LYMM mother of two Frankie Dunn, is bidding to become MasterChef as she competes as one of the Heat 8 hopefuls tomorrow, Thursday, May 14th, on BBC2 at 8 pm
The 37-year-old Civil Servant, who lives with her husband Rob and two children, describes cooking as the ultimate way to bring people together.
She said: “For me, cooking is the ultimate way to bring people together. There is honestly nothing better than the buzz of a full table and seeing people enjoy a meal I’ve made. I’m definitely a feeder! I love the whole process of entertaining, especially obsessing over a themed menu and finding that perfect wine pairing.
“I get that from my mum; she is an incredible dinner party host. I’m really interested in cooking for health and hormone balance, and my approach is all about variety and crowding in the good stuff, not cutting things out. The more colourful and diverse the plate, the better. We were brought up in a house with almost everything cooked from scratch with plenty of vegetables on the plate, and that is something that I’ve tried to continue in my own household.
“My cooking is heavily influenced by my parents. My mum is the queen of the invention test – she taught me the traditional basics and how to grab a few random ingredients and somehow turn them into a feast. My dad, on the other hand, is the meticulous one! While I definitely didn’t inherit his organised preparation style, my food looks a lot like his: fresh fish, small plates, and bold, international flavours. I’ve taken my mum’s skill and intuition and my dad’s palate and landed somewhere happily in the middle.
“I find inspiration everywhere – from the cookbooks at my local library to cooking shows and my own travels. I’ll never forget the sensory overload of the markets and street food in Thailand, which really cemented my love for fresh, punchy ingredients.
“Interestingly, some of my absolute favourite cuisines to experiment with (Japanese, Italian, and Mexican) are places I haven’t even visited yet! To me, that’s the beauty of cooking; you don’t need a passport to experiment with the world’s best flavours.”
How did you get into cooking?
Being a foodie was inevitable in my family! My parents are both excellent cooks and we were very fortunate to have lots of opportunities to try different cuisines. On holidays to France, we would order our steaks cooked ‘blue’ and gorge ourselves on cockles and whelks, while being encouraged to try anything once. My siblings and I grew up adventurous eaters and all three of us are passing that same philosophy onto our children. My great-grandmother was Jewish so we would look forward to chopped liver, gefilte fish and soup with knadels at her house.
What is your earliest cooking memory?
While I don’t have an earliest cooking memory, the kitchen was the centre of the home, and where everything happened. As young children, my sisters and I would be sent to collect peas from the garden, help with the chopping and of course, the all-important taste testing!
Not all of my forays into experimental cooking were successful: my sisters will never let me forget about the time I tried to make a deep-fried Mars bar. I was a teenager and had no idea that it needed to be coated in batter, so I just chucked it straight in! Our chips tasted like chocolate for weeks afterwards!
My parents made sure that by the time I left home I had the skills I needed to fend for myself, and I built on that with time spent overseas in Australia, Thailand and South Africa. I don’t really remember a time when I wasn’t into cooking, it’s always been an important part of my life and I am passionate about using food to bring people together.
What is your favourite ingredient to cook with and why?
I have so many favourite ingredients – garlic, kale, tomatoes, butter, mushrooms – but I think I’d have to choose salmon as my favourite to cook with. Whether it is simply pan fried (butter basted of course), rolled up as sushi, marinated and roasted, served as a tartare or whizzed into a mousse. Crispy skin is an absolute must! It’s so versatile, has so many health benefits, and takes on strong flavours really well. For simplicity I love really fresh tomatoes, just sliced on toast with some sea salt, olive oil and basil. You can’t beat good quality ingredients!
Who would be your dream dinner party guest?
Obviously, I have to say that Grace and Anna are always welcome round for dinner! Aside from them, my door is always open to Stanley Tucci and Sue Perkins. Stanley Tucci’s books and TV programmes are like food for the soul, it feels like you’re a friend traveling around with him and he’s so easy going. Sue Perkins is one of my favourite presenters, she’s funny, interesting and honest – I’d love to meet her.
I’d make pasta to impress Stanley and a cherry sorbet to keep Sue on side, with a few dishes in between and a wine paired to each course. I’m a huge fan of dinner parties and am happiest when I’ve got a table full of family and friends who are chatting away over plates of great food.
Why did you enter MasterChef this year?
I have watched MasterChef for as long as I can remember, and my bad habit is that I watch people doing really complicated things and think (from the comfort of my sofa) I can do better than that! A few years ago, I started researching how different foods can affect your hormone balance, stress levels and mental health, even addressing things like brain fog, lethargy and sleep issues.
I started tweaking how I was cooking at home and slowly put together an idea for a recipe book. After a career move in 2024, I finally had the headspace and flexibility to take the idea more seriously, applied for MasterChef on a bit of a whim, and the rest is history! I’m lucky to have the most amazing husband who is incredibly supportive of my ambitions, and without him as a teammate none of this would be possible.
Do you have a dream of working in the food world? What is it?
Aside from releasing a recipe book I would love to take on more opportunities in the food world like supper clubs and pop ups, and my ultimate dream would be to present a travel programme about food.
Outside of cooking what are your passions?
Outside of cooking my main passion is my family and my kids are everything to me. I’m a big advocate for the outdoors, and love taking my kids on bike rides and nature walks. My favourite way to keep active is field hockey and I play for Warrington ladies, who are an absolutely brilliant bunch.
I’m obsessed with travel and love planning trips and exploring new places, especially where there is food involved! Top of the list to visit are Japan, Mexico and Vietnam, but we have so many amazing foodie spots here in the UK too, so maybe I’ll start a little closer to home.
