MasterChef has now aired for over 10 seasons with viewers getting to meet a handful of budding and inspiring chefs competing in cooking challenges, in hopes of impressing top culinary judges, one of which includes Michelin-starred and nonsense chef Gordon Ramsay.
With so many seasons of MasterChef, fans have had burning questions about it, including who turned out to be the most successful winner and why Gordon isn’t his famously mean and outspoken self like he is on Hell’s Kitchen. However, what viewers seem to wonder most about is the food on the show. One particular question viewers have raised is whether the food that finally arrives at the judges’ table is warm enough for them to eat. And, if it isn’t, how does that affect the contestants’ chances of winning?
Are The MasterChef Judges Trying Cold Food By The Time They Taste It?
The Answer Is Yes, And No
Those who are devoted MasterChef fans have probably wondered if the dishes the three judges end up tasting when they step up to the podium are, in fact, still warm. The answer to this is, unfortunately, no. That answer may lead many fans to wonder if serving cold food to the likes of Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez, and Joe Bastianich, would play a major factor in deciding whether these contestants should face yet another challenge to keep their chef’s apron.
Thankfully, bringing up a cold dish is not a factor in judging. The judges on MasterChef know that the dishes that will arrive for them for tasting will not be warm. That seems to be odd to viewers watching the show, because it appears that right after challenges, which are usually completed in 60 minutes, the three judges try and taste the best and worst decisions soon after. However, there is a lot going on behind the scenes which ends up leaving the judges to try each dish cold.
In an interview with MasterChef: Legends contestant Kelsey Murphy for Fox 59, she shared that each dish goes through a process before it reaches the mouths of Gordon or Joe.
“After we finish cooking, they have to take our finished plate, and they have to beauty it. They have to take their cameras, their lighting, and bring it up front [to] take these beautiful pictures of it and get that for the camera before the judges go into it and eat it and judge it.”
That is why viewers see all the wonderful shots of each and every contestant’s dish. In fact, Kelsey shared with Fox 59 that the dishes may sit at their station for upwards of two and a half hours before the judges are being filmed trying it. However, she shared that once they are done cooking, the contestants leave the set while the judges try each and every part of their dish on their cooking stations.
“So they immediately come around and taste everything so they know, pretty much, exactly what our dish is going to taste like.”
There is also another way these judges go about trying a dish before it goes up for judging. As viewers have noticed, while contestants are cooking their food, the judges would go around to each of their stations. They are seen trying samples of their dish to get a better sense of what the dish will taste like. From there, they can make a better judgment as to who has the best and worst dish.
Speaking to Us Weekly, MasterChef executive producer Michael Heyerman also revealed that as soon as the dishes are completed, the judges will do their best to try everything warm. However, he also noted that the “judges take technique and taste into consideration.” Viewers have learned that the judges also want dishes to have a beautiful presentation and critically critique those who have sloppy ones.
So, while these judges are indeed putting cold food into their mouths, they have most likely already tried all aspects of a contestant’s dish before it’s being brought up to the podium.
What Happens To All The Food In The Stunning MasterChef Pantry?
Don’t Worry, It Doesn’t Go To Waste
MasterChef is known for putting out beautiful dishes by contestants, from perfectly cooked steaks to stunning cakes. That’s all thanks to the massive and eclectic mix of ingredients in the MasterChef pantry.
The pantry is a chef’s dream and includes everything and anything that a cook may need to make a dish. However, viewers have wondered about all that food that doesn’t get used with hopes that these amazing ingredients aren’t just thrown out into the trash once a season is over.
A spokesperson for Fox issued a statement to Market Place and shared exactly where all the food left over in the pantry goes. During that discussion, the spokesperson stated that the show works with a charity called MEND in Los Angeles, California, which donates food to those in need.
“We do weekly donations with them and one large donation at the end of the season.”
The same thing is done for other MasterChef spinoffs, including MasterChef Australia. According to KidSpot, the series partners with a charity called Second Bite, which donates the leftover food to organizations that help low-income families and those struggling to buy groceries.
“Everything you see in the pantry that’s applied through the program, everything we can possibly salvage, we collect and divert it to people in need, generally in the Melbourne area,” Second Bite CEO Jim Mullan shared.
Hopefully, this answered viewers’ burning questions about all the food on MasterChef.
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