Chef Adam Liaw launches ‘Recipe of the Year’ to promote real food over AI‑driven cooking

In one episode, she wields a tape measure to assess the talents of a scone. Contestants are told that a good jam roll must have “no cracks, no skin missing and a neat roll”. Schrader slices one open to show a perfect, evenly layered swirl of jam inside the sponge.

“Ellice was the biggest surprise for us,” Martin says. “She had never done television before in her life and really has not much interest in it. But she was such a natural, such a joy, and at times quite scary. She’s like the Margaret Pomeranz of cooking, or a Simon Cowell-esque role. It’s hard feedback, but done with a completely different approach.”

Martin also applauds the ABC for supporting a show with an original format like this.

“A lot of the main shows that we have on air in Australia are imported formats,” he says. “There are very few original formats and that’s fine, they’re popular. But the ability for Australian IP and ideas to be created here, and then, if successful, exported to other countries … that’s what the ABC should be doing, that’s what all our cultural institutions should be doing: supporting Australian IP.

“I’d love to see a UK version or an American version or a Japanese version, or whatever it might be, of the show.”

What Martin loves most about Recipe of the Year is its blend of modern Australia: diverse food, shared community, nostalgia, creativity. He calls it intentionally analogue and an antidote to today’s AI-saturated world.

“I feel like people want to try something new in the kitchen or mix up their repertoire,” he says. “And this show gives them ideas that are achievable.”

Recipe of the Year premieres 7.30pm, October 11 on the ABC and ABC iview.