**The Great Burger Debate: A Conversation about MSG**
As we sat down to discuss two amazing burgers, I couldn't help but feel nervous. My companion, who seemed just as anxious, asked what had me so on edge. "What have you got to be nervous about?" they inquired. I replied that I was nervous about the topic of conversation itself - specifically, MSG, a common food additive that has been shrouded in controversy.
The other person nodded in agreement, stating that we both had nothing to lose by exploring this topic. However, as we delved deeper into the conversation, it became clear that our perspectives on MSG were vastly different. I confessed that I was nervous about the potential risks associated with consuming MSG, while my companion seemed to be more relaxed about the whole thing.
As we began to discuss the burgers themselves, one of which had a double patty, I couldn't help but notice the crunch and taste of the gherkin. "Cheers!" I exclaimed, savoring the flavors. My companion agreed, stating that they liked the sweetness of the bun, as well as the meaty flavor of the burger. We both concluded that our burgers were delicious, with the first having a slightly pinker center.
However, things took an interesting turn when we discovered that one of the burgers was missing MSG. "This is different," my companion observed, "because this is our exact same burger but without MSG." I preferred this version to the original, and explained that it made a significant difference in the taste of the patty itself.
As we continued to chat, we began to explore the controversy surrounding MSG. My companion expressed their preference for the MSG-free burger, stating that they could detect a subtle difference in flavor. I agreed, stating that I also preferred the non-MSG version. We both acknowledged that excessive salt, sugar, and fat were more pressing concerns than MSG.
As our conversation drew to a close, we found ourselves sitting on the fence regarding the use of MSG in food. My companion jokingly suggested that if MSG could be proven to have no negative effects, then it might as well not be used at all. I couldn't help but agree with this sentiment, and we both concluded that our opinions were shaped by a desire to avoid unnecessary risks.
**The Sorting of Food**
As we wrapped up our discussion about MSG, my companion mentioned the SORTED Club, an initiative that aims to create high-quality content for food lovers. We discussed how they use their knowledge to develop interesting and useful resources. I expressed my admiration for their efforts, stating that I would happily have devoured an entire one of either burger.
Just as we were about to part ways, another burger appeared on the table. "Now," my companion said with a grin, "what is this?" They revealed that it was another identical burger, but without MSG. We both agreed that this version was superior, with the patty tasting fresher and more flavorful.
As we took our leave, I couldn't help but think about the controversy surrounding MSG. My companion's words of wisdom echoed in my mind: "If there is a risk and a chance, however small it is, that it might, even in small doses, have a detrimental effect... then, we might as well just pack up and go home." It was a thought-provoking moment, one that left me pondering the role of MSG in our diets.
**Dad Jokes**
As we wrapped up our conversation, my companion reminded us that it's time for a dad joke. They announced that Jamie would be sharing a joke with us, but unfortunately, he wasn't present. Instead, Barry took over, delivering a joke about a baguette in a zoo enclosure. I groaned at the terrible pun, and we both ended up laughing.
The conversation was interrupted by a reminder that our channel is dedicated to creating high-quality content beyond just making YouTube videos. We mentioned the SORTED Club, an initiative that aims to create useful resources for food lovers. We encouraged viewers to check out their work and join the club.
As we concluded our discussion about MSG, I couldn't help but feel grateful for the opportunity to explore this topic with my companion. The experience was both informative and entertaining, one that left me with a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding MSG in food.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- We are SORTED, agroup of mates from Londonexploring the newest andbest in the world of foodwhilst trying to have afew laughs along the way.(laughing)We've got chefs, we've got normals,(bleep)and a whole world ofstuff for you to explore.But everything we do starts with you.(upbeat music)- Hello, I'm Barry and this is Michael.- Can science help twonormals out-chef a chef?Before we start anything,do we all know about MSG?(playful music)- The human tongue is covered in200 to 400 small bumpswhich contain taste buds.Those taste buds contain taste receptors.When you chew food, yoursaliva breaks it downinto smaller molecules so it can bedetected by those receptors.They then identify which taste it isand send an electricalimpulse to your brainso you can taste it.Umami, basically, is the taste of savory.It's why burgers, ramen, lasagnas,and all that stuff are so delicious.But what does this have to do with MSG?Well, in 1908, someclever Japanese scientistidentified the exact chemistryof that savory flavorwhilst experimenting with kombu seaweedand discovered that the amazing tastewas down to a naturallyoccurring salt proteincombination calledmonosodium glutamate M-S-G.MSG has since beenextracted, crystallized,and exists as a powdered flavor enhanceras well as naturallyoccurring in the cookingof meats and mushrooms, etc.A popular belief is thatMSG can cause headachesand other feelings of discomfortbut current studies have foundno evidence to support this.So the question is, canyou improve the flavorof your food by just adding MSG seasoning?And can two normals use itto create a better burgerthan a chef in a blind taste test?In this challenge us normals and the chefwill have exactly thesame ingredients to use.We've got chuck and we've got brisket.- Okay, from what I've read--- The love the researchthat I've read up on.- 70% lean meat, 30% fatty meat.- Provides you with a fattier burgerand what does fat equal?- Flavor.- Yes.- So I'm going to weight this out.I'm gonna experiment alittle bit with the brisketbut I'll probably usemore chuck than brisketand then I'll top it up with fat.Everything's got to be really coldbecause it will heat throughand the fat start meltingas it goes through the grinder.- Next thing that we want to do isto cube up our steak and mixit all together in a bowl.So that when it goes into the grinder,you're getting bits of each.So it gets perfectly mixed together.- If I stuff you, will you plunge me?(grinder whirring)Gonna add everything a littlebit of time, push it down.I'm also gonna add some beef drippingbecause that's what I alwaysdo when I make burgers.The dripping has been in the freezer.That's my little hack.And that just allows you toplay with the fat a little bitso that you can make surethe fat content's right.What is that?We're not using that, that's pathetic.- Basically when all thefat spills out of the burgerit cooks in the fat rather than the fatgoing around to other parts of the panand you're not able to utilize it.- Fair enough.Still looks silly, though doesn't it?(laughs)I'm gonna go straight outand say let's just form them.The less you handle them, the better.- So, if it's completely flat,everything cooks at the same rate.- Yes.- Whereas, you'vegot nooks and crannies,you get crispy bits, you get softer bits.- I'm just gonna gently push it intoa ring that it is bigger than my bunbecause they're gonna shrink as they cook.I'm also gonna weigh my meat.That's super important becauseyou don't want a patty that's too small,you don't want a party that's too big.I think I'm gonna go for like 120 gramsbecause one of the thingsthat I love is a double patty.My patties are shapedI've barely touched themso I hope they're going to hold together.To help that, it is essentialthat you chill your burgersbefore you cook them.All the fat's going to be coldand then it's gonnarender out as it cooks,so I'm gonna put these in the freezer.You could put it in thefridge, for a bit longer,but the freezer's fine too.(energetic music)- Here's where we've got to so far.We've cooked off two pattiesat a very high heat which may or may nothave caused a fire alarm issue.One patty had just salt and pepper on it.The other one had salt pepper and MSG.Cheers.- I mean just off the bat, that's great.- Tender in the middle,nice crispy outside.- Okay, hold that thought.It's a little bit rarer in the middle.Do you know what, thattastes like pure steak.- That tastes so much better.- This is an issue becauseit really does work.There have been a lot of articlesto test whether MSG as anisolated thing is addictiveand there's no evidence for it.But I do keep on going back to that.- I wonder though, it's not likesubstance itself that is addictivebut the effect that it hason the food is so deliciousmakes it addictive by nature rather than--- It's a dopamine thing, isn't it?- Yeah.Is that why we've neverbeen addicted to Ben's food?- Could be.- I don't think this is verygood for cooking burgers inbut it is good for getting areally good char on the buns.So that's just gonna go on the heatwhile I cook the burgers.While the burgers are chilling,I'm gonna focus on therest of my fillings.That's gonna be tomato, lettuce, onion,cheese, and the sauce.I have two options.Number one is to keepit absolutely classicand just slice it reallythinly into roundsand number two, is tomake a comeback sauce.You're gonna go rounds andI'm gonna dice the dill pickleinto the sauce.(funky jazz music)- I'm gonna toast upbrioche buns in our burger panso it gets the flavors of burgers.Is that toasty?- Yeah, that's decent.- We haven't even talked about sauce.- I know, 50/50tomato ketchup and mayoand then an extra 20 of French.- American mustard.- Making 120% of sauce.- Surely, that's gonna win.- That is most excellent.- That's fantastic.- Well done.Pinch of MSG?- Chuck it in.- Right, sauce time, three, two, one.Three tablespoons mayo,two tablespoons ketchup,one tablespoon American mustard(squelching)and some dill pickle.Final thing to do is lettuceinto a bigger mixing bowl.Mix a little bit of the sauce through it,just so all kind of comes together.- I think the fact thatMSG is like a naturallyoccurring substance and isn't somethingthat's been made in a lab.I thought it was a chemical.I thought it was somethingthat been made by humans.- Like a synthetic chemical.- To make things tastebetter and more addictive.- It feels like a game-changer,if it really does makeeverything tastes more umami-ish.- Yeah.- But then it also feelslike an absolute cheatand therefore there's somethinglike immoral about it.If it's gonna make normalpeople or home cooks'food taste better, is it bad?- Yeah.- Yeah, it's really interesting.- I'm going to put alittle bit of beef drippingin the pan as well although thesecould probably go into a dry panbecause there's so much fat in them.I'm gonna preheat the panso I'm gonna wait a few minutes at leastuntil the pans are really, really hot.(sizzling)Once they're in the pan,I don't want to touch themuntil I need to turn them.They're quite cold so they won'tcook too much in the middleso I can leave them a little while,flip them, color on the other side,cheese on top, lid on, melt the cheeseand then they come out.(energetic music)- You've got to be ready to catch thatif I have to go and get fire alarm.Take it off the heat.- Blah.(coughing)(laughing)- I don't feel like I quitegot the ooze from the cheesethat we were looking for,before I got so smoky in here.that I couldn't see anything.So, what I'm doing is takinga blowtorch to just the topand it's just gonna belike grilling that cheese.So, hopefully it startsto melt down a bit more.- Are you thinking what I'm thinking?- I'm thinking that that looks like--- Yeah, MSG.(laughing)(glorious music)- I'm quite nervous.- I'm quite nervous as well.- What have you got to be nervous about?- You're nervous.- You have nothing to lose.- In fact, if anything, we've cheated.- Go on, there Bares.(rock guitar music)- Straight off, twoawesome looking burgers.- Ugh, this makes me cry.Cutting a burger is the worst.- I do agree but--- If you're gonna cut--- You couldn't agree.You do it every singletime you have a burger.- I do agree but wouldn't you hate it moreif I just ate it all?Cross-section is good.Little pink in the middle.- Cheers.- Cheers.- I like the crunch andtaste of the gherkin.The sweetness of the bun,it's meaty.I could happily stop thereand tell you that is a delicious burger.Straight off, this isdifferent in the sensethat it's double patty,so two thin patties.- Cheers.(competitive intense music)- I feel that is so beefy, it's almosttastes like I'm eating it in a farmyard.(laughing)Do you know that kind of like,it almost tastes so bovine,that you could be there.(laughing)- Wow, I'm glad I haven'tgot make a decision.- Both are delicious.I like the medium-rarenessof the first burgerthat's still a little bitmore pink in the middlebut I favor of the two, wasone with the double patty.- That was James' burger.- James' burger.- Yes.- Well done.- I'm still a chef.(laughing)- I would happily have demolishedan entire one of eitheror possibly even both.(clattering)- There's another one here.- Now.- What is this?- This is different, againbecause this is our exact same burgerbut without MSG.- I prefer this one to your first burger.- Really?- Yeah, definitely.- Why?- Because it just tasted a little bit offbut maybe it's just 'cause I knewbut I don't think it was.- It made one elementof that burger betterwhich was the patty itself.As soon as you've confusedit with other flavors,it just dissipates.- It's interesting thatyou couldn't even notice itor you know, it didn'teven make it better.So I think that answersa question in itself,which is interesting.- I sit on the fence on this onebecause it has had a lot ofnegative press over the lastseveral decades but from what I've read,I still don't understandwhy you would everneed to add it into food.If there is a risk and a chance,and a small chance, however small it is,that it might, even in small doses,have a detrimental effectand I also agree as I sit on that fenceas would excessive salt, excessive sugar,excessive fat, excessivealcohol, excessive caffeine.- Driving your car, leaving the house.- Exactly.- I'm really glad that you preferredJames' burger over ours.- I actually feel that thatwas a good thing for humanity.- If, by some miracle, we'd provethat actually this powder can take awayall of that knowledgeand you don't need it,then, we might as welljust pack up and go home.- All right, so comment down belowon your thoughts on MSG.Is it cheating?- Now, we found loads ofreally interesting articleswhilst researching thisand we've also linked outto those down below.So, you can go and inform yourselfand form your own opinions.- Speaking of chefs,in this week's podcast,we discuss, do you have to goto culinary school to become a chef?- It's a very, very interesting.We get right into it andif you want to hear thatthen you need to sign up to our cluband you can find out aboutall of that down below.(energetic music)Every Sunday we normallydo a dad joke of the weekhosted by Jamie, he's not here,but Barry's also a dadand also really great at telling jokes.- Shut up.- So it's up to him today.- I hate this pressure.Went to zoo the other day.- Yep.- Saw a baguette in a cage.Apparently, it was bread in captivity.- Oh you nearly (laughs).- I nearly screwed it.God, I hate this.As we mentioned, we don't justmake top-quality YouTube videos.- Nope.- We've built the SORTED Club,where we use the best things we've learnedto 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.(beeps)- If you get your hips into it as well.(sizzling)\n"
