It goes without saying that (most) MasterChef contestants’ cooking talents are widely celebrated. However, their skill of quickly choosing a recipe to whip up after the episode’s ingredient reveal is usually skimmed over.
The omission of how MC contestants are able to decide on a dish — and know what ingredients are involved — just mere seconds after a challenge is revealed, has had viewers questioning whether they’re allowed notes or prep time.
How do MasterChef contestants decide on their dish?
Fortunately, season one runner-up Poh Ling Yeow has finally answered the burning question.
Ling Yeow took to her Instagram to share a photo of ingredients and recipes she’d memorised ahead of each episode while filming MasterChef: Back to Win in 2021. The reality star explained that she’d conjure her dish ideas from these notes.
“A page from a notebook of ingredient lists I’d committed to memory for MasterChef Back to Win. This is what we did with every spare minute,” Ling Yeow wrote on her Instagram story, alongside a photo of the recipe notes.
What do the judges think about choosing a dish before the challenge is revealed?
However, MasterChef host Melissa Leong told Mediaweek that while research can certainly help with dish inspiration, coming in with a concrete idea can sometimes be detrimental.
“The great equaliser is that when you walk into that kitchen, you have to meet the brief and you have to embrace the challenge on the day,” Leong said.
“Yes, you can practice recipes, and you can think about what you might do and rehearse that, but you don’t know what’s going to happen until we throw down the gauntlet and set the clock up.
“We’ve seen that time and time again, you come in with a preconceived notion of what you’re going to do that day and you try to jam that in there, it doesn’t end well. So, you do need to be open and you need to be loose and go with what is in front of you on the day and there’s only a set amount you can prepare for that.”
MasterChef Australia 2023 airs at 7.30 pm on 10 and 10Play.
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