You'll Never Find This On The Chopped Set, According To Alex Guarnaschelli
The mystery baskets on Food Network's hit series "Chopped" have been filled with some unusual ingredients over the years. Episode after episode, chefs are seen dramatically opening up the brown picnic baskets at their stations to find it packed with items like durian, dried fermented scallops, and geoduck (via Showbiz CheatSheet) that — sometimes to the viewer's surprise — the contestants are able to quickly incorporate into a delicious dish for the judges to taste.
One major reason chefs are able to be successfully work with their basket of atypical ingredients is because of the well-equipped kitchen they find themselves cooking in while competing on "Chopped." Per Food Network, each competitor's workstation has cutting boards and saucepans, as well as pots of water that have been brought to a boil before the timer starts ticking down. There's also a large refrigerator and pantry stocked with dozens of products, plenty of booze, and various cooking utensils and pieces of equipment, like a stand mixer, anti-griddle, and immersion circulator.
Needless to say, the four "Chopped" competitors are given plenty of tools to make their dishes throughout the competition. However, there is one fairly common piece of kitchen equipment that at least one viewer has noticed is oddly absent from the set — and it might just be sitting in your own kitchen cabinet right now.
Pressure cookers are nowhere to be found on the set of 'Chopped'
Recently, a keen-eyed fan of the popular Food Network cooking competition show who goes by @missymomof3ky on Twitter took to the social media platform to ask an important question about the program. "Are there no pressure cookers on chopped?" the user tweeted to "Chopped" judge Alex Guarnaschelli, who confirmed that the piece of equipment was, in fact, absent from the set (via Twitter).
For those unfamiliar with the device, a pressure cooker is a piece of cooking equipment that is sealed up tight and uses steam pressure to cook food at a fast rate, while also adding tons of flavor to the dish (via Kitchn). These days, many home kitchens are equipped with an electric version of the device (typically one brandishing the name "Instant Pot" on the side), so it's somewhat of a surprise that the contestants on "Chopped" aren't given the opportunity to utilize one during the competition.
Guarnaschelli, unfortunately, did not share a reason as to why there are no pressure cookers on set, though a few other Twitter users had their own theories. User @ShayDeeMan noted that the devices can get a little noisy and might be "a nightmare for the sound crew" (via Twitter), while others questioned whether or not contestants would have time to use them in the first place. And, as user @Mr_Antifather tweeted, judge Guarnaschelli "brings the pressure" to the "Chopped" set herself, and we certainly think that's a good reason to nix any piece of cooking equipment that creates more.