DISHING IT OUT
As MasterChef returns we give judges John & Gregg a grilling
IT puts home cooks through their paces in the ultimate TV test of culinary prowess.
And MasterChef returns for its 19th series tonight to put a new batch of budding chefs through their paces.
Over eight weeks, judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace will taste dishes made by the 45 hopefuls, who include a circus performer, a tree surgeon, an NHS Worker, a coffee shop owner, an engineer, a supermarket manager and a delivery driver.
Here the pals give a taste of what it is like to work on the show.
■ On BBC1 tonight at 8pm, tomorrow at 9pm and Friday at 8.30pm.
What advice would you give someone walking into the MasterChef studio for the first time?
Gregg: Don’t pretend. Cook what you know and stay with what you know. John: Don’t drink too much coffee before you come through, and eat something before you get there.
Dish you dread when someone tells you what they are cooking? Gregg: Anything in a water bath. John: Kidneys. You [Gregg] love them, I hate them.
Your favourite MasterChef dish ever? Gregg: Steven Wallace’s Pear Belles Helene.
John: I can’t say. So many of them I have loved.
Ingredient you couldn’t live without? Gregg: Potato.
John: Butter.
Favourite part of working with each other?
Gregg: I trust him. I’m never nervous when he’s [John] there. I just trust him, it’s comforting.
John: He [Gregg] is very funny. His jokes are awful, but he’s very funny.
Best thing about being in the studio? Gregg: The camaraderie after 20 years of working with the same people. John: It’s like home. It’s comforting. You never know what you’re going to get. It
could be good, it could be unusual but it’s always going to be pretty good.
Worst thing about being in the studio? Gregg: You can’t have air conditioning on because the sound team complain.
John: It can be really cold, it can also be really hot. First world problems I know, but I’m not very good with temperature. I’m getting old!
Do you get nervous at the start of each series?
Gregg: No.
John: Yes, I think most days I go in a bit nervous. But nervous is a good thing.
What’s your favourite place you have ever been with MasterChef? Gregg: Without a doubt, India.
John: India was amazing, I loved India or
Mexico City. Or, wait, I really liked the Arctic circle. We went through customs in Norway with 20 hot dogs which we bought for the crew and they made us put them through the X-Ray machine.
What’s your favourite challenge?
Gregg: I really like the ones we do at the start of amateurs, but it has to be the street food challenges where it’s all about quality grub.
John: I love the critics’ briefs – they are brilliant. They really change the way people think about it, they’re just great.
If you could add a new challenge to MasterChef what would it be? Gregg: A low-calorie one.
John: Interesting, oh what would it be? I know, Cook for your Mum.
What’s your dream desert island dish? Gregg: I’ll have a plate of oysters, roast lamb and mint sauce and I’ll have one of my wife’s coffee panna cottas. John: I’m in Thailand somewhere. Someone is cooking a nice bit of BBQ fish with a nice hot salad like a som tam, some grilled chicken as well. A nice cold glass of rosé with huge amounts of ice in it.
Describe this new series in three words... Gregg: Thrilling, emotional, incredible.
John: Very bloody exciting.