Hi!

It's probably a bit late for this now, but maybe for future Jams with a "secret ingredient" -- one of the ratings should be how well the submission expressed the secret ingredient. That was one of the judging categories of the old Japanese "Iron Chef" TV show and it would work well for this situation too.

Just a thought...

The more categories the better! Just to clarify, in this case the secret ingredient would be the theme?

Right, that's how I see it.

A "secret ingredient" keeps a contest fairer so that contestants can't prepare "too much" ahead of time. But there's a difference between throwing some asparagus on top at the end or making it integral to the dish, and a category for that could recognize that.

Thanks!