'Masterchef' Season 7 Cooks Have Lots Of Prep Time

I relate strongly to Masterchef, because there's nothing that can make you feel on top of the world like making a restaurant-quality dish in a home kitchen. So even though the finale of Season 6 won't be until Sept. 23, I'm already wondering when Masterchef Season 7 will premiere. Unfortunately, not for a while. Though there is no official return date set, Season 7, like the past three seasons, should premiere in late spring — likely the end of May. Unfortunately, that means another season of Masterchef is nearly a year away.

That's bad news for fans, but good news for the contestants, who were just auditioning for the show in open calls that FOX posted about in late August. As much as I want more episodes of Masterchef, the show will need nearly a year to develop a good cast and let them prepare.

And that's because Masterchef, like the pint-sized Junior version, is about amateur cooks looking to be judged by professional standards. And if they're going to walk into the kitchen of Chef Gordon Ramsay, they're going to want to be prepared. Ramsay isn't quite as tough on the Masterchef contestants as he is on the competitors on Hell's Kitchen, but it's still intimidating to walk out of a home kitchen as an aspiring chef and right into an environment where you'll be treated as one. But if the Season 7 chefs keep these dos and don'ts in mind, they'll be able to excel, and maybe even win Masterchef.

Don't Ever Give Up, Even If You Totally Screw Up

Everyone has a bad week on the show, but what the winners never do is let a screwup totally derail their dishes. Too much salt? Attempt to compensate with a perfectly prepared protein. Sloppy presentation can be salvaged if the sauce that was splattered everywhere is delicious.

Do Follow Directions & Pay Attention

Many of the weekly Masterchef challenges have the chefs prepare a version of a dish decided on by the judges, usually in order to test their skills and their ability to follow a recipe. So if you can flawlessly recreate a difficult dish, Ramsay, Graham, and Christina will be impressed.

Don't Be Scared

Nervousness is the enemy of success while cooking. That's why so many of the overconfident contestants make it so far.

Do Remember The Basic Recipes

If you show up to the Masterchef set and don't know how to do something like make a perfect soft-boiled egg or cook a steak to medium-rare with enough crisp on the outside, then you're wasting your time. Basic culinary knowledge is a strict requirement.

Don't Forget Dessert

There's always a dessert component, and sometimes it's the pastry chefs who manage to blow past the early rounds because they know everything about doughs, stand mixers, and how to make sure dessert is not too sweet.

Do Be Inspired By Those Plucky Kids

The kids on Masterchef Junior manage to completely slay the kitchen every single week. If the future contestants of Spring 2016's Masterchef Season 7 use those confident, capable kids as their guides, they should all wildly succeed. Above all? Never let anything stop you. Not even if you literally can't even reach the counter.

Images: Greg Gayne/FOX; Giphy (6)