‘I just want to make Alaska proud’ Lizzie Hartman competes for the title of America’s Masterchef

Fairbanks, Alaska (KINY) – MasterChef: United Tastes of America is in its 13th season with an all-new theme on Wednesdays where chefs battle it out for their region. Hartman hopes to bring her win home for Alaska.

Gordon Ramsay, acclaimed chef Aarón Sánchez, and renowned restaurateur Joe Bastianich returned for the ultimate cook-off, as the top home cooks from four parts of America (West, Northeast, Midwest, and South) battle it out for their region.

The home cooks will face a multitude of cooking trials, including a State Fair challenge, a series of iconic Mystery Box challenges, cooking a meal at Dodger Stadium, and the fan-favorite Tag Team event, where they must create a Michelin-star quality three-course meal.

Only one home cook will win it all and take home the cash prize of $250,000 and the title of America’s MasterChef.

Lizzie Hartman said when she was 15, her family moved to Alaska, where cooking quickly became her passion.

“That was a really tough move on me as a teenager and I didn’t know how to cook before then. But cooking is something that I used to kind of get through my first couple of winters here in Alaska. I taught myself how to cook from YouTube and cookbooks,” she said. “It became a way for me to make friends. I began inviting my friends from the community over to cook with me. I hosted my own cooking competitions around town and would host these elaborate tea parties for all the little girls to come. So, it was just kind of a way for me to connect with my community. When I turned 16 I was able to take a culinary course at the university through a homeschool program. So that kind of got me into the actual culinary world.”

After that, she decided to go back and attend the full culinary program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Hartman posted her culinary journey on social media which led MasterChef to reach out to her in Oct. 2022.

They asked her to audition for the show.

Hartman shared how Alaska has influenced her cooking.

“Obviously, I love all the local ingredients. The fish and the moose and the caribou. So, I utilize all of that. I think it’s really special using that in cooking,” she said. “But my cooking is really influenced by my community. So, meals that I can make quickly with a group of people; dishes that I can bring to a potlach. Just any way that I can cook that connects me with those that live near me.”

Hartman added that being on a TV show can be “a little bit terrifying”. She’s watched Masterchef all her life but never imagined she’d be watching herself someday.

It requires making split decisions and trying new dishes, but at the end of the day, Hartman said she “just wants to make her community proud, and Alaska proud.”

She said that she had no idea at first that they would be representing their states until she went down to Los Angeles to film.

“They told us, you’re not just representing yourself, you’re not just fighting for yourself, you’re fighting for your state, for your region,” she commented. “That was just really, really special because that’s what I do on an everyday basis. So, just to be able to do it on a national level…that was really, really cool.”

On last night’s show, contestants participated in the State Fair Challenge.

“I pulled from the fair that’s here in Fairbanks, the Tanana Valley Fair,” Hartman said. “There is a little spicy shrimp shack that serves some really cool dishes.”

Hartman shared her plan if she takes home the $250,000 and the title of Masterchef.

“My family has purchased an unfinished lodge right outside of Fairbanks. My goal is to finish the lodge and put in a full kitchen with workshop space and my goal is to have cooking camps for kids,” she said. “A way to bring the community in during the winter for fun pasta-making nights, and learning how to decorate cakes but like on a very small scale. So, just a fun way to get back to the community through cooking, which is what I’ve been doing since I was a little girl but finally being able to do that on a professional scale.”

Follow Hartman’s cooking journey every Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. AKDT.