It’s a natural high: if I ever lose that, I’ll just stop. But I can’t imagine not having my own kitchen, or being part of a serious kitchen. So many people have said: you don’t really need to run a restaurant, you could just do everything else. Or Adam Handling, who first came through there and, even then, we could see how talented he was. Like Santosh, bringing Nepalese cuisine and so many crazy ingredients I’d never had before. I just love it when the chefs start to gain in confidence and it gets really exciting.
This is my 13th year of MasterChef: the Professionals. When your goal is to be on television, you jump at every opportunity to be on TV. It’s different because my goal was to be a chef, it wasn’t to be on television. Because I don’t think it’s relevant to just jump in and do a bit of everything. I’ve been asked to do various celebrity stuff, which I refuse. The shift into television was only meant to be a 15-minute stint. The skills to fillet and to butcher, you’d be surprised by how many chefs don’t have those. Sauces from scratch, stocks from scratch, so much of it is bought in these days. These days, you can just set a timer and stick it in a water bath.
#Masterchef the professionals monica how to
To understand how to cook meat, without sticking a probe in it, just by sheer touch, it takes time to be able to cook like that. The best training I could have had was coming to a Roux kitchen. Nowadays, Michel is like an older brother. I didn’t think it was possible to meet them. While I was training, the Roux family were the books that you saw. I was 21 when I got to London and I sent my CV out to so many restaurants. I still remember the first time I made a bread roll. I was studying my diploma in hospitality, and I just fell in love with it. When I walked into the kitchen for the first time, I knew I was going to do that for ever. But my dad was into growing his own fruits and vegetables – he still is. There’s a huge Samoan community in New Zealand, so a lot of that culture survives, but there was no more picking tropical fruit. We had to move to New Zealand when I was eight for a better life. The whole family get involved, everyone had a role. Then it all gets topped with the rocks and covered with banana leaves and left for an hour to cook. When the fire dies down, the rocks are taken off and you lay it with the meat or palusami. It was such a normal thing to do.Įvery Sunday, we’d have an “umu” – a big fire pit with volcanic rocks. The chickens used to run wild on the family plantation and we’d collect their eggs. I grew up in Samoa and, looking back, I don’t think I realised how wonderful life was back then.
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