MasterChef Australia's Melissa Leong Reveals 'Grossest' Dish She's Tasted

‘MasterChef Australia: Back To Win’ judge Melissa Leong has been tasting delicious dishes well before she made her debut on the cooking show this year.

In an interview from 2018, the food writer commented on the concept of “nail to tail eating” and what was perhaps the “grossest” dish she had ever tried. 

“The thing is, I try not to think about food in terms of attractiveness or grossness or things like that, but I just really like to explore food,” Melissa told Studio 10 . 

One of the show’s hosts, Joe Hildebrand still pushed Mel for an answer on what’s an unusual meal she’s had. 

“That’s great, what’s the grossest thing you’ve ever eaten?” he asked. 

“I have eaten some very interesting things, lamb testicles,” responded Mel. 

When co-host Sarah Harris asked what it tasted like, Mel said it was a dish of fried goodness. 

“Well, they were kind of cut quite fine and crumbed like a schnitzel so I mean anything fried I mean... tastes just like chicken,” she laughed, adding, it’s “kind of a bit like sweetbread so a little bit sort of spongey in texture”. 

Sweetbreads are the organ meat from the thymus gland and pancreas. They are most commonly from veal or lamb, but beef and pork sweetbreads can also be found.

She also commented on “nose to tail eating”, which in some cultures is a sign of respect .

“I think that nose to tail eating is a thing we’ve seen in food for quite some years now and I think if you are going to eat meat, then you should dignify the animal by eating as much of it as you can,” she said.

On ‘MasterChef Australia: Back To Win’  this year, Andy Allen, Melissa Leong and Jock Zonfrillo have replaced former judges  Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris  and Matt Preston.

There were 24 previous contestants who returned to the series for another shot at victory, but we are now up to the final six. 

The remaining contestants are Poh Ling Yeow , Reece Hignell , Reynold Poernomo , Callum Hann , Emelia Jackson  and Laura Sharrad . 

‘MasterChef Australia: Back To Win’ continues on Sunday at 7:30pm on Channel 10.