past. Take care
The new and improved tower knife cleaner not only is built to last but it outshines every other gadget from this episode.
I'm 72 years old and still have my grandmother's tin opener, which is identical to the one in the video. I still use it on some tins, especially large catering tins when I am batch cooking with my daughter.
The old Landers, Frary & Clark factory in New Britain, CT where the cake maker was manufactured is being turned into apartments after half a century of being vacant. The building has landmark designation, so hopefully it keeps a lot of the 1860's architecture.
they won't be affordable housing will they...
Glad the building will be resurrected and repurposed.
I am a home baker and have a dedicated nutmeg grater. I bought a rasp style zester just like what is shown her (minus the nifty spring holder) for citrus and hated it for that purpose. Way too much of the zest was lost down the sink in cleaning because I couldn't get it zest into the bowl. I bought a microplane and use that for zesting citrus as well as myriad other things. The rasp grater is used all the time when I'm baking because I only buy whole nutmeg. Freshly grated is so much more flavorful than pre-ground as will all spices. Ben says he doesn't use nutmeg enough. Part of that is because he's obviously not a baker. Part of that may be British flavors? Part of it is that he just doesn't think about using it, too. Ben may have been trained as a chef, but his experience is not the same as all of England, or all the English speaking world..
I absolutely love the gadgets that perform their task identically well to modern gadgets. Especially when the engineering behind it has barely changed. I mean, like was pointed out by Mike and Ebbers, that cake mixer is mechanically the exact same idea as a modern stand mixer, just without a motor. From my family's Mexican kitchen, you could try a metate, which is a stone grinding slab used for making doughs that has remained completely unchanged since pre-Colombian times.
I switched to using whole spices grated a little while back, and fresh nutmeg is awesome, makes a huge difference over the stuff in the little pots from the supermarket.
I have the feeling we here in the Netherlands haven’t forgotten about nutmeg. I’m not saying nobody here uses spices but I know several people that only have salt, pepper and nutmeg in their kitchen. It’s really nice with white asparagus.
Ben has sooo much food knowledge! Love learning from him!
They didnt mention how the nutmeg grater protects your fingers from the sharp edges of the grater - surely a great improvement on the simple grater.
Watching Ebbers use that can opener entirely wrong was quite amusing.
Oh wow. Both of them have no idea.
the thing about that nutmeg grinder, considering you can buy what is basically just the rasp part of that grinder today, the fact that it can be quite difficult to hold onto the nut while you rasp it especially as the nut gets smaller, the idea of having a spring loaded hopper would make it easier to use, and I wonder if a more modern (not electric though) version is availiable.
I work in a Wetherspoons and we use a modern version of the knife cleaner to polish all of the cutlery. I love using it as it's really cool and also makes sure there are no water marks from the dishwasher. With the one that we use it's automatic and uses a sand like rough powder to polish it as well as very loud vibrations to push the cutlery through the machine to the hole at the botrom of it.
I LOVED this gadget review!... I am a somewhat older woman, and my Omi (German Gran) was a Patisserie Cook in the early 1900s, working for the local 'Big' House...I can imagine her using some of these gadgets,. And am fairly sure I saw one of those tin-openers in her house when visited! (Way back in the 1960s...)
This particular series might be my favorite. It's fascinating watching these antiques get tested.
I so agree
1 second spaff...... so childish I love it 😂
I had such a giggle at this
@14:25 not just the ring pull, but also the safe-edge can opener that leaves a not-sharp surface for those cans without ring pull.
My favorite statement ever may be “if everyone that watches this goes out and buys a nutmeg”…”that would be 47 nutmegs” I love the shows you guys put out
Love all of your videos!
I have a idea for a video: "Lunch box challenge"
Normals/chefs should cook 2 portions.
One portion should be tried straight from the pan ("fresh"), while the other should chill in the fridge for 24 hours and reheated in the microwave, then compared.
sidekick has a lot of great recipies, but sometimes i feel like the dishes don't reheat to well in a microwave.
I didn't realise nutmeg was out of fashion. I also great it in my dauphinoise and gratins.
It’s absolutely delicious in Dauphinois and gratin 👌
That. Also in omelettes and in béchamel.
@@SortedFood and anything using minced beef!
part of Pumpkin Pie Spice blend and one of the flavours of Christmas in eggnog
My grandmother had the same can opener when I was younger that brought back some memories and yes Mike used it correctly
I never opened a tin with a tin opener, I have a sacrificial knife that I just pierce the tin and then with a rocking motion cut the lid until I can open it.
P.S. I think the second blade on the tool is for that rocking motion and not just opening the lid when you finished, because it has a inside blade that is can cut the lid from underneath it and a "hammer" that can put leverage on the top of the lid so that the inside blade can cut it better.
P.S.2. Nevermind I need to watch the whole video before I start commenting.
Many of the old mincers are worth buying. They were never designed just for grinding meat as most people think they are essentially early versions of food processors and were used for chopping vegetables, making breadcrumbs, grinding nuts amongst other things and many even have nut butter plates which still work really well for making nut or seed butters with very little effort. No electricity needed and no motor to burn out as you can't push them too hard.
I might have to consider one since I want to make nut butters.
@@Nirrrina
Most important thing for nut butters is the fresher the nuts the better the result. Older nuts may need several passes to get the desired texture.
Roasting the nuts in the oven, coffee bean roaster, or a dry frying pan (watch carefully so you don't burn them) will improve the taste and help get the oil flowing out of them faster.
I got the mincer from ebay. The nut butter plate is just a solid plate, no holes just a few ridges. If you want a crunchy texture just loosen it a bit so there is a slight gap.
If i want really smooth nut butter i use my wondermill junior grain mill with the metal burrs fitted. Much slower than the mincer and a serious workout but it makes the smoothest nut butter i have ever had.
Theoretically my juicer can make nut butter too mine is a JR Ultra Purus but any slow juicer should be able to although i haven't tried it. I have used it for nut milks, homous and fruit sorbets as well as juicing it does all those things very well.
Just be cautious using a blender or food processor for nut butters. It puts a huge strain on the motor, i know a lot of people who burned out motors and stripped gears whilst making nut butter.
You can definitely overstress them though, I sheared the part off that holds the disc in place on one.
I use nutmeg in cakes (with cinnamon, aniseed and ginger), rice puddings and in mashed potatoes or potato soup... I can definitely use that nutmeg gadget!
best Sorted Live ad, please never change, Mike. I can't wait for Washed Up!
Can't have great Northern Italian cooking without nutmeg. Many custards, soups, potatoes, cookies, cakes. Also homemade Friulano sausages have nutmeg.
I have a lot of nutmeg in my kitchen and use it for foods like mashed potatoes and the cheese sauce in lasagna. And also as an ingredient in homemade schnapps 🤤
Unsure if you have already done this, but would be fun to watch a battle using the vintage gadgets you've collected over these years!
That's a GREAT idea!!!
Brilliant!!!!
I can't believe ebbers actually used the can opener wrong after all that knowledge. 😂 way to go mike!
I still occasionally use my tin opener of exactly the same design. When you know how to use it properly it opens a tin in about 10 seconds.
In Sweden we still use those old fashioned can openers quite a lot! Many households don’t have the more modern ones that you clip on and turn. That said, you guys used it the wrong way around 😊😂
Nutmeg is much like bayleaf; it adds something that I cannot describe but you can tell when it is missing.
Mike was on absolute fire this episode. The reaction to Ben's nut comment. The 1 second spaff comment. Absolute gold
Nutmeg is still popular in Sweden, used in sauses and (from my experience) in pasta dishes.
I use nutmeg a lot. Mashed potatoes aren't the same without it. The modern equivalent is a spring loaded nutmeg planer/grinder. Peugeot made my particular one.
Regarding the nutmeg usage. I use almost one per week. I absolutly love it and anything potatoy gets a load of it. I actually looked into Nutmeg grinders specifically until i got a microplane for christmas and it fullfilled all my needs.
We use nutmeg pretty often. Mac and cheese, pumpkin soup, custard. It’s awesome.
Nutmeg on cauliflower with cheese sauce. Classic.
19:07 a current day version is an emery disk which has polishing flaps that rotates on a spindle that can be added to power tools. Alternatively they sell premixed emery sollution for polishing of cutlery.
The moment I saw the knife cleaner I instantly recognised it as my grandad has the same one in his museum. Great to see it in action though, his has always just been up on a shelf
"One second Spaff" literally busted out laughing. That was hilarious. Great video you guys
The nutmeg comments were funny to me. I love nutmeg and used a microplane years ago. Now that I’m older I no longer have the finger strength or dexterity to microplane nutmeg seeds. I just recently purchased a nice little nutmeg grinder. So I get to enjoy freshly ground nutmeg again.
Regarding the can opener. You need to think back to how strong the tinplate was decades ago. Cans had straight sides, not corrugated like today, so the metal needed to be thicker to handle the pressure cook. Today’s can openers may not have been able to handle the thickness.
we have a much simpler old wooden nutmeg box with a grater as its lid. It's in one of the top drawers under the stovetop, because i love using it in bechamels, cheesesauce and such.
definitely gets used a bunch in our kitchen.
That is not how that can opener is supposed to be used… you use the claw-lookin’ bit. Thick bit hooks under rim, use leverage to force blade side of claw into the inner edge of the rim. Make a puncture hole then shift forward an do it again the whole way round. They are actually pretty easy to use when you know how!
I have a small collection of Antique kitchen gear. Nutmeg I use in my house and freshly grate it for rice pudding, baked custard, My grandmother‘s gingerbread, and ethnic foods. Would love to find this one
The tin opener is still around in stores. Yours is a bit fancier with wood handle. The more modern one is all metal. The expedition to the Arctic Circle did take tin cans that unfortunately had lead in the metal Which led to very ill health and death.
I love it, when Ben and a normal test kitchen gadgets ! Great fun is guaranteed !
I have never considered using nutmeg in a sweet dish. For me, I use it in spinach and in cheese fondue, and thats about it. Maybe I should be more adventurous with spices (I love spices).
You missed the most obvious chance at a pun Mike... Should have been 'So I think that evolution has definitely TIN worth the effort' You should totally reach out to English Heritage and see if they would use it for one of their living museum manor, then it is like a gift back to the group maintaining the sort of stately manor houses that would have had one.
English Heritage are amazing. They could have Mrs Crocombe and Mrs Warwick the housekeeper do a video about it as well haha Mrs crocombe sharpening her knives for the kitchen and Mrs Warwick polishing the finery for dinner. Well, they could have an assistant do it while they make idol chatter as the senior members of stuff 😂
Those of us from the Caribbean have no problem using Nutmeg, especially if you heritage is from Grenada. Grin.
I always have nutmeg in the house, since I love to use it in any white sauce like bechamel or even in home made mashed potato.
All of these were so excellent. Imagine our kitchen gadgets lasting 130-140 years. Only really great & expensive products do. My mix master & my Cuisinart food processor both between 25 & 30 yeaes old & I consider that fantastic.
Mike’s ad for the summer live, priceless. Every costume was better than the last. It was so good!!!
The lobster 🦞 😂😂😂
Mike's proper glance at the front of the knife cleaner just before announcing what it was 😂 so obvious.
Mike used the opener the right way, you must get a badge for that!
It is amazing what we came up with so long ago to help out in the kitchen and like the old saying go they don't make them like they used to, Things of old were made to last along time and these prove that 100+ years and still going strong mostly. I liked the cake mixer it was a very cool way to mix a cake and still the basic of todays version. I could see an old kitchen with most of these spread out over the place. I love to see more Antique Gadgets as it so cool to so how it was done so long ago.
130 years old and still working, don’t think many modern businesses can compete with that!
love these videos; its nice to learn how things were done in the past. That knife cleaner is so cool.
I need that nutmeg grater! It's always so annoying to grate the last bit of nutmeg.
This is true.
Not sure they used the can opener correctly. I've never used one, but I've seen them used in movies and stuff. You make the hole, then use the other end in an up and down motion to cut along the can. You don't just punch holes all the way around and then use the other end (the cutting end) to lift the lid. I could very well be wrong. Just know I have seen these non-electric, non-wind can-openers used in movies.
ETA: Looks like Mike figured it out. Serves me right for commenting before finishing the video!
Would love to see a video where Barry and Jamie to review “kitchen gadgets”, where the twist is that none of the gadgets was originally designed for food.
Just let them figure out what it could be and run with it. “Yes these sheep shearing scissors are made for pitting olives”
😂😂😂
I still use nutmeg, for baking, in meat sauces, manicotti , apple dumplings, yams, turnip , stuffing for fowl … it’s a standard spice in my kitchen
The nutmeg thing would have been a nice little gadget. Except with the invention of the microplane. The need to secure the nutmeg doesn't really have a need for anyone but possibly the partially disabled.
You can still buy just the grater with a container part for the nutmeg. It's a pretty cheap thing to buy.
I first "found" Sorted Food when looking for modern reviews of some old kitchen gadgets I was very familiar with. I'm still here several years later, and still loving all the different Sorted Food videos!
Thank you team, you really do make it worth the watch.
I’d LOVE to have the cake maker, and I’d use it, too.
I think it'd be great for someone who either doesn't have electricity or wants to conserve it.
I used this type of a can opener for most of my childhood and I'm pretty sure my mum still has it 😂 I'm 32 !
Oh now I watched Ben use it and that's NOT what I was expecting! The bit he used to move the tin top away we'd use as a lever to pull the metal apart following the inside rim, after you pierced the top
Love these videos, but I do have something I'd like to bring up, which is the in video ads for current events like the summer washed up.
I really don't mind them, but something I've learned after watching rooster teeth and listening to them discuss practices they did, specifically in video ads is something that ended up making a lot of people mad because after the event happens, you have a bunch of ads in videos for things that they can't even access
Expecting them not to advertise THEIR event on THEIR channel is one of the most inane things I have ever heard.
@@starssky7884 I don't think they were saying they shouldn't advertise on their channel at all. They were making a point that in-video ads seen by people long after the event is no longer available may leave a bag taste in some people's mouths. I myself am not sure how much that truly matters in the long run, but if they were worried about it, doing it in shorts that can be easily deleted or community posts may mitigate it some.
@@craftiebrown If they can't understand that a Video has been uploaded ages ago, especially because the upload date is quite visible, then they really have to get off the Internet. Permanently....
@@lolly166541 I was only playing Devil's Advocate and trying to clarify the original statement to someone who didn't seem to grasp the point. I stated that I don't myself believe it matters. Anyone who didn't understand what I was doing should join them in getting off of the Internet permanently.
The last one had me really impressed. Today, it might even be more of a niche application than it used to be, but it does its job exceedingly well.
Would be cool to see an analog kitchen challenge, no electricity allowed 😂
Great idea 👌
Fantastic idea!!! I doubt they can start a fire in that studio, but they could probably get propane burners. That would be super fun!
@@giraffesinc.2193 The ignitors are electric, not???
@thaisstone5192 they could use matches. Limited to 5 uses
@@giraffesinc.2193 if they could track down a 1907 conservo cooker manufactured by Swartzbaugh (originally the Toledo cooker company based in Ohio) they would have baking and steaming options available too. Difficult to find one in working condition though i have not been able to track one down at an affordable price yet.
I never stopped using Nutmeg. I used to work in NPD for a big ready meals manufacturer and Nutmeg was often used in our mashed potato recipes to give the finished mash a little "something" and i still do exactly that to this day at home when I make mash.
The Townsends have entered the nutmeg chat!
Super interesting and enjoyed Mike's enthusiasm with the knife cleaner.
Fresh nutmeg is the best. Put it on eggnog and truly love the holidays. I use my microplane now, but my grandmother had a simpler version of the one used here. She stored the nut inside, popped it out, and added some fresh spice to baked goods.
I just planted two nutmeg seeds to try to grow my own!
How wonderful! Your future self will thank you 😋
I actually have a small 3' bay leaf tree on the patio (same principle) because they are soooooo much better fresh!
@@giraffesinc.2193 Ooh I just planted a bay laurel and gave one to my mom for mother's day. So excited!
@@giraffesinc.2193You're Ben's kindred spirit.
They are usually heat-treated to keep them fresh-tasting and dry them. They need to be very new to germinate. I am afraid it probably won't grow. The Dutch East India Company deliberately killed their nutmegs with heat, seawater and lime so nobody else could break their monopoly. They even killed nutmeg trees on islands they could not defend from seed thieves. They only grew them on the islands of Banda. That is why they almost caused the extinction of all nutmeg trees when a combined earthquake and typhoon hit the Banda islands in 1778. Weakened the Dutch East India Company so much that they fizzled out after that. Rare Palm Seeds in Germany sometimes get them but have a Notify Me button so you can buy them really fresh. You would need a male plant and a female plant to get fruit.