"I have, like, a bit of a wild guess in my mind, but I kinda don't wanna say it, 'cause then there's gonna be that [BEEP]ing graphic here that's like 'EEEHN!', you know? '[BEEP] you, Chris!'"
Reverse Engineering is a Cooking Show released as part of Bon Appétit starring Test Kitchen Director and supertaster Chris Morocco. One of the test kitchen staff challenges a blindfolded Chris to examine a dish by a famous chef using only his senses of smell, taste, and touch. He then must spend the next two days attempting to recreate it, having never once gotten to look at the dish or be told what it is. Expect him to get remarkably close while being most confident about the wrong ingredient.
Watch the whole series here
This show provides examples of:
- Cluster F-Bomb: Plenty from Chris, especially when he's angry.
- Cool Old Lady: Madhur Jaffrey appears herself when Chris recreates her Tikka Masala, being friendly and supportive, admitting that she likes the texture of Chris' chicken better, and casually name-dropping James Beard coming over for dinner once.
- Couch Gag: The openings have a section in which Chris does a dramatic entrance which is different almost every time, like when he jumped over the counters to the kitchen or when Sohla released him from the walk-in fridge like a caged lion.
- The '80s: The best way to hype Chris up is something from or related to the 80s, be it the Top Gun: Maverick trailer, The Karate Kid fight and Joe Esposito's "You're The Best (Around)", or the editors adding in their own 80s montage to him cooking.
- Gag Censor: The editors use the face of the chef who authored that episode's dish to cover Chris’ mouth when he swears.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Chris' first major failure on the show was not noticing that Jamie Oliver's Insanity Burger used Red Leicester cheese. Any time he's at the grocery store, he or the camera will focus in on Red Leicester with disgust.
- Once per Episode:
- Chris starts the episode with a new, weird mask over his blindfold.
- Chris will go down to the grocery store to get ingredients, and he will ride around on a cart like a kid.
- Real-Life Super Powers: Chris is a supertaster, so he can clue into flavors and ingredients in a dish that would be much harder for an average person to notice.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Chris, sometimes up to eleven when he's really pissed. Interestingly enough, he started out as quiet and somewhat aloof before shifting into the Team Dad personality that he's more well-known as.
- Take That!: Chris spends much of the Paul Hollywood Cornish Pasties episode describing the pasties as lacking in personality.
