What’s the oldest thing you own and why do you still have it?
A teddy bear that’s actually a dog named Ralph. I’ve had it since I was two years old; it’s something I can’t throw out. That’s the oldest personal thing, but I do have a plate that’s 600 years old. So it’s either a pretty ratty stuffed dog or a 600-year-old Edo period plate. I serve food on that plate sometimes – I’m sure antique collectors would be aghast, but I think it’s only right to use those things.
You’ve filmed nine seasons of The Cook Up with Adam Liaw so far. Which guest have you been most excited to have on the show?
I was genuinely chuffed about meeting Martin Yan from Yan Can Cook, because I watched him for so many years, long before I was ever on telly. That was a real thrill. I remember I was nervous about it. We cooked kung pao chicken, or gongbao jiding.
Do you have a food memory you’d most like to forget?
My dad asked me to cook a very expensive steak and I was relying on a thermometer that did not work, so the steak ended up being very overcooked. I stopped using thermometers for like six or seven years after that. I got a lot better at cooking meat by feel, but it did require the destruction of a $300 steak.
Before winning MasterChef you were a lawyer for Disney. But what’s the strangest job you’ve ever had?
My very first job was selling ice-creams at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide. I did not enjoy that job. I was 14 years old, it was about 45 degrees every day, and I had to walk around with about 20 kilos of ice-cream in an insulated container. It was an awful lot of work over four days. I think I earned about $30 a day.
What’s the most chaotic thing that has ever happened to you on set?
We have literal fires regularly, but probably the most chaotic thing was while filming [SBS show] North American Fan Feasts. We were going to fly to Guadalajara but our fixer was sending videos of Mexican cartels literally shooting up the airport, so we decided not to get on the plane to fly to the airport that day. We met mariachis in Mexico City instead, and I learned a lot about mariachis.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
It was from my old boss and I think about it often. Basically, when you feel the urge to write an angry email, write it so you get all your thoughts down, but then wait before you send it. His view was that once the anger leaves your fingers, you actually feel a lot better, and if you wait for like an hour you’ll want to send a much nicer email. I reckon that’s saved me a lot.
Is it true that you’re scared of bamboo?
Yeah. It’s sort of a Chinese ghost story. We were always told never to go play in the bamboo because there’ll be a witch with long nipples who will use those nipples to drag you up into the bamboo and you’ll never be seen again. We had bamboo near where we lived when I was growing up, so we got told that story a lot.
What’s the most useless kitchen utensil?
A garlic crusher. It takes more time to clean a garlic crusher than the time that you save by using it. You can crush garlic with the skin on in 0.1 of a second. It will take you way longer to peel the garlic, get the crusher, use the crusher, then clean the crusher.
If you could have a dessert named after you, what would it be and why?
Crème caramel to me is a near perfect dessert. There are all these fantastic dessert names for fluffy meringue things, or chocolate desserts, but anything in that caramel space is just so functional; burnt cream, English cream, caramel cream … So maybe some sort of caramelly custard dessert.
Who is the most famous person you’ve cooked for?
Gordon Ramsay. We were both at a food festival in South Africa years ago, and I made something that we ate backstage. I don’t remember what I made, but I remember my wife spilled a whole jug of water over him. He was fine about it.
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Adam Liaw’s North American Fan Feasts premieres on SBS and SBS On Demand on 6 July
