Last night’s two-hour episode was a bundle of nerves for both the Top 4 finalists as well as for MasterChef SA fans, with difficult food challenges.  With Ian Young and Philippa Robinson sent home, Sipho Mdlankomo and Roxi Wardman will be fighting each other for the Top slot.  The programme was divided in two halves, filmed on two different days.

Cake Challenge

The Top 4 were to bake a cake ‘fit for a queen‘ in the first hour, it not being known initially that a Finalist would be eliminated in each half.  Roxi was happy, desserts and cakes being her forté. Pastry Chef Lorraine Meaney from the Cape Grace hotel, a guest in Season 1, joined the kitchen, and set the challenge of a Cardamom Lemon Chocolate gâteau.  Chef Lorraine was the Head Pastry Chef at the Prue Leith Academy for eight years, before moving to the Cape Grace.  Chef Pete Goffe-Wood warned the contestants that there were nine layers to the cake, including a hazelnut streusel base, a chicory sponge, lemon curd, cheese cake, salted caramel, covered with chocolate mousse, and decorated with chocolate chards, and caramel popcorn. Following the recipe precisely was vital, the finalists were told.   There was a savoury element to the cake, with saltiness, to break the sweetness and create balance.  The finalists had 3 hours in which to replicate Chef Lorraine’s cake.

Roxi impressed last night, having focus, and staying calm as far as possible. She followed a structured process to bake and make the different elements of the cake, having read the recipe thoroughly before starting.  She had one problem, her streussel base getting stuck when she wanted to remove it, deciding to divide it into two and place it into her cake creation in this way, the judges not appearing to pick this up.   When she lifted the ring off her gateaux, it was perfect!  Roxi told the judges that she had been anxious, and hoped that the layers would hold when slices were cut for the judges.  Like a mantra, she repeated a number of times during the programme that she wanted to be in the Finale.  Chef Lorraine said the gateaux was very sweet, and that the cardamom, lemon curd, and chocolate mousse were all there;  Chef Reuben Riffel said that he was impressed by Roxi’s determination and how she worked, but that her savoury element was missing; Chef Pete said there were flaws in her flavour, but that she made the cake ‘beautifully and on time‘.

Ian said he did not feel great.  His chicory sponge did not really work, not having risen. Pete touched it, and his face showed that he agreed that it was not right.He had let the cream stand too long, making it go liquid.  Twenty minutes before the deadline, Ian was contemplating throwing in the towel.  He had not even taken the ring off the cake bking tin when he took it to the judges, and had not covered the gateaux with mousse or the chards.  It did not resemble Chef Lorraine’s cake at all.  Chef Lorraine liked its chocolate taste, Chef Reuben said he had wanted him to finish, Chef Benny Masekwameng said that it had the best savoury and sweet balance, and Chef Pete said it was the best tasting cake of the four he tasted.

Philippa said she felt determined, yet a little emotional.  Twice her whipped cream became cream cheese.  She began to doubt herself and was tearful when she said that she had been entered by her friend Carol, who is undergoing chemotherapy, and did not want to let her down.  When she presented her cake, it looked lopsided. She admitted that her cake did not look good, and said that she had learnt a lot about herself in MasterChef SA.  Chef Loraine praised the cheesecake, Chef Reuben said it was not savoury enough but was a brave attempt, Chef Benny said the presentation did not do justice to the taste of the cake, and Chef Pete said the base was too bitter, and there was no savoury element to tone down the sweetness.  When Philippa left the judges’ room, she felt very sorry for herself, saying ‘Pete hated my cake’, being close to tears.

Sipho said that she was ready for the challenge,  and was reminded that she won the dessert challenge set by Chef David Higgs in episode 14.  Her chicory sponge did not come our correctly, having too much chicory.  Chef Lorraine said that the flavours were all out of balance, the cake was sour, and too much chicory had been used.  Chef Reuben said that she kept going, that she didn’t give up, but that it did not work out for her.  Chef Pete added that her cake had the 9 elements, but was not tasty to eat.

Chef Pete spoke for the judges, saying that only one cake had balance, and that the other three were ‘sickly sweet‘.  It had been a tall order to replicate the cake of a world-class pastry chef in three hours.  Chef Benny praised Ian for not giving up during the challenge.  But the judges decided that Ian had to leave the MasterChef SA kitchen.  Ian said that he was disappointed as he had wanted to deliver more.  He plans to open a deli in the Cape Town Southern Suburbs.

Raw Food challenge

Chef Margot Janse of The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français has also been to MasterChef SA before, in Season 1 too, and she spoke about ‘celebrating indigenous produce‘, and ‘expecting the unexpected‘.  She likes to tell the story of our country in food. The Top 3 all wore blue shirts for the second challenge, and Roxi was unusually heavily made-up.  When the trio arrived in the kitchen, it noticed that there were no stoves and ovens, but instead there was equipment which they had never seen before, including a sous-vide bath, a Thermomix, blenders, and more.  Chef Margot’s challenge was to prepare a dish of their choice without heat, the sous vide bath having a temperature of no more than 47ºC.  Time given for the challenge of four plates was 60 minutes.  Chef Margot had presented a kabeljou fillet which had been cured with sour figs, and served with raw pickled onions and a sour fig tuille.  She said that cooking without heat is difficult, and asked that the finalists not try to be too smart, it being a ‘thinking challenge’.   The judges’ evaluation was done without the presence of the finalists, for the first time.

Roxi decided to stick with a dessert, her strength, and made variations of strawberry, with sparkling wine, a sorbet with balsamic, and basil and mint infused granita.  She plated her dessert in 15 minutes, meaning that she had finished her dish in 45 minutes.  Roxi called her dish ‘Strawberry Medley‘, and said that she had used different techniques with infused flavours.  Chef Pete could not understand that Roxi had made her dish in 45 minutes, and described it as the best dish he had tasted so far.  Chef Margot said that she liked the dish, honouring the strawberry. Chef Reuben said that he liked the basil granita, but did not think it had been necessary in her dish.

Philippa said that she didn’t know the equipment.  She was torn between sticking to what she understood, and in doing some experimenting.  She took a massive yellowtail and cut pieces from the tail, making Chef Margot ask why she did not use other parts of the fish.  Philippa said that she liked the fish-like shapes at the tail, but soon found that a thick muscle ran through this part of the fish, so had to cut more pieces of fish in the middle.  She wanted to make ceviche three ways, served with three styles of mayonnaise. This was to have been served with a salad, mushrooms and onions, none of which she completed on time.  Her plate looked sparse, with only three pieces of fish and three blobs of mayonnaise!  Presenting her dish to the judges, she was tearful, and said that she did not have enough time.  Once she had left the room, Chef Margot said that Philippa had not finished her dish, but that she liked her thinking.  Chef Benny said the dish was like a ‘story half-told’, and Chef Pete said that she cares about what she does, reflected in her emotions.

Sipho said that she is very proud of herself, and wants to be in the Top 2.  She said that she was scared , being used to heat in preparing food, but she would try her best.  She prepared thinly-sliced venison with mushrooms, and wanted to make a parsnip purée. which did not work out as she had planned, becoming a parsnip cream.  She had marinaded the venison in strong soy sauces, the judges fearing that it would overpower the taste of springbok.  Her planned dish of mushrooms, white wine, and sugar sounded odd.  Her dish was well plated, Chef Margot commenting on the tender springbok, but overpowered by the marinades, and that the parsnip could have been excluded. Chef Pete did not like the parsnip either. Chef Benny said that the dish was not completely balanced.

In the final evaluation, Roxi was praised for her strawberry dish, ‘a job well done‘. Sipho had been ‘way out of her depth’, but the dish had great flavours and textures.  Philippa had run out of time for her yellowtail ceviche.  It was Philippa who was sent home, having been too ambitious in what she had made, and it was not her day in the MasterChef SA kitchen.   While her MasterChef SA journey had ended, a new one was about to start.  Philippa expressed her gratitude for what she had learnt at MasterChef SA.

Next week the Finale will reveal the winner of MasterChef SA.  Roxi technically appears to be better in cooking, especially in desserts.  But the local and international media (i.e. The Guardian) are tipping that Sipho will be MasterChef SA Season 3 winner! The challenge will be a three-part one, to choose the winner, and Chef Marco Pierre White from the UK,  maverick once Michelin-3-starred chef and now owner of restaurants (but does not cook in them anymore) will be in the programme next week!

For an overview of MasterChef Season 3 read here, and read here too. For a summary of episode 1 of Season 3 at Bootcamp 1 read here, and of episode 2 read here.  The summary of episode 3 can be read here.  Read about Roxi’s trip to Dublin and Thornton’s Restaurant, and the first Pressure Test in episode 4 here.   Read about the Carrot Dessert Invention Test in episode 5 here.  The Pressure Test with Swedish Chef Niklas Ekstedt, and visit to Syddah Essop in the Karoo in episode 6 is here.  For a summary of episode 7, a Team Challenge in Durban, click here.  For the write-up of the episode 8′s Pressure Test between Roxi and Refilwe, and the visit to the Ixopo Retreat by the winning Red Team, click here.  Episode 9 was a Chicken MasterPiece Invention Test.  Episode 10 was a paired Team Challenge.  In episode 11 Ian Young won an Immunity Pin, and Francois Zietsman was sent home.  In episode 12 the Finalists visited Mauritius, and Sipho won the dish of the day.  In episode 13 Penny Fitchet was sent home, after an Elimination Test against Roxy Wardman.   In episode 14 Abigail Mbalo was eliminated in an Elimination Test based on Chef David Higgs’ dish at five hundred.  Mel Sutherlnd left MasterChef SA in episode 15.