State: NSW

Age: 28

Occupation: Kitchen & Homewares Buyer

As a child, Abbey’s mother would make beautiful sauces before adding an ingredient to throw off the balance, challenging her daughter to correct the error and bring it back from the brink. And with that ability to trust her palate, Abbey hopes she can now go all the way to the end of MasterChef.

Graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the National Arts School in 2010, Abbey went on to manage a seafood and fine food delicatessen in the Blue Mountains, before working in a jewellery store as a designer and wholesaler co-ordinator.

She’s now a buyer at the Essential Ingredient, where she is surrounded by speciality ingredients, equipment and tools, which she hopes will give her an advantage in the competition.

With her creative background, Abbey says she’s very visual, capable of measuring half a cup by sight as opposed to using measuring devices. She loves to draw and plate intricate dishes, and often has an idea of how a completed dish will look before she begins to cook.

She hopes working with seafood will also be her strength, but says complicated spice recipes may be challenging, along with monitoring her timing. A lover of leisurely afternoons cooking, she predicts plating up in line with the strict MasterChef clock may be tough.

Citing Japanese and Italian as her favourite cuisines, Abbey hopes to see Nigella Lawson in the kitchen, loving everything the domestic goddess embodies.

Following her MasterChef journey, Abbey wants to open her own boutique café in the Hunter Valley, showcasing a changing menu that highlights what is readily available and in season.

Frustrated by waste in the kitchen, she’s also keen to showcase how to create dishes using discarded and cheaper cuts of meat. When she’s not cooking, she’ll be planning her wedding to her Australian Navy fiancé Josh.