0 Pressure cooker

We cook for reasons as diverse as why we eat. It may be because we have to, for others or ourself, as a creative outlet or else as the means to cut, slice and crush our way through everyday stress. For contestants on Panic Kitchen, the cooking-themed show on Trans TV that debuted in December 2012, it could be said they are leaping from the frying pan and into the fryer in a stressful kitchen situation. The assignment is to complete a recipe within a set time limit. 

Two competing four-strong teams — each including one celebrity member — must complete the dishes in relay mode, with one cook taking over to continue the meal when another’s time is up. It‘s not so easy as pie, however. The twist is that team members are not allowed to communicate during the cooking process. They do not know what the original planned dish is, and have to figure it out from the state of the food when it‘s their turn. Show producer Christin Maria Natalia Sihombing said that while cooking had become part of the urban lifestyle, many people still considered it a serious and painstaking activity. 

“We created the show to give the audience a fun, exciting cooking contest. We want to show people that they don’t have to be too serious in the kitchen,” Christin told The Jakarta Post. Hosted by veteran radio hosts and emcees Erwin Parengkuan and Indy Barends, the show’s biggest selling points are the playful panic and chaos that result when participants race against time to produce the required dish. In one episode that featured ikan gurame (freshwater carp) as the main ingredient, one team planned to grill it ia turmeric paste, but along the way it became fried fish in a different type of yellow sauce. 

The other team planned to fry the carp in a mattah paste, Balinese-style shredded raw onion, shallot and chili, mixed with shrimp paste and salt and dressed with coconut oil. During the hurly-burly of cooking, it changed to fried carp served with chili and soy sauce, before reverting back to the originally planned recipe. “It does not matter if the participants change the dish during the process. The most important thing is how the participants turn the ingredients to the final dish,” host Erwin told the Post last week. 

One of the judging panel of professional chefs, such as Edwin Lau, Bara Pattiradjawane and Billy Kalangi, decide on the winner. Evaluation of the dish is based on three factors: flavor, accounting for 50 percent, 30 percent for presentation and 20 percent for cleanliness and speed. Feeling the heat and staying in the kitchen pays off for the winning team, which takes home Rp 10 million (US$1,035) as the top prize. Contestants are not the only ones in for surprises. “I don’t hold the participants’ names with me, so I was very surprised when I saw my wife and family there,” 

Erwin said of spouse Jana, who runs successful Central Jakarta bakery and restaurant The Baked Goods. He said Indy was in for her own unpleasant surprise when eel was the featured ingredient. “Indy is afraid of slithering, crawling animals, so the episode turned out to be quite comical as she had to fight her fears and continue hosting the show,” Erwin said.

Panic Kitchen
Trans TV
Monday and Tuesday at 6 p.m.
source : the jakarta post