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Top Chef Masters Season 2: Exclusive Interview with Susur Lee

Posted on 06/10/2010 by Gina in Top Chef Masters and Cast Interviews

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Susur Lee from Top Chef Masters Season 2

 

by Gina Scarpa and Chandra Clewley

 

Susur Lee has become a force to be reckoned with in Asian-fusion cooking and was thought of as the "Ninja" on Top Chef Masters Season 2. While all of the other chefs on the show sat in awe, Lee was cursing, cracking jokes, taking off his shoes, and leaving a mess in his wake in the Top Chef kitchen. Susur sat down with Reality Wanted today to share his experience on Top Chef Masters.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What inspired you to go on Top Chef Masters?
A. Susur: I've always been a very competitive person, by nature. Competitiveness - that word never came to my mind because it's in my nature, it's always been in my personality. When I first started doing competitive cooking, I did Ready, Set, Cook! That was the first time and Ming Tsai was a very dear friend of mine so I had so much fun with that. I loved that feeling of improvising in the moment and that's what my cooking is all about. I loved doing something like that. Te second time on television was Iron Chef and I had that same feeling. Then, of course, there was Top Chef Masters. I was invited and right away, of course, I said yes. If they ask me to do it again, I would do it immediately!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: It seems like you have a really great sense of humor, how did you get along with the other chefs?
A. Susur: In kitchen culture, we always joke, tease, and put people down. You spend more time with them than your own family. The chefs that I cook with, I know them so well so we have a common understanding of each other. Deep down, there's a competitiveness on Top Chef Masters. We also talk about our business and why we do this. We share so many different things.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Are you really a "a little sloppy" in the kitchen, as Rick Moonen said?
A. Susur: I love him! When you are cooking, the most focus is the final product. When someone says that you're sloppy, that's not stupid. That's why they call it talent. You think I care I'm being sloppy? I don't care about that! Why would you waste time figuring out if you're being sloppy? If someone's clean, they're boring.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you feel about this last challenge, being that it gave you the opportunity to share so much about yourself and your passion for cooking?
A. Susur: I look at my life and my life is cooking. My second life is my personal life. My first life is cooking so there's no other life that I have. To share that and show them my technique and style, that would be my life, my family, how I was brought up, and that's very natural to me.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Is there anything you would change?
A. Susur: You always think about that at the end. I would think about yes, maybe I could've done this or that. All those neurotic questions. I want it perfect. I want everything I do to perfect. From that experience, I'm still cooking and I'm still thinking. If I do those dishes again, I'll be a little more precise.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What is going on with you now?
A. Susur: It has been a great season of Top Chef Masters. I have so many fans emailing me and coming to the restaurant from all different parts of the world. They travel from all over. They talk about the characters, the food, a lot of very positive things. It makes my ego feel really big! It's generated a lot of business for my restaurants in Toronto, New York, Washington DC, and in Asia!

 

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 


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