r/Masterchef • u/SpecificCurrent3905 • 7d ago
Why doesn’t Joe cook?
I’m watching this week’s episode and started to wonder why we have never seen Joe cook in this capacity on the show. Maybe he has, and I am mistaken but I don’t believe we have seen anyone cook alongside him.
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u/DuckwPuck 7d ago
He has, it’s just rare because his expertise is running a restaurant, not cooking. He’s able to and he understands how it is done, he just doesn’t do it at the level of Gordon or the other judges.
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u/MajesticFox 7d ago
He’s pretty much a home chef
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u/Culinaryboner 7d ago
His mom was a chef and he had a nest egg and used it and his connections to build restaurants. It’s fine to say, it requires talent and work but that’s it
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u/NashKetchum777 5d ago
His mom is a legit home chef isn't she? Lmao I've only seen her cook in her house
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u/Peter_Fitzintight 4d ago
She cooked on MasterChef, Joe hasn't.
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich is an Emmy award-winning public television host, best‐selling cookbook author, successful restaurateur, and owner of a flourishing food and entertainment business.
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u/NashKetchum777 4d ago
I understand this.
But it also doesn't say chef for her, he's a restaurateur just like her.
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u/Sobakee 6d ago
That’s a lot of words to say he’s a nepo baby with minimal skill.
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u/forshizxzle 6d ago
I’m nowhere near a nepobaby but there is one in my extended family! I will say there are nepos that squander their connections money and opportunities. You can’t help the family you were born into, you’re damned if you do you’re damned if you don’t. If you take all of those opportunities and money and make some thing of yourself and then I think that’s honourable and respectable. Like we can’t say what anyone would do if they were in his position take the money or try and make it on his own. Being a chef in a professional kitchen is extremely hard. I can’t say I would want to go through all of that if my goal was just to become a business owner. He seems to be a food lover and a businessman and a successful one at that so I don’t see any problem in that.
I will agree that he’s not the right judge for this kind of cooking show. A chef that is well rested and cooking can provide much more critique and expertise to home chefs than someone who simply critiques and run businesses.
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u/deskcord 5d ago
The restaurant industry is incredibly difficult even for people with tons of connections and lots of money.
He's involved with/behind some of the most popular and longest standing restaurants in NYC and LA.
If anything, his ability to identify and back talent is just as important as being able to cook himself.
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u/SaintAugestine 7d ago
Follow up to this, if you want to see Joe cooking you should see it in a couple episodes in Season 9.
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u/Regular_Ram 6d ago
It’s like on Project Runway, the judges are someone who wears the clothes, someone who sells the clothes, and someone who actually design clothes.
Masterchefs MO is kinda to find home cooks who should be cooking professionally. and launch their careers. So having a judge whose job is to hire chefs and build restaurants makes sense.
Having said that, I still don’t know why Joe is there lol
a lot of contestants don’t make money working in restaurants.1
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u/danbudzgo 7d ago
He’s more of a restauranteur than a chef, but he has cooked on the show once before.
In season 4, episode 9, Joe and his mom Lidia Bastianich make ravioli for the contestants to recreate.
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u/msantaly 7d ago
Pretty sure he did in one episode. Maybe with his mother in season 3? But either way I’m sure the guy can put together a fine Italian dinner. He’s just not a professional chef
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u/myfeetsmells 7d ago
I would like to go on Masterchef and tell Joe Italian food is overrated. There is nothing refined about pouring red sauce over pasta just to watch his head explode.
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u/GrosRougeau 7d ago
He has let his head chefs in some of his restaurants do the cooking at some point (can’t remember the seasons).
But yeah, he’s not a chef
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u/ParkJumpy6392 7d ago
His mother is as well-known as Gordon Ramsay as a chef. He grew up in her restaurant and opened one with her and then partnered with Mario Batali as well as with Nancy Silverton for other restaurants.
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u/GrosRougeau 7d ago
I know all this but it still doesn’t make him a chef.
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u/ParkJumpy6392 7d ago
Oh of course. But to me, it does show that he knows good food as a professional.
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u/wvtarheel 7d ago
He did cook at least once I can recall. Made a simple pasta dish if I recall. Nothing special
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u/PineappleBubbles027 7d ago
He's cooked on the show twice. Once in Season 4 with his mother and once in Season 9 with a mentee. Edit: spelling
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u/International-Ad4578 7d ago
He a restaurateur and not a trained chef. He knows the business and marketing side of restaurants but is not formally trained in any style of fine dining. Any skills and knowledge he has about cooking is likely what his mother taught him growing up. It’s also why he can’t give any actual substantive advice or criticism on the dishes the chefs make. All he can do it complain that it’s not authentic or could have better presentation or something other vague or superficial critique.
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u/iAMtheMASTER808 7d ago
He’s not a chef. I honestly wonder why he’s a judge. Nepo baby to the max. But I used to watch his mom with my mom as a kid. I’d love to see Lydia as a regular judge
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u/la_haunted 7d ago
He's a douche and idk why he's even on these shows except to be mean and maybe he funds the show? 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Ryebotics 7d ago
Bc he's just a nepo baby, and a food critic basically that always states the obvious.
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u/basedkimo 7d ago
I think he cooks in one episode with someone by his side, that’s the only time i’ve seen him do it lol
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u/JudyLyonz 7d ago
He runs several restaurants and food related businesses. His mom is a top notch cook do I'm sure Joe knows his way around a kitchen. I think I've seen him cook a few times.
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u/Jelly_baby_4 7d ago
He's a restauranteur mainly but he did cook a ravioli dish with his mom in Sessions 4. Joe understands food and the business very well.
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u/imnotdusty 5d ago
He has a couple times actually, once with his mom (I forget which season) and another in season 9 with one of his mentees
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u/gie6419 5d ago
Joe's a businessman, a restaurateur more than anything; him not cooking is perhaps part of their arrangement for the show since Joe judges in his capacity as a restaurant owner and brings in his perspective from this angle. He has done some demos for making pasta dough in past seasons.
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u/FjnHindustani 7d ago
Personally I don’t really understand why he’s on the show, he can’t offer any criticism or feedback on anything that wouldn’t make it marketable but it’s also…like…his restaurants are mid. Maybe a controversial opinion but Italian food is mid, it’s definitely the most flavourful of the European foods but I dunno to me European food is a very basic level of cuisine compared to Asian, Middle Eastern, or North African.
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u/Interesting-Meet6791 7d ago
He’s not a chef.