Of the endless parade of ingredients we’ve seen on MasterChef, some have stood out as somewhat out of the ordinary. In the main, these ingredients have been certain parts of formerly living creatures (or indeed, the entire animal) that some among us would perhaps not often contemplate cooking with or eating. Below are five ingredients seen on MasterChef that have struck us as being extra entertaining, and five we’d like to see tackled in the MasterChef Kitchen, foul odours or no.

1) Century Egg. Last year Poh caused a stir in the MasterChef kitchen when she used a century egg (we can still see George’s face when he inspected it for the first time!) in her cooking. Used in Chinese cuisine, this formidable looking delicacy is made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs for several weeks (or months), using ash, lime, clay, salt and rice. With its dark green yolk, these whiffy eggs smell strongly of sulphur and ammonia. We think its colouring is rather beautiful.

2) Horseshoe Crab. The contestants encountered these incredible creatures in Hong Kong. They were around before flying insects, dinosaurs and us; have blood that turns blue when exposed to air and are more closely related to spiders, ticks and scorpions than crabs. They also look decidedly gnarly.

3) Pig’s Head. Who can forget Chris’ pig’s head extravaganza from season one of MasterChef and the delight of the judges as they tucked in?

4) Brains. An offal favourite of MasterChef, Gary has cooked Fried Brains with Bacon Crumble and Apple Vinaigrette in Masterclass and George has shown us how to cook his very inventive Lamb Brain Cereal. Maybe not to everyone’s taste (try and get a child to eat brains if they know what it is) but pork, beef and lamb brains are appreciated by some for their slightly creamy and pillowy texture.

5) Eels. Marion may not have picked eels as the core ingredient in the Japanese-themed Invention Test this year but the heaped bowl of eels was quite a sight in the MasterChef pantry. These slippery little critters are a delicacy in Japan, China, Europe and the United States, among others.

Five ingredients we’d like to see in the MasterChef kitchen.

1) Jellyfish. Available in processed, dehydrated and cured forms overseas, some think eating more jellyfish is one way to tackle the problem of overfishing and depletion of our oceans’ fish supplies. We think they would make quite a picture piled high in a glistening mound as a core ingredient.
 
2) Kopi Luwak. This coffee is one of the world’s most expensive and rare, and is made from coffee cherries which have been eaten by the cat-like Asian Palm Civet in Sumatra. These small mammals eat the best coffee cherries for the fleshy pulp and the beans pass through their systems whole, whereupon they’re harvested, cleaned and roasted, ready to be used for a seriously smooth Cup of Joe!

3) Frog’s legs. We’d like to see this delicacy of French and Cantonese cuisine plated up, mainly so one of our judges can perhaps conclude, “tastes like chicken.”

4) Witchety Grubs. These large white larvae of moths which feature in Indigenous Australian cuisine would make a great and highly nutritious bush tucker addition to any challenge.
 
5) Durians. They’re quite smelly even before they’re cut open and the overpowering, punishing smell once they have been has led to this football-sized spiky fruit being banned on public transport and in many public places in Singapore. The flesh is sweet, custard-like and delicious, if you can get past that gag-inducing odour. You don’t want to kiss someone directly after they have partaken in a durian. Also available in ice-cream and candy form.

What weird and wonderful ingredients would you like to see on MasterChef? Tell us below.