The Great Philly Cheesesteak Battle: A Tale of Two Sandwiches

It all started with a simple question: who can make the best Philly cheesesteak? The debate raged on, with each participant confident that their sandwich was the ultimate champion. But as it often does, competition brought out the best in people, and what ensued was a battle for the ages.

The first contestant, Jamie, took a bold approach by using ciabatta bread instead of traditional hoagie rolls. The judges were taken aback by the change, but Jamie's enthusiasm was infectious. "I'm getting more horse radish and nutmeg than I am cheese," they noted, highlighting the unconventional flavors that set this sandwich apart. Despite its unorthodox ingredients, the combination worked, and Jamie earned a solid start in the competition.

Next up was Mike, who presented a classic Philly cheesesteak with well-cooked steak, generous amounts of melted cheese, and just the right amount of garlic. The judges praised Mike's commitment to traditional flavors, but noted that his sandwich was not without its flaws. "That is a hot mess," they joked, as Mike struggled to assemble the sandwich.

In a surprising twist, Barry took third place with a deliciously balanced combination of steak, cheese, and sweetness from a hint of pear. The judges were won over by the subtle flavors, which worked in harmony to create a truly great sandwich.

But the real surprise came when Jamie pulled out the rug on Mike, stealing his bread to build an entirely new sandwich. "Jamie lost the battle by stealing my bread," Mike laughed. It was clear that this was not just about making the best cheesesteak; it was also about having fun with food.

As the judges deliberated, they realized that the true winners were not the sandwiches themselves, but the people who had created them with love and care. "If you put love into two sandwiches," one judge mused, "rather than less love into four, it might've won you it."

And so, after much deliberation, the judges announced their winner: Barry's sandwich, which had captured their hearts with its perfect balance of flavors and textures. It was clear that in a competition where there was no single "right" way to make a Philly cheesesteak, love and enthusiasm were the true keys to success.

But before we bid farewell to this epic battle, let's take a look at what the judges had to say about each sandwich. "Four sandwiches, that's a lot," they noted wryly. Each one was unique and delicious in its own way, but only Barry's had managed to win them over with its perfect balance of flavors.

As we wrap up this epic battle, it's worth noting that the Brothers Green Eats did an excellent video on how to make an authentic Philly cheesesteak – a great resource for anyone looking to improve their sandwich-making skills. And if you're wondering what the judges would have ranked them in order, it was three, two, one.

But before we go, let's leave with a dad joke: "How many apples grow in a tree?" The answer, of course, is all of them. And that's not all – our friends at Sorted are just run by a group of friends who love making food and sharing it with the world. Want to support their efforts? Click here for more information on how you can help.

And finally, let's leave with a special message from our hosts: we've got a reputation online as being a little quirky, and wait until you hear about my latest mishap...

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Welcome to Sorted.We're a bunch of mates in London,looking for exceptionalthings in the food world,that will help make ourand your lives that little bit better.Between stitching each otherup and all the innuendos.Now be warned, we have two chefsbut we give them limited airtime.And we make sure all of our ideasstart with a suggestion from you.♪ I'm gooey in themiddle baby let me bake ♪(funky dance music)- It's fridge-cam time.This is Jamie and I'm Ben.- And it's the returnof the ultimate battles.And somehow we have found a wayto make them even more ultimate.- Welcome to all newSorted ultimate cooking battles.Three normals fight itout against each otherto impress two chefs andto win brownie points.There's a league table, ahorrific end of season forfeitfor the loser and in every new episodea curve ball.- And this week's theme is.- A Philly.- Cheesesteak battle.90 minutes start now.- Now, Sorted have an onlinereputation of creatingthe best, most authenticPhilly Cheesesteaksand I've got another one toadd to that amazing list.(laughs)If you thought our one was onthe money wait til you hearabout my roast beef and horseradish Philly Cheesesteak.This is a massive beef roasting joint.I've got a hour in the fridgeto bring it up to temperatureso that it cooks evenlyon top of a trivet madefrom peeled veg.- I think its fair to say thatafter any good PhillyCheesesteak, you need to sit down.Well, after mine you'llneed to lie down for a day.Mine is rich AF.- It's gonna give you gout, what?- (laughs) Not gonna give you gout.First up, I need to get myonions on the go so I slice themand then get them into a hotpan of oil and a pinch of salt,reduce the heat then cookthem for as long as possible.I've got 90 minutes.- You gonna cook them for the whole 90?- Pretty much.- Wow.- An hour and a bit.- How many minutes are in an hour, Barry?- A few minutes to prep this.- Few minutes to do thisand then about an hour.- South Korean flavors.(guys laughing)What I'm gonna make is aKorea Delphia Cheesesteak.Bulgogi beef, kimchi, Gochujang.It's gonna be incredible.I have grated pear, gingerand garlic into a bowl.I'm gonna add some soyasauce and some honeyand that's gonna become my marinade.And whatever you do, don'tforget the rice wine.- This is Jamie's.(upbeat rock music)- This now goes into afridge for thirty minuteswhich gives me some time topin slice my onion and pepper.(alarm rings)- Stop cooking.- So in this new series, we'regonna add in a curve ballinto each battle.I think it's about time for today's.Today's curve ball isswapping ingredients.Alphabetically, each of youmust swap one ingredientof yours for oneingredient of somebody elseand then you must use it.- That's the alphabet is the lettersthat we use to form words.- I don't need any rosemary.- Okay.- So have some rosemary, sir.- Lovely, what do you want of mine?- Which Jamie now has to use.- Chili flakes.Let's go for a bit of spice.(anxious violin music)- Swap his bread rolls.Just nick his bread rolls.Or take his cheese.He'll just have atraditional Philly steak.- I do not need this herb.(guys laugh)What is better than havingtwo Philly Cheesesteaks,is having four Korea Delphia Cheesesteaks.- I'm playing for the winso J, I would like to swap,your onion for this onion.- Smart move.(guys laugh)- This new rule sucks.I'm gonna have to, the onlything I can do here is gobuy some more bread.I can't leave my onions unattended.- If I were in your positionand think about this,if he were to make his ownbread now, like a flatbreador something, I'd say youpretty much guaranteed a winof three points.- Yeah but I don't think a flatbread wouldwork well with this dish.I'm going for taste.I want something that tastes incredible.I don't think a flatbreadwould work well with the.- Why did you choose thisrecipe in the first place?- Would you shut your little.They make Phily Cheesesteaks next door?- It's an Italian deli.(upbeat funky music)- I know that that was really mean.- What are you talking about?Do you wanna win this or not?- There's a lovely Italian deli next door.That sell a beautifulfocaccia, so Italian twistto a American-French recipe.- Next up, let's talk butter.I'm gonna make my butter betterby actually mixing my butterwith Gochujang which isa Korean chili sauce.I'll take that butter andthen slice it on all fourof my submarine rolls whichI'd have toasted underneatha grill once they've been cut in half.That is like butter but better.- I'm gonna show you how tomake an amazing cheese sauce.Come over here.To make an amazing cheese sauceyou gotta create a bechamel.A bechamel is essentiallymelted butter, flourand then adding milk bit bybit, stirring it, you geta really lovely thick, creamy white sauce.We then add cheese into that.Now, the way I'm takingthis up a level is becauseI'm gonna infuse that milkthat goes in graduallywith some amazing flavorslike onion and nutmeg andbay leaves.(upbeat rock music)- Now you've got four lots of rolls,do you have enough fillingto put on the four rolls?- If I do have an extrasubmarine roll left over.- Just put it on the sideand have it another time.- Exactly.Ow, oh!(strong blowing)- You burning my bread?- I might've just set fire to it.Good thing I've got some spares.(guys laughing)I don't wanna be that guy, buthas anyone taken my daikon?- Daikon.- My daikon, my radish.(playful sneaky music)Cause I need to peel it and julienne itand neither of you asked to swap it out.- I had one in my hand earlierbut I just can't rememberwhere I put it.- Oh, man!- I remember you havingone and me having onebut I can't rememberwhether we had the same oneor whether we had one atdifferent points in time.- Daikon's areeverywhere nowadays.- They are, they're everywhere.They're like Philly Cheesesteaks.- Found my daikon.- Got it.- I need topeel and julienne this.(hand knocking)- Steak!- Oh no, Baz.- That's pretty frozen.- About tostart singing Let It Go.- Idina Menzel's onher way over to look at itso she can bring it back to life.Ah, (beep) I left it long, didn't I?- Oh!(censor beep)- This is going so wrong.I only lost, only a few casualties.Oops.- Next up I've gotta cook my beef.For this I need a searingly,searingly hot pan, coconut oil,I'm gonna drain the marinade from my beef,dry it out as much aspossible then put the beefinto the pan and just leave it.Don't touch it, let it caramelize.Then I'm gonna toss it andthen gonna leave it again,let it caramelize on that side.Next up I'll add in mysliced onion, my spring onionand my peppers along with 50milliliters of my marinadeand my chili flakes.Oh, no wait.No chili flakes because I need to see themsomewhere in Barry's, whateverit is he's making now.(high energy rock music)- Now I'm gonna make a gravy.So beef comes out with the onionsbecause I'm gonna use all ofthis for my actual Cheesesteak.Then the trivet with all of the veggoes on top of the hob whichis heated up with a splashof red wine that de-glazesthe pan which basically meansit gets rid of all the scumthat sticks to the bottom.Then in with beef stock and Ireduce that down and it takesa lot longer than howlong I've got right now.- 12 minutes!- It takes 20.Finish off my cheese sauce.A quarter of a teaspoon ofnutmeg and horse radish.- We're just gonna letthat all simmer downfor a little bit, shiftit over to one sideof the pan, kimchi on top,provolone cheese on top,let that all melt down andthen slice it and put itinto a submarine roll with a spatula.That's the plan anyway.- My sub-rolls are halved and then putunder the grill to toast.I have about seven minutesfor this to reduce into gravyand look at the state of it.(intense music)- Last two and a half minutes.- It really could havedown with more resting timewhich is why you're getting all the blood,however I don't have long.- I've chopped my ciabatta inhalf, poked some rosemary inand stuck it in the oven forfive minutes to warm through.Also some of my camembertin the oven to go all oozy,now its time to construct.Garlic butter onto the bread.Steak into the pan with the onions,the cheese on top, with some chili flakesthat I stole from Jamieand then back on topof the buttered bread,take it out flip it over,there's your sandwich.It didn't work.How long left?There's not much sauce.(dramatic music)- 30 seconds!- I forgot my sesame seeds.(victorious music)- Well that was a battle.- Where are you gonna start?- I'm gonna start with this one.- Ready, cheers.(guys laughing)- Oh man, I'm happy.Can we just clarify, right.Obviously, we know that none of theseare traditional Philly Cheesesteaks.But these are cheesesteaks.- I'm getting more horse radishand nutmeg than I am cheese.- Interesting.- But it's a good bit ofsteak and a great dip.- It's a good bit ofbeef, not really a steak.- A solid start.That's a soggy sandwich.Another sandwich that's gonna be a littleon the messy side to eat.- Saying that, I'm prettyhappy with ciabattaand it might have won me the battle.- Or focaccia, one of the two.(guys laughing)- I like the look of that.- Cheers!- And you managed to put thechili on right at the end.- That is tasty.- Did you put any camembert in that?- The caramelized onions are very sweet.You managed to save themjust before catching.The French cheese, the French.- We all saw them catch.- Well they don't taste caught.- Fair.- The steak's good, heavyon cheese, heavy on garlic.- I'd say this is definitelythe closest to a Cheesesteakcause it's so simple.- Should I just cut one for now?- That is a hot mess.Why are you cutting that?What are you doing?There are four!- Cheers.And I'm gonna say itstraight off this one has gotthe best, like, crosssection, like, sandwich,like you can still hold andalthough its messy, it holds.My favorite thing about this,is the balance of little bitof spice it's not a hugeamount but from the Gochujangand kimchi, but the sweetness of that pearreally plays to the spice.I've got some thinking to do.- You need to go and have a chin wag.- We'll be back in 30 seconds.It won't take us long.- Bye.- Eaten anything good recently?- Not in the last few minutes.- So we weren't in completeagreement at first.But after a conversationit was fair to saythat in a Cheesesteakbattle there's gotta bewell-cooked steak and agood-amount of cheese.And on that basis thirdplace goes to Mike.As delicious as it was.- Not last.- And our winner.(anxious tense music)Is the one that had alittle bit of sweetness,an awful lot of cheese, some great steak.Barry.(gasps)The Camembert and the garlicand the steak was the one weboth enjoyed eating the most.- How did that happen?Really?- If you put love into two sandwiches,rather than less love intofour it might've won you it.But it was still a bit rushed for you.You had too much to do.Four sandwiches, that's a lot.- Jamie lost the battleby stealing my bread.- Yeah I think so.I would say.- Three points to Barry,two points to Jamie,one to Mike.Join us next time when there'llbe a different curve ball.Okay James and I made acall but we really careabout your thoughts, comment down below.Which order would you have put them in?Three, two, one.- You might also have pickedup on some really subtlePhilly Cheesesteak agitationfrom some of us maybe.But it's only because theBrothers Green Eats dida fantastic video on how to makean authentic PhillyCheesesteak and we decidedto ignore all of it.But we have linked the videodown below, it's really goodand you should go and watchit cause those guys are great.- Don't forget, pleasesubscribe to our channel.Click the bell so you're notified.Bless you.And now for a dad joke.(upbeat cheerful music)- How many apples grow in a tree?- I don't know.- All of them.(laughs)- As wementioned Sorted is just runby a group of friends.So, if you like what we'redoing then there are loadsof ways that you can supportus and get more involved.Everything you need toknow is linked below.Thanks and we hope to seeyou again in a few days.- Now, Sorted have areputation online as (laughs).Wait til you here about my (laughs).\n"