Initially, Thomas Tranegaard Nielsen thought that Masterchef was primarily something everyone else signed up for. It wasn’t really for him, despite having a great interest in and knowledge of food.
“Last year, within a week’s time, I was encouraged to participate by several friends independently of each other, and contacted by Metronome, who asked if I would send an application,” he says.
Therefore, he decided that he might as well give it a shot since he was encouraged from multiple sides.
“I’m not very good at writing text that isn’t recipes, and questions about what makes me special and what I’m good at, I found hard to answer, especially considering my North Jutland background,” says Thomas Tranegaard Nielsen.
With help from his wife and a friend, he managed to complete everything and send the application.
Some weeks after the application was sent, he was called by the production company, who wanted to see him for a kitchen audition.
Here, participants must show up and prepare a dish with one of two possible proteins. The dish is then judged by the chefs attached to the Masterchef kitchen, but not the four judges. If the dish is approved, you move on to the audition we all can see on TV.
“It was incredibly overwhelming but also very exciting to be a part of. From home, we chose protein from two options, but otherwise, we didn’t know what was available, so you couldn’t really prepare,” Thomas explains.
He ended up making a dish with cod, asparagus, and a green parsley mayo. How the dish was received, he never found out, but it secured him a place in the next audition.
“I was called, and then I had a week and a half to fill out a lot of papers and figure out which dish I wanted to serve the judges and how it should be made,” he says.
Comes from a family passionate about food
Thomas’ interest in food comes from home. In his family, they are really fond of food, and the interest in the world of gastronomy was founded in the childhood kitchen.
“It was only when I became an adult that I found out my mother isn’t that fond of cooking, but mostly just does it because she loves eating it,” he says with a laugh.
However, he possesses that joy himself, and part of it stems from when he was an au pair in Switzerland at the age of 18.
“I lived with a family that was very into food, and it was my responsibility to cook every day. I was introduced to a lot of food that certainly didn’t exist in Skagen. Things like risotto, air-dried ham, and homemade mayonnaise. Things that were unknown or unimportant where I came from,” says Thomas Nielsen.
He found out there was a lot to learn about food and gastronomy, and besides having an interest in the field, he was also good at it.
Later, he chose to pursue teaching. Thomas works as a home economics teacher and is also an active writer on GastroFun.dk. This means he can pass on his love for food to both his students and those who follow GastroFun.
However, it’s not necessarily hamburger steaks and brown sauce on the menu when Thomas Nielsen is in the classroom.
“I teach my students more about making their own curry mix, authentic hollandaise, or a proper mayonnaise,” he says.
A dish with cod and green mayo
After the call from the production company, the work of coming up with the dish that could secure him a place in the final program began.
“I signed up because I wanted to challenge myself. Therefore, my audition dish had to be something that challenged me. It had to be difficult but taste good and impress the judges,” says Thomas Nielsen.
He ended up with a dish that was a deconstruction of a dish he had made earlier; a ballotine with haddock and lobster, wrapped in chicken skin.
“I had to deconstruct it because the skin wouldn’t get crispy. So it became a steamed haddock with lobster bisque, chicken skin, and a langoustine on top,” he says.
After sending in the recipe and pictures of the audition dish, everyone is contacted by a chef who gives feedback on the dish and suggests any changes.
“I was told to do more in the prep kitchen, meaning in the 30 minutes you have before going in to see the judges, as the chef’s assessment was that my dish would take too little time. I took that advice, but when I got in, it turned out I had more than enough to do,” Thomas recalls.
The audition day arrived, and Thomas drove to Copenhagen with his wife. Here, additional pressure was added to an already hectic day because the langoustines Thomas brought were apparently spoiled.
“I had been to the fishmonger in the morning to buy them, and when my things were checked through in Copenhagen, they were bad. So the fishmonger had sold me bad shellfish. I had to rush into the city to find new ones, which certainly didn’t make the stress factor any less,” he says.
Fortunately, the whole day ended well as he could leave the studio with three yeses in the bag and a white apron in hand.
A great experience to participate
“Meeting the four judges was intimidating but also exciting. They were kind and very fair, but they are insanely talented, and they are people I look up to a lot, so it affected me to suddenly stand in front of them,” Thomas Tranegaard Nielsen shares.
Back home, the work of practicing as much as possible began. There was mayonnaise and sauces made, fish filleted, and basic dishes cooked to a gold medal standard.
“I tried to practice the things I thought I could be exposed to. But I also have two small children and a full-time job, so it wasn’t as much as I had hoped. Those who get far, they spend virtually all their time practicing, and many take leave from their jobs. I wish I had had the opportunity to do that. Much of what I brought with me was things I know because I’m already relatively nerdy,” he shares.
There is no doubt that participating in the program has been good and has strengthened Thomas both personally and in the kitchen.
“It was an amazing experience overall. I have definitely challenged myself, and I have improved. Additionally, it has been great meeting other people, and I have made friends for life,” he says.
If he had to point to something that has been annoying, it’s that coronavirus, like in so many other places, also left its mark on the Masterchef kitchen.
“There have definitely been restrictions. We had to think about it when we were in the kitchen, and we weren’t allowed to all be present at once. That meant, among other things, that the masterclass days in the first week had to be viewed at home on a webcam, where everyone typically gathers in the studio,” says Thomas Nielsen.
How Thomas fares in the further competition, you must find out by watching the program. You can watch Masterchef 2021 on TV3 or on Viaplay.
Facts
Thomas Tranegaard Nielsen lives in Sorring with his wife and their two children. He works as a home economics teacher and is also an active writer on GastroFun.dk.
Find the recipe for Thomas’ dish with ballotine with haddock and lobster, wrapped in chicken skin here.
He is participating in this year’s edition of Masterchef, which you can watch on TV3 or on Viaplay.