The Next Element

Andy Allen swept the other contestants aside as the standout winner of the 2012 MasterChef competition. His feel for taste, flavour combinations, his infectious personality and his ability with seafood marked him out as one of Australia's next best chefs. The Next Element brings to life all of Andy's culinary skills.

It begins with Cooking for My Family. When Andy was the main cook for his family he learnt how to produce family classics with a twist - family roasts are included as well as beer battered fish and chips. Sit back with chilli blue swimmer crabs, chicken satay and the perfect steak. Andy's friends encouraged him onto the show - because they couldn't stop eating his shared platters!

In Cooking for my Friends and Mates, Andy shares his tastiest tapas for entertaining. Enjoy salt and pepper squid with nam jim sauce, fish cakes, tempura prawns, mini lamb burgers and baked snapper with chilli. This is also Andy's chance to celebrate with his mate Ben Milbourne the Mexican style he has grown to love. Ben and Andy cook up a storm with Tostada Popcorn Prawn, Taco, King Fish Carpaccio and Chipotle Salad. Don't forget the Guacamole.

Andy celebrates A New Direction in his book and shares the culinary techniques and styles he learnt on MasterChef. As well as the classic Seafood Basket he reinvented, and the Beef Cheeks that he served to hundreds in the pub challenge, Andy shares Popcorn Pork Spare Ribs, Confit Salmon that makes you mouth water, a Seafood Sambal that beats all others and the Crispiest Duck Breast you have had. Andy's other mate Kylie Millar adds her desserts to round off this sensational section that bursts with new flavours.

About the Author

Andy Allen grew up on the north coast near Newcastle in New South Wales. Always close to his family he became the family cook while his parents went to work. A keen fisherman he has always loved seafood. An apprentice electrician, he began catering for his friends weddings, birthdays and parties and decided to enter the MasterChef competition on the advice of his friends. He worked his way through the auditions and finally won the competition in 2012. Now his life has taken a completely new direction with cooking his passion. This is his first book.

BOOKTOPIA INTERVIEW: ANDY ALLEN ANSWERS BOOKTOPIA'S TEN TERRIFYING QUESTIONS - CLICK HERE