MasterChef Canada Audition  Secrets

MasterChef Canada Season 3 Auditions are now happening across the country.  These are the auditions that you do NOT see on TV which take place in various cities throughout the summer, and by which the Top 50 home cooks are chosen.  I have a few friends auditioning this weekend so thought I would pass along some of the things I learned from my own audition last summer.  I am pretty sure I did not sign a confidentiality clause on this portion of the process, but if this blog post is suddenly deleted, you will know I was wrong.  

1.  Wear something that makes you stand out.  I wore black and grey which I immediately regretted.  How boring is that?  So, I immediately pledged that if I made it through to Toronto, I would wear a bright colour, and hence the birth of that (also regrettable) green dress!  More on the dress in a later blog post...I have much, much to say about it!
2. Think about your “story”.  What makes you interesting?  There is nothing interesting about me so I still cannot figure why I was chosen.  Actually, no, I am pretty sure I know why I was chosen (see point #7).  Keep in mind, this is television!!  They need memorable, engaging personalities and fascinating stories (a comeback story or personal triumph is particularly good!).  So think about what your story is and what is engaging about you and your life.  And if you are boring like me, but really want to be on television (unlike me), dig deep and “embellish” a little bit ;)
3. Be prepared to tell them (a hundred times over) what your food dream is.  This was hard for me as my real food dream is “To be able to eat whatever I want and not gain any weight” but this did not seem to be the answer they were looking for!  I didn’t want to say the standard “I want to open my own restaurant!!” and then have the entire town waiting for it to happen!  I have had my own food truck since before food trucks were cool called “My Car Going to the Field at Harvest Time” so I couldn’t say that either.  So be prepared for this one…know what your food dream is.  And if you don’t have one…dig deep and “embellish” a little bit ;)
4. You need to present a dish and a professional chef will be judging it.  He or she will also be asking you questions about the ingredients and processes you used.  I was listening in on this questioning and quickly learned that the correct answers to the following questions are:  “Did you make this mayonnaise yourself?” YES “Did you make this bread?” YES “Where did you get this produce?” THE FARMER’S MARKET “Where did you source the beef?” MY LOCAL BUTCHER  Another thing that really seemed to trip applicants up is the preparation of seafoods and other high risk foods.  It can be hours from the time you cook your dish to when the chef tastes it, so you need to make sure everything is prepared and held properly, or he or she may not take the risk of tasting it.
5. Think about what you call your dish.  Mine had an ice cream component but when I got there, I realized that I had no idea how long it would be sitting at room temperature.  I quickly listed that portion of the dish as “Popcorn Cream” to be on the safe side.  Truthfully, by the time the chef and producers got around to me, it was nothing more than a cream with a slightly firm centre, so that was a very smart decision.  I think I would have been challenged on it had I called it an "ice cream".  
6. Everyone plates their dishes at the same time.  Last year, and I was told it happened the same way for Season 1, applicants were then seen in alphabetical order by first name.  So, that may help you prepare for how long you will be there.  I think with my “D” name I was about 13th in the process.  If your name is Xavier, your food is going to be sitting for potentially a few hours at room temperature.  So keep that in mind too.  All in all, there were about 35 of us who auditioned on the first of two days in Calgary.  I am proud to say that only myself and Kenya emerged from that audition day and were invited to Toronto.
7. So, how did I do it?  Honestly, I think my biggest edge came from being from this Province.  And maybe that is my chronic lack of confidence talking, but the show needs someone to represent the various demographics and geographic regions so I know they were looking for someone from Saskatchewan.  Maybe there weren’t many applicants from here?  I will never know.  But that is my biggest piece of advice to the Saskatchewan applicants:  Do NOT sell yourselves short!  They are looking for one of us (or more) and you may have a better shot than many from the bigger centres with a larger pool of applicants.  So get out there and cook your heart out, sell your story and food dream, and let’s have someone from Saskatchewan win Season 3!!