MasterChef interview: Heather Dombrosky on show experience, Gordon Ramsay – egg task
Heather Dombrosky was taken out of this past episode of the competition in the midst of a challenge that was all about Gordon Ramsay’s famous scrambled-egg recipe. In the email exit interview below, Heather reflects on that and the rest of the competition as a whole.
CarterMatt – After all of this, will you ever look at scrambled eggs the same?
Heather Dombrosky – Of course I will! I get knocked down but I get back up again, ha! But seriously, I love my eggs and I could have made a mistake a million times over and I’d still be beating and eating eggs the next day. Never stop cooking!
I imagine that it has to be really tough to try to retrain your mind to make something that you’ve probably made many times over, but to Gordon’s exact specifications. Was that difficult?
Tough is an understatement! I have never made eggs like that, and when I make something new, I usually have time to play around with the recipe and place my personal touch on them. I don’t usually follow a recipe to its exact instructions, let alone a culinary master like Gordon Ramsay’s recipe. Not as easy as people may think.
You got to live a pretty great MasterChef experience, in between doing the Mystery Box, the Elimination Challenge, and getting out for a Team Challenge. Where were you the most comfortable?
All of these challenges were incredibly demanding and I love a good challenge, but I would have to say the Team Challenge was where I felt I owned it. I work well in a team and I feel like a group of talented cooks is better than one single cook. All of our team members brought so much to the table and we were able to invent some mouth watering dishes which captured the lifeguards palate, which led to team red’s victory.
Is there anything that you wish you had a chance to make in the kitchen?
Gâteau Saint Honoré. I’m not an expert at making pastries by any means and this one recipe involves four different pastry concepts. Like I said, I like a good challenge, bring it on!
Was this experience what you wanted it to be?
Everything and more. Not only did I get to cook in front of three amazing chefs, namely chef Gordon Ramsay, but I also go to cook in front of the world! Not many people can say that. I learned so much about cooking, myself, and met some pretty amazing fellow cooks. A life experience that I wouldn’t give up for the world!
Now that you’ve gone through the show, what do you want to do next with food?
I’m planning on hosting dinners and writing a cookbook. I’ve already started a food blog called GiveZeroForks.com. I’m really into sustainable food, and am a licensed hunter, and I like to eat a lot of foods that might generally be thrown out – think making stocks from fish heads, or pieces of meat that are less “desirable” than your usual steaks and chops. It’s a very spiritual thing for me in a way, having more of a respect for my food. And being an educator, my hope is to inspire people to think in a different way about food.
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