Melissa Leong on what a Masterchef judge eats + cooks

Hello! This is Dish, a cooking podcast set in Sydney, Australia - I’m Kate Gibbs your host. Today the writer and MasterChef Australia judge Melissa Leong joins me on the show.

I should preface this episode with an explanation that we refer a lot to Melissa’s Instagram profile, simply because it’s so inspiring from a food angle and such a clear perspective of what Melissa eats and how she cooks. So when we talk about her homemade hash, her “fridge dive dinners” or her “put on egg on everything” ideas, just take a peek at her Instagram grid and you’ll get what we mean. 

Melissa Leong co-hosted The Chefs' Line with chefs Dan Hong and Mark Olive for two seasons in 2017, and 2018. As of 2020, Leong is one of the new judges for MasterChef Australia, alongside Jock Zonfrillo and Andy Allen. And I’m so happy to finally get her on the podcast.

She’s the epitome of style and class and what looks like the good life, but in this episode Melissa goes into up-cycling leftovers, a recurring theme of her own cooking (and her Instagram feed). If she can inspire people to give it a go via her Instagram page then that’s a good thing, she says. 

Her top tip for the fridge dive dinners: “when in doubt, throw an egg on it”. Melissa talks about her hash - a melange of flavours that’s always great to eat and at the least a very indulgent breakfast. Her breakfasts are usually savoury, but she admits she loves a porridge with lots of bits in it. 

Melissa, who tells me she has autoimmune issues, talks about how she balances indulgence with doing good things for her insides. The way we feel is directly impacted by what we put in our body, she says. She shares the way she reboots, what she eats and just as importantly what she doesn’t eat. She eats intuitively and eats as many whole foods as she can, and she tried to find harmony with her body and what she puts in it. 

Melissa is often asked what she would cook the other MasterChef judges, she says, and she goes into how she navigates being around other amazing cooks. She cooks simply and focuses on flavour and texture. There are top chefs out there, but Melissa’s cooking is proud, packed with flavour, and always presented with pride. 

A discerning and intrepid traveller, Melissa is a regular contributor to various food and travel magazines - and we met for the first time years ago while both contributing to Australia’s delicious. magazine. We talk about where we want to travel next, covering Singapore and Europe, deep diving on what we would eat for breakfast when we finally get there. 

Heritage and the handing of recipes through the generations has long been a passion for me, and Melissa is also passionate about it. We talk about the layers each generation adds to a recipe, the power of cooking with family, and making recipes our own. 

It’s refreshing and enlightening speaking with Melissa. She’s intelligent, graceful, and I loved this episode. I hope you do as well. Enjoy.