In his new cooking show “double cooks better”, Viennese Alex Kumptner lets people who can’t cook at the stove – instructed by their partner via a button in their ear. A conversation about a heated experiment and strong nerves.
Mr. Kumptner, your new cooking show “double cooks better” is a format for people who can’t cook. Is that going in the direction of bankruptcies, bad luck and breakdowns?
It’s an entertainment format and not a typical cooking show where a person who has the know-how is actively cooking. It works more like silent mail. Three couples compete against each other. I give the recipe and the person who can cook guides the one who can’t cook with a button in their ear. In the end, a completely different dish often comes out. That’s very funny, for example when the instructor suddenly doesn’t know what to do anymore. Or the cooks should implement something that is difficult to explain in words, such as forming semolina dumplings over a spoon.
What is the appeal of such a show?
The show is very human. Of course, cooking provides the framework. But the really exciting thing for me is the interpersonal interaction between two people who are close: lovers, friends, siblings. There are situations that you know yourself, that you can understand, in which you share the excitement, have sympathies and antipathies. And sometimes you think: Oh, yes, that’s how it is with us too. That’s what excites me.
How bad do you have to be to cook to get invited to your new cooking show?
You don’t have to be super bad at cooking. If only culinary illiterates were on the show, it would be difficult. It’s all in the mix. There are also pairings where one just wants to show the other how much work it is to be actively at the stove. In the case of some supposedly bad cooks, it turns out that they may not be so talented after all. But of course, there are also extreme cases of hardship. Then the carrot is peeled with a spoon. Of course they are the salt in the soup.
It’s kind of like a social experiment in disguise…
It’s a bit like driving a car with a bad passenger who keeps chattering in and just shits. Everyone knows it, everyone deals with it differently. It’s the same on the show. I remember one couple on the show where she was the guide and clocked him in all the time. I would jump out of my skin. But he stayed calm: ‘Yes, yes, darling. I’ll do it, darling.’ That’s when you really noticed why the two are a couple. She gives real material and he follows her instructions, but feels quite comfortable in the role. But sometimes it gets really turbulent.
Emotions running high?
You can see that especially with couples in love. At the beginning they are totally harmonious, at the end there is buzzing. Sentences like: ‘You’ll never come back to my kitchen!’
Clear. When you’re already stressed out anyway, you’re constantly lectured, even yelled at. In this competitive situation, that almost borders on psychological terror. A security question: How sharp are the knives in the show kitchens?
Very sharp.
Oh. But joking aside. It sure gets hot sometimes, doesn’t it?
If the partner is too annoying, the cooks can press the buzzer, then there is silence for a minute. And it is actually not pressed for fun, but out of pure emotion. Sometimes they really hit it hard because they think: ‘Now leave me alone!’ At this point I would have buzzed some of the partners five times. Of course it’s funny when the microphone comes on again later, because that’s when the justifications and accusations start.
Are there moments when you would most like to intervene?
Definitely culinary. For example, if someone soaks the bread roll in water and then tries to make a dumpling out of it for five minutes because the instructor didn’t remember the recipe correctly. I would like to go there and say: My God, please just leave it alone.
And human?
Most of the time I’m on the side of the cooks, who stand below and give everything. Because if the instructors don’t know how to proceed, they tend to act chaotically and there are no clear announcements at all. The cooks don’t know their way around anymore, and only nonsense comes out. But of course the person who is at the stove is to blame. Funnily enough, it is often the case that those with the most know-how are also the most dogged and gallop. Only one component has to fail and it throws them completely off course.
How many couples go home together after the end of the shoot?
Actually, you always end up hugging. But sometimes I do think to myself: Okay, there will probably be a lot of discussion on the drive home. For example, there was this couple. At the end the woman wanted to take a photo. I thought it was for a group photo with her husband. But no. She said she won’t talk to him anymore for now.
jeez But now for something more positive. What has been your highlight on the show so far?
It was a granddaughter-grandma team. She just wanted to introduce her granddaughter to cooking and was so adorable. They were so wonderful with each other, there was nothing loud, nothing screeching. In the midst of all the commotion, it was just nice to see how two people can relate to each other. I loved watching both of them. I would like to cook with the two of them myself.
At the end of the show, you too will taste and rate the dishes. How does it taste like that?
I’m really honest now: That’s often much better than it looks. I sometimes wonder how they managed that.
The cooking show “double cooks better” with the Austrian star chef Alexander Kumptner can be seen Monday to Friday at 7 p.m. on Sat.1.