EP84: Part II Chef Ashley Brown: Chopped to Leading at Four by Brother Luck

Part II of Chef Ashley Brown's Culinary Journey: From Competitions to Chopped

In the season 4 premiere of Voice4Chefs, we continue diving into Chef Ashley Brown's journey in the culinary world. Ashley shares her experiences from competing in local competitions, working alongside other chefs, to finally participating in the popular TV show Chopped. She details her creative process, the challenges she faced, her emotional moments, and the support she received from her husband and family. The episode also highlights her involvement with the MAP mentorship program, emphasizing the importance of perseverance, community, and passion in the culinary industry.

00:00 Welcome Back to Chef Ashley Brown's Journey
00:14 The Missing Bacon Fat Incident
01:06 Competing Against Thomas Hensley
01:51 First Date with Brother's Themed Dinners
04:02 Applying for the Sous Chef Position
04:36 The Mystery Basket Interview
11:29 Becoming the CDC at Lucky Dumpling
11:58 Chef Mike's Passing and Returning to Four
13:19 Getting on Chopped
22:10 Regional Focus and First Course Success
23:28 The Elk Tenderloin Challenge
24:37 Kitchen Disaster: Smoking Out the Studio
26:17 Final Dish and Emotional Exit
33:25 Reflecting on the Chopped Experience
37:10 Joining MAP and Future Aspirations

Chef Ashley Brown

https://www.instagram.com/chef_browntown

Joanna James
https://linktr.ee/AFineLineMovie
https://www.instagram.com/mappimpact/
https://www.instagram.com/joannajamesfilms/

Season2

Transcript

Michael Dugan: 0:52

Welcome back to part two of Chef Ashley Brown's incredible culinary journey. In this episode, we dive even deeper into her passion, resilience, and leadership in the kitchen. Let's continue on Ashley's journey.

Chef Ashley Brown: 1:07

The competition started the container of bacon fat went missing. where did this thing go? I ended up losing, now I think I lost because, the guy that I was competing against, his parents were there, The thing was missing. The container of bacon fat went missing. I was like, where did this thing go? I ended up losing, now I think I lost because, the guy that I was competing against, his parents were there he gave his parents like a couple little bites. So people were like, oh, that's so sweet. And I had no one.

Michael Dugan: 1:41

Okay.

Chef Ashley Brown: 1:41

Husband. Now,

Michael Dugan: 1:42

Yeah, but remember, you're competing against yourself. I learned this from you, right. So, yeah. Yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 1:49

You compete against a chef or someone else. My husband was there, but we weren't even dating at the time. So he was the only person that I had to kind of support me. I compete against this guy. his name's Thomas Hensley,

Michael Dugan: 2:02

Mm-hmm.

Chef Ashley Brown: 2:03

Tommy Boy. later on, him and I ended up starting to work together at the zoo,

Michael Dugan: 2:07

Oh, wow.

Chef Ashley Brown: 2:08

Hensley and I, yes, he, and he's a great friend right now. Him and his girl about to get married. she used to be part of front of house,

Michael Dugan: 2:15

Mm-hmm.

Chef Ashley Brown: 2:16

with the most, and of course the, the cook together. But, yeah, no, I competed against him and I lost. but it was a great, it was a great experience and to have a relationship come outta that too. And from then on, I. I loved what Brother did, I loved what he did for the community and all the local people. all the local cooks and chefs that are in town and what he would do to help, get them exposure and help them see where they can go. So from then on, my husband and I, once we started to date, our first date was, Warner Brothers, themed dinners. And it

Michael Dugan: 2:52

Oh my gosh. That's awesome.

Chef Ashley Brown: 2:54

it was a painting, it was like a Bob Ross kind of thing. he hired a live painter. His name is Shaggy. And so the live painter would paint these photos while brother would explain the dishes that he was gonna serve us, and it would look just like the plate. It was amazing. So that was my, my husband's first date with brother. And we would always go to his themed dinners. That was always like our date night. And so I tried to show brother, I was like, he's not gonna know who I am, but I love what his, his ideas and how he creates these things. I wanna get on this level. So, what's the best way to get on that level then to experience it. I'm still definitely not on that level yet, but I know how he works and I'm, I'm trying to get

Michael Dugan: 3:38

Mm-hmm.

Chef Ashley Brown: 3:38

So finally, like I said, when Covid hit just a few weeks, we, my, Bo Green and I went to his restaurant and collaborated with Tonya Holland and him for the Top Chef dinner. And so after that, I've started to realize like how his kitchens work and everything. I really wanted establish, I want him to know who I was and that I was very passionate for him, passionate for what I wanted to do.

Michael Dugan: 4:06

Yeah. I get

Chef Ashley Brown: 4:07

It wasn't even in his kitchens, but somewhere, I wanted another chef to know who I was in town, even if that wasn't, brother, it could have been anybody else. But you know, I've only ever known the zoo. So like, why not create these other relationships with chefs in town? So that's kind of how, I guess I started to figure out who brother was and how to, how to get in that circle, And then finally, I don't, he trusted me enough to, to run in one of his most prized possessions to this day. So, yeah. So then after that, after doing that Top Chef dinner with Bo and Brother and Tanya Holland, and like I said, when I told my chef I was bored, and him and brother were already talking. So now fast forward to that moment. I applied for it after Bo said, you should apply for it. So I remember coming

Michael Dugan: 5:00

blessing. Yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 5:01

and I, I go back on it conveniently, it was still there, and I said, apply. And I was like, what did I just do? Oh my God, I'm giving up everything that I just, I all the years to this one company who gave their years to me. And I was like, did that just happen? So, so finally we get to, an interview with the, the co the chef de cuisine. His name was, Michael Noll. so he was the chef de cuisine over there at the time. And to the interview, he gave me a mystery basket,

Michael Dugan: 5:35

Oh my gosh. Wow. Very cool. And you'd already been doing the knife thing,

Chef Ashley Brown: 5:40

Yeah.

Michael Dugan: 5:41

oh my gosh. That's awesome.

Chef Ashley Brown: 5:42

basket, it was, you're gonna, you're gonna show us what you can do. This is the interview. You're gonna show us what you can do. Anyone can put anything on a resume. So it's very smart for them to do that. And let's see where your skillset is. Let's see what your time management is. Let's see your, where your creativity is. I was applying to be sous chef. All those things are needing to be applied. So that was a beautiful way to see where someone actually is in their career. So in that basket, it was sea bass, not Chilian, but it was sea bass, buttermilk, peaches, and black barley. Oh, and a whole New York strip to butcher.

Michael Dugan: 6:27

Surf and turf right there.

Chef Ashley Brown: 6:29

So I ended up doing a three course, a three course meal for them. It was for brother, chef Mike. our gm, Matt and their, catering director, Amanda. And so for the first course, I ended up doing ceviche with the sea bass, and I did a buttermilk panna for dessert with the grilled peaches, the grilled peaches, and the New York strip. I just, I butchered, and when I say butchered, it's not even in a good way, like I butchered it. I didn't know how, I didn't know how to break down a whole New York strip at the time. we, we always got in everything, at the zoo. We couldn't really get in whole animals, that's a, there's a ton of people to be going, imagine all the timing to put into that. So I didn't really learn butchery

Michael Dugan: 7:14

yeah. You don't have, but yeah, that makes sense. You don't have butchery there. Yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 7:17

like of course I can

Michael Dugan: 7:18

That's a hotel hotel's butchery. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 7:21

bone chickens and things like that. Not whole half animals. So I ended up doing a grilled steak and black barley. The black barley was so undercooked. I never worked with black barley before, and it was so undercooked and this meal was just awful. Oh. And including with that, our spa of four was there too. And to this day, whenever we do dinners, I'm like, reme, remember how bad I sucked when I started? And then now here we are, it's so fun to see how one grows.

Michael Dugan: 7:50

The progression. Yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 7:51

yeah. So, so I ended up doing, doing all that, presented it to them. And I'm just so shaky. And brother, whenever you present him something, or if you're feeding him, like you're giving him an experience, he knows how to just. Mute his face. He's not gonna give you enthusiasm. He's not gonna give you anything negative. He's gonna be straight faced, very monotone. So you can't read him, like you, you're not gonna say

Michael Dugan: 8:22

Oh, that's hard.

Chef Ashley Brown: 8:24

Or you're not gonna be like, oh my God,

Michael Dugan: 8:25

want the feedback one way or the other, right? I mean, you definitely want something.

Chef Ashley Brown: 8:29

very intimidating.

Michael Dugan: 8:30

Yeah, I believe it.

Chef Ashley Brown: 8:32

he even like anything? what's going through with this man's mind? And I have, I, to this day, I have no idea what he even thought of, of that meal. I have no idea. I should probably ask him sometimes.

Michael Dugan: 8:44

Yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 8:45

Yeah. I have no idea what, what he thought of. but I asked them, I'm like, okay, what's the, what's the next steps? And they're like, we have a few candidates, to, to interview. And I'll never forget Chef Mike, he asked me, what's the most, what, what is the most, Oh, I can't remember like the exact words, but what's the craziest thing that, that you've done in this industry? and I said this right here, and by that I meant apply for another job. I've given all of my dedication, loyalty to SSA, I didn't know. I've never gone anywhere. SSA was all that I knew and I've never applied anywhere else. I never wanted to go anywhere else. And so by me interviewing to be a sous chef at four was the first jump off of a cliff I've ever done. And I, I cried and I was like, this is, this is the first thing that I've done and I'm, I

Michael Dugan: 9:41

Yeah. Yeah. I totally get

Chef Ashley Brown: 9:43

no, I totally understand that. I was like, I feel like Mike, why am I crying? This is an interview.

Michael Dugan: 9:47

Right.

Chef Ashley Brown: 9:48

But, so we go on and then a couple days passes by and Chef Mike calls me, he goes, Hey, I wanna. Schedule a time for you to come in, let's chit chat. And so I tell my husband, I was like, that's them rejecting me. I, I don't, I don't got the job. And my husband was like, they're calling you to come in. I don't think that's means to, they, they would probably tell you on the phone that you don't have the job. They wouldn't have you come in just to tell you don't have the job. I was like, I don't know. I'm just not, I don't wanna get my hopes up. So I come in and Chef Mike, all he does was hand me a blue binder with the keys to the building in it.

Michael Dugan: 10:26

Oh my gosh,

Chef Ashley Brown: 10:27

And I was all like, no freaking way out of all these other people that you have interviewed. And I don't know who they interviewed, but I was like the one person, this is my second job. This is now officially my second job. I don't know, I have nothing else under my belt. I don't,

Michael Dugan: 10:45

But they saw, see, they saw something in you. That's what it is. I can tell right away because I saw it in you, like when we connected. Honestly, there's something very unique and it probably goes back. That's why I always ask people about their childhood. At seven years old, you wanted to be a chef. I mean, how could that not be obvious? Right, and and it's like for me, okay, I'll just tell you really quick. When I got into technology, they saw something in me. Because I brought hospitality into technology, right. They didn't care that I didn't have all the technical skills. They knew how driven I was, so somebody took a chance on me, right? You don't have to have all the skills, you have to prove yourself, but that's what separates you.

Chef Ashley Brown: 11:34

yeah,

Michael Dugan: 11:34

And I can tell right away, I'm pretty good at reading people, coming from hospitality,

Chef Ashley Brown: 11:39

yeah. You

Michael Dugan: 11:40

kind of have that skill, right? But, that's what I see immediately. And I'm sure listeners are picking up on it right now when, when they're listening, because it, it's part partly charisma. It's partly drive. there are a lot of chefs that have attitude, right? And, oh, you're not trainable. I'll bet you they ran into that. There's a sous chef potential. Oh, he's not trainable, he's gonna be a problem. Or she's gonna be a problem. No, no. You're passionate. You, you're a team player. It's really obvious that you want to be here. That's probably why. That's what I'm observing. So I don't know.

Chef Ashley Brown: 12:16

But

Michael Dugan: 12:16

But obviously it worked out.'cause now you're running it and that's fricking amazing. Yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 12:22

Yeah. So he had another location at the time, it was called Lucky Dumpling. So I was with four as a sous chef for six months,

Michael Dugan: 12:30

Yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 12:31

and then he promoted me to become CDC at Lucky Dumpling.

Michael Dugan: 12:36

Wow.

Chef Ashley Brown: 12:36

And so I started to run that for nine months, no soup. I was at, I was a sous chef for six months and then I, I ran Lucky Dumpling for nine months and then we had an unfortunate passing. Chef Mike passed away.

Michael Dugan: 12:52

Oh, geez.

Chef Ashley Brown: 12:53

Yeah. So it was very, very, very sudden and I'm still just kind of doing my thing over at Lucky, trying to figure out how to become A-A-C-D-C, how to run, a restaurant efficiently. So that's where I started to get those skills just

Michael Dugan: 13:10

Yeah. Yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 13:12

And I really missed the culture at four and I really missed the, the cuisine. I felt like I fit in at four because it is, it is southwestern, it is the Four Corners region. I Lucky Dumpling was, Asian and Creole infused two cuisines that I couldn't. Relate with.

Michael Dugan: 13:33

Right.

Chef Ashley Brown: 13:34

So it was kind of hard to, to really dive into Lucky Dumpling myself, because I knew I fit in more at four. And I, and I told brother, I was like, I wanna come back. And, and I knew I had ab, I had big, big, big shoes to fill after Chef Mike passed away, but he, he gave me a chance and then I moved back over to four As CDC, and I am now the, the longest running chef that he's had at four. so I've been running four as c, d, C for the last four years.

Michael Dugan: 14:08

That's amazing. That's really, really amazing. So the other thing I want to talk about is chopped.

Chef Ashley Brown: 14:15

Mm-hmm.

Michael Dugan: 14:16

tell us a little bit what you can remember. So basically, first of all, how did you end up un chopped? I dreamed of working or going un chopped at like many, many people. Now I'm out of practice. My wife will tell you. All I do is talk about it because I'm on the podcast all the time. So I don't cook that much. But what was that like and how did you end up there?

Chef Ashley Brown: 14:36

so I post a lot on social media, mainly Instagram. so someone from their production team reached out via Instagram, no email or anything. It was just the, my, my dms of Instagram. And they're like, Hey, we love, all your content. We love what you do, we see who you work for. And we, we'd love to set up time to talk. this is for the show Chopped. And so I was like, oh, no, no freaking way. No, no,

Michael Dugan: 15:10

It's a scam. It's a scam. Right? I know. I've had those and then they're not scams, and I'm like, what? Oh,

Chef Ashley Brown: 15:17

ended up going with it and then having the call, and talked to a couple of people from their production team and they're like, okay, well we just wanna get like a baseline. what do you do? what's, oh, tell me, tell us a little bit about yourself. And then, it was a quick, probably about 20, 30 minute phone call and, just tell'em everything that I've told you, but very briefly. And they're like, okay, so let's go on with another, let's go on with a Zoom. We wanna see your face, we wanna see what kind of character you are. So we went on with a Zoom call and just kind of like, and I'm not one, I wasn't, I'm not into tv. I was very shy

Michael Dugan: 15:55

Oh, wow.

Chef Ashley Brown: 15:56

very timid, just kind of like, oh, hi, my name's Ashley and and so I didn't know how to, I. Be a character. I didn't know what if I envisioned myself being a character, what would that look like? I never asked myself that question, but they really kind of pull it outta you. They're like, okay, you're competing against this kind of person. What are you gonna tell them?

Michael Dugan: 16:18

Oh, wow.

Chef Ashley Brown: 16:19

like they're, they're, they're prying and they're poking at you. What are you gonna tell him? Why do you think you're gonna win? You know what, you're from Colorado. What does Colorado have that's that no one else can get? questions like that. So I really try my absolute hardest to kind of like speak a little louder and out forward and things like that, and just kind of see, how brother does it, he'll do these things like posting a lot of his social medias and things like that. He's already got that tv, personality out.

Michael Dugan: 16:53

yeah. Charisma. Yep. Yep.

Chef Ashley Brown: 16:55

Hold some things from him, which I'm thankful for that he's exposed me to it. So, that kind of helped out a lot. So then finally, just a couple more interviews passes by, just the same things. And then okay, we wanna do, we wanna bring out some, some of our film crew come to you and, interview, show you where you're at, show the location, things like that. Take some photos. And I was like, okay. And then finally I get an email that said, okay, so here's everything that you need to know about being un chopped. It wasn't all that clear. I was like, hold on, I need to know, is this real? it says okay, you're, you're un chopped. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no. So I asked brother, I was like, I wanna make sure that this is not a scam. I really wanna make

Michael Dugan: 17:46

yeah, I get it. I totally get it.

Chef Ashley Brown: 17:48

different emails. And so I was forwarding him some of his stuff. And so of course he still has some of his emails from when he was on there. He goes, okay, this is the email that I have, JS casting, anything like that. I was like, this isn't the people. And so I was like, we're just going back and forth, back and forth, talking through it. this is what's going on, this is what they're saying, what should I do? And so I was like, okay, I'm gonna email them. He, he sends me some of the people that he worked with for Chopped, and I was like, okay, my name's Ashley Brown. This is what's going on, but I wanna make sure that this is in fact actually happening. And so the head person was like, yep, you, I can confirm you are, on you, you will be going on Chopped. Congratulations. And I was like, oh my God. I

Michael Dugan: 18:34

Right. Sure.

Chef Ashley Brown: 18:36

I told my husband, and of course it's, it's completely confidential, you can't tell anybody. but of course, it's, it's your

Michael Dugan: 18:43

You're bursting inside.

Chef Ashley Brown: 18:44

those kinds of things are kind of, it's a pass, you

Michael Dugan: 18:47

Right, right.

Chef Ashley Brown: 18:48

so now this is, now hit it. No one can know about this. And I'm like, it was, I'm one of those people that if I bought a gift for you or if I made a gift for you, I wanna give it to you right then and there.

Michael Dugan: 19:00

Yeah. Yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 19:01

like someone tells me, oh, I got a gift for you. I'm like, Ooh, what is it? What is it? So holding for months and months and months that I am on this TV show, I'm about to film this TV show was just. Just, ah, stabbing into me every single day. And so finally it came all the way up. they, some of the film crew came down, oh, Ashley Brown, floor by Brother Luck here in Colorado Springs. Give us a little, eh, some, some kind of something to work with. you got really cool hair. We, your fingers through it,

Michael Dugan: 19:32

Oh geez.

Chef Ashley Brown: 19:33

funny things and stuff that I would never do either. ugh, ugh, I don't know. It's just, it's not it, it's not me. It wasn't me at the time. And so it really helped pry Chef Ashley to come out. And that's why I did this, was

Michael Dugan: 19:51

I love this. This

Chef Ashley Brown: 19:53

I wanted, I went along with it, not to compete against the other chefs. I wanted to see what I could do in the nick of time. I wanted to see what, how much pressure I could go under and see how well I can maintain my composure. So that's, that's the main reason why I did it. And coming in there, they're like, okay, this is gonna be filmed in New York and here's all the details. And I was like, okay, this is happening. All right. So, and it was happening in, and it, during winter, I filmed it in, January. My mom's birthday is in December. So she's got a friend who lives in New York. I've never been to New York. So as a birthday gift, we bought her a ticket to come with me.'cause I didn't wanna go alone. And what better person to come with me than my mom who's been there since day one. So I brought my mom with me. Of course she couldn't, no one can come on set. No one, no one is allowed on set. so mom

Michael Dugan: 20:55

And it's long too, right? Is it like 12 or 14 hours or

Chef Ashley Brown: 20:58

yeah, it, it was, it was an all day thing. It, it was just like a, like a full shift, So it was early in the morning and the studio was about five minutes away from my hotel room. So I

Michael Dugan: 21:09

Hmm.

Chef Ashley Brown: 21:10

and you can't tell anyone and no one can tell you you don't know who you're competing against. So at six o'clock in the morning, it's still kind of dark out and you see all these other people kind of walking towards the, the studio and then you're just kinda like looking at each other are you a random person or are you here for chop? We're like, chop, chop.

Michael Dugan: 21:30

Wow.

Chef Ashley Brown: 21:31

finally, we're gathering up and then we get, we get into the studio and we're just hanging out, having breakfast, kind of hyping ourself up. Okay.

Michael Dugan: 21:39

Yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 21:40

In the studio they gave us like our own personal hype. Man, this guy was freaking awesome. but yeah, it was, it was just a crazy thing like, oh my God, I am in New York. I'm about to film a show that everybody knows about, even if it's just one, but it, it's crazy just to think of. All the places that you can go

Michael Dugan: 22:01

Wow.

Chef Ashley Brown: 22:02

chopped,

Michael Dugan: 22:02

What was your basket?

Chef Ashley Brown: 22:04

Oh, it was, it was a couple baskets. I wasn't chopped first, that's all I asked. I, I prayed to the universe. I was just kind of like, whatever this comes out, I really want to win. Of course, everybody wants to win,

Michael Dugan: 22:15

Right, right,

Chef Ashley Brown: 22:16

but I asked even if I don't win, do not let me get chopped first. I did not come all this way. I did not

Michael Dugan: 22:22

See, that's awesome. Well, that's totally awesome.

Chef Ashley Brown: 22:25

I'm doing this for my family. I'm doing this for me and doing this for my family. I wanna see what I can do. And the, the winning money, it was $25,000. This would go to my family. So getting in there, so the first basket was, quail, three sisters casserole. And at the time I had no idea what it was, even though it's in the region that I'm in, is. So Quail, three sisters Casserole, oh my God. There was something, I made a sauce out of it. Oh, I don't even remember. Wow. it was about a year and a half ago, so I

Michael Dugan: 23:00

Okay. Yeah, no, I get it. I

Chef Ashley Brown: 23:01

but, work with quail. And so this, this episode was around this region. This is around, most of the chefs come from New Mexico, Texas. Colorado,

Michael Dugan: 23:11

Southwest.

Chef Ashley Brown: 23:12

Southwest.

Michael Dugan: 23:13

Got it. Yeah. Cool.

Chef Ashley Brown: 23:15

So a lot of these things, of course, like we play with, but so I remember searing off this quail. I did the spiced quail and the judges were really impressed with how I did that. And the three sisters casserole. It was, it essentially was like something that my mom made when I was a kid called,

Michael Dugan: 23:30

Oh,

Chef Ashley Brown: 23:31

which is squash and tomatoes. dark spices like that. So I just took it and just ran with it. I just reheated it up and seasoned it a bit more than what it actually was. And three sisters casserole has like this biscuit thing, so I just exited that, get that outta here. And so that's, that was kind of the, the first course and passed. So I passed through it. Oh my God. It was insane. I'm like, each, each one. I was like, for the first one I was very confident in. I was like, no, I think I got this. But I was like, but then again, still don't get your hopes up.

Michael Dugan: 24:06

Yeah. Right, right.

Chef Ashley Brown: 24:07

But I was like, it was a great dish. I was very happy with it. Even if the judges weren't, I was. so then finally the wild passes by, we're still sitting in the room. We have lunch and waiting on for the next part to, to come in. So the next part, the second basket was, elk tenderloin. Biggest elk tenderloin I've ever seen in my entire life. Oh my

Michael Dugan: 24:29

Elk. You said elk? Correct. Oh, wow. Very gamey.

Chef Ashley Brown: 24:33

yes, it

Michael Dugan: 24:34

Mm-hmm.

Chef Ashley Brown: 24:34

huge. It was like a beef tenderloin and the elk tenderloin that I actually had, I had on my menu at four and it was little,

Michael Dugan: 24:41

Oh, awesome.

Chef Ashley Brown: 24:43

little teeny, tiny medallions. It was delicious. I was like, okay, cool. It had chilies, some dried chilies and pre-made cheese tamales. The most driest, saddest things I've ever

Michael Dugan: 24:54

That's what they do, right?

Chef Ashley Brown: 24:55

Exactly.

Michael Dugan: 24:56

crazy thing in there.

Chef Ashley Brown: 24:57

And prickly pear also was in there too.

Michael Dugan: 25:01

okay.

Chef Ashley Brown: 25:02

of course I remember this dish because it's the one I lost to, but this is where I got cocky. I get cocky and because I had elk tenderloin, I got chiles, I

Michael Dugan: 25:15

You got this. Yeah,

Chef Ashley Brown: 25:16

these are all the things that I've worked with, No, this is no brainer. So I was all like, oh, is this even a challenge? And then I was like, Ashley, calm the fuck down.

Michael Dugan: 25:26

Yeah. Right. Sure.

Chef Ashley Brown: 25:28

we go through it. And so of course we got dried chilies between, at now it's three chefs, me and two others, dried chilies that we are toasting in the studio. We ended up smoking out the studio.

Michael Dugan: 25:42

love

Chef Ashley Brown: 25:43

All the judges

Michael Dugan: 25:44

awesome. that's so great. This is priceless. Ashley, this is priceless. You have given me a gift for the podcast. This is really awesome. Oh my God,

Chef Ashley Brown: 25:58

I felt more bad for the cameramen because they have to be in your junk. And so these poor cameramen, they're crying, they're coughing, they're trying to hold their cameras straight and it.

Michael Dugan: 26:11

So it's kitchen disaster on chopped,

Chef Ashley Brown: 26:14

they're like, they're at this point, they're probably like, never ever give dried chilies as an ingredient ever again.

Michael Dugan: 26:21

Wow.

Chef Ashley Brown: 26:23

Oh my

Michael Dugan: 26:24

Oh man, that's, that's amazing. I, I haven't seen it. I confess 'cause we just kind of connected recently, but I've gotta watch

Chef Ashley Brown: 26:32

You gotta watch

Michael Dugan: 26:33

I can't wait.

Chef Ashley Brown: 26:34

So this episode, while we're talking about it, this

Michael Dugan: 26:38

What's the number? So that other people, we can get 'em

Chef Ashley Brown: 26:40

59, episode nine called Southwestern Strength.

Michael Dugan: 26:45

Okay. And I'll put it in the show notes when, when we publish too

Chef Ashley Brown: 26:48

Yes, please go ahead. But yeah, finally the studio gets kind of cleared out a little bit.

Michael Dugan: 26:55

Did it hit any of the executives? That's what I wanted to know.

Chef Ashley Brown: 26:58

Oh yeah, definitely. They're like, what the, what is going on?

Michael Dugan: 27:02

Wow.

Chef Ashley Brown: 27:03

God. Because we're all three chefs toasting, chilies all at once,

Michael Dugan: 27:06

Yeah. Okay.

Chef Ashley Brown: 27:08

so we're just continuing with it. so I'm butchering. I go to butcher down the elk tenderloin first, while the other two are gathering their ingredients from the pantry.'cause this thing's huge and I should have reversed tiered it. I should have, I should have known better.

Michael Dugan: 27:24

What's a reverse S

Chef Ashley Brown: 27:24

at least.

Michael Dugan: 27:25

What's a reverse? S seer so

Chef Ashley Brown: 27:27

reverse searing is getting it started in the oven, getting all your spices and everything on it, getting, just getting the temperature on it

Michael Dugan: 27:35

Okay.

Chef Ashley Brown: 27:35

to bring it up to temperature and then you sear it at the end just to give it that color.

Michael Dugan: 27:40

Okay.

Chef Ashley Brown: 27:41

So kind of opposite of what you would normally do versus sear it and then get it going the rest of the way in the oven.

Michael Dugan: 27:46

Got it. Yeah, I've heard a lot of that. I've never done it, but I understand it. I mean, you wanna get that really good sear and, and

Chef Ashley Brown: 27:54

It is great. I think it kind of locks the moisture a lot

Michael Dugan: 27:56

Yeah. And flavor. Sure.

Chef Ashley Brown: 27:59

So I should have at least just started to get the temperature on it, but I didn't, it was like the last thing that I put on, I was like, no, it's gonna be a mid rare, it'll be perfect, but

Michael Dugan: 28:09

Your kids are so cute, by the

Chef Ashley Brown: 28:10

Oh, thank you. I know they're s sneaking

Michael Dugan: 28:13

They're adding a lot of, a lot of ambiance to the podcast is

Chef Ashley Brown: 28:16

I love it. So I get that going and then I try making a gel. hi. Hi.

Michael Dugan: 28:23

Oh

Chef Ashley Brown: 28:23

I love you. You ready? Are you going to bed? not yet. It's nine o'clock. Oh, I love you. Love you too. Okay. I'm gonna finish this. Okay. Okay.

Michael Dugan: 28:31

yeah. We're gonna wrap up scene, so don't worry.

Chef Ashley Brown: 28:33

But, so I. I, I do a, a prickly paired gel, and I try getting it in the blast cooler. That is not a blast cooler, that's just any other refrigerator. And it didn't set. It's just this thin thing. And so I ended up making a fritter out of the, the tamale, the cheese tamale. I took the cheese out of it. I re moistened up the, the, the masa itself, and I just take it to a pan, like a little pancake.

Michael Dugan: 29:03

Wow.

Chef Ashley Brown: 29:03

And I did a demi gloss from the scraps that I cut off from the elk, and I put the chilies in there. And then there was a, a quat container of beef stock in the pantry.

Michael Dugan: 29:16

can you make a demi glass?

Chef Ashley Brown: 29:18

I made a demi gloss in 30 minutes. I was so impressed with myself. They were impressed. They like, this

Michael Dugan: 29:24

Yeah. That's really

Chef Ashley Brown: 29:25

you would be, you, you, you had cooking for hours.

Michael Dugan: 29:28

Yeah, I know. That's why I was asking

Chef Ashley Brown: 29:30

When it's on your menu and someone 80 sixes it, you learn how to make something quick.

Michael Dugan: 29:34

wow. I

Chef Ashley Brown: 29:35

So I ended up making that in, in 30 minutes, and just reducing it, reducing it the way that you would, any other demi gloss. So just keep it, keep it going. And, so finally I put it up and, I plated it and it was just absolutely hideous. So when

Michael Dugan: 29:53

all this work and you

Chef Ashley Brown: 29:54

I know

Michael Dugan: 29:55

really creative idea and then, and then you turn it to the judges. That must be like,

Chef Ashley Brown: 30:00

I,

Michael Dugan: 30:00

so

Chef Ashley Brown: 30:01

this was something that you would see on like a, like a banquet, I poured the DeLoss over it and then my

Michael Dugan: 30:07

they're all, but they're all smoked out. They're all smoked out anyway, so they're not gonna notice.

Chef Ashley Brown: 30:12

set up we're done. And so, so I, I put it up and I, I had like nothing to garnish it with. I didn't think that far ahead. And, I just chopped up some freaking cilantro and just threw it on there. I'm

Michael Dugan: 30:25

Mm-hmm.

Chef Ashley Brown: 30:26

your is, so, they have this thing of it's, it's all to a pause. So you put up your, hands up, you're done. Time's up. And so they have this thing of chef looking at plate plate looking at chef, where for 30 full seconds, your plate is up, you're standing there and you're staring at your plates while the cameras do a full 360. you watch the show and it's just, tension. So they do that for a whole 30 seconds. And I'm just, this thing is just looking at me, just kind Ugh, help me. oh my God. So I'm like, you. I was like, Nope, I don't got this. Nope, I'm done. I'm, I'm chopped.

Michael Dugan: 31:01

yeah,

Chef Ashley Brown: 31:02

And so finally they get you set back and finally they, they come up and they're like, okay, who's on the chopping block? Soon as they lifted, I was like, yep, it's me. I accepted my fate. They lifted it up. I was like, yep, chef Ashley, you've been chopped.

Michael Dugan: 31:17

yeah, yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 31:18

And, even though I, I prayed to the universe, saying I just

Michael Dugan: 31:23

One more round. One more round.

Chef Ashley Brown: 31:24

Yeah. I wished man, but I, I told them like, as long as you weren't chopped first and I wasn't, but as soon as they go back, they do an exit interview. what do you think? how did it go? How are you feeling? And I, I bawled, I bawled my eyes out. I didn't say this to anyone in the interview, during the, of course you're like, you're still holding onto your pride at that

Michael Dugan: 31:45

Right,

Chef Ashley Brown: 31:46

So I cried and I was like, I wanted this to be for my family. I wanted to get, just a new house and just this and that, and. And then, so finally I calmed down. I was like, the camera's on me. Like they, they, they have me crying, but of course I told 'em, I was like, don't put this on, don't put this on, it's, it's humiliating. so, they didn't put me on crying, but I was like, maybe they, once they release this, they'll see like my, my red eyes and things like that, crying. But finally I calmed down, do the interview, and then, shake hands and, I didn't actually meet, I didn't get to shake hands with the, the judges or anything like that. once you're done, you're done. Like you, you go, you get your stuff,

Michael Dugan: 32:25

Really? That's kind of weird.

Chef Ashley Brown: 32:26

the chef coat and that's it, So then

Michael Dugan: 32:29

Exit Door

Chef Ashley Brown: 32:31

I, my mom, she's just eagerly waiting at the hotel, they, you have to turn in your phones.

Michael Dugan: 32:36

she couldn't watch.

Chef Ashley Brown: 32:37

She couldn't watch,

Michael Dugan: 32:38

That's right.

Chef Ashley Brown: 32:39

call her. I couldn't text her. They

Michael Dugan: 32:40

Oh my gosh.

Chef Ashley Brown: 32:42

'cause of course you can't tell anyone. So she has no idea what's going on. And so I go, I get, I open the door to, to the hotel room and she's just standing there and I'm like, I was chopped. But she was like, it's okay. You did it. You did it. And I felt really good still. There was so many emotions just running through and, and then later on, her friend, he, he lives in New York, like I said earlier. So after that went to a very nice dinner and just celebrated, you did it. You know how many people get this opportunity, especially little town that you, that I live in. So it's still a win.

Michael Dugan: 33:21

yeah, for sure.

Chef Ashley Brown: 33:22

Yeah. So

Michael Dugan: 33:23

I'm, I'm really impressed. I mean, I was like, wow. And the people that I talked to, it's the same thing. It's like one of them won, chef Ed Harris, he actually

Chef Ashley Brown: 33:32

yeah.

Michael Dugan: 33:33

and oh my gosh. The way he described it though, he said, it's brutal. It's really tough. It's, people don't realize it's a lot of work and

Chef Ashley Brown: 33:42

it's, I mean, it's a challenge.

Michael Dugan: 33:43

but it's the challenge that you

Chef Ashley Brown: 33:45

not rough, what's the point of putting it out? for people to watch. People love that drama. They love the hectic, you

Michael Dugan: 33:52

Well, the smokiness thing, I,

Chef Ashley Brown: 33:53

man, if you watch it.

Michael Dugan: 33:55

I I will never, I will never forget that, that that is incredible.

Chef Ashley Brown: 33:59

was probably my favorite part.

Michael Dugan: 34:01

yeah, yeah.

Chef Ashley Brown: 34:02

studio. Poor cameraman, all the judges dying.

Michael Dugan: 34:07

Now I forget, but I wanna make sure, did everybody smoke 'em out or was it just you that

Chef Ashley Brown: 34:12

Everyone. All

Michael Dugan: 34:13

Yeah. Yeah. That's what I thought. Because of what you had to do. Right. Right, right. So any lessons that you took away from Chopped about yourself and

Chef Ashley Brown: 34:22

My lessons.

Michael Dugan: 34:23

anything like that?

Chef Ashley Brown: 34:24

Yeah, I know the lesson that I took away was, just set your pride off to the side. Like even though you say. You hope you're, you're not chopped first, but even if you lose, still hold on to what you did. Still hold on to what you presented and value that cherish that moment because you might not even get it again. who knows if you get invited back or, that could have been my one time thing. And so now I, I will definitely cherish the moments a, a bit more than that, what I do currently, even in the hardships is still cherish, even though it's really hard. Still cherish those moments.

Michael Dugan: 35:07

Okay. And to prepare for Chopped, would you say you have to have knife fights? Is

Chef Ashley Brown: 35:11

Yeah,

Michael Dugan: 35:12

of what my takeaway is?

Chef Ashley Brown: 35:13

Even to get ready for it. My husband, I would ask him, I was like, okay, just randomly shout out like a few ingredients, random times throughout the day, just completely unannounced. He'd be like, this, this, and this, and I'd be like. Oh, do that. And I would do that, and I would do that, and so it was just kind of become a random thing.

Michael Dugan: 35:30

Okay, well, we're gonna wrap up. I just got a couple really quick questions for you. This was amazing, and I'm so honored to spend time with you and to get to know you, and it's really incredible. This, this is gonna be the launch of season four and I mean, this is my fourth year and I just saw it and I said, this is gotta be it. This is, this is

Chef Ashley Brown: 35:51

you for doing these, like just getting these stories out there and for people to, to kind of get their experiences and

Michael Dugan: 35:58

It's so important, to inspire people in this industry because it's such a tough industry. But if, if you wanna be a chef, it's hard, but it's also rewarding and, and you're proving that you're, you're showing that, so for me, we met. At this organization called Map and Map honors women in hospitality with advocacy, mentorship, scholarship. And Joanna James is the CEO. And I went to Las Vegas a couple weeks ago and met her and it was unbelievable. We had a private dinner with my friend, chef Mimi, who's very close to Joanna. The night before the conference started, the Women in Hospitality Conference, and I said, Joanna, I want to help you. I wanna get the word out. I wanna bring MAP members on the podcast to share their stories and to inspire each other. And this is, this is the first one. Ashley, you are the start of

Chef Ashley Brown: 36:52

really?

Michael Dugan: 36:53

You are a start of a movement

Chef Ashley Brown: 36:55

Oh, I love it.

Michael Dugan: 36:55

set my soul on fire to keep podcasting. And that's the

Chef Ashley Brown: 37:00

Oh, that's an honor. Oh, I love that.

Michael Dugan: 37:02

can envision this. And what I wanna know is we met at a, what's called a map mentorship circle. And there was a woman named Missy, who is a, sustainable farmer, and she was giving a talk about it. And you were there. And the funniest thing, and you don't know this is when I saw you, I saw, I was looking at different people and checking out IG to understand who they are. And I was like, wow, okay. She's really cool. She's from Colorado. I'm thinking Jensen. I'm like, brother luck. Oh my gosh. All these things connected. And then chopped. I'm like, I wanna reach out to her. And it was so funny because after Absolutely. But after we got off that call. We reached out to each other about the same time. It was like almost the same thought was going through our head, we should connect and we should do an interview. And I mean, it was just really cool, And, and that was a week ago, a week and a half ago. So anyway, that's how all this happened. But can you tell me how you ended up with In MAP and a little bit about your experience, just briefly.

Chef Ashley Brown: 38:09

so I got involved with MAP from Brother.

Michael Dugan: 38:14

Oh, wow. Okay.

Chef Ashley Brown: 38:15

So, he, it was for, it was for a MAP conference and he was supposed to attend it. He couldn't,

Michael Dugan: 38:26

Okay.

Chef Ashley Brown: 38:26

now, it's kind of funny because Chef's role was doing competition, they do these competitions to where, you can win a ticket to go to Matt to go to chef conferences and things like that. And I, I tried to do the competition, actually. I did do the competition, but I lost,

Michael Dugan: 38:44

Okay.

Chef Ashley Brown: 38:45

I don't even remember what the competition was. It was something like along the lines of create a dish that's original and send it in. there's so many chefs that would. Put in, a lot of these things. And of course, some will outshine others, which is absolutely beautiful that they provide these opportunities. And so I didn't win. But it's funny because for that same exact conference, brother couldn't attend. So he put me in his place.

Michael Dugan: 39:12

Oh my gosh.

Chef Ashley Brown: 39:13

even though I didn't win that competition, I still got to go because of

Michael Dugan: 39:16

that's fantastic.

Chef Ashley Brown: 39:17

So Map was there and chef's role and everything. So it was this beautiful conference. And so I started to, I went to some of the seminars that they were talking through. some of the chefs that were there, Wolfgang Puck was one of 'em. And Joanna, and I never actually met her yet, I still haven't met her outside of the conference that we had at least, like not in person, So once I started to realize what they stood for and, and everything, I was like, oh, I gotta get on this. I gotta get on this. And I'm a woman. I'm in leadership. I love empowerment, I love the industry. It, it just, it all fell together. So from then on, I, I've been wanting to become a, a legit member, which I just finally became a legit member just a couple months ago.'cause I like, I wanna, I wanna be part of this. I, and it's just to show you can be anything, I'm gonna give you the tools and help you help others do anything.

Michael Dugan: 40:17

Mm-hmm.

Chef Ashley Brown: 40:17

And that's what I really loved about it.

Michael Dugan: 40:20

Oh, see, that's how I feel too. And being a male, she calls me an ally. And me. It's all Mimi's fault. Chef Mimi, shout out to you in Florida. She's my dear friend that I met four years ago, and she interviewed Joanna and I put it on my podcast. That's the most recent episode out there right now. And it was an interview that Mimi did with Joanna, and I went, wow, I've gotta interview Joanna in the future. I've gotta meet her. And then Mimi called me up four weeks ago, five weeks ago, and, or actually probably about three months ago, and said, we're having a conference in Las Vegas and you gotta go. And it was the greatest experience of my life to meet Joanna and everyone in map, and all the women in hospitality, all the chefs. It was just, I can't even describe the way I felt about it. Like they were opening up to the challenges that they have and the struggles that they have. And I said, I wanna do something. I wanna do something with my podcast. That means something, that really means something. And so that's my movement now, and this is the start of it. So anyway, that's how we connected. And, and so everyone understands and wanna wrap up, but I just really want to thank you for your time. It's late. You got your kids going to bed and, and we had a couple technology failures, which happens all the time. It's part of technology, but, but we did it. And, yeah, thanks for being a voice for chefs. it's a really wonderful thing. You're really an advocate and I hope you continue to do

Chef Ashley Brown: 41:53

Yeah, thank, thank you for, for putting these out, like

Michael Dugan: 41:56

Mm-hmm.

Chef Ashley Brown: 41:57

you're helping more people than you think.

Michael Dugan: 42:00

Yeah, it's, it's a lonely thing too. People don't give you a lot of feedback. That's as a podcaster.

Chef Ashley Brown: 42:05

It's a lonely world. a lot of people feel like , they're alone, especially in this industry.