Editing of Cooking Competitions on Reality TV

[CookingWithGas]

@Mllz

…I don’t really cook the red meat myself (my wife doesn’t eat it), so wasn’t really aware of the reasoning for that.

I should have been clearer; it should rest before slicing, but I assumed it was sliced to plate it. Same rule applies to poultry, BTW.

[Waenara]

@puddleglum

On a cooking show there is a great advantage to plating at the last possible minute. First your food is hotter. Second you can control the level of doneness better since food continues to cook as long as it is hot. Third, food can lose moisture and texture waiting to be served. Fourth you can add garnishes and sides that have contrasting temperatures without the temperatures offsetting. In a competition style show such as Top Chef, serving as close to a la minute is a great advantage and I expect that part of the show is usually for real.

The cooking reality show where I always think about editing when I watch it is MasterChef. Especially in the earlier episodes in the season, there might be 12 or 14 contestants who (at least it appears) all simultaneously prepare dishes and have the same deadline, and then one by one they go up and present their dishes to the judges, have the judges each taste and ponder the dish, and give comments. It bugs me when I watch the show because I figure that either the show is actually filmed that way and it’s blatantly unfair (imagine being the 14th person to have to serve a perfectly poached egg to the judges when your dish has been getting cold for a long time), or the show must use editing similar to Iron Chef (but if so, this is never even hinted in the aired version).

[Lamar_Mundane]

@Waenara

The cooking reality show where I always think about editing when I watch it is MasterChef. Especially in the earlier episodes in the season, there might be 12 or 14 contestants who (at least it appears) all simultaneously prepare dishes and have the same deadline, and then one by one they go up and present their dishes to the judges, have the judges each taste and ponder the dish, and give comments. It bugs me when I watch the show because I figure that either the show is actually filmed that way and it’s blatantly unfair (imagine being the 14th person to have to serve a perfectly poached egg to the judges when your dish has been getting cold for a long time), or the show must use editing similar to Iron Chef (but if so, this is never even hinted in the aired version).

There is no way for the judges to eat 14 dishes in a row and still judge fairly, even if they are just taking a single bite.