possibly one of the best dishes you can eat. When I’m cooking it’s a great opportunity for me to show in real time how easy it is to create great tasting food at home.
Looking back, what would you say has defined your career the most - the food or the friendships? If I’m honest, I would say both. I’ve been very lucky over the years to have made some incredible friends in the Food industry, both chefs, authors and influencers. When I first started out, I had the opportunity to work alongside some of my absolute food heroes, the likes of Gary Rhodes, Ken Hom, Jean Christoph Novelli.
I still pinch myself to this day to have had the opportunity to go from driving a digger to working in a two Michelin Starred kitchen after appearing on MasterChef in 2006. Lots of these friendships continue to this day born out of a true love of food.
Did you always want to have a career in food? No, it kind of came out of nowhere. I had a passion for food from childhood, but I never really thought about the prospect of turning that passion into a career. It was only after appearing on MasterChef I realised I had an incredible opportunity to go on and work in the world of food and if I’m completely honest, it blows my mind that over 20 years on I’m still doing something I love. It’s been hard work, but I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved.
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Dean – great that you will be heading to the Three Counties Food and Drink Festival in Malvern on Sunday 26th July. I’m hugely excited to be joining the Three Counties Food and Drink Festival for the very first time this year, it’s such a beautiful part of the UK. I can’t wait to come and take part in some lively cooking demonstrations where I can showcase the best of what I do and I’ll also be signing copies of my brand-new cookbook ‘Complete BBQ Made Easy’.
The lineup this year is exceptional, including my old MasterChef mentor John Torode and previous winner Ping Coombes. Also appearing is Lisa Faulkner, Francesco Mattana, Paul A Young, Rosemary Shrager and the legendary Chris Bavin, it’s going to be a brilliant weekend.
What excites you about such events and the interaction with the public – and what can audiences expect from you? It’s great to be able to look into the crowd and gauge reactions. I don’t really plan my demonstrations; the recipe gives me a structure however where it goes from there really depends on the audience. If I’m getting lots of questions that can lead me in a completely different direction to the one initially planned and I love the spontaneity of that. Cooking live will always be one of my greatest passions.
Do you have any cooking hacks that you regularly share with your audience? I try to simplify recipes to make them accessible to the average home cook. Many years ago, I think I almost tried too hard to showcase what I was doing, over complicating things, and one thing that I have learned over the years is that simple food is quite often the best, great ingredients do not need to be messed around with. Take for example a Caprese salad, three ingredients and is
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Would you consider doing any reality TV shows? Yes, of course, I truly believe life is about experience, and if it wasn’t for entering into MasterChef in 2005, my life would’ve been a completely different scenario. I guess in a way MasterChef was one of the first reality shows. It’s crazy looking back at the journey throughout the filming of that show and if I’m totally honest if I was offered to do it again, I probably wouldn’t due to all the stress, however if Strictly came knocking, I’m sure I wouldn’t turn it down!
When you do get a day off, how do you relax? I’ve got a two-year-old daughter, so there’s no such thing as relaxing, ever!! But I love life and a dream day for me would be to go and enjoy some great food cooked by someone else and just relax. I love to travel and especially throughout the last few years my go to destination will always be Cornwall. I lived there for a couple of years a long time ago and there’s just something special about the place that really makes me feel at home.
What ingredient do you dislike and why? It has to be gherkins; I actually don’t dislike the flavour. It’s more about the texture. The small crispy Cornichons are great, but the large soggy ones are horrendous. They go nowhere near any burger I’m about to devour.
What’s one item or ingredient you always keep in your store cupboard or fridge that might surprise people? Fish sauce, I love Asian food and it’s definitely an ingredient that divides the crowd, it adds an incredible Umami flavour to many dishes. I would advise anyone who loves Asian cuisine to invest in some, it will really transform your cooking. Just don’t smell it before you add it into the pan.
Have you ever had to completely wing it on live TV when a dish wasn’t quite going to plan? Many times, cooking on TV is totally not representational of cooking at home. Quite often you only have a couple of minutes to run through a whole dish. So, pans need to be screaming hot or
INTERVIEW DEAN EDWARDS
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