Shaun O’Neale is recognized around the world as the Season 7 Champion of MasterChef on FOX. Not only an award winning chef, Shaun’s skills as a culinary host have landed him appearances on Seasons 8, 9 and 10 of MasterChef and the MasterChef Celebrity Showdown on FOX, Best in Food on Travel Channel as well as performing cooking demos and acting as a celebrity guest judge on multiple episodes of Home & Family on Hallmark Channel. And because of his partnership with Morningstar Farms, Shaun has appeared in television commercials in which he demonstrated recipes he created for the brand.
Shaun O’Neale
Shaun wasn’t always a chef…for the twenty years prior to winning the title of America’s Best Home Cook, Shaun earned his living as a DJ on the Las Vegas strip. Beginning his DJ career in Tampa, FL, Shaun packed up and moved to Sin City to capitalize on his success as a DJ in 2008. His crowning moment culminating on New Year’s Eve in 2010 when Shaun became the first DJ to perform on Las Vegas Boulevard in front of over 100,000 people. But Shaun was not destined to be a DJ.
There were different plans for Shaun O’Neale which has led him to become the next up-and-coming culinary superstar. Teaching himself how to cook by reading hundreds of cookbooks and traveling the world tasting different cuisines, Shaun has proven himself as a culinary authority in his style of modern American cuisine with international influences.
1. What is your philosophy when it comes to food?
To me sharing food is the most personal thing you can do it is a window into the heart of the chef and a chance to see the experiences of that chef through food. Food is a way to educate on foreign cultures and a way to bring people together from different walks of life, to me food is the ultimate common thread and a way to understand a way of life that may be unfamiliar to you.
2. Name your most Favorite dish on the menu? And why?
I have 2 dishes that have become very popular the first is my MasterChef USA winning entree my Ancho Coffe rubbed Venison Loin.This dish has become probably my best known dish due to the reaction of Gordon Ramsay who stated it was the first time on any of his shows that he could take a dish directly from the show and put it right on his 3 Michelin star menu in London. My second really popular dish is my Squid Ink and Lobster Ravioli, with this dish I give guests a new experience but in a comfortable and familiar way. Everyone has had a ravioli in some shape or form but very few have tried squid ink so to give them a new ingredient but in a way that is familiar can open people up to new flavor experiences without any fear of something new.
3. Main considerations when it comes to choosing your ingredients?
As most chefs these days I very much try to focus on seasonal, working with the seasons gives you a head start on making an incredible dish when nature does half the work of making the product amazing to start with.
4. How do you see the growing demands for sustainable produce affecting the food world?
Sustainability is really something that we have lost sight of only in the past 100 or so years, Prior to industrialization we had no choice but to be sustainable because we were still growing our own food or buying from small local suppliers. The importance of sustainable foods is now more obvious than ever, we have gotten so reliant on ease and easy is very rarely best. The damage that we have done to the land with commercial cattle farming, the water with over production of environment damaging products and the air with pollution can be undone but only with wise choices about food and lifestyle.
5. If you weren’t a chef, or in the food business, what would you be?
Well I actually already lived a full career before jumping into the kitchen after winning MasterChef USA season 7. For almost 20 years I was a DJ working at some of the biggest nightclubs and day clubs in Las Vegas and around the United States. I worked in some of the biggest and most well known venues in the world opening for some of the biggest names in music. I had a very successful run but I never felt like I had a unique voice or perspective to share with the world. Through food I have found my voice and I have found an even more personal way to connect with people.
6. Do you have a memorable food experience that impacted you as a child or young chef?
My memorable moments as a young chef played out on television around the globe on MasterChef. But as a child I was always fascinated by food and always wanted to learn as much as I could. One thing that stands out is fishing for and cooking blue crabs in Maryland when I was very very young with my great grandfather Albert O’Neale who was a hero of WWI surviving a mustard gas attack behind enemy lines. At the time he was almost 100 years old and still catching and cooking his own blue crabs any time he pleased. I think looking back at that moment makes me understand the joy that food can bring especially something that you have eaten since youth, those nostalgic food memories hold so much power throughout life.
7. What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
Its hard to explain but there is a moment when someone takes that first bite and they love it, there eyes close, a slight smile curls to the sky and then it happens the sound that every chef wants to if not needs to hear…mmmmm. Just that sound that sound of pleasure brought on by a single bite that is what we live for. I tell people all the time that while on MasterChef yes you are competing for the prizes and the honor of being crowned MasterChef but while you are actually in the heat of the competition you are competing jut to hear a sound, the sound of “mmmm” when Gordon Ramsay takes a bite of your food.
8. Other than creating good food, what are the most important qualities that make a successful chef?
The absolute most important aspect besides the food itself is building an honest, loyal and passionate team. A good chef can go far with great recipes a great chef has unlimited potential if he/she develops a powerful team behind him.
9. If you had a choice of anything for your last meal, what would you choose to have?
For me this question is simple I am a steak guy and have been my whole life so it would definitely be a beautiful dry aged ribeye served with cheap steak sauce I don’t know why but I love cheap steak sauces the kind a smothered everything in when I was a kid.
10. Do you have any tips for budding chefs or restaurateurs?
This circles back to one of your earlier questions but my suggestion is usually to spend the time building your team in the kitchen or out. These people will be on the front lines with you so it is important that THEY trust YOU, your team must know that you will lead them into battle confidently.