You’d suppose after watching a single sequence for greater than 20 seasons, one would principally know all there’s to learn about it. However High Chef stays an elusive exception. Not solely do I nonetheless not know how you can prepare dinner James Beard-worthy dishes at house — my fault, not the cooks’ — however I stay interested by a number of different elements of the sequence itself. Fortunately, host Kristen Kish shed some warming gentle after I requested how scorching the meals is when the judges are consuming.
High Chef: Vacation spot Canada has, as predicted, been certainly one of my favourite weekly must-watches on the 2025 TV schedule, and it has been simple to overlook that that is simply Kish’s second yr as host. Throughout her interview with CinemaBlend, the previous champ and former Iron Chef host shared fairly a couple of delectable particulars with me. After I requested whether or not or not the judges keep in mind dishes which have sit for a bit earlier than being eaten for one purpose or one other, she stated:
I imply, this is the factor: throughout Quickfires: there is likely to be Quickfires the place, yeah, by the point somebody will get to you, like for those who’re serving final, the dish that was scorching is not scorching. However High Chef is a extremely nice marker of integrity for culinary reveals throughout the board. We transfer via it shortly. Just like the meals comes first, the chef’s work comes first. And so to get via a whole tasting of a Quickfire of like 15 cooks does not take that lengthy. We preserve it fast, we preserve it shifting.
Even if it is a TV present with digicam set-ups and the like, High Chef is a well-oiled machine at this level, so one can think about the Quickfires are at peak effectivity in relation to serving and tasting from the primary meal to the final. (A minimum of contained in the studio.) So whereas it isn’t stunning, it is nonetheless good to listen to that spotlighting the contestants’ efforts continues to be the highest precedence.
Elimination challenges can shake issues up in relation to the freshness issue, particularly earlier within the season when there are much more cooks and dishes to get via. Whereas not at all times mandatory, High Chef‘s producers do take the serving timing particulars into consideration, which is why a few of these challenges characteristic totally different begin occasions for the cooks. Kish continued, saying:
Then throughout elimination challenges, the place there clearly is somewhat bit extra weight and significance to them, I assume — as a result of somebody’s going to go house for it — there’s at all times a staggered prepare dinner. Both three dishes will come to you on the identical time, or if that is not a factor or if doable for that problem, you will discover that all of them begin at totally different occasions, so all of them serve.
I needed to chorus from digging into any form of trivia by asking how the order is chosen, as a result of who’s that serving to, actually, in addition to me and my pork belly-addled mind?
For all that we would suppose that High Chef‘s course of is so totally different attributable to it being a TV present, Kristen Kish identified that what she, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons (amongst others) undergo is not all that dissimilar from an evening out with buddies the place a big meal is concerned. As she put it:
Once we’re sitting there as diners, it is precisely like a restaurant. It is no totally different than getting three plates to share for the desk all at one time and having to work your manner via them. By the point you are taking your first chunk and also you make your solution to the subsequent plate, are you considering, ‘Rattling, that is chilly.’ No, you are consuming it prefer it’s completely regular. And so no, High Chef accounts to be sure that the meals is served at its peak.
Whereas I by no means really suspected that Kristen, Tom and Gail would suppose a dish much less fascinating attributable to a component like temperature (not less than exterior of one thing like ice cream), I am doubly happy to listen to that they are not having to choke down sub-lukewarm meals at any level. Room temperature seafood is nobody’s finest buddy, within the High Chef world or in any other case.
High Chef: Vacation spot Canada‘s two-part finale kicks off Thursday, June 5, with the champion being topped in Milan on Thursday, June 12, solely on Bravo.