§5.2The Veteran Blind Panel

What remains, once surveillance is renounced, is the instrument that was always going to work: the palates. A standing panel of five retired hawker masters – the judges most likely to catch drift and least likely to be gamed. Panelists are paid $300/session, serve staggered two-year terms, and eat blind: a runner collects the dishes without telling the panel which stall is being tasted on which day, roughly three times a year per heritage stall. To be sure, a tasting panel already exists: the Hawkers Succession Scheme ends with a tasting judged by the veteran, NEA and an independent advisory panel. This one upgrades it. It tastes blind, seats retired masters only, and publishes its scale and its question; the verdicts stay private.

The verdict is a single judgement, on a four-point scale answering a single question – "Would the master recognise this as their dish? Is it worthy of the name?"–Proudly yes · Yes · Not yet · No – with narrative notes conveyed privately by a mentor, never published. "Not yet" triggers help: a Master Fellow clinic, a technique refresher, a session back at the master's side. Two consecutive "No" verdicts pause certification and the rebate until a re-taste – a pause handled as coaching, not prosecution.