Christina Tosi as seen in "MasterChef"

Buckle up, food fans -- Fox's massive culinary competition is back with new contestants, a new judge and a whole host of new challenges for home cooks with culinary dreams.

"MasterChef's" eighth season premieres Wednesday, May 31, on Fox, and world-famous chef Gordon Ramsay and acclaimed pastry chef Christina Tosi return to judge the high-stakes cooking competition. Last season was the first to feature only the two permanent judges -- seasons 1 through 6 each had three -- but this season the show is back at full strength after one of last year's guest judges received a promotion.

Chef Aarón Sanchez takes a more permanent position alongside Ramsay and Tosi, after serving as a guest judge in several episodes last season. Cooking show connoisseurs should recognize him from his frequent appearances as a judge in Food Network's "Chopped" and "Chopped Junior," or maybe from his pair of cookbooks, "La Comida del Barrio" and "Simple Food, Big Flavor: Unforgettable Mexican-Inspired Recipes from My Kitchen to Yours."

Speaking of cookbooks, part of the grand prize awarded to this season's "MasterChef" winner is a cookbook publishing deal, and last season's winner just released his. Las Vegas-based home cook Shaun O'Neale's "My Modern American Table" was released earlier in May, and it blends his own recipes with some behind-the-scenes peeks at his time competing in "MasterChef."

Billing itself as one of the world's biggest cooking competitions, "MasterChef" recruits the best home cooks from around the country and puts them through an intense regimen of competition. These are folks from all walks of life -- single parents, college students, even retirees -- who have dreams of making a career out of their love of cooking but who never went down the path of becoming professional chefs.

Just because these ordinary folks never went to culinary school doesn't mean they're slumps in the kitchen -- quite the opposite. To even get into the competition they have to prove they have the potential to be worthy of the grand prize: a cookbook deal, a whopping $250,000 and the coveted MasterChef trophy.

It's a show that makes culinary dreams come true, and it's back to a full trio of judges with the addition of chef Aarón Sanchez. "MasterChef" premieres Wednesday, May 31, on Fox.