“Not Crispy”: MasterChef Under Fire Again For “Wonton” Criticism

Main image via Malay Mail

Every Malaysian was enraged when the previously viral comment from the MasterChef judge on chicken rendang not being crispy hit the internet and now they're back at it again!

Well maybe not the same judge but MasterChef Australia’s judge Andy Allen is now the latest to go viral after his comment on how the fried wonton filling from a contestant wasn’t crunchy.

In an elimination round of the show, the contestants were given a challenge to create a dish that has a crunchy bite in order to not get eliminated.

While the other contestants went on to make their prawn fritters, fried chicken and other crunchy bites, one of the contestants, Brendan Pang decided to cook up some tasty crispy prawn wontons with some garlic and chilli sauce as sides.

But while it might make us salivate looking at it, it didn’t seem to impress celebrity chef Andy Allen, who went on to say that his wonton filling wasn’t crunchy (all while the crackle sound was heard) and said, "that’s soft, so in my opinion, it doesn’t meet the brief.”

So anyone who’s had a fried wonton would know that the filling is not supposed to be crispy because then it would probably be called something else instead, and this clearly upset many people, especially Asian fans!

This makes me SO mad even MORE so because it’s Brendan the sweetest guy in the entire world!

— Stéphanie (@stephphlpv) May 3, 2020

Such wonton destruction

— Chris Knowles (@FakeCKnowles) May 3, 2020

Fried chicken is just crunchy skin so why has the wonton been so poorly judged?

— KissOfDeathTips (@KissOfDeathTip) May 3, 2020

Yeah, that judge's understanding of any culturally different foods is offensive. He could not even pronounce papadum. This isn't his first offence.

— Sam Lopez (@SamLopezAus) May 3, 2020

Rendang-gate triggered 🤦🏻‍♀️

— Cindy Jow (@jowcin) May 3, 2020

It also got the attention of previous season winner Adam Liaw and the Malaysian-Australian chef tweeted to defend the honour of the beloved fried wonton while saying, “this is like the crispy rendang all over again.”

I would even go so far to say that if the "ball" portion of a wonton is crunchy, it is a badly made wonton. #MasterChefAU

— Adam Liaw (@adamliaw) May 3, 2020

One user asked the MasterChef winner, if the fried wonton isn’t supposed to be crunchy does it not meet the brief to make something “extra crunchy”? Adam responded by comparing it to fried chicken and how the meat too was moist and not crunchy.

If they're crunchy in the correct places. You'd be rightly annoyed if you served fried chicken and were told it wasn't good because although the outside was crunchy, the meat was moist and succulent.

— Adam Liaw (@adamliaw) May 4, 2020

You tell them, Adam!

Looks like MasterChef judges have a thing with crunchy and crispy food. Maybe the next time they will say roti canai is not crispy enough, or lemang is not crunchy. Who knows?

What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think the contestant made the wrong dish to cook or it really is the judge’s ignorance? Let us know!

Info via Malay Mail