Daniel for MasterChef S22 Heat 5 / BBC
Age: 46
Job: Car builder, script writer and theatre maker
From: Newport
How would you describe your cooking style?
“Resourceful or peasant food; elevated. I like to use every part of every item I cook with. Limitations enforce creative discovery. I like to find alternative ways to get the most out of vegetables despite them being thought of as “past their best” and I love to experiment with cheap cuts and offal.
“Its effectively based around ‘Nose to Tail’ or ‘Zero Waste’ cooking. I’m on a quest to re-discover or re-imagine Welsh or even ancient British cuisine in modern fine-dining terms. A student of world cuisine, I borrow processes from food cultures around the world to bring into my experiments. I am always learning; always absorbing… from everybody.
“I am fascinated by the interface between food and history or culture. I am a storyteller at heart and would love to have a career in food/writing/storytelling. Stein springs to mind as an inspiration. Anthony Bourdain and Stanley Tucci are also becoming big inspirations to me.”
What is your favourite ingredient to cook with?
“Offal. Because it’s what most people discard. The afterthought. The pariah of fine dining. I want to change perceptions by making these ingredients delicious.”
Why did you take part in the show?
“I struggle with several serious lifelong health conditions. I have a spondyloarthritis that has affected my joints since birth, resulting in dozens of surgeries. Since 2018, I have been learning to live with a progressive, life limiting and life-shortening lung disease. I am an artist by nature, and I need to express and create. I am a writer, actor and theatre maker but my condition and the onset of the pandemic have caused me to re-focus my goals.
“As a 46-year-old with possibly only 10-15 years left to live if I am lucky, I now wish to realise my dream, building a legacy to be proud of. That means challenging myself to be the best that I can be in the fields in which I choose to excel. Cooking is one of my greatest loves and I think about it morning, noon and night.”
Would you like to work professionally in the food industry?
“A dream would be to be a food writer of some sort. Be it a novelist whose touchstone is food, a reviewer or a food blogger. It’s a muddy dream but a dream all the same. I also have a dream to be influential somehow and to give something to the food-based culture in Wales. Perhaps a restaurant, a bistro, who knows!”
MasterChef continues on BBC One and iPlayer.
