Former MasterChef favourite Marion Grasby's cooking commandments

The Age

22-05-2025

Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we're told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they're given. This week he talks to Marion Grasby. The former MasterChef Australia contestant, 42, is a businesswoman, TV presenter, cookbook author and founder of food company Marion's Kitchen. She has more than 853,000 followers on Instagram alone.
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What initially attracted you to your husband and business partner, Tim? Food and wine. I was sent to work at the ABC in Adelaide as a cadet, and I didn't know anyone. One of my friends said, 'Oh, there's this guy there that we met once at a bar in Brisbane. Why don't you give him a call?' I was so desperate that I called him and said, 'You don't know me, but I have no friends. Could you help a girl out?' He was like, 'Sure, I'm having a dinner party tonight. We're going to drink a lot of wine, so make sure you get a taxi.' I wasn't very well-versed in wine at the time. For me, there was white and red. So I rocked up with two bottles of Yellowglen. He very politely put the wine aside, then produced a six-course tasting menu.
And the rest is history. That's right. Except he never cooked anything again. So it was false advertising!
What keeps you together? We've been running our companies for more than a decade now and we're not divorced, which is amazing. We work together every day and have two young children. What attracts me to him is how he operates in our companies: his integrity, the way he treats people, his business mind. But sometimes it's difficult because the kids will ask us, 'Well, who's the boss?'
And what's your answer? I always say, 'I'm the boss!' And Charlie, my daughter, will say, 'But Daddy's the big boss.' I'm like, 'What do you mean?! I'm the big boss!' [ Laughs ]
Any advice for other couples thinking of going into business together? Either you can do it or you can't. If you're both really strong-willed and not able to give ground, I don't think you've got any chance. You have to be really self-aware.
Lead me through an ideal menu for a date night. Nothing too heavy. No one wants to be feeling like they need to undo a zipper … well, before you want to undo the zipper. So oysters, caviar, champagne. Then something a little spicy, like a really beautifully seared, crispy-skinned fish, but with chilli crisp oil and Sichuan peppercorn. Fresh but fiery, to get everything warm and tingly. And a really good dirty martini.