Richie Jones-Muhammad's 'MasterChef' Dreams Didn't Rise When He Forgot the Baking Powder
Up until he auditioned for MasterChef, Richie Jones-Muhammad hadn’t pursued a culinary career, but was a music producer who cooked at home for pleasure. It was a skill he had learned from his grandmother Lillian and was just second nature to him.
But after watching season after season of MasterChef, he finally decided to go for it.
“I've seen every single season,” Richie tells Parade in this exclusive interview. “It's so inspirational from Christine Ha, who took the world by storm with what she could do, to Big Willie and his journey. Even though he's not a winner, he's someone who has come back twice and really shown what he’s capable of. There's so much that that show can do for a viewer as a home cook to inspire you to feel like you can do more. It inspired me, so I took that leap and I'm one of the lucky ones who got an apron.”
Despite his current residence in Long Beach, Calif., Richie auditioned with a dish that was an homage to his Maryland roots: Pan-seared salmon with spinach and parmesan-crusted potatoes, but it was also a dish that fuels his soul.
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“I’ve always been a big fan of a crispy skinned salmon,” he continues. “It’s just one of the things I've always loved to make. That was something that I honestly wasn't really exposed to until I moved to Silver Springs and really got into the seafood culture there, so that whole dish is pieces of places that I've eaten at in Silver Spring. The Hamilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. was the first time I ever had a crispy skinned salmon and it's just to die for. I really wanted to make a dish that spoke to not only where I was from, but also experiences that I had with food that changed the way that I thought about food. So, every piece on that plate was something like that for me.”
That dish got him the requisite three yeses from the judges – Joe Bastianich was a no – but Richie got his white apron and a shot at the MasterChef title. His undoing was the first Mystery Box challenge of the season, which was apples, and as a member of the Northwest team, he had to make a sweet dish, rather than savory.
Related: Amanda Clark Katz on Her Soul Crushing First-To-Leave Exit from MasterChef
Richie set out to make cupcakes, but he forgot a major ingredient: baking soda, so they didn’t rise, and he decided to turn them into home cakes, something his grandmother used to bake, but the judges, especially Joe, weren’t going for it. Joe said he felt he had been lied to when Richie called them home cakes in an attempt to dress up his error.
“At the end of the day, if the dish doesn't work, it doesn't work, and the dish didn't work,” Richie admits. “Looking back, trying to alter the cakes in the way that I created them and the way that I served them at the end to make them something else, it wouldn't have saved them if what they were expecting was one thing and what they got was another. At the end of the day, Joe’s not wrong.”
During our chat, Richie talked more about the baking soda error that sent him home, his grandmother’s lessons, and what’s next for him.
How difficult was it to go home on week two and have to give back that hard-won apron?
It's hard. You work so hard for it. You spend months and months preparing and you think you're ready, but you never know what they're going to throw at you. So, it's hard. It's hard to say goodbye to such great talented home cooks, but it's not the end.
I felt your pain. I once made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and forgot the baking powder and they were like hockey pucks. What happened?
You just run into that pantry and you're grabbing, grabbing, grabbing and you think you have everything. I was making the batter and it looked right and I fed it in the ramekins, and they looked right and then I put it in the oven. It's one of those things where you look back and you're like, “ah,” but what are you going to do? You can't turn back time.
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At what point did you realize what had happened?
Way too late. I remember tasting them straight out of the oven and they were still soft, but something just wasn't right. You start running back through your mind, “I grabbed this, I grabbed that. I know I did this right,” and you're wondering what you are going to do to fix it. Again, once that clock runs out, there's no changing anything. It's hands up. You've done it. It's hard but there’s nothing you can do.
Your grandmother Lillian taught you to cook. What was it like being in the kitchen with her? What are those memories like from when you were younger?
It was amazing. She worked very, very hard and she came home and didn't have a lot of time on her hands. She spent most of that time cooking for us and so, initially, just to spend time with her, I would jump in the kitchen and give her a hand with what I could. Sometimes that meant just sitting there and watching and taking it in, sometimes that meant getting my hands dirty, but they were some of the best moments in my life and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. Everything that she taught me makes me who I am today as a home cook and as a person. I'm just grateful that I have her influence.
The type of food that your grandmother taught you sounds like she cooked Southern, but on the show you're in the Northeast group. Do you feel Northeastern?
I have family from a lot of different places, and I've lived in a lot of different places, but Maryland was such a big chunk of my life, so I feel Northeastern. When I think of my Maryland lifetime and what that’s done for me, like I went to an amazing high school there, I had such amazing friends, and my food experience there was so different from anywhere else, so that has really influenced my food and how I cook today, and, so, of course, I feel Northeastern. It's a part of me; it's not my whole identity.
I grew up in New Jersey before that. My grandmother raised me in Plainfield, so that that's also a big chunk of my life. I've only ever lived in New Jersey, Maryland, and D.C., and now I live in California. That side of the country really is who I am.
During your time on the show, which of the other home cooks impressed you?
They all impressed me. I got really lucky. I had such an amazing cast and they're all friends. I really consider them family now. We talk almost every day. Everyone impressed me from Kyle jumping straight out of the gate and really knowing what the Midwest has to offer with those lobster fries, that dish was amazing and to see it come together and to see how the judges reacted was incredible; Kolby is one of my really good friends. I was a fan his before the show and now to be a friend of his, it's just incredible to me. Kennedy is incredible. She has an amazing power, amazing food sensibilities, and is just an amazing person, and Lizzie. They’re all incredible.
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So now that you're done with the show, will you continue pursuing something in the culinary arts or are you going to stick with music?
Yes, and yes. I'm working on a tasting menu right now. I have some events coming up for that at the end of the month. And with music, I can never walk away from that. It's always a big part of my life. I've been making songs since I was 12. That world has always been a big part of my life since I was like eight, so I'll never walk away from that completely. It will always be something I'll do. I just think right now, I really want the world to taste my food, so that’s the focus.
MasterChef airs Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.
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