It’s the question that perplexes MasterChef Australia fans year after year: by the time the contestants bring up their dishes for the three judges to taste, aren’t they cold?
The answer is yes.
“They try our dish as we’re cooking it,” Steph reveals. “They’ll wander around and stick a spoon in our sauce and really watch what we’re doing.
“They’ve pretty much tasted most elements of our food before we’ve even plated it. They do taste it cold [at the end], but they taste it hot too.”
Rick Stein and Matt Preston give Steph a few tips (Image: Network 10).
Despite the multiple taste-tests, Steph says the contestants truly can’t tell what the judges are thinking until they’re told at the end of the cooking challenge.
“We really don’t know what their feedback is,” she says. “They have poker faces and you can’t read them.”
With that in mind, let’s take a moment to think about some of the glorious dishes our judges Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris have tasted cold over the years.
Cold Fried Chicken by Tessa in 2019
Cold Fish Pie by Nicole in 2019
Cold Ribs by Ben in 2018
Cold Pork Belly by Chloe in 2018
Cold Pork Wontons by Jess in 2018
While tucking in to a cold dish of wontons or fish pie sounds rather unpleasant, we’d still probably eat it. If it’s coming from the MasterChef Australia kitchen it’s still likely to be better than anything we’d ever whip up – hot, or not.
MasterChef Australia airs Monday to Thursday, and Sunday, 7.30pm, on Network 10.
