For busy working moms, quickly preparing dinner using random ingredients you find in your fridge is par for the course. Perhaps that's why Food Network's Chopped has become so addictive—there's something oddly relatable about watching professional cooks under pressure to turn a few unexpected ingredients into a meal.
You may know Geoffrey Zakarian from his role as a judge on Chopped—we recently put him to work cooking steak during a visit to the WD test kitchen. But, of course, we couldn't resist asking him for the inside scoop on Chopped as well.
Fans tend to have a ton of questions for Geoffrey, but he says they most often ask about the biggest mistake cooks make on the show. "The question is so easy to answer because it's so obvious," he explained to WD's Senior Food Editor, Anna Helm Baxter. "They don't use salt or pepper. They just forget."
According to Geoffrey, forgetting to season is pretty unforgivable. If you overcook meat but it's really well-seasoned, the judges will still pay attention to the good flavors they're tasting.
The Chopped judge later admitted that he gets to see the baskets full of ingredients before the contestants—and he feels bad for them everyday. "The show starts [filming] at six in the morning, so whatever you get in the basket, you just pray that the culinary people upstairs will be nice to you."
Geoffrey then went on to explain that while the contestants are given 20 minutes to cook, much of that time is spent gathering ingredients, plating, and of course there's the fear factor that often slows people down. The show even keeps extra contestants in the back (sort of like understudies) just in case someone isn't able to handle the pressure.
See our full interview with Geoffrey below:
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