The Most Unexpected Dish Duff Goldman Ever Ate On Holiday Baking Championship

Who doesn't love talking about what they ate? There's even a Food Network show, called "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," all about people's love of sharing food stories (and viewers' voracious appetite for them). It's easy to remember the last meal you had that you loved, and whether it was about the flavor, the flair, or the friends you were with, we're betting you can quickly recall exactly what you enjoyed about the experience. But it takes a different kind of sense memory to recount something you ate and didn't like; a dish that, even now, you can't quite stomach talking about.

Which is why we love that Business Insider went ahead and asked, anyway. In a recent report, Insider queries cooking-show judges — those masters of the art of the grimace, or the toothy grin, when presented with a dish in front of a camera — looking for the best and worst dishes they had ever eaten on TV. Though, let's be honest; the best ones will win that round, and maybe even make it through to the season finale. It's the worst ones we all want to know more about. Luckily, celebrity chef and baking extraordinaire Duff Goldman was happy to respond, and the dish he remembers distinctly was very unexpected — by both him and the person who cooked it.

Goldman wasn't ready to throw anyone he's ever judged under the culinary bus. When asked about the worst dish he's eaten during his time on the bench, specifically while judging a show like "Holiday Baking Championship," the famed baker and star of "Buddy vs. Duff" was diplomatic. "I don't know about the worst, but the most memorable was hot-dog-flavored ice cream," Goldman told Insider. It turns out that the contestant who produced such a counter-intuitive ice cream flavor wasn't even going for that particular end result. "[He] wasn't trying to make it hot-dog-flavored," Goldman explained. "He just threw a bunch of savory spices in there and it worked out — or [it didn't], depending on how you look at it."

You could say that we watch food television less for the blenders and more for the blunders. Salon recently pointed out that there is a genre of "celebrities who can't cook" that seems to be trending on television these days, with shows like "Cooking with Paris" (now streaming on Netflix, with a trailer on YouTube) and "Amy Schumer Learns to Cook" at the forefront of celebrating inadequacy in the kitchen. But if we're honest, someone cooking a weird or disappointing dish is only as interesting as the impartial judge who takes a bite and has to feign excitement or stifle a gag reflex. While Goldman seems happy to label hot-dog-flavored ice cream as "memorable," we savvy viewers have learned to read between the lines.