Stevenson grad cooking on prime time

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Suzy Singh

Updated: July 28, 2011 3:29AM

She studied bioengineering at the University of Illinois-Chicago and culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu — simultaneously — but none of her cramming sessions were as frustrating as this.

The experience that caused Suzy Singh to feel like she was “in hell” happened a few months ago, and it was broadcast on national TV two weeks ago.

“I was more disappointed in myself than I think I’ve ever been in my entire life,” Singh said of the episode of FOX’s cooking competition, MasterChef, in which she was nearly eliminated. “I had a perfect cake, or a nearly perfect cake, and I ruined it.”

The show’s three judges, all accomplished chefs, agreed that most of the sponge cake Singh made as part of that episode’s elimination competition was excellent, but she covered its exterior with nuts that they hated. They admonished her to not overdo her cooking — had she kept it simple, and not thrown the nuts in, it would have been outstanding.

But, like anyone inclined to study two completely unrelated career fields simultaneously, Singh overdoes things as a way of life.

“That’s my passion,” Singh said. “I love teaching people. I give away my recipes.”

MasterChef is in the middle of its summer season and as of Pioneer Press’ deadline this week, she was one of nine competitors still standing. Filming took place in Los Angeles and wrapped months ago (Singh is barred from giving away any clues about her future), and the 2001 graduate of Stevenson High School, who grew up in Buffalo Grove and Long Grove, is now building her own brand, Chef Suzy Singh, LLC.

“I’ve literally been cooking my entire life,” starting at age 5, she said.

But at Stevenson, a second interest grabbed her attention: bioengineering. Looking into that, she became fascinated with the human brain.

“It’s one of the most unexplored areas of the human body,” Singh said. “I wanted to do research, and help save lives.”

She became a neural engineer, a role in the operating room that instructs and assists brain surgeons with technology needed in some procedures. But she was in cooking school, too, and came to the conclusion that neural engineering was not going to be enough for her.

“It was an amazing job, but I was in love with cooking,” she said.

And when she saw MasterChef holding second season auditions at Le Cordon Bleu, she tried out. Eight rounds of eliminations later, Singh had earned a spot in America’s prime-time schedule.

“When I see myself on TV, it’s a very natural process for me,” she said. “I really haven’t been shocked yet.”

Not even, she says, while watching the (so far) only time that she has come close to elimination. At the end of the episode that aired July 11, the contestants had to bake cakes that would wow judges Joe Bastianich, Gordon Ramsay and fellow Chicagoan Graham Elliot.

All three said they loved everything that was inside Suzy’s creation.

What nearly got her cut was the crusty outside that she added. The judges scolded her for trying to do too much.

“I do not think I was in the bottom two at all,” Singh said months after that moment happened.

Going forward, both with the show and her new enterprise, Singh said she gained a lot in her moment in “hell.”

Rather than trying to excel in two things at once, Singh is settling on the one that she loves the most.

“It was a massive learning experience that I’m keeping with me to this day,” she said. “Through breakdowns, you get breakthroughs, and that was my breakthrough.”