### Article: The Quest for Kanafeh: A Culinary Adventure with Sorted
#### Introduction
In the heart of London, a group of food enthusiasts—known as Sorted—embark on culinary adventures, exploring the latest trends in food while sharing their experiences with humor and passion. Jamie and Ben, two of the group’s key members, recently returned from an epic journey to Dubai, where they attempted to eat 36 different dishes in just 36 hours—a challenge they successfully completed. Now, back in the studio, they set out to recreate one of those dishes: Kanafeh, a traditional Palestinian dessert. The task was daunting, but they were determined to bring this intricate dish to life.
#### What is Kanafeh?
Kanafeh, also known as Kunafa or Qunafie, is a beloved Middle Eastern dessert made with layers of phyllo dough, spiced cheese, and a sweet syrup. The dessert has a stringy texture from the cheese and a rich, sweet flavor from the syrup, often infused with orange blossom or rosewater. The dish’s preparation involves careful layering and precise cooking techniques to achieve its signature texture and taste.
#### Recreating Kanafeh in the Studio
Back in London, Sorted decided to tackle Kanafeh, selecting it as their next project after their Dubai adventure. Jamie and Ben were determined to bring this dish back to life, but they quickly realized that recreating such a complex dessert would be no easy feat.
The process began with preparing the ghee—a key ingredient in Kanafeh. The team colored the ghee using orange food coloring, adding depth and vibrancy to the dish. They then layered the ghee over a large pan, followed by strands of phyllo dough (which they humorously referred to as “little pastry noodles”) and a generous amount of cheese. The cheese used in Kanafeh is traditionally a Palestinian variety, but Jamie and Ben opted for a combination of mozzarella and ricotta to mimic the desired texture.
Next came the syrup, flavored with orange blossom water and rosewater, which was heated until it thickened slightly. This sweet layer would be drizzled over the top of the dessert after cooking. The team also added pistachios for an extra crunch and visual appeal.
#### Challenges in the Kitchen
As they began cooking, the team encountered several challenges. The induction hob they used generated intense heat, causing the pan to burn if left unattended. This led to a series of mishaps, including smoke-filled rooms and burned edges. Despite these setbacks, Jamie and Ben remained determined, adjusting their techniques to ensure the dish’s success.
One key adjustment was switching from an induction hob to an electric hob for even heating. They also experimented with different pan sizes and thicknesses to achieve the perfect balance between crispiness and tenderness in the phyllo layers.
#### The Final Product
After multiple attempts and adjustments, Jamie and Ben finally achieved a dish that closely resembled Kanafeh. The phyllo dough was golden and crispy, while the cheese pulled away in strings, creating the signature texture of the dessert. The syrup added a sweet, tangy flavor, completing the dish.
While their version wasn’t identical to the one they tasted in Dubai—due to differences in ingredients and technique—they were proud of how close they came. The team reflected on the process with both satisfaction and humor, acknowledging the challenges but celebrating their success.
#### Conclusion
The journey to recreate Kanafeh was a testament to Sorted’s passion for food and their commitment to pushing boundaries. While not every step was smooth, the end result—a dessert that was visually stunning and delicious—was well worth the effort. Jamie and Ben’s perseverance and sense of humor shine through as they recount their culinary adventure, reminding us that even the most challenging recipes can be tackled with patience and determination.
As Sorted continues to explore new dishes and share their experiences, one thing is certain: their journey in the kitchen will always be an exciting and flavorsome ride.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- We are Sorted,a group of mates fromLondon exploring the newestand best in the world of food,whilst trying to have afew laughs along the way.(laughing)We've got chefs, we've got normals (beep)and a whole world ofstuff for you to explore.But everything we do starts with you.(bopping music)Hello!This is Jamie and I'm Ben.- Now, a few months ago afew of us went to Dubai.- I didn't get to go.- And we tried to eat36 dishes in 36 hoursand we succeeded.We then came back and said,which one of those 36 dishesshould we try and recreate in the studio?And you picked the most difficult one.- There, there it is.Forward, forward.Yeah.- I don't know what that is.- This is Kanafeh.It's made by spreadingcolored ghee over the topof a big pan.Watch this carefully.And then putting, likelittle pastry noodles over itand then cheese goes on top of it.- That was so vague, likelittle pastry noodles on it?- A special Palestiniancheese that these guys use,and the cheese justkind of starts to melt.And then what you do is you flip it,and then you cook the bottomof the cheese as well,so the cheese becomes super duper stringy.And then syrup all over the top of it.It's amazingly sweet.It's finished with pistachiosand it looks amazing.- This is the think Ihate about voice-overs,you're like, just summarizebriefly what it's all about,and you glaze over all the detail.- I've never tasted anythinglike that before in my life.I had never tasted anythinglike that before in my life.The chef made it lookvery easy in that kitchen.- I know, so easy.- And you looked very happywhilst you were in the kitchen.- Wait til you see whatpan we're gonna use.We're gonna be on Spanish news again.(laughing)- Oh no!- Oh no!- You have a recipe.- I wrote a recipe,'cause I was that nervous.- Alright, but does thismean that you've tested it?- No.I think first we're gonnaput the sugar syrup on,which is gonna be flavoredwith orange blossom,you can also do it with rosewater,and some lemon, and thenwe're gonna color the gheewith orange food coloring.- I'll rub some ghee.- Do you wanna rub?- Yep.It's gonna take a lot.- I mean we could go boldand put some red coloring in there.- Could definitely make or break this.- Oh.(laughing)- Step one is color some gheeand we can't even do that.- You do the next step,I'll keep goin' this.- We've got our sugar syrup,it's gonna heat up,gonna simmer for awhile,until it just kind ofthickens a little bit.Then the orange blossom's gonna go in.- Or rosewater.- Or rosewater.In the meantime, you can do your thing.- My thing.- Your thing.If you haven't noticed, it's a paella pan.We know.- You're welcome.- It's wrong.(laughing)- You could make somegreat burritos in this though,couldn't you?- This is not on the heat yet, by the way,we're just wiping.This is kan-teh, kan-tif, kan-taif-ee.I think it's shredded phyllo.I think that's what it's described as.This is Greek.- I presumed from the visuals originallythat it was noodles.- So, he didn't do this bit,but you're supposed to like.Oh, I dunno.Like, shred it like that.Think I'm happy with that.And then cheese.So put it all over first andthen start scrunching it in.- Sugar syrup's had 10minutes, we're gonna add insome of our orange blossom, teaspoon.(air swooshing in microphone)(James slurping)- Oh, that is delicious.Was it 200 grams of ricotta?- Yes.- In my recipe thatmight work and might not.(bopping music)I definitely wantstringiness, so mozzarella,ricotta I guess, creaminess?But I really couldn't find anyof the proper Palestinian cheese.- So what he can do is he can,he knows he's got to get300 grams mozzarella,he knows that he had 200 grams of ricotta,so if that goes to 500 be-r,then he can use maths to saythat he's got the right amount?So how much you got left to go, Barry?- So, I got cheese in it, so.- Straight answer isn't it?- So I'm thinking, thericotta's gonna holdall the mozzarella together,and it's kind of like,a bit like that texturethat we saw in the video.- I think we'regonna need a lot more.- Okay.- For coverage.(bopping electric guitar music)That kind of thing?- We've got an induction hob,'cause it's got a bit more heat to it.And we're gonna have to like,move it around constantly.- Steam already coming through.- Is that steam or smoke?- Yep.(James chuckling)- Am I smelling burning or what?Ah!(Jamie sniggering)(oven beeping)- You burnt it.- Did you not see me lift itup and smoke come out of it?Might need to open a window.(oil crackling)It's black.- It's black in the middle.It's definitely black in the middle.- It's black as the night.- Would you say that's salvageable?(suspenseful woodwind music)- Ugh.- Flip it.One, two, three!- Oh God!- Oh.- Could it be thatbecause the hob is smallerthan the pan, that we leftit in one place for too long?- Hundy-p, mate.I think lower heat, keep itmoving, like that, lower heat.You might want to stop eating that.'cause we're gonna do this again.Just save that.(electric guitar music)Should we just finish it?- Yeah, go on.- Finish it and we'llsee if we can improve on it.(Barry chuckling)- Oh no!- Should we just cut it an see?(bopping music)- I mean, it's not quitethe same cheese pull is it?- When's Ben's be back?- He'll be back in a couple of days.- We should do then.- Do you remember that bit in the videowhere I ask James how heknew how to make Kanafeh.- Yeah.- And he says, I'm a chef.(Barry chuckles)- Mm!- This bit?- This bit.- I don't know what I'mlooking for here, so.- Not that.That is not it.Oh.- It'll smells burned thanit is, um, it tastes--- It's acrid.- Yeah.I'm not getting any orange blossom.(Jamie chuckling)- I think it's being maskedby the, you know, charcoal.(sad violin music)- This time, we're gonnatop up the sugar syrup,do it exactly the same.We're gonna top up the ghee,it was perfectly colored.And then the cheese, we'regonna use more mozzarella,like literally, a little bit of ricotta,just to bring it together, and hopefullythat will stop it leaking.And then I'm gonna cook it properly.We're taking away the inductionand we're doing it on a electric hob'cause we don't actually need a high heat.All we need is an even heat,and we're gonna turn itconstantly on the even heat.And hopefully it goes well.Oh, and we've changed the pans.We're gonna try it on these.These are serving trays,but they look really similarto the ones that these were made on.So, whatever.- Alright, do we want more?For a more even layer?- Yeah, yeah.(bopping rock music)- Cheese feels a lot dryer now,a lot less ricotta and amuch better torn mozzarella.- Says the guy thatchucked a massive chunkof mozzarella in last time.- Yeah, so just checkingwhere we were last time,everything but thecolor, the color's good.That was done by me, sotherefore I should take controlof the more of this recipe.- I think we've done athinner layer of pastry.Just trying to get that mucheven rather than adding more.- And again, a slightlythinner layer of cheese,you reckon?- I reckon so, yeah.But it also helps, it won't be as wet.- This could be the one, boys.This could be the one.Turn it on!- If I were you, I'd very tailor it,I'd turn all the hobs on.Well it's where cause all of them.- I've turned this one on as well,so we're getting like, this corner,and this heating, and thenI'm just gonna turn it.- I reckon this will bebetter than last time,but still not perfect.- But we are lookingfor perfection aren't we?Or we're looking for a pass?- I think, title-wise, itprobably already says failed.(laughing)- Look at that's melting.Wonder if it needs moreghee around the outside?- I ghee'd the outside.- He's literally pulledthe pan away from us,so he'll have even more control.- As we well know, there'sonly so much democracyand then really it's justa power game, isn't it?- Mate, that's lookin' good.He's looking crispier.- It's not stickin'.- The cheese is oozy.- Are we thinking that it's time?Careful.(metal clanging)- Oh.Did you feel it drop?Did it drop?James!- You did it!- James!James, that actually looks like Kanafeh.(suspenseful music)- Chef.(laughing)Ah.- Careful!(oil sizzling)- That might be good.- So, less.- Less syrup.- Less syrup.- Have you orange blossomed this?- I have orange blossomed this.- This might be far closerthan we expected it to be.- I think you can get overthe way he did it last time.- No.- I think we're good.This has been a great video,I've actually done a lot,thank you.(suspenseful piano music)- Oh, oh, oh.- It looks good.Is it gonna taste the same?- Come on, mate.- Crunch.We're looking for an epic cheese pull.- And for it to hold together.- That too.- And for it to taste amazing.- Yes, yes, yes,yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!(hands clapping)(triumphant electronic music)- Got in my little cheese pull.Cheers.- Cheers.- Cheers.- Cheers.- Might be hot.I think it's not as sweet,is because we might have puttoo thin a layer of pastryon the bottom so it didn'thave as much to soak in.And the cheese is just not quite the same.- The cheese isn't the same.- It works, but it's not thesame as what we had in Dubai.- I like it!I understand where it's goin'.- This is close, it's really close,but it's just not quite the same.- I have put a lot of extra syrup on that.- More syrup helps it.- It does, yeah.- Well done, James, you pulled that back.- Yeah, excellent.- Good job.Thanks for the help.(hands clapping)- Do you go through that much painin every single recipe lab?- That was particularly stressful.- That was one of hundreds of thingswe've had the great fortuneof tasting in these videosover the last few months.What else have you seen us eatthat you'd love to watch us recreate?- Wagu, please can we do wagu?- Comment down below.- Wagu.So make sure that you don'tmiss anything that we upload,click the bell, makesure you get notified,every Wednesday, every Sunday,four o'clock we're herefor your viewing pleasure.- And we will be back onSunday, so we'll see ya then.- Buh-bye.- As we mentioned,we don't just maketop-quality YouTube videos.- No!- We've built the Sorted Club,where we use the best things we've learntto create stuff that'shopefully interestingand useful to other food lovers.Check it out if you're interested.Thank you for watching, andwe'll see you in a few days.(beep)- Before I tell you what I think.(metal spoon clanging)\n"
