It’s a question all of us who watch cooking shows have probably thought to ourselves at one point; if the contestants have cooked those amazing meals in the middle of kitchen chaos, how can they be all hot by the time they reach the judge’s table?
A fan of Richard Osman and Marina Hyde’s podcast, The Rest Is Entertainment, asked the hosts of the show about that exact issue.
“I really want to know the answer to this one,” Marina said of the question, which read, “I am an avid watcher of cooking shows and competitions but I’m always flummoxed as to how the food looks so fresh or warm for the judges or critics... when they obviously can’t eat or film everything at once. Can you explain the process of the judging sections, please?”
Richard Osman gave a slightly grim answer
“My only insight from the few cooking shows I’ve been around is that the food is cold,” the Thursday Murder Club author and ex-Pointless presenter said.
Those of us who were fans of cooking shows might have guessed that already. But Richard’s next line was a shock to me ― “you give it a bit of a spray to make it look a bit glossy,” he said of the chilly courses.
“The food stylists, are they ― what, with a little bit of oil?” asked Marina, to which Richard replied, “Yeah. They’re essentially eating cold food.”
Cookist shared that most cooking show judges are indeed used to judging cold food, adding that MasterChef judges often do the *real* evaluations by the chefs’ bench, while they’re still cooking.
And Business Insider revealed that adding nonstick cooking spray to old, cold spuds can “make them look like they were fresh out of the oven,” while a dash of oil and water on an egg yolk is enough to give them a good-as-new appearance.
One of our beloved shows is safe, though ― “Bake Off is fine,” Richard revealed on the show. “That’s why Bake Off is the truest of those formats.”
The less you know, the better, sometimes...