Episode 2: Masterchef Season 16 Episode 2: Asia-Pacific

This week Heidi and Finley recap the Asia Pacific auditions—and yes, Heidi finally gets her moment in the MasterChef kitchen, wielding a blowtorch and feeding Gordon Ramsay a fancy New Zealand meat pie. Gordon's verdict? Let's just say it involved an f-bomb, and it was a compliment this time.

They break down every dish—from Foo's knife skills that silenced an entire studio audience, to Shompa's stunning halibut bhuna that had Joe Bastianich dodging a chili pepper like his life depended on it, to Daniel's mapo tofu ravioli that absolutely had no business being that good in 45 minutes. Plus the girls get their roses, the judges get a wooden spoon, and there are thoughts about how heritage cooking was judged this episode.

Also: Scars So Lovely is almost here and The Perfect Pairing is coming June 16th. It's a big week!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome back to Wicked Appetite. She's Finley Brown. She's Heidi Stark. And we're two dark romance and splatterpunk horror authors who somehow ended up on MasterChef, which means we spend our days writing Morally Grey Men and our evenings crying over risotto. This is our podcast. Welcome. Last episode we recapped episode one, which was the Europe Auditions, where eight contestants competed for aprons and five got through to the next round. We watched as our very own Finley Brown mesmerized Gordon Ramsay with a romance book on the spot about Gordon Ramsay. And cooked raw salmon on national TV. Still a great effort, Finlay. Finlay, uh that was so much fun talking to you about the episode. And I don't know if anyone's actually seen it, but on Finlay socials, she has a great, it's either an apron or a dishcloth. I'm not sure what it is, but it says it's it's fucking raw.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Yes, it was waiting for me for my family when I got home from where we filmed. So that was nice. They uh I have a good family that like once you make a mistake, you have to live with it forever. So you might as well just own it and laugh.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

It's great, and I mean what a conversation starter, and also like I think that two things that people aspire for Gordon Ramsay to say to them is that it's fucking raw, or you're an idiot sandwich. And you got one of them.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

I did, I did, I managed to. I mean, like it's iconic, and I get to forever have that.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

That's amazing. Okay, in tonight's episode, we're gonna recap the Asia Pacific auditions. The eight home cooks compete for five aprons representing Asia and Oceania. Party Stark, as in me, will be lurking in the background cooking a meat pie.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yes, yes, and we're going to get to that because she actually did get to cook for Gordon, and Gordon did come up and talk to her. So we will take that too.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

That's very exciting. So, first up, and I'm gonna be a big cheerleader here because there were only two of us representing Down Under, and one got officially to be a contestant on the show. First up, we had Lawrence, 69 years old from Kearney, Missouri, representing Australia.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yes, I mean he was our silver fox of the entire cast, and he was awesome. He was amazing. And like briefly, we could write him into a little bit of a romance because he was just that much of a character, and he was able to fire up that crowd with that sexy accent and oi oi oi.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

He was good at that, and he is a character. We had a lot of good banter because the New Zealand-Australia rivalry is um very real. People asked me, do you did the two countries actually hate each other? And it's like, no, no, no, it stems from sporting rivalry, and we're actually quite fond of each other, especially when we're on the other side of the world. So Lawrence and I had some good conversations. Yes, yes, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

He he is a character, he is just a wonderful person.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

And in terms of experience, as you mentioned, Lawrence being a silver fox, had uh a lot of experience compared to some other people in the car. So he first learned to cook in the 1970s, and um, I believe he even went to culinary school, so he had some good foundations with his cooking, but then he went off and did a corporate nine to five, as many of us do. Um clearly he missed cooking because he came back full circle and wanted to show the best of what Australia has to offer. So Lawrence, I was very impressed by his choice of protein. He cooked Kansas City barbecued kangaroo with mango sauce, passion fruit, vinaigrette, slaw, and eucalyes. Yes. I thought it looked great. I thought it looked delicious too, and I thought it was a very bold choice of ingredient. I'm not an expert at cooking kangaroo. I have I'm trying to remember, I I may have had a bite of it at one point in my life, but if so, it was you know a long time ago. But I understand, and from talking to Lawrence as well, that it's probably most similar to something like a venison where there's very little fat on it. Um you can easily go over with it, so you have to cook it very delicately. Yeah, and Tiffany called it rustic, which I know is your favourite way to describe a dish in this. Um rustic but rushed. And uh Gordon thought it was flavorful, but found the kangaroo overcooked. This was interesting. So looking at it again, I'm not an expert on kangaroo, but I did see the internet firing up with some people saying it looked like it wasn't over. Obviously, we can just go by what the judges say in the moment.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Yes, yeah, I've seen I saw those comments on Reddit too. And I mean, personally, to my eye, it still kind of looked pink, but I'm not down there tasting it or sampling it, so we go with the judges.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Absolutely. Either way, it was lovely to meet Lawrence. He was definitely a character. Um then the second contestant was Aishu. Why don't you tell us about Aishu?

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Aishu is from Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and she was representing India. And she was actually born in India, and her parents brought her over when she was one. And she said, I loved, she described herself as a rebel Indian. But she made a dessert. She was one of the people who actually took on a dessert, which I think in 45 minutes is probably the bravest task ever. Um, but she said she likes to do difficult things. She has three kids under three years old. Her beautiful family was there with her. She's got her husband, her mom was by her side, her son and her two twin daughters, gorgeous family. And she made an orange cardamom olive oil cake. And they did ask her, I think it was might have been Jo or Tiffany. Tiffany asked, Is this a traditional Indian dessert? And Aishu said, No, because she finds Indian desserts too sweet and too sugary. She kind of did her version of what she would do for an Indian dish. And it looked difficult. And during the middle of it, while she's cooking, they had her get out and do Bollywood dancing because she's taking Joe and company.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Just like mixing it up. Your brain is like cooking a cake, baking a cake, and next thing is teaching Joe Bastianit how to dance.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Exactly. Exactly. I mean, she was amazing. Um, so um Gordon said it looked rustic. It kind of broke, it kind of stuck to the bottom of the pan, but she was able to kind of put it back together. And I think it was her flavors that really mattered. They loved the flavors. Joe called her sauce, her um blood orange coolie, sexy. So that was that was a big compliment from him, and it that it tasted better than it looked. So I think those were one of those things I saw some critiques on Reddit, but I think it we weren't tasting it, and it tasted amazing. And they also asked her if she hasn't always done desserts. She was like a savory kind of cook beforehand. So they said, How does your savory compare? And she's like, It's much better. And they said, So this is what you can do with dessert, you're going on. She got three yeses and an apron.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

That's amazing. And I mean, Aisha's got amazing energy in person. Um, it was so cool that her family was there with her. Yes. And I remember because I think you and I were sitting together during this episode, and just just the fact she was baking a cake, she was standing, her station was far away from us, and you could see that a piece of it seemed to stick to the pan, like you said, and it was like, oh my goodness, but she was able to pull it together, it was a flavor. I um have gotten better with desserts as I've continued my cooking journey, but I used to be terrified of it, and there were many, many disasters. And one thing that I learned was you can have something that looks completely not like it's meant to, and it can be the most delicious dessert, so not to write it off. So I'm glad that the judges gave it a chance, and um she definitely was ambitious doing a dessert for her auditioned it.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yeah, yeah. I think it's easy to be like what do they call them? Like a couch coach, like somebody on the sidelines critiquing, but to actually be in there doing it, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yes. Okay, well, our third contestant was Fu from Irvine, California, not too far away from Finley. They're presenting from where I live. So 10 minutes away. Yes. So Fu is first of all a lovely human on my first morning. Um, I got there late at night the day before we started our pre-filming stuff, and um Fu and another contestant gestured for me to come and sit with them and have breakfast. So I got to know them pretty early on. But who is a lovely person, he talked with Gordon about his mother being the real master chef in his family. Um, I thought it was funny. Gordon basically mansplained what Pooh's name meant in Vietnamese, which is luck, who didn't disagree with her mother. What a cool meaning for a name. Who made a Vietnamese egg roll with crab, shrimp, and pork. He served it with a dashi dipping sauce and a herb cabbage salad. And Pooh said he cooked to honour his mother. There was a really moving moment where he shared that his mother is batling dementia, so she was unable to be there. Uh, when they immigrated to the US, his mother actually cooked egg rolls as a thank you to her friends for their help. Yeah, they looked so delicious, they were perfectly crispy and golden. But the star of Pooh's dish was his chopping skills. As he was cooking, oh my gosh, like it's crazy because there's like all this atmosphere in the studio, and it's you know, quite often productional people will have to tell people stop talking because there's so many people who are so excited about what's going on. But there'd be these points in time where the crowd would go silent because you could hear foods chopping and it was so fast, and then they would erupt into cheering. So it was really quite special to watch, and it came through, and his the technique showed in his deck.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Oh, he was amazing to watch. I mean, I was like watching Iron Chef or something like how fast he could go. I mean, I think we were worried for his fingers there for a second, but he knows how to do that, and he was so professional looking, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

He didn't have to call for a medic once, I don't think, which is quite remarkable. Joe said that um, it was interesting. Joe was doing one of his kind of shady feedbacks that ends up being positive. So he said that the spring roll tasted nothing like a spring roll, but then he did the back flip where he said it tastes like history and culture, and it's 100% a yes.

unknown 10:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Tiffany said that it was juicy, that it was a really good bite, um, that even the dipping sauce felt elevated, and Gordon thought it was seasoned impeccably. So it was pretty unanimous that Foo was going to get an apron.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I cannot wait to see where he goes in this competition.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Like and a few people have mentioned it online as well. Like, this isn't Foo's first cooking show. It is not. And that's really cool. So we can actually go back and see him. I think great American recipe. Um, I haven't seen his season yet, but it'll be nice to see his origin story.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Yes, yeah. He, I mean, he's amazing, so I can't wait to see how he does throughout this season.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

I also heard, but I saw online and Ted confirmed it, that he and Fu are going Ted from last time representing Greece and Fu are going head to head in a future episode.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Oh, okay. Okay, I love this. This will be good. This is why we're here.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Awesome. Well, why don't you share it, contest another?

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Okay. Well, next um, we saw Shampa from Brooklyn, New York, representing Bangladesh. And Shampa was like our girl's girl. She I love Shampa.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

I'm a Shampa fan.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

I'm just gonna say it. She's badass.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

She's badass. Badass Brooklyn girl.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Yes, yes. She was such a joy to be around and to go through this experience with. Um, she made uh traditional halibut buna with fragrant rice and dal. And Bangladesh is known for their masala flavors, and it was the one dish that I mean, Gordon said it looked elegant. So she did not get a rustic, and her plate looked gorgeous.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

And it's hard to do it with something that's like a curry, like it's hard to make it look attractive, but yeah, she pulled it off.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

She did, she did. Um, and Joe did not, so she served it with a traditional pepper on top, and Joe did not eat the pepper. He's like a security cat. So I loved that. That was hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

It's funny, one of my characters in one of my books at the Mafia romance, and he's this big tough enforcer guy, and the female character loves spicy food, and so she challenges him to a hot sauce contest, and he just about loses his mind, so he's taken down by a tiny chili pepper. And I thought Bastianich has the same kryptonite.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Joe is taken down by the chili pepper for sure. Um they the the the flavors were spot on, so it was really gonna come down to how is the fish cooked? And the fish was cooked perfectly. Gordon was very impressed. Um, if anything, he said the doll just needed a little bit more seasoning, and um Tiffany said it was stunning. So this is once again not a rustic. This was a very, very beautifully presented dish. And she, oh, they said she had a feisty. They can't wait to see more of her feisty personality because I told you she is a badass, and she got three yeses, and it was without a doubt. Here you go, here's your apron.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

I think I'm gonna call her Baddie Shampa from now on.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Yeah, let's just we'll nickname her Batty Champa because she is.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

She is, and she has a cookie business as well that's inspired by those South Asian flavors. So we'll put her information in the show notes. But um, I'm in Mexico at the moment, I don't think they deliver internationally. But when I'm back in the US, I'm definitely gonna order. She was telling me about some of the flavors, and they sound amazing.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Yeah, yeah. And um, I loved it because when she got her apron, she said this is for all the mothers, the sisters, the daughters out there who didn't think they could, you can. And I just thought that was the best way to like honor all the women in her life.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

So oh my gosh, she's been posting on her Instagram. Um, there was this really touching video of her parents watching her representing Bangladesh with her cooking, and that was amazing, and also videos from when she was younger. And I for some reason Instagram kept pulling it up as the first thing on on my uh my feed when I would open it. So for like a whole day it was Shampa, teenage Shompa saying, What's up, bitch?

SPEAKER_01 15:09

She's she's so awful, she's awesome. Love her.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

All right, well, on to Tony. Tony from Minneapolis, representing South Korea. So Tony, who was adopted, eats this dish. It was very special to him every year on his arrival day. So he elevated it into something for the auditions. But this is uh, you know, it's something that he enjoys every year on a day, very meaningful to him. As an adoptee myself, that story touched my heart. His dish. I told him at the time, I couldn't stop thinking about it because it sounded so amazing. I wish I got to try it. Miso marinated ribeye with kimchi fried rice, and it just it just sounds like it checks all the boxes for me. Yes, and a fried egg on top.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

And a fried egg on top. How could you not like that? Exactly. I mean, when that yolk breaks and it just looks so good.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Oh my goodness, and um unfortunately, the judging did not go as well as we would hope. Joe said that the steak looked poached, which is something you never want to hear about a steak and needed more of a crust, but said that the rice was delicious. So unfortunately, on its own, it was enough to send Tony home. You know, again, I thought Tony's dish sounded delicious. It was a really tough cohort overall. I mean, I don't think that any of the cohorts like last week Europe was would have been tough to get through as well, as we know. But yeah, there was something about the Asia Pacific group that there were so many strong cooks that obviously not everyone could get through.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

I and I I think Gordon was right in the beginning. He said this was going to be tough because the flavors and the spice and everything's there in this type of cooking. So it the kitchen smelled amazing.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

I don't envy the judges either when it's all these different cuisines as well. Like people are judging, you know, how do you judge a there weren't any Thai dishes, but how would you judge a Thai dish versus a Korean Japanese dish? Like um, there were different, you know, just the cuisines are so different, and it comes down to you know, a combination of obviously how well the dish was cooked, but your flavors and preferences are gonna kick in at some point in time.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Uh, one thing I have to say about the Asia Pacific cohort, no offense to the Euro cohort, like the Asia Pacific kitchen, the aroma was amazing. That just didn't exist in the European one. It's not that like no, it's just a different style of the curry and the fragrance and no, it smelled so good.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

It it really did smell so good. All right, moving on. We have Iman from Maryland, and she is representing Afghanistan. And I just have to say a little bit about Iman because she is probably the smartest person that has been on MasterChef. She is a doctor, she has her doctorate in sociology.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

She is right, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yes, and I think her sister went to Yale, if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Or her husband, one of them.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

One of them, but they her family is very, very, very smart. And she got to um kind of play with the judges a little bit because of that. And she said that um that Joe is misrepresented, and that he is a nice East Coast guy who is just very honest. So we like to give Joe a hard time, but Iman says no, he's just misrepresented. He's actually very nice and honest, and she called Gordon America's sweetheart, even though he is British. And Tiffany was like, what? I know Tiffany's like, what? anyways, she has a beautiful two-year-old daughter, and we will drop her socials in too because she puts out amazing food content, and she represents Afghanistan perfectly and all the flavors and all the spices. So she is definitely one to look for. Love her. Um, she made a let me get the name right, uh, lamb kabouli palau with honey glazed carrots and herb chutney. And she had to use the pressure cooker, and the pressure cooker at the last minute wasn't opening it. We watched this as she was cooking, and she put it underwater, and it finally, we were all like on some pins and needles, and she did get it out in time. And let's see what the judges said. Um, Gordon said it smells it smelled fantastic, but unfortunately, the lamb was overcooked and was dry, and the plate was good, but it was a no. So we had to say goodbye to Iman. But like I said, she is an amazing woman, and follow her in on social media accounts because her content is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Those are very similar to my notes as well about Iman. She is a fascinating human being with many very interesting stories to tell. And not only is she extremely intelligent, she can throw an amazing theme party. Like I was in conversations where she shared some of the parties she's pulled together. Yes. And like you say, her socials, the way that Iman can set a table or make a just something very simple, like an appetizer board or something, just really pop is her and Amelia, who we're gonna get to know. Um they are both amazing at that. And again, like Finley said, we will share their socials um everything that she makes is beautiful. I've told her that I'm moving into her house part-time because I just want to be around all the food that she cooks as well as her amazing personality. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. All right, and then we move on to Jamie, who is 27. She's from Queens, New York, and she was representing Malaysia. So I have a confession to make because I grew up in New Zealand and Malaysian food is my favorite cuisine of all time. So I'm gonna be biased. Here we go. But Jamie's father has been a major influence on her cooking. Uh, she said that the way that he cooked was Malaysian street food made right at home. I am so envious, I'll just say it. I wish that my parents cooked me Malaysian street food. I think I only learned about it as an adult, and I just fell in love with Rindang and me gorang, and of course, satay. Jamie is quite well known on social media. She's a cooking content creator, and she has more than two million followers across her platforms. She came along with a few of her friends, which was um really funny. They had these uh It was her face on a stick, basically. Yeah. So they were her squad, a little bit like Nico's, but cuter. Um so she made Wagyu beef satay with peanut sauce and coconut rice delivered on both flavour and presentation. It was really funny because she explained that it normally wouldn't be made with wagyu beef, but she tried to elevate it and Gordon laughed and said, you took something that was a street food and basically made a $600 dish or something.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Yeah, no, it was it smelled so good. We were sitting right very close behind her at that.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Behind her, and it was it was so it was like torture because I just wanted to try one of those skewers.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

No, it was. It was it it looked amazing. She could cook.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Tiffany was very complimentary. She said she loved the char, that it was a beautiful plate. Joe, without question, immediate yes, and Gordon said it was authentic and delicious. But yeah, I thought it was so cool that Malaysia was represented. It is a country that makes the most amazing food, but it, you know, whenever I've lived in different states, it can be really hard to find a Malaysian restaurant. So it was really nice to see the representation on Master Chef.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yes, yes. Okay, moving on. We have Daniel, 23 years old, representing China. And Daniel came out, let's just do a little backstory of what was happening on set. He just had a tank top on and pink jeans, it looked like. And Gordon was giving him a very hard time about what he was wearing, about not wearing enough. And it looked like he was ready to go to the gym. So Gordon made him do push-ups in the middle of cooking. And I know he's been ribbed a little bit about like not washing his hands after, but let me tell you, there is so much going on in that kitchen, and your time is so fast, I don't think anyone even thought about it. And his dish, he took on, once again, these younger kids taking on these challenges. He made a tofu and ricotta ravioli with maple sauce and rice truffle. And he took on a ravioli with Joe that wasn't even like Chinese, basically. So he really took on a big challenge. Also, one of going back to the shirt, I've read a comment on Reddit where they were saying, Why are they giving him a hard time for not wearing a lot of clothes? But Jamie had a midriff top on and no one gave her a hard time. Exactly. I found that one really funny.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

I think I think Gordon and Daniel just had a really good banter together. Um you know, I I think that that was fun. I think um he made that comment where Gordon said it was a family show or something to that degree, and and Daniel said, Well, his daughters can call him. I mean, so I think really good banter. They they kind of gravitated towards each other in that way. Um, I have to say, Mako Jofu is like one of my favorite Chinese dishes of all time, and I also love ravioli. The fact that he put those together was not only dishes, I can't stop thinking about that dish.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

And his ravioli looked perfect. Oh, it was perfect. It was perfect. And I just remember him running to get something out of the freezer and running. I mean, he was so fast, he did not stop. Um, so it was risky, and the judges said before tasting it, this is a big risk. And Joe questioned, you know, making a ravioli and making it all the dough and everything. Um, Gordon called Daniel Scruffy because of the tank top, but his dish elegant. So he didn't get a rustic dish either. His plating was perfect, it looked gorgeous. Joe described it as a Chinese bullionise, which I love that description. Yeah. Um Gordon called it bloody good. So you know when you're getting comments like that from Gordon, you know it is really, really, really good. Um, Tiffany said it was well executed, and it was uh yes from all the judges. He was definitely getting the white apron. And Joe said his potential could really like him going on in this competition, he's kind of a threat. Like he they can't wait to see what he's gonna do. And I agree. I think we were all in awe of him. And he is so composed and he is so sweet and so kind. It was just a pleasure to watch him cook. He he just didn't get rattled, he kept very calm the whole way through, and it was it was a joy to watch him cook.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

I agree, and you know, I don't know enough about Daniel to know if this was just some, you know, one dish he'd absolutely perfected, or if he's got a bunch up his sleeve, and I really am going into this not knowing, so I can't wait to see how he goes throughout the season. I have a feeling that this isn't like a one-hit wonder with him.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Yeah, yeah, I think he knows what he's doing.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

All right, and then we had Fatima. So Fatima is from Butler, Illinois, and she was representing Pakistan. Fatima learned to cook from her mother and she moved to the US at the age of 15. I spent a lot of time sitting there, Fatima, doing filming, so we got to know each other quite well, and she is a fantastic human being as well. I I just genuinely love all the cast members and contestants on this show and the season. Um, I feel very fortunate to have met them. And so Fatima's had a food blog for a while, which we'll put in the show notes as well. It's fantastic. And you know, growing up in New Zealand, again Indian and Pakistani cuisine, um obviously different but similar, two of my favourites there. So I was really excited to see what Fatima was going to cook. She made lamb top masala with hot honey glaze and braised onions. And the hot honey glaze is very non-traditional, and and you know, taking a bit of a risk, elevating it in her own way. Yeah, he called it delicious, but questioned the honey glaze, and in his view, it was unnecessary. He also thought the lamb was undercooked and said he would have preferred goat. Joe agreed with him and called it a poor ingredient choice. Yeah. What did you think about the comments about the protein, Finley?

SPEAKER_01 28:24

Um, well, I'm a lamb lover, and I her dish was one of the dishes that I definitely wanted to try. I also like goat, so um I don't know that it was that weird of an ingredient to switch out. I think they're kind of comparable. So uh, you know, maybe I just don't know enough on that, but I have loved and tried her dish. She was there with her husband and her three beautiful daughters, and uh Fatima is just such a lovely, gracious, wonderful person, and she can cook. I mean, I've watched a lot of her content that she has out. She knows flavors and she knows what she's doing, so that one's very hard. I don't, I thought it looked delicious.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

I thought so too, and I just I found the comments about the protein choice. From my perspective, Fatima was elevating a dish by using a different ingredient, which a lot of the contestants did. For some reason, the judges seemed to come down hard on her for swapping out a protein that, like you just said, was quite similar to the one that it should have been. It's not like she went and put, like, I don't know, pepperoni or something.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

I think they're pretty comparable, but that's just so I feel like I feel like it was a bit interesting.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

We'll come back to it. But the judges did seem to lean on traditional expectations with some people, but not others. So there was a little bit of that going on.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Yeah, no, yeah, it it that is a good question. So, Heidi, tell us about your experience because you actually did get to cook that day, too, and you made a meat pie. And so give us give us a little bit on that experience.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

I did, and so just to provide some context about my time on Mastership, um you can find out my origin story about Mastership if you read my book, my duet Pretty Red Flags, which in the the second book, Beautiful Terror, talks about how I was almost I was very close to being on the duo season and um how that helped me exit a very tricky relationship. So I credit Mastership with that. So when I had the opportunity to come on this year, I took the ball by the horn, so to speak, and I was very excited to have this opportunity to be part of the show on my own. And so, like you said, going into it, had no idea that I would be potentially representing New Zealand. I'm very proud to be at Kiwi. Um, I would say that the cuisine of New Zealand is really a melting pot of different cuisines from around the world. So my cooking style is probably similar to your natural cooking style too, in terms of farm to table California stuff. So a lot of fresh produce, access to seafood, huge Asian influence. Like I said, Malaysia is my favorite cuisine, but I I grew up eating a lot of Thai food, for example, Thai, Indonesian, Indian food, and so cooking traditional New Zealand food was something that I'd done, but not what I probably would gravitate towards. So the opportunity to make a pie was really exciting. In New Zealand, we have something called a potato top pie, and traditionally it is you know something you pick up for a couple of bucks from a gas station. Yeah. So I decided to elevate it. It's usually made with round beef or something similar, and then topped with a potato. So given 45 minutes, and we had access to puff pastry, I made the most of that, and I used the puff pastry to create a volivant base. And that was really exciting because I got to learn how to make a volivant. I did many practice runs at home to get that right, and was able to make kind of a tower, which was great, and then the filling was lamb. Um did a bit of what Fatima did, elevated with lamb. The mic had brown lamb, red wine, really savory umami kind of a filling. And then instead of potato, I did sweet potato. So I piped that on into this.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

It was kind of gorgeous, it was gorgeous.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

It was fun to make too because I got to use a blowtorch. Um and I wish I'd gone full Lara Croft with two.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

But it was fun, it was fun for me. I was in the back and I was in the last group cooking, and the cast was like a huge cheerleading squad for me, especially when I pulled out the blowtorch, but just very supportive. It was, you know, I knew I wasn't going to be judged, but it was nerve-wracking, nevertheless, because you've got 45 minutes, the lights and cameras are in your face, it's hot. That time goes down really quickly. You're still kind of you know where things are and you get an orientation, but you're still kind of not used to the kitchen. Exactly. And then I had the joy of meeting the judges. So Gordon did come over and talk to me. Um, and so did Tiffany and Joe, which was very exciting. Yeah. And so I had just cut my hand and put a glove on, but Gordon didn't care. He came and shook my hand anyway, which was great. And he was very excited that I was making meat pie. And we talked about New Zealand a bit, which was great. And um, as he was leaving, he said, you know, I'm gonna try that fucking meat pie.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

He did, he did, he said it. Because it it was beautiful, it was a beautiful you did not create a rustic dish, you created a beautifully composed dish.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

It was fun, it was fun. I'm thinking, how do I make this fancy? And um I also you know got to chat with Joe and Tiffany briefly and they tasted the filling and they both said they enjoyed it. So that was really exciting just getting to meet them. Um again, you know, didn't get judged, but the pressure was still there. But I have to say, it was almost like time slowed down and it was exhilarating because there was so much energy in the room.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that was good. I'm so glad that that you were able to cook and that hey, Gordon, you know he tasted that pie. So you did feed Gordon Ramsey.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

I know, it was super fun. It was kind of sitting there at the end. I'm like, what's gonna happen to that pie? All right, so what's going on in the book world for you, Finley?

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Just um getting my stuff ready for my launch of The Perfect Pairing, which comes out June 16th. So just doing those final edits and just it's it's getting formatted and all the good stuff that has to happen behind the scenes to put out a book. So I'm very excited for it. I used my experience being on a culinary cooking competition, but it is nowhere near my experience because this is more stalker romance.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

Well, I'm glad you didn't have a real life stalker romance. Nobody wants these things that happen in books to happen in real life. Okay, some people do. Watch Handsome Devil the documentary, some people do, but that's another story.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Correct. And what's going on with you? Because I know you got a release coming out really soon.

SPEAKER_00 35:47

I am so excited. So Scar So Lovely is coming out on May the 13th. It is a dark stalker romance, possessive, obsessive, jealous, manipulative, but protective and sweet in all the right moments, stalker romance. Um there is so much buzz about this book. It it's I'm really excited about it. There are more than a thousand people who have signed up to get early copies of this book, which are going out on Friday. We are filming this on Tuesday, so three days from now it's going out to a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

So I'm hoping next time we get a little excerpt from you.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Yes, I would be happy to read an excerpt. I'll find one that related there are some cooking scenes in there. We'll see, we'll see what happens. I'll I'll find one. But in addition to that, I also have a podcast. Um, it's not as exciting in terms of not having Finlay on it, but it is really it's a combination, it's true crime because it talks about an event that actually happened to me. Uh it's an audio book because I am actually reading the book aloud, and it's a survivor testimony because it's actually got a chapter called Gordon Ramsay's The Last Fucking Straw, as I alluded to before. So um that's happening as well. So it's a it's a fun and exciting time.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

A lot of stuff going on.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

I know. Okay, so before we go, let's do our thing that we like to end the episode with: a rose and wooden spoon. Who are you gonna give your rose to this week, family?

SPEAKER_01 37:17

I am giving my rose to a collective group. I'm giving it to the girls, but especially to Heidi, because she stayed and she was my bestie the whole way through, and we just clicked instantly. But it also goes, there was just so many strong girl competitors. So it goes to Shampa, Aishu, Fatima, Iman, Jamie. I mean, I love you girls so much. I this is like my girls' girl time for sure, but I give it to all the girls and you.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

I love it so much. Yes, it is a fantastic group. And I'm gonna give my rose to a group of people as well. I'm gonna give it to the entire MasterChef casting and production team for being my personal dating coach. So MasterChef has now saved me from two relationships. Um, the one abusive one, which you can read about in pretty red flag, and the one that was just it was more recent, was not very good. Subpar would not get an apron. So getting into detail about that. Um MasterChef has got this side effect from me. So if they start doing a combination of the Bachelorette Cross with Master Chef, I'm ready, I'm your girl. Um until then they get the rose for this episode.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Yeah, okay. And who does your wooden spoon go to?

SPEAKER_00 38:38

My wooden spoon goes to the boy judges, Gordon and Joe. And the reason for that, I don't think Tiffany did this as much, but I felt like the boys were a little twisty with their interpretation of heritage food in this episode. It felt like for some people they were dinged for not following through with traditional ingredients and meeting their expectations when it came to those. And other people seemed to be praised for taking bold swings and doing stuff that was quite out of the box for that because he was not so.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

Yeah, no, I get that. And um, I'm gonna give my wooden spoon to the person who commented about Daniel not washing his hands because literally there was zero time. He made tofu and ricotta ravioli, like every second was accounted for, and he had no idea Gordon Ramsay was gonna ask him to do those push-ups in the middle of cooking.

SPEAKER_00 39:41

Right. So it's a show, like the cook itself is you have 45 minutes and there's people cooking, and so like they can't show everyone at every second, and they're not gonna like film Daniel even enough washing their hands.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

No, no, they're not gonna waste time showing washing hands.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

So wouldn't make for good TV, so like I think there's a bit of realistic expectations around that as well.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

Yes, yeah, so and yeah, it's all fun.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

It's all fun. We love reading the Reddit comments, keep them coming. Great. Well, this was this was a really fun episode. Um, it was a moment of pride to represent New Zealand, even though it wasn't talking about it on screen. So thank you, Lawrence, for representing the Southern Hemisphere. You did us proud. Um and okay, upcoming. We have got Africa, the qualifying round. After that, we're gonna have the Americas the following week. And just so everyone knows, once we get through the qualifying rounds, Finley and I are gonna be having some guests on our podcast. We already have a few lined up, they're a surprise for now, but each is gonna bring a different story, they will have an attachment to Mastership, whether they were on it or have some relationship with it. And we're really excited. So until then, thank you for listening. Thank you. We'll talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.