Mrs. Gastrofun – also known as Anette Søstrøm Asmussen – can currently be seen on TV3’s viewer hit “Masterchef,” where 47 hopeful contestants compete for the trophy, 100,000 kroner, and a potential collaboration with nemlig.com. Along the way, participants are put under pressure as they must create dishes that impress the judges to fight for the right to stay in the program.
For Anette – who calls herself a happy amateur enthusiast in cooking and baking – it was somewhat anxiety-provoking to sign up for the program, mainly because it would mean a large part of Denmark would see her on TV.
“You are so smart when you sit at home in your living room watching the program, and I was that type too. At the same time, I had said for many years that if it weren’t for being on TV, I would have signed up,” she says.
Three years ago, Anette and her husband lost their daughter Else at birth. It marked the beginning of a long, dark period in their lives, where cooking was one of the few bright spots for Anette.
“We had to eat, and when I was in the kitchen, I could think about something else for a while,” Anette Søstrøm Asmussen explains.
Slowly, she began to feel better, and the thought of signing up for Masterchef began to grow again.
“What my husband and I have been through in the last few years has given me the feeling that it would be foolish not to do it when I want to, just because it’s on TV,” says Anette.
“Fuck the Law of Jante”
Anette finally dared to participate in Masterchef, in part because of Else, she explains.
“I have always been subject to the Law of Jante, and I didn’t want to believe I was better than others. But I can cook, and I want to be proud of that,” she says.
After the loss, it became important for Anette Søstrøm Asmussen to show her children that they should pursue their dreams.
“I want to show my children that nothing stopped their parents from doing what they dreamed of. We should not limit them but live out the dreams we have – or at least give it a shot,” says Anette.
At the same time, she wanted to show other parents that there is hope ahead.
“I want to give hope to parents who are standing where we were, three years ago. We will never get over the loss of our daughter, but we will learn to live with it, along with the longing, sorrow, and love. I want to show that it is possible to have a life where you live with the sorrow without hiding it away,” says Anette.
At home with Anette and her husband, Per, it is important that Else remains a part of daily life. They talk about her, just as there are pictures hanging on the walls.
“All three of my children are equally important. I am equally proud of all of them – also Else, even though she is an angel.”
According to Anette, it is a misunderstood consideration when people think that you should hide away the sorrow and not talk about it.
“For us, who have lost, it is important to talk about the sorrow. We don’t want to hide it away. Else is a part of our life in the same way our two other children are,” she says.
The Joy of Cooking Begins
In Anette’s childhood home, a lot of cooking was always done, and this is where her interest in cooking originates.
“My parents experimented a lot in the kitchen, and if we had been out to eat, my dad always went home and tried to replicate the chef’s art. ‘If they can, I can too,’ was his mantra,” she explains.
Anette’s father worked a lot, so it was often her mother who was in the kitchen during weekdays.
“I helped out, and it also became such that I always had to see how many meatballs I could taste-test before dinner,” she laughs.
Today, she tries to pass on the same joy of food to her two children, Erik and Karen.
“It is important that our children get the same joy of food – and that they have a healthy relationship with it and cooking,” says Anette.
Together with her husband, she runs gastrofun.dk, and they both have a great passion for cooking. Therefore, a lot of time is also spent in the kitchen.
“It is important that no time is taken away from our children, and since we are in the kitchen a lot, it is important to include them. Our children sit a lot on the kitchen counter when we cook, and our four-year-old daughter is involved in making most things to the extent she wants to,” Anette explains.
Signing Up for Masterchef
The actual sign-up for Masterchef took place when Anette Søstrøm Asmussen registered on TV3’s website.
“It took a long time before I heard anything, and actually so long that I thought ‘never mind, I won’t be participating,’” says Anette.
Shortly after, however, the call came; she was invited to what TV3 calls a kitchen test, where they select those who get to the audition you see on TV.
At this audition, it is not the four judges who assess the dishes, but the so-called house chefs associated with Masterchef.
“From home, we had to choose a protein – it could be cod, or something else, which I’ve actually forgotten what was,” Anette laughs.
For the kitchen test, participants had to cook in a kitchen along with five other participants, and they had 45 minutes to make the dish with the chosen protein.
“When the time was up, we handed in the dishes, and then we just had to go home. You were told nothing. The only thing they said was that we should think about which dish we might want to make for the audition,” says Anette.
She recalls the experience as fun.
“It was pretty wild to enter the studio and make your dish. You got a feel for what it would be like to be in the program. It was something you had only seen on your TV, and now you were suddenly there yourself,” she says.
Audition in Front of the Four Judges
A week later, TV3 called back – they wanted to see Anette for an audition in front of the four judges.
After this, Anette underwent intense training to make her audition dish as good as possible.
“We are quite fond of lemon tart at home, and my strength is the sweet kitchen, so it quickly became clear to me that it had to be something like that. But I also knew that I couldn’t just bring a piece of tart. It was too unambitious,” explains Anette.
The French lemon tart thus became a dessert, including meringue at the bottom, lemon ice cream, and a tuile.
“I practiced and practiced my dish to exhaustion. I almost plagued friends, family, and neighbors with the dish. I think they were going crazy at the end,” Anette laughs.
There were many questions that needed to be answered to make the dish as perfect as possible. Right down to the amount of lemon and whether thyme should be in the dish or not.
“I think I developed 20 different versions of my dish before I arrived at the result I also ended up making for my audition. And I practiced with a little clock counting down, so I knew exactly how much time I had, to ensure I could manage everything,” she explains.
Finally, the day arrived when Anette Søstrøm Asmussen was to go for her audition.
“It was the wildest experience. It was like going to an exam. On one hand, I was excited because I had done everything I could to perform. On the other hand, I was wildly nervous because I had to stand in front of four people whom I look up to a lot,” she recalls.
With a pounding heart, she stood in the preparation kitchen, where all participants have 30 minutes to get ready before they go in front of the judges, where they then have five minutes to finish their dish.
“It was indescribable to perform something you have spent so much time on. I became completely absorbed and didn’t want to leave again,” says Anette.
The hardest part for Anette was the pressure she felt in the situation.
“For me, there was probably something extra emotional in it because losing Else gave me the final push to participate. It was the first time in five years that I did something that was 100 percent for me. I wanted to make my children proud, I wanted to do it for myself – and then I didn’t want to disappoint the judges,” she says.
The judges, however, were impressed, and Anette could leave the room with four “yeses” and a white apron in hand.
“It was amazing. My goal was just to get to the audition, so beforehand I thought that if I got a white apron, I had achieved more than enough. To receive praise for your dish and be told that you weren’t completely lost – it was a great honor,” she says.
Participation in the Final Program
Due to corona, working from home, and two small children, Anette Søstrøm Asmussen didn’t get much practice before the further part of the competition.
“I cooked a lot, but since our children had to eat too, it became a lot of everyday-like food. I practiced techniques and made some real sauces, but it didn’t get much further,” she explains.
She herself feels that it went “really well” until she stood in the studio on her day in training week, and the doors opened.
“I got heart palpitations and thought ‘wow, this – this is wild.’ I had the feeling that I hadn’t prepared for the exam – and just came up in full syllabus,” she says.
If you’ve seen the program, you know that the theme of Anette’s first day was “the crispy.” Here she and the other 11 participants that day, after a masterclass, had to try making a coral.
“It was a wild day – but fun. It’s hard to describe, but you are so much on, and there is a lot to learn and a lot to remember,” says Anette.
Corona has made many things different than they usually are. So too with Masterchef, where the participants were more divided than usual.
“It gave a bit of a feeling that something was missing. I got a really good bond with those I met, but there are also participants whom I never met. We had to keep our distance and sanitize, and I don’t feel we became quite as close as seen in other programs because there was a natural distance and precisely a distance. It was good that the organizers took the virus seriously, but it probably changed a bit the way we were there,” Anette says.
A Dream Lived Out
Being part of Masterchef has been like a dream come true for Anette.
“It was my dream and I got to live it. It was something I did just for me. And I found out that I could do more than I thought,” she says.
She also highlights the latter as being one of the best parts of the entire experience:
“I stood on my own without my husband and without my children, and I showed what I could do. To get to try something that was just for me – and to prove that I actually could. That was great,” she says.
How Anette fares in the further competition, she neither can nor will reveal. We must therefore arm ourselves with patience.
You can watch Masterchef 2021 on TV3 and Viaplay.
Four Quick Questions for Anette Søstrøm Asmussen
Anette Søstrøm Asmussen is 35 years old and the mother of Karen, Else, and Erik. She works daily as a financial employee in a housing association and is a co-founder of Gastrofun.dk.
Get to know her better with these four quick questions:
What is your favorite dish?
Fried pork belly with parsley sauce.
What would your last meal consist of?
Steak bearnaise! Homemade from scratch, with hand-cut fries and a homemade sauce.
What ingredient do you always have in your fridge?
Butter – the real, genuine kind.
Which kitchen appliance is your favorite?
It’s my stand mixer from Ankarsrum.