He was tipped as a favourite to take out the MasterChef title, but recently eliminated 21-year-old contestant Matthew Caldicott tells Woman’s Day how the show has helped him explore a career in the food industry.
You guys have been filming since late last year. What has it been like being out of the MasterChef house? Is it hard to adjust after being in there so long?
It’s a little bit strange being home with the family but it’s good to be back home and back in my own kitchen. It’s less stressful back here. I’m having fun.
How have you been keeping yourself busy?
I’ve been doing some work experience. I’ve been doing some catering for functions. I did a food demo last week, just trying to write my blog and get that back up for when the show’s finished.
A lot of the other contestants want to start up their own restaurants. Is that something you’re looking to try in the future?
I would like to, however I am still young. I don’t really have the capital behind me to do that. I’ve been talking with some of the other people in the competition and there might be a chance of opening a restaurant down the track with Dom. At the moment I just need to start training so that I actually know how to run a kitchen.
Are you completely focused on food now? Have you stopped working in accounting?
I’m still employed by the accounting company. I haven’t worked there since I started this but I’m just trying to work out my options. I’ve got so many things going on and have so many awesome avenues to take.
Has MasterChef opened any particular avenues for you in terms of achieving your dream? Or is it mostly your own doing?
I met Neil Perry through the show and I’ve done quite a bit of work experience with him in his restaurants in Sydney. That was awesome — to be able to meet him and do that stuff. In terms of other avenues, I think once me being eliminated is aired on the show some more stuff will come to me. I’m looking forward to seeing what that is. But most of the stuff I’ve done more proactively on my own.
When did you realise that working with food is something you wanted to pursue as a career?
I think last year when I was at work I was sort of looking at cookbooks and on the websites trying to get different recipes. But in terms of going on the show, I was having a party with some friends from uni that I hadn’t seen in a couple of months and I was making all this crazy stuff and they were like, ‘Dude you should be on MasterChef!’ I hadn’t watched the first season. They suggested it to me and I watched a couple of episodes online from the finals and I thought ‘I could do that’. So I applied and here I am … top nine.
You’ve made it pretty far! Were you shocked to make it this far? Are you happy with how far you came?
Yeah, I was pretty shocked to have made it this far but I thought I could have gone a bit further. But to get to number nine with all the talent that has been in this season is pretty awesome.
You were one of the youngest contestants on the show. Did you learn a lot from the older contestants?
Definitely. I think one of the biggest things that I struggled with was just tasting food and seasoning it properly and Asian food as well. But Marion and Alvin have amazing Asian palettes to balance food on and they taught me how to and I was stoked about that. I was able to help them out with desserts and stuff as well.
Did you find it strange, competing with one another but then also wanting to help one another?
We all wanted to help one another. I mean, as much as it’s a competition it’s also like a small family in there. You’re going through the same things every day and they’re pretty intense things that you’re doing. You never really think, ‘I don’t want to help this person because they might beat me.’ It’s just like helping out one of your good friends.
Who were your good friends in the house? Were there particular people you were close to?
Callum.
Was that just because you guys were around the same age, or did you have a lot in common?
Yeah, definitely. We roomed together since top 50 and then we were in the same room in the house and we had similar ideas about food. We both really liked desserts and interested in plating food up nicely.
He’s from South Australia and I’m from Sydney, two totally different walks of life, but we were really similar. We love sport and our personalities were quite similar so it was easy to get along.
Do you think you’ll stay in touch with any of the other contestants?
Yeah. I’ll definitely stay in contact with Cal. Dom as well and I’ve met up with him a couple of times. Joe as well, Fiona from Melbourne and I’ve been to Melbourne a couple of times and caught up with her for a coffee and stuff. I was friends with everyone.
For me, I’m so young so I don’t really have any qualms with anyone. I’m pretty chilled out and relaxed so I was friends with everyone basically. So it was great.
A lot of the other contestants were saying it was hard because they missed their families and everything. Do you think it was easier for you because you’re young and you don’t have a girlfriend or kids?
For sure. No girlfriend. I could just focus on the food. And I didn’t have a mortgage or kids. Obviously my family was back home and I’ve got a little puppy that I was missing; he’s not really a puppy he’s actually like 11. It was a lot easier for me. I wasn’t worried at all.
Who should win the competition and why?
I really hope that Callum goes as far as absolutely possible, but in terms of who I think is going to win — I’ve said it from early in the top 50: Adam. He’s pretty amazing, he’s got a diverse range of skills. I think he underestimates his abilities. Jono is also awesome. I reckon the final will be Jono and Adam.
Have you had a chance to watch much of it back?
I’ve been watching a bit. Not much though.
It’s sort of hard to avoid though isn’t it?
Yeah, I was in the pub last night to meet up with a mate and the pub had MasterChef on! [Laughs] I didn’t come to the pub to watch myself on TV. We probably went to the only pub in Sydney that shows MasterChef.
Can you pinpoint the most important thing you’ve learnt from your time on MasterChef?
Probably tasting your food while you’re cooking it. If you don’t taste it as you’re going you don’t know what your food is going to taste like. I think I’ve come really far in terms of seasoning food properly and knowing the balance of flavour so I think as a cook I’m definitely a lot better from being on the show.
With the time limits and so on, is it hard to taste as you’re going? Or are you always aware of what your dish tastes like by the time it gets to the judges?
It’s quite difficult, especially if there’s like a half-hour challenge or something. But I think you always need to carry a spoon around with you so you can just dip it in quickly and see how it’s going and how the balance of flavour is.
I never thought about it back when I started, just balancing flavours. It was all just going by the recipe and just making it as the recipe says. But things change every time you cook. The garlic might be a bit more fragrant this time than it was last time you did it. Or the chilli might be a bit hotter, so you need to keep tasting it.
Otherwise, you could have something that is more dominant than the other thing. Tasting has definitely improved my cooking skills tenfold. So if I get nothing else out of it, I’m definitely a better cook from it.
What is the most memorable comment you received from the judges?
Definitely that Rick Stein said he would have served my seafood platter in his restaurant. That’s a pretty huge compliment. I remember watching Rick Stein on television. The thing that got me cooking was when we got Foxtel I started watching the Food Channel for like four hours a day.
I’d be at uni and watch Rick Stein cooking something or just seeing other chefs and thinking, ‘Wow, they really love what they’re doing.’ So I started trying to cook hard stuff and it was one of those things where I tried to test my limits in the kitchen.
What age did you start cooking, just while you were at uni?
Yeah, while I was at uni I started going to the gym and started trying to cook healthy meals. Then I started watching the TV shows and started putting butter and cream into everything I made and started making desserts.
So your cooking went from trying to be healthy to desserts?
Yep, to desserts — as much chocolate as I could melt and as much cream as I could boil and making ice-creams and mousses.
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