Despite a long tedious recap of last weeks’s episode 18, last night’s episode 19 of MasterChef SA was exciting and something different, being filmed in Ethiopia, a country in which coffee was first discovered, and it was fitting that the cooking in the episode focused on coffee.

The eight Finalists were very excited to see suitcases, and visas and passports to Ethiopia in their house, generating big hugs and lots of excitement.  Sharing some of the tourist attractions of Addis Ababa, the Finalists went inside the Ethiopian Orthodox Church with beautiful interiors.  Amanda Beck became very emotional in the church, being ‘overwhelmed by its energy‘.   The quick shot of a busy street would be enough to not make one travel in Ethiopia, the roads looking far more chaoticthan do our roads.  The Finalists visited a market, and were fascinated in seeing the raw green coffee beans, and the spices. In the evening the Finalists and three judges went for dinner at an Ethiopian Cultural Restaurant, with traditional food and breads, music, and dance. They were told about the typical stews (called ‘wat’), redder when the berbere spice mix is added.  Chef Pete  Goffe-Wood said that the spices used in preparing the Ethiopian foods and their breads have not changed much over time. The stew is eaten with a type of crèpe, called ‘injera’, made from teff flour, and one uses one’s right hand to eat the food.

The Invention Test was preceded by a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony in the forest hills 3000 m above sealevel,  high above Addis Ababa, which was performed by Hannah.  She spoke English but M-Net used subtitles when she spoke. The ceremony is a mark of respect to one’s guests, and goes through a number of steps, from washing the beans, roasting them, burning incense, and using popcorn too. Ethiopians never add milk to their coffee, and are more likely to add salt rather than sugar.

In the rustic forest setting, the eight Finalists had a table each, with two sources of heat for cooking, an Induction oven and a traditional coal stove, not as sophisticated as they are used to in the MasterChef SA kitchen.   They were given 45 minutes in which to prepare a dish which used as many or as few of the ingredients in the Mystery boxes, which contained coffee beans, Nescafé, butternut, lamb loin, chocolate, popcorn, honey, Robertsons spices, and cream cheese, as long as the coffee was included and could be tasted.  Chef Pete repeated a number of times that the taste of the coffee was a requirement, as the two worst performing dishes would go into the Pressure Test.  The Top dish would receive a MasterClass with an Ethiopian chef.  Speaking amongst themselves, the judges discussed what they would have made in such a challenge, and Chef Andrew Atkinson said he would have made squash and chili fritters drizzled with honey, and a coffee crusted lamb loin.

Amanda seemed tearful for most of her cooking, and M-Net used a lot of subtitles when she spoke, as she was not very audible.  Her coffee broth reduction burnt, and she tried to remake it. Not all her eggs cooked properly, and the one that was perfect slid off her lamb loin stack.  She told viewers that she feels like she is breaking down.  Her squash purée was very spicy, not allowing any coffee flavour to come through, the egg yolk was too rich for the dish, and the meat was undercooked, just having been seared and far too rare, Chef Andrew told her.  Amanda was told in no uncertain terms that she had underperformed. She cried again, saying that the visit to the church the previous day had moved her greatly.  Karen Els was positive, and had the clever idea of making a coffee tiramisu, but changed midway to making a coffee inspired dessert, being a popcorn fritter with a chocolate sauce, and  chocolate coated coffee beans.  Chef Andrew liked the nice coffee flavour, and that coffee was in each element of her dish, judging it to be ‘not bad’.  Chef Benny Masekwameng said that the dish had a lovely coffee flavour. She was happy with the outcome.  Tiron Eloff made a coffee cinnamon crépe, with a butternut filling.  He was praised for making a local cuisine dish. Chef Benny praised the nice and light crépe and the sweet filling. Chef Pete said that he liked it, being creamy, with a good coffee flavour, and that the dish was ‘very good’.  Ozzy Osman was nervous, not being a coffee drinker he said, and he made an Ethiopian lamb wat with flatbread, and added coffee to the butternut.  Chef Andrew said that the wat had a lot of spice, which overpowered the coffee flavour.

Leandri van der Wat was excited about the theme,  being a ‘coffee-holic‘, she said.  She planned to make a coffee smoked soup with squash purée, but it did not turn out as good as promised, as the coffee flavour did not come to the fore, but the idea of the smoked soup using the coffee was ‘ingenious’, Chef Pete said.  Chef Benny said it was very tasty, but that the coffee taste was missing.  Jason Steel made pan seared lamb marinaded with rosemary, popcorn with cayenne pepper, and a coffee jus which he poured over the dish in front of the judges.  He was questioned by Chef Benny as to the jus being enough to give the dish a good coffee flavour.  Chef Pete loved the subtlety in the jus, yet it had rich and coffee flavours, praising it for its good execution.  Seline van der Wat said that she did not feel well, unusual for her as she always comes across as happy, and she thought that she might be suffering from altitude sickness.  Chef Andrew encouraged her to focus for the half an hour still needed to prepare the dish, which was lamb loin with popcorn brittle.  She felt that she had made a mistake in pouring all the caramel over her popcorn, yet the judges approved of her dish.  Kamini Pather added coffee and cumin to each of her three elements, lamb loin, squash, and the popcorn.  She told Chef Andrew that she had never used coffee in a savoury dish, nor paired it with lamb before. She hoped that the coffee flavours came through.  Chef Andrew praised her dish, for the lamb being cooked well, liking her cream cheese, the coffee flavour coming through in each of the elements, being balanced, being spot on with the flavours, and said the dish was ‘superb’.  Chef Benny added that it was an intelligent use of the ingredients, and that the coffee came through well.  Chef Pete said it was ‘a superb use of coffee’.

The judges praised the Finalists who had ‘shone today’, in their plating and textures, especially given the challenging cooking equipment and conditions, and lack of refrigeration.  Amanda and Leandri were sent to the Pressure Test, taking place in Addis Ababa tonight, while the judges decided to reward both Tiron and Kamini with a MasterClass by a top chef in the Jemma Valley in Ethiopia in tonight’s episode.

For an overview of what is lying ahead for the rest of Season 2 read here. For behind the scenes information on the filming of Season 2 in January read here.  For an overview of episode 1 of Season 2 read here. For an overview of episode 2 of Season 2 read here, for episode 3 read here, for episode 4 here, episode 5 here,  episode 6 here,  episode 7,  episode 8, episode 9, and episode 10,  episode 11,  episode 12,  episode 13,  episode 14, episode 15, episode 16, episode 17, and episode 18 read here.  Enter our competitions, to predict the Finalist who will be eliminated in the next Pressure Test, and which Finalist will win MasterChef SA Season 2.

MasterChef SA, Season 2. Tuesdays and Wednesdays 19h30 – 20h30.  www.masterchefsa.dstv.co  Twitter: @MasterChef_SA.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage