The new season of MasterChef has reached the final stages, with just eight amateur cooks having survived the knockout rounds to qualify for the semi-final.
Among the survivors is Cabinet Office official Frankie Dunn, who wowed judges Grace Dent and Anna Haugh with her movie-themed Indian starter platter in the latest knockout round – featuring a tandoori-spiced salmon mousse made to look like an ice cream, and Kashmiri chilli ghee popcorn.
MasterChef judge and food critic Grace Dent described Frankie’s spicy ghee popcorn as “sensational”, saying: “I want a vat of this next time I’m at the cinema.”
Co-host and renowned chef Anna Haugh agreed that the platter was “very beautiful”, adding: “It’s moments like these that make me love this competition.”
Frankie said on receiving this reaction from the judges: “I couldn’t have hoped for better feedback. I am over the moon.”
Frankie believes that her civil service training has been a huge help in the MasterChef kitchen, helping her to keep calm and “to think on my feet”. And although her current role as digital, data, innovation and AI capability lead within the Cabinet Office “couldn't be further from cooking” she links her move to the civil service in 2024 after 12 years as a chemistry teacher with a decision to take her ambitions more seriously.
“While my career change felt like a huge leap, it has proven to be absolutely the right move for me,” she says. “It's made me think now that anything is possible.”
Frankie is relatively new to her current Cabinet Office team, but says they have been “brilliant and very excited”, adding that “I have had a huge outpouring of support from both my immediate team members and colleagues across the civil service.”
Has she been recognised in the office? “Not yet,” she says. “But I've had emails from people I've never met, congratulating me on my progress, which is lovely!”
Frankie has also realised that her team is keen for her to practice new recipes on them. “One of my team loves profiteroles, so I might need to recreate the piña colada ones, but with some major tweaks!” she says.
Her ambition as a cook is to bring out a cookbook, reflecting her interest in the way different foods can affect your hormone balance and mental health. “My approach is all about variety and crowding in the good stuff, not cutting things out. The more colourful and diverse the plate, the better,” she says.
Will we be seeing Frankie’s cookbook on the shelves before long?
“I've been working on a cookbook on and off for the last two years, which I'm hoping will be ready to see the light of day soon,” she says. “Right now I'm just enjoying the series going live and all the opportunities that come with it.”
The MasterChef semi-finals will be broadcast on BBC One at 8pm on 27/28/29 May. The final is scheduled for 5 June. You can watch the full series so far on BBC iPlayer now.
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