Woodbridge home chef a ‘master’ of her own kitchen

YorkRegion.com
March 3, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

For Julie Miguel, having three renowned chefs pick apart her dishes wasn’t the hardest part of competing on reality show MasterChef Canada.

It wasn’t the cooking challenges either — although coming up with an idea, searching the pantry for ingredients and presenting the food beautifully, all in an hour, did prove tough at times.

The most difficult part was being sequestered in a residence in downtown Toronto with her fellow competitors for weeks on end last fall while the show was being filmed.

“The hardest part was, definitely, 100 per cent, being away from my family,” said the 30-year-old married, mother of a 2 ½-year-old son. “You go home every night and you want that support. But you’re with 16 other competitors, who aren’t going to help you. … They’re all great people and I’m still friends with them, but you need your own personal support and you don’t get that. I literally got one 10-minute phone call.”

Mrs. Miguel’s journey to competing on MasterChef Canada, which pits amateur chefs against each other in elimination challenges judged by a panel of culinary gurus, actually began a few years ago with a promise to celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

She met him at a promotional event for his line of kitchen appliances following the first season of the American version of MasterChef, on which he is a judge.

“I said, ‘I’m a huge fan of MasterChef, I really like the show. I hope they have a Canadian version because if they do, I’m definitely applying and I’m definitely going to be part of the show,’” Mrs. Miguel, a senior analyst with the federal government, recalled.

So when word broke last summer that a Canadian version was in the works and competitors were being sought, the Woodbridge resident kept her promise and applied in hopes of winning the $100,000 prize.

The next day she got a call from the TV network inviting her to audition.

Mrs. Miguel started cooking at 15, after her mother died. But for her audition, she took a risk and created a tart with homemade ice cream, which she’d only made once before.  

The toughest part was figuring out how to get downtown Toronto by 7 a.m. without the ice cream melting and the tart falling apart, she said.  

It turned out well, landing her a spot in the top 50 and an audition with the show’s celebrity chef judges: Michael Bonacini, Claudio Aprile and Alvin Leung.

“Being the goof that I am, I thought I’d make donuts (for the audition),” Mrs. Miguel said. “I thought no one is going to make donuts. Everyone is going to make these fancy, schmancy dishes with all these crazy ingredients and sauces. And it turned out they loved them.”

That vaulted her into top 26.

Next up was the so-called “chicken stress test”.

As a working mother used to getting dinner on the table in half an hour, she found it “a breeze” to butcher and cook a chicken in hour.

When the field was narrowed down to 16, Mrs. Miguel made the cut.

And after six episodes, she’s still standing.

Even though she knows how it all turns out for her, Mrs. Miguel watches the show every week, with her husband and son.

“It’s really weird, but it’s fun.” she said. “And my son is getting a kick out of it. He’s my biggest fan. He’s been telling everyone, ‘Watch my mommy on MasterChef.’”

She’s also having fun with the lifestyle blog — thedailytiramisu.blogspot.ca – she created with Meghan Toth, the first contestant to be eliminated from the show.

Being on MasterChef certainly didn’t dampen her passion for cooking.  

In fact, Mrs. Miguel would like to start sharing her knowledge with others, perhaps this spring.

“I know I don’t want to work in a restaurant kitchen,” she said. “After this experience, I realized that is definitely not something that I want. It just doesn’t mesh well with my lifestyle, but teaching is definitely something that I like.”

MasterChef Canada airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CTV.