I know that sometimes the admit they aren’t familiar with an ingredient, but not often. Most of them are chefs, restaurant owners, or a person with importance within the industry, but do you think they ever come across an ingredient that they really don’t know about, aren’t sure what it supposed to taste like, to feel like, and just wing it to not look bad in front of the other judges?
I know being a chef the chance they have used a variety of ingredients is pretty high, and on these shows, the chance they picked some of the ingredients is also there too.
What’s your opinion? I’m sorry, I’ve just been watching a lot of cooking competition shows lately.
Not very often. I’m far from a high-end chef or anyone likely to be asked to be a judge at a cooking competition, but I do like to cook and eat, and I can’t really think of much that’s been on a cooking show that I don’t at least have a passing knowledge of. It wouldn’t take much to be familiar with 99.9% of what’s likely to show up on a competition.
It also helps that food comes and goes in trends; very little of what shows up on most cooking shows is really “out there”, and if you are in the food industry and spend any time at all eating out in one or more of the major food cities around the world, you’re going to have a good knowledge of most of what’s going to be on the show.
And there’s also that bit about “does it taste good?” Even if it’s an ingredient that you’ve never had before, you’re generally tasting it in the context of a dish. A cooking judge knows a good dish from a bad dish, even if they’re not familiar with one or two ingredients.
I have a close relative who was a non-chef judge on ICA.
(Close in relation…we don’t talk often.)
The secret ingredient wasn’t too strange. It was definitely something very similar to something he had eaten many times before.
I don’t remember him having to eat anything that surprised me. I’d have to re-watch the episode to see for sure, though. (Or ask…I suppose…)