Recipe for a perfect Twitter spat: take one TV chef, add a spoonful of sauce and lick well

A TV chef has triggered a Twitter storm after she committed one of the cardinal sins of cooking on a live show – “double dipping”.

While tasting a sauce on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, Olia Hercules used the same spoon a number of times, putting it back in the sauce after it had been in her mouth. The Ukrainian-born chef initially blamed the oversight on the fact that TV cooking is “super tough” and protested that “no one died”.

But despite receiving support from fellow chefs, including Nigella Lawson, her comments have drawn criticism from a food hygiene expert.

Hercules was making a blackberry sauce for a traditional Georgian dish, poussin tabaka, on Sunday’s show. She then served the food to celebrity guests using the same spoon she had used to taste the sauce.

The “double dipping” was picked up by some viewers who aired their distaste on Twitter. One argued that “[being] short on time doesn’t mean infection control should be compromised”. Hercules responded, tweeting: “To all those sending negative comments about spoon dipping – live TV is super tough. You have to talk, cook, be charming and remember to wash hands after handling raw chicken! (which is key!). Then you keep talking & boom! The spoon thing slips your mind. Please be kind. No one died.” She later added: “Shock. Horror. PS if that is so outlandishly horrendous to you – you should never EVER eat out again. Anywhere. Because chefs are humans and they forget. You get it every time you eat out. Fact.”

But Sylvia Anderson, a food hygiene consultant who has appeared on BBC One’s Watchdog, disagreed, saying: “It is definitely not common practice. Staff can get in serious trouble if they do that as it is such a dangerous thing to do.”

Meanwhile, other chefs were quick to show support for Hercules. Lawson tweeted: “Oh per-lease! But then complaining makes some people bitterly happy.”

Neil Rankin, chef/owner of London’s Temper restaurants, told The Daily Telegraph: “Put anyone in front of a camera at that time of the morning and see if they perform perfectly at their job.”