They're doctors, farmers, clerks and everything but professional chefs, yet they want to be known for their cooking.

Thousands of amateur chefs in a dozen cities competed to become one of 30 contestants on Fox's "MasterChef," premiering at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

"They all think, 'Wow! I am a kitchen god. I had the most amazing dinner party on my 33rd birthday,'" explains Gordon Ramsay, chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and cooking show mainstay. "How many times do you see a Grand Prix or football thing and think 'Oh, I can do it'?"

That's the problem with cooking —because mostly everyone does it, they assume they are good. But not so fast, say those who know. And few know better than Ramsay and his fellow "MasterChef" judges, four-star chef Graham Elliot Bowles and restaurateur and vintner Joe Bastianich. They're seeking a wonderful amateur chef who will so impress them by cooking for a formal wedding and an army (literally), and by identifying the ingredients in a blind taste test of chili, that he or she will win $250,000 and get the chance to publish a cookbook.

Relaxing at the bar of the Greenwich Village restaurant he owns with Mario Batali, Bastianich says he knows what he seeks in a master chef: "everything you are looking for in a great cook — talent, passion, intuitiveness."

The food represents "a little piece of who they are," he says.

Bastianich, who doesn't tolerate bad food, makes Ramsay look warm and cuddly.

"It is nice not being the Mr. Nasty for once on the show," Ramsay says. "It is fun."

The third host, Bowles, is encouraging to each contestant. And yes, he's already been compared to Paula Abdul. (They don't look alike, but contestants will quickly sense he's their cheerleader.)

"That carries over into who I am as a person," Bowles says from Chicago, where his eponymous restaurant has earned highest accolades. "In my kitchen, we don't have recipes. Everything is very spontaneous."

Even when a dish is horrific, Bowles says he'll first compliment the person and say, "I totally love what you went after. I love the idea behind it."

He will then suggest ways to improve it.

"My biggest thing is passion," Bowles says. "You can teach somebody technique. At the end of the day, cooking is taking something from a raw state to a cooked state. There's not a lot to it. You cook it, you season correctly, and you are there. Desire, finesse and passion are what I look for."

The pilot does exactly what it should: introduces the hopefuls, some of whom we wish were cooking for us, and others who should be wired to emit a warning siren if they near a kitchen.

Chris, from Texas, made a beer and cheese soup, which Bowles says, "he could eat a bowl of"; Bastianich says "is a bad dish"; and Ramsay declares, "The most disgusting soup I have ever ... tasted in my life."

Contestants explain why they're cooking, and they make their signature dishes. One woman, apparently a chef groupie, explains that she always dates chefs. Ramsay advises her to "continue dating chefs. You are never going to be one."

All concur that one man's "funeral potatoes" were among the foulest things to have crossed their lips.

Randy explains that his mom used to make this dish to bring to the house of someone in mourning. Though by the looks of it, this casserole could have been named as a cause of death on cholesterol alone.

Later, the judges, in separate interviews, marvel at how nasty this dish was.

Even Bowles says it was the worst thing he's tasted so far. "It was a loaded baked potato in liquid form."

Bastianich, whose wit is as dry as his white wine, considers what has been the worst dish. "That's a very full category," he says. "The funeral potatoes were one of the worst things I've ever eaten."

Some wonderful dishes happen as well. Ramsay says "a sublime panna cotta" and a healthy BLT have been favorites. Bastianich is impressed by homemade pasta and Mediterranean-inspired food such as a lamb dish with risotto.

What makes the show compelling for viewers is getting enmeshed in the lives of the contestants. Tracy, a physician from Georgia, honors the memory of her mom by cooking her dishes.

As Michael prepares a Korean-style pan-seared duck, he gracefully moves behind the stove.

"He moves like a chef," Ramsay says admiringly.

Bowles describes the dish as wonderful.

Not about to take attitude from anyone else, Ramsay likens "arrogant chefs to blondes in Hollywood," both are so common.

This show has already been a huge hit in its native U.K. and Australia and has the feel of a series that could run many seasons.

"My biggest thing is that it will inspire people to get in the kitchen and cook, even if it is not for a huge gathering," Bowles said.