ARTICLE
[InC-terview] Comfort Food for Singaporean MasterChef Finalist Audra Morrice... A Bowl of Porridge!
By InCinemas / 22 Aug 2013 (Thursday)
You might have seen her on Australia's celebrated cooking show, MasterChef where she impressed the judges with many of her amazing Asian-inspired dishes.
Singaporean contestant Audra Morrice held a baking session with the media last week and we managed to ask her a few questions! Find out more about her upcoming cookbook after the jump!
We talked to the MasterChef Season 4 finalist to find out more about her MasterChef journey, her inspirations and the one food she doesn't like to cook with.
Don't forget to catch MasterChef Season 4 on Lifetime Channel (StarHub TV Chnl 514) on weekdays 7pm & same-day repeat at 11pm!
Q: When did you realise your passion for cooking?
- Audra: I was always the sous chef for my mother in the kitchen at a very young age, she’s a genius when it comes to food and just a fabulous cook. I did a lot of baking at a young age too, maybe about the age of 12 or 13. I baked a lot of cookies and stuffs to give away to friends, during Chinese New Year and Christmas time too.
It wasn’t until I went away from Singapore, so to speak as I was cooking a lot more on my own. I did a lot more cooking when I was in University in New Zealand.
Q: How has life after MasterChef been?
- Audra: It has turned upside down for
me. After MasterChef, I basically quit my job of 20 years in the
industry and I started a catering business. I run classes, I do talks,
corporate team-building activities too. I write blogs and everything is
about food. You know what, I wake up everyday loving what I do.
Q: Which was more challenging, The Mystery Box Challenge, Team challenge or the Immunity Challenge.
- Audra: For the Mystery Box Challenge, you’re working solo and you have to think on your feet. The moment you lift the box, you have at most, five minutes to work out what you want to cook and you have to time it spot-on.
Team Challenges are always difficult when you have difficult people on your team. On the positive side, you have more brains to think and that’s a fabulous thing about it. I love working in a team because I am more of a team player, and it’s great to deviate jobs to play on people’s strengths and specialities.
Immunity Challenge is loads of fun but nerve-wrecking and you never know who is going to walk through the door, so that’s an element of surprise always. It’s really exciting to work against and with these amazing chefs who are really helpful too!
Q: If you had to choose one, which will be?
- Audra: Oh Geese... I don’t know, maybe the Mystery Box Challenge? But there are all tough in many ways. I can’t pick!
Q: What would be your most difficult challenge in MasterChef?
- Audra: For
me, I think its a couple of challenges where there were a lot of the
time pressure. When you get onto it, you want to excel and sometimes
things don’t go your way and it’s tough.
The pop-up restaurant
where I was the captain and ahhh (sighs)! Being the captain, you want to
brig your team to victory and I had some difficult people on the team
and it was tough to manage.
Q: What would you say was your biggest blunder in the MasterChef kitchen?
- Audra: Aiyah... I would say there was a challenge where we had to cook for our loved ones. My first dish went great, it was the mystery box challenge and it was fantastic. I had my husband in mind when I was cooking and cooked the stuff that he loved to eat.
For the second challenge, it was the invention test and I wanted to make a particular dessert. There was no flour, just a pastry layers with thick custard and berries on the inside. My custard didn’t set. I think because when you bring loved ones in mind when you cook, you put that much more pressure on yourself and when it didn’t happened, I was destroyed. I was so teary and all but you know, you pick yourself up. The judges were fantastic, they tend to be very supportive too. The others were manageable, but probably this was the biggest one.
Q: Where are some of the places you'll look for inspirations in Singapore?
- Audra: The beauty about Singapore is that every corner you turn, you get inspired by something different. I travel to Little India a lot because its so colourful; the vegetables and my spices too! I also travel to Chinatown and Bugis. I was there the other day and I went mental.
Everything inspires me in Singapore, I just love it, it’s so colourful and we got it so good here. I’ll say the entire Singapore inspires me.
(Go to Audra's blog to find out more about her cooking journey & Recipes!)
Q: What will be your go-to comfort food?
- Audra: Aiyoh, for me, I always go back to my heritage which is Singaporean food. You know even a bowl of porridge is just so great. What I make a lot of the children now are just simple Hokkien Noodles and soup with prawns and fishball, so they get a taste of that as well. Curry, a good curry with bread and just dip. That to me is comfort food.
Q: Any particular food you dislike or don’t eat?
- Audra: Hmm.. Foie gras, I just don’t get it and its so expensive anyway.
Q: Have you cooked with it? Not even in MasterChef?
- Audra: No and I don’t intend to. I just don’t get the hype about it. It’s more like a French cuisine and I don’t usually cook french food.
Q: What’s next for you? Will we be seeing a cookbook anytime soon?
- Audra: I have been totally immersed in the cooking world since I’ve finished (Masterchef). I get engaged in a lot of dining events, it’s something that is keeping me incredibly busy. I write weekly newsletters too.
Cookbook? Absolutely. I don’t know when but I actually started to draft out all the recipes I want in it and I’m up to 70 recipes. For me it isn’t just going to be an instructional cookbook, it will be my journey, whats important in my life and Singapore will feature a big part in the book. So that’s my concept at the moment. So maybe in a few years, it’s going to be out, just keep a lookout for it.