How well do the MasterChef judges tend to get along off-screen?
Oh, it’s like a family. Gordon [Ramsay] and I have been doing it for 12 years. There are a lot of the same people in production. It’s an intense two or three months we spend together, so it’s very much a family. That kind of energy that you see on the screen exists also off the screen. So we’re like friends making a TV show every year.
What are the most common mistakes that you see amateur chefs making on MasterChef?
There’s a couple. Seasoning. Seasoning throughout the cooking process is probably number one. Using too much firepower, number two. The third mistake is having culinary ideas that outpace your ability in the kitchen. Those are the three top mistakes.
Do you remember the best and worst thing or things that you ever ate on the show?
Well, back in the early days, 12 years ago, I could remember some things that were pretty horrendous specifically. I don’t know. There was one, I think season two, it was called Hillbilly Sushi. It might go down as one of the worst.
(Mashed did some digging and figured out it was actually called “Redneck Sushi,” and Bastianich’s co-host Gordon Ramsay also excoriated the dish.)
Some of the best things, I have to say maybe two contestants come to mind. Christina Ha, who was a young lady who was blind who did the Southeast Asian cuisine, which was really incredible. Some of her dishes. Also there was an Italian guy named Luca who made some Italian dishes — that might’ve been season five or six — that were very near and dear to my heart.
Can you tell what an amateur chef on the show is likely to develop into a great chef? And if so, what are some of the signs?
The chefs that have the most potential are the ones that take the feedback from the judges. We’re there as mentors as well as to judge them and if they can evolve quickly taking our feedback, you see an evolution in their food, and then the sky’s the limit after the show. Even within the context of the show and the 22 episodes we spend together, if they can show evolution, if they take feedback, and then they have to have some natural talent. But evolution is the key to a chef’s potential.