How Did I Get Into This Mess?

When it comes to reality television there is more than meets the eye. Have you ever wondered how a home cook like me ends up cooking in front of celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Aaron Sanchez and restauranteur Joe Bastianich? then let me guide you through my experience on how I got into this mess. 

    It all started on September 15th, 2017. I came into work like any other normal day, it was a Friday so I was ready for the much needed relaxation I was going to have at the beach that weekend. My friend, Jesse, was celebrating his birthday so he rented an Airbnb in Wilmington so I was pretty excited. I go to sit at my desk to get started on the mounds of boring paperwork I have to do at work everyday. 

    I get settled and start working and then here comes Donna. Now, let me tell you a little about Donna, Donna is like my office mother. She is so sweet and kind regardless of how much shade I might throw at her. Donna has been working for NC DDS since the 80s, thats longer than I’ve been alive! Anyway, Donna knows about my passion for cooking since I am known as the unit cook. Anytime we have a gathering for introducing a new employee, a birthday or whatever the occasion I typically make something. She has praised me on my cooking abilities countless times so she’s always curious about what I’m working up in the kitchen. Donna comes into my cubicle and says, “did you hear? They’re having a casting for MasterChef tomorrow here in Raleigh.” I thought, that’s cool but I don’t think I’m cut out for television and besides I had my friend’s party that same day. So I tell Donna, “No I hadn’t but it’s my friend’s birthday tomorrow so I already have plans.” Donna puts her stern face on and says “Juni if you don’t go to that casting tomorrow I’m going to be so mad at you.” 

     In the past couple of years I’ve matured significantly to where I am less spontaneous that I used to be. Now I am essentially the opposite, I want to control everything so much so that I’ve been to countless therapy sessions to help with my control issues. So, I tell Donna I’ll look into it. I do a quick online search and find the casting website. I was greeted by this flyer: 

    I review the application process and it is pretty straight forward. You are encouraged to preregister and complete an application to bring with you. Then there were a few caveats the website reads: 

"You MUST bring one prepared dish to be served to our food judges."

"You will be given 3 minutes to plate your dish at the casting call location, but there will NOT be a kitchen to cook or warm your dish up so come prepared!"

I’m thinking this sounds like a lot of work and is my food really TV worthy? Donna can be pushy sometimes so I filled out the application. Almost immediately after doing so a casting agent called me and explained the process again in more detailed. She scheduled me for a time slot and I felt a little more confident on what I needed to do. I talked to Jesse and let him know I was going to do this thing before I left for the beach on Saturday, so I would be only a couple hours late. 

    My workday is over and now I’m wracking my brain trying to be strategic as to what I can make that would not need to be cooked, kept cool or warm. Then it hit me! Dessert. Desserts like cakes and pies can be served cold, warm or at room temp without really altering the flavor. I could not imagine bringing something like a lasagna and serving the judges coagulated cold cheese or even worse… cold meat. I was thinking about what to make,  I wanted to make something that best represented me so when the judges tasted it they would remember me. One of my favorite things to make and then eat a dozen of are chocolate truffles, especially my ancho chili truffles. So I decided to add a twist to them, I was going to make them into a tart. But what else could I do to make the tart stand out, maybe use an unconventional ingredient? I had heard of people using avocado and chocolate before but as a Mexican that sounds blasphemous to me. I’m pretty sure that if you tried to serve a Mexican something with hot or cooked avocado they would probably grab the closest chancla and slap it out of your hand. 

Chocolate Truffles

    If you are familiar with a chocolate truffle you know that they are velvety smooth and melt in your mouth. The secret to it is butter. So I took that idea and decided I was going to use the avocado to substitute for the creamy velvety finish of the truffle. I followed my traditional recipe for my ancho truffles and in the end incorporated the avocado. Now I must admit whatever “suburban just got done with pilates mom” class came up with the idea to combine chocolate and avocado was actually a genius. The texture was divine and the flavor of the avocado slightly came through. I was definitely a fan. Then came the hard part, what kind of crust and what kind of garnish do I use on this thing? I went through probably 4 different crust types, I tried Oreo, plain, graham and chocolate. In the end I decided with chocolate, the flaky crust did not detract much from the velvety texture of the filling and added another chocolatey depth of flavor. 

    I was fortunate enough to have two friends, Dennis and Brian, come over and be my taste testers and help me decide which flavors combinations worked best. So there it was my Ancho Chili Avocado Chocolate Truffle Tart, that’s a mouthful isn’t it? Oh but I was not done! Oh no, honey. I wanted to garnish this with something that just said “wow!” I have always been inspired by french patisseries but I wanted to make something that paid an homage to my Mexican roots. I came up with a churro macaron. It was simply a churro piped into the shape of a macaron. I filled it with a cinnamon buttercream and I was finally done. My final dish was an Ancho Chili Avocado Chocolate Truffle Tart with a Churro Macaron. 

    I showed up to the audition expecting for everything to take an hour or two at the most. Sitting around I am seeing that there are hundreds of people, I believe my number was in the 400s. As I waited I looked around and saw that people had brought coolers, crockpots, and all kinds of gadgets to try and keep their food presentable. I was finally called into the kitchen with a group of a little over 20. We are given the rules and told we have 3 minutes to plate our dish. Now being the perfectionist I am, I set my mise en place in a small white box so I would be ready to grab everything that I needed without hesitation. Time starts and you can hear everyone scrambling trying to get their food on the plates. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1 HANDS UP!” they shout. I look down and I am satisfied with my presentation. The judge comes around and tastes my dish. I describe the dish and she was definitely buying my story of “I was inspired by french patisseries but wanted to pay an homage to my Mexican heritage with the flavors.” She took a bite and I saw a twinkle in her eye, she went in for a second bite and says “I just love chocolate.” The macaron sitting on top of the  tart she picked it up and ate the entire thing. 

    After the tasting was complete they started calling out numbers. Those numbers corresponded to those who would be moving onto the next round. My number was called and I wasn’t surprised. I could tell they had loved my dish. We were moved to a different room and asked a series of questions and interacted with one another, they asked us to tell a fun fact about ourselves and I said “I can do a split” and dropped into one. It was pretty iconic. After more questions and fun games there was yet another cut. In the end from that group of 20+ only 4 of us remained. Now 4 hours had passed and I was more than late to Jesse’s party, oops. We were set up for an on camera interview at a later date. I remember the camera interview being a little weird, I guess having bright lights, a camera thats rolling and someone asking you personal questions can make anyone feel uncomfortable. 

    When I finished my interview we were told it would be a lot of waiting so not to feel discouraged if we did not hear anything back for a while. The rest of the casting process is pretty boring, it involved a lot of paperwork, I mean A LOT. It was a cycle of fill out paperwork, wait, more paperwork, more waiting and so forth. Then I got the call. It was casting telling me they wanted to fly me out to LA to cook for them. I was surprised because I seriously thought my on camera interview was awkward but I was willing to give this thing a try. I had only 10 days to try and get my outfits together, plan recipes and practice. Those 2 weeks were hectic! I got to LA and the rest well you'll just have to tune in to FOX Wednesday, May 30 at 8pm to find out.

Want to taste my Ancho Chili Avocado Chocolate Truffle Tart? Head here to check out my recipe.