One of the greatest adventures was auditioning for Master Chef in New York. Although I do not fit the profile of a Master Chef contestant (too old ), nor do I expect to get a call from them, this was a great positive nod to the abilities I have as a cook (especially with no culinary training).
Because one of my nephews lives in Brooklyn, I asked him if I could stay overnight with him and brought my brownies to Brooklyn (via the Chinese bus in Boston). The bus got in very late so I had to finish the brownies once I got to his apartment (I made the ganache there).
Saturday morning, my nephew drove me to Broadway (how appropriate) where I got in line with 300 other hopefuls....Joe Bastianich was there in Times Square and the producers had us parading around him shouting Master Chef (I personally thought this was very dumb but participated anyway).
We were brought into a waiting room at the Doubletree on Broadway and as I chatted with the other hopefuls, I saw out of 100 or so folks I was the only person who brought a dessert. Go figure...nobody brought a dessert. There were several lamb, veal, turkey, duck and so forth recipes but I had the only chocolate recipe.
There was a woman who checked everybody in (Cassie) who had not eaten. When she called me up to sign me in, I asked her if she wanted to see the brownies...she actually almost swooned when she smelled them.
You all know that my brownies recipes are on this blog but I went all out with the one for Master Chef using five or six types of chocolate, Madagascar vanilla, etc. And Kahlua...
We were told in the waiting room that plates and silverware would be available but when I got to the audition room, there was nothing. I had been carrying around the brownies and fresh raspberries for about 24 hours via the Chinese bus and now I had nothing to plate with. The girl next to me gave me a napkin and I cut out a brownie, looked at my mashed raspberries and put a few on the napkin with one that amazingly survived on top.
The tasting judge came over to our table and said to me "you have the only dessert so I'm coming back to you later". She then spent several minutes with the two people next to me who each made chicken dishes.
After she had circulated the room, she came back to me. One of the criteria for judging is plating and I said to her "In the history of Master Chef, this is probably the worst plating you've ever seen". .....
She said, "I have to agree with that".
She asked me to describe the brownies. I told her they would appeal to her on all five sense levels. (The cayenne pepper was a godsend). She tasted the brownies and to my surprise said "Is there Starbucks coffee in this recipe"..... Normally, I think I might be stunned by that remark but I quickly said yes. She asked me how complicated the recipe was and I honestly told her that anybody could make this and it was already on my blog.
She surprised me again by asking me to tell her about a complicated recipe and I responded by describing my cheesecake recipe (it takes three days to make because the components need refrigeration before assembly. I mentioned that I developed a cheesecake recipe for Master Chef with the same flavor profile that I can whip up in under an hour. She also asked me to describe my savory dishes.
The experience was very enjoyable and the judge spent a considerable amount of time with each of the people who brought food to be sampled.
After the audition, I just walked around Broadway for a while and then went back to my nephew's home because it was very tiring.
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