Tag Archives: Manisha Naidu

MasterChef SA Judge Benny Masekwameng sparks in the kitchen! ‘Face of Food’ at Tsogo Sun!

The highlight of my week two weeks ago was being able to sit down with Chef Benny Masekwameng, one of the three MasterChef SA judges, and Tsogo Sun Executive Chef.  He is incredibly nice, and overwhelmed about how his own career and life has changed since participating in MasterChef SA, much like that of the Finalists.

Chef Benny was in Cape Town for the official launch of the Southern Sun rebranding to Tsogo Sun, which was held at The Cullinan hotel. Previously Executive Chef of the MondoVino restaurant at Montecasino in Johannesburg, Chef Benny has been promoted to Executive Chef, responsible for promoting all the restaurants at the Tsogo Sun’s 95 hotels and 15 casinos around the country.   Tsogo means ‘rising’ in Tswana, Chef Benny told me.  Applying his MasterChef SA judging skills, Chef Benny challenged the Cape Town guests to participate in an ingredient test, identifying the 13 ingredients of the curry he had prepared.

I asked Chef Benny about the MasterChef SA prize offered of running the MondoVino restaurant at Montecasino, taking over his previous job.  The MasterChef SA winner will receive three month’s training in people and financial support he said, and his/her hand will be held by a mentor as well as by Chef Benny.  He said that the MasterChef SA reality TV show builds up the Finalists in what they learn, giving the winner a ‘crash course’ in running a restaurant kitchen, including ingredient pairing, budgeting, and food and wine pairing.

Chef Benny’s role in MasterChef SA was to support the contestants, many having made significant sacrifices to participate in the show. He said that he feels privileged to have been part of their journey, it mirroring his own journey of humble beginnings, and giving up many things to pursue his dream to become a chef.  He grew up in Alexandra township in Johannesburg, and was strongly influenced by his mother. She started her own business, after taking a cooking course, selling pap, stew, salad, as well as vetkoek, outside nearby factories. While his dream was to become an Electrical Engineer, it was a visit to Durban to visit his friends that led him to Technikon Natal, and he decided to study a 3-year Catering Management course in a city that gave him some space from home. On graduating he was appointed as a Trainee at the Hilton Hotel in Durban, where he worked for more than six years, promoted over this period.  The job took him overseas regularly, to promote local food at events held at South African embassies, and it was these events that taught him ‘showmanship’, in interacting with the guests. He moved to the Elangeni Hotel, his first Southern Sun appointment, and he has stayed with the group since then, moving back to Johannesburg as Executive Sous Chef at the OR Thambo Southern Sun.  The promotion to Executive Chef at MondoVino restaurant happened 16 months ago, and since the completion of Season 1 of MasterChef SA he is in charge of promoting all the Tsogo Sun restaurants, being its ‘face of food’.

MondoVino restaurant is Italian-themed, but with an African influence, also serving bobotie, oxtail, pap and wors, chakalaka, and its design is ‘modern, young, and hip’.   It is ‘casual dining‘, and offers ‘3 – 4 star service‘, he said.  It has shifted in its focus on being family-orientated, with a special menu for the children.

M-Net has a five-year licence for MasterChef SA, and there is talk of a Season 2. Chef Benny said it is a bonus for him that Tsogo Sun is a sponsor. His own kitchen staff is watching MasterChef SA, and it gives them hope that they too can develop as he has done, and they are proud to work with him.  For him it has been special to meet all the young aspirant chefs, and to inspire them.  He is keeping up to date with many of them, and he is delighted about the encouraging messages he is receiving, and the promotion and growth it has given him personally, much as the MasterChef SA Finalists have grown and succeeded too.  Just after MasterChef SA started airing, his first baby daughter Dimakatso was born, named after his mother. We laughed about his ‘TV flirt’ with Lungi Nhlanhla, about whom he says that ‘she knows how to combine her flavours’, and that ‘she can cook’.  With fellow Finalists Deena Naidoo and Manisha Naidu, Lungi knows her flavours. Yet, he said, all eighteen the Finalists had the potential of getting to the top.

Fellow judge and Chef Andrew Atkinson is a natural ‘clown‘, he said, always making jokes on set, and these kept the energy flowing. But, jokes aside, he knows his food.  Chef Pete Goffe-Wood was full of jokes too, but he was ‘tough on camera, telling it like it is‘. He praised his fellow MasterChef SA judges, who had more cooking experience than he does, but always treated him as an equal and made him feel part of the judging team, even though Chefs Andrew and Pete had worked together at the Beverly Hills hotel many years ago.  He was inspired by them, and are two of our country’s best, he added.  He can exchange information with them now, and pick up the phone to them, being ‘brothers’ now!  He assured me that there were no production influences in the judging of the dishes and elimination of the Finalists, and confirmed that the Finalists eliminated simply were those that made the most mistakes in a particular challenge.

To tie in with its sponsorship of MasterChef SA as a ‘Hospitality Host’, and Chef Benny’s involvement in the show as a judge, Tsogo Sun has launched Wednesday Night Dinners, a ‘themed dish of the week inspired by the show, and you be the judge’! The hotel group is advertising this in the Sunday Times Food Weekly.

Chef Benny has grown as much as his Finalists on MasterChef SA have, and he said that initially it was ‘terrifying’ to be on TV, surrounded by nine cameras, but now he is used to it, and he would love to do more of it, having discovered a new side of himself. Meeting with Chef Benny for about an hour reinforced what a nice person he is, the reason why he is so well-liked by the MasterChef SA TV viewers.

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

MasterChef SA episode 11: Marriage between food and Nederburg wines a match made in heaven, no Finalist elimination!

What an exciting show MasterChef South Africa episode 11 was last night, with a number of surprises, including VIP guests having to evaluate the remaining nine Finalists’ pairing of their food and the Nederburg wine they selected, and the ability of the winner of the best dish to earn an Immunity pin, providing immunity against all Pressure Tests with the exception of the last two stages, if he/she wins in a cook-off against a top chef, which turned out to be Chef Reuben Riffel.  No Finalist was eliminated, the first time in any of the past episodes, but the three Finalists going into the Pressure Test in episode 12 were selected.

The judges congratulated the Finalists on being the final nine, and reminded them that it was ‘time to shine’. Called an Invention Test, preparing food paired with beautiful wines, where 1 + 1 = 3, can also go horribly wrong, said Chef Pete Goffe-Wood. Immediately Deena Naidoo spoke to the camera, saying that he had never ever drunk wine, and that his knowledge of it was ‘dismal‘. Chef Pete said that in food and wine pairing, one seeks a ‘balance’, and that the texture of the food should match the texture of the wine. They should not fight each other.

Nederburg Cellarmaster Razvan Macici spoke to each wine that the Finalists selected in a wine cooler, and they had 90 minutes to prepare a dish that was suited to the character of the wine. In this episode it wasn’t only the three judges that evaluated the pairing – they were joined by seven VIPs, being Unathi Msengana (radio and TV personality), Desmond Dube (singer and actor), Springbok rugby player Breyton Paulse, model Ryan Botha, Milan Murray (actress), R&B singer Loyiso Bala, and Drum food editor Siba Mtongana, and therefore they had to prepare ten portions of their dish.

*   Nederburg Sauvignon Blanc was chosen by Ilse Fourie, and the wine was described as fresh and crisp, and suitable to be served with seafood.  Ilse decided against serving prawns, given the time that it would take to clean them, so she chose to make roasted salmon served on a bed of asparagus, and a sauce made of oranges and gooseberries, to balance the acidity.  The guests praised her perfect vegetables, and her food brought out the best in the wine.

*   Nederburg Winemasters Reserve Rosé was chosen by Lungi Nhlahla, and she was told that it is well paired with fish. She chose to make a seared ostrich salad with a balsamic sauce.  The guests enjoyed it, saying that they would have it ‘any time’.

*   Manisha Naidu seemed nervous when she was allocated the Pongracz Rosé, a Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blend, well paired with oysters. When she started off, she said that she had struck a blank as to what to prepare with her sparkling wine.  She decided to make a dessert, with white chocolate ganache, mint, almonds, and a strawberry soup which contained the Pongracz.  She was praised for having done a ‘great job’.

*   A stylish-looking Khaya Silingile chose the Nederburg Winemasters Reserve Noble Light Harvest, the wine brand’s ‘most awarded wine‘ in the range, excellent to serve with patés. She chose to make a trio of chocolate desserts (panna cotta, fondant, and truffle), but ran out of time, the panna cotta not having enough time to set. She opted for a fondant only, served with a berry coulis. It had a very rich sauce, with a nice crusty top and ‘gooey inside’, and gave the wine structure, the guests said.

*   Nederburg Merlot was described as being ‘robust’, good to serve with duck, fruit, pizza, pasta, and roasts, and was the choice of Deena.  He decided to prepare a lamb curry, but Chef Pete warned him against ‘overpowering the wine with the curry’. Chatting amongst themselves, the judges agreed that Deena’s curry and tomato ‘will kill the Merlot’. The guests were silent when they tasted his curry, nodding their heads in approval, saying it was ‘yummy’. Yet Chef Pete said that the vinegar, tomato, and spices in his dish made the wine ‘tannic’.

*   Sarel Loots chose Nederburg Riesling, to be served with intense aromatic dishes. He surprisingly chose to make a curry, not having done well with it in a previous challenge, but said that he had mastered it since. His dish was to be a light chicken curry in a butternut case, served with apricot purée and roti.  His dish was praised by the guests, describing it as well presented, and a ‘delight’ in its match with a complex wine.

*   Nederburg Winemakers Reserve Shiraz has berry flavours and spiciness, and should be paired with spicy lamb, kebabs, and souvlaki. This wine was chosen by Jade de Waal. She chose to make lentils, Mediterranean vegetables, ravioli, and a Shiraz poached beef fillet, but said that she had blown it away. Her guests contradicted themselves in their feedback, saying that they ‘like the girl but not the dish’, ‘quite bland‘, ‘strong taste’, ‘meat not great‘, and that ‘the elements were not connected’, said Chef Pete.

*   Sue-Ann Allen chose the Nederburg Cabernet Sauvignon, the ‘biggest’ of the wines in weight and texture, best served with red meat. She chose to make beef fillet, which was enjoyed by her guests, and they liked its ‘simplicity’.

*   Thys Hattingh selected the Nederburg Chardonnay, with vanilla and citrus notes, a good match with grilled fish and cheese, a versatile wine. He chose to make an open lasagne with mushrooms and herbs, ‘a simple dish with lots of flavour’, he said, its creaminess pairing well with the wooded and creamy Chardonnay. He seemed to have a problem with his pasta, taking forever to cook. Bravely he had made his own pasta for the first time. The guests described his dish as ‘more buttery’, ‘richer’, ‘very nice’, ‘too rich’, ‘too oily’, contradictory feedback, but his pasta was praised.

All the Finalists were praised by the judges for their ‘outstanding’ job, and were given a round of applause. Khaya’s chocolate fondant was chosen as the top dish, described as ‘superb’ by Chef Andrew Atkinson, which led her to burst into tears.  It was explained to her that she would go up against guest chef Reuben Riffel, and should she beat him in the cook-off, she would win the Immunity pin. Chef Reuben was introduced as putting Monneaux restaurant onto the map when it was named an Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant, before he went overseas, returning to open Reuben’s Franschhoek in 2004, and winning Eat Out Top Chef and Top Restaurant six months later.  Chef Reuben said that he is passionate about ‘fresh produce‘, ironic given his Robertsons’ endorsement!

The three Finalists that were chosen to go into the Pressure Test in episode 12 are Thys, for his dish being too rich and oily, but with great pasta; Jade, for her flavours not combining, and not complementing her Shiraz; and Deena, his first Pressure Test, as his dish did not complement the Merlot. His reaction was: ‘What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger‘!  The next episode is likely to be an exciting one, in that the three Finalists need three hours to prepare their Pressure Test dishes. It will also show the cooking duel between Chef Reuben and Khaya.

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

MasterChef SA episode 10: Family budget meal, too many cooks spoil the broth for Samantha Nolan!

It was a less exciting episode 10 of MasterChef South Africa last night, with the challenge to the ten finalists to prepare a family meal within a budget of R150.  The three finalists who went into the Elimination Challenge had to fix a Minestrone soup, and it was Samantha Nolan who had to leave the MasterChef SA kitchen, a shame given her leadership role and her ability to keep a cool head under pressure in previous episodes.

The visit by Abigail Donnelly, Food editor of the Woolworths-owned Taste magazine and editor of restaurant guide Eat Out, added an extra dimension to the tension, joining the judges. The brief was to prepare a family meal for four persons within a budget of R150, but had to be ‘worthy of royalty’, they were told.  The finalists were told by Mrs Donnelly that budgeting is part of the real world.  She said that she would judge the dishes based on taste, they ‘should not be too fancy‘, and they should ‘showcase the beauty on the plate’.  They had 60 minutes in which to complete the dish.  They had to select ingredients from the Woolworths Pantry within the budget limit, but it was evident that none of them had a calculator with them to tally up their grocery cost.  Chef Pete Goffe-Wood had an über calculator, and did the honours for each finalist.  Only Lungile Nhlahla came in within budget.  The other nine finalists had to give up ingredients to make the budget balance, Khaya Silingile being most over budget, at R265!  She admitted that she was a ‘ditz’, having gone over budget. In summary, Chef Pete told the finalists that going over budget would have led their restaurants to go under within 6 months.

Chicken seemed to be the most popular choice for the finalists’ family meals, only Samantha choosing to prepare poached trout (served with Asian vegetables and egg noodles as well as asparagus cream), and Jade de Waal making pork poached in milk (using bay leaves and lemon) served with creme fraiche, salad, parmesan, and pasta, admitting that she may have cooked her pork for too long, and that it may therefore be too tough.  While the finalists were preparing their dishes, Mrs Donelly and the judges discussed how some of the finalists push their limits and show amazing technique.  But she noticed that many do not taste their dishes.  Deena Naidoo made chicken schnitzel with a parmesan coating and mushroom sauce, which was praised by the judges for his delicious farm-style budget within budget. Mrs Donnelly said he made the ‘chicken proud’. Khaya deboned two chicken legs and stuffed them with red onion and aubergine, serving them with corn bread.  The judges were shocked that she would only serve two pieces of chicken for four persons.  She countered that she was challenging the ‘spirit of ubuntu between the chefs in sharing’ her food. Her bread was said to be too salty. Chef Pete said that she had shone in the previous episode in winning the international challenge, but that it had not been in evidence in yesterday’s episode. The chicken lacked flavour and intensity, she was told. Khaya said that she was the only finalist that had not been in a pressure test. Lungile was praised for her ‘rustic family-style’ meal, even though her portion sizes were criticised for being too small. The texture was praised, the polenta had a sweetness, and the chicken was perfectly roasted.  Jade’s salad was said to be creative, and her crispy sage was liked by the judges. However, her pasta was not seasoned, and her pork dish did not work, she was told. She admitted that she did not put out her best.   Thys Hattingh had a very quick review, his parmesan crisp being the tastiest of the whole dish. Samantha’s roasted onions were said to be too robust for the delicate poached trout. Mrs Donnelly said that she was disappointed with the asparagus cream, not really tasting it, and the roasted onions overpowered the dish. Chef Pete said that he would only eat the pasta. Manisha Naidu was highly praised by the judges, being told that she ‘truly has a palate to get flavours right’, said Chef Benny Masekwameng. Mrs Donnelly praised her for a ‘beautiful balanced plate of food’, and her dish was judged to be the best, the care and generosity coming from ‘the heart and soul’.  Mrs Donnelly loved her bottled sauce so much that she wanted the recipe for it.  While the Finalists were cooking, Woolworths ran a fabulous looking ad, inviting one to eat in for four persons, at R150, with chicken, and tiramisu for dessert.  No dishes were shown for Sarel Loots, Ilse Fourie, and Sue-Ann Allen.

The bottom three finalists were selected as Jade, Khaya, and Samantha, and were sent to the Elimination Challenge. Chef Pete brought in a big pot of Minestrone soup that had ‘purposely been ruined‘, and their challenge was to ‘get it back on track’. Chef Pete explained that things do go wrong in the kitchen, and the challenge for a chef is to rectify this.  A table contained bowls of ingredients, and each of the three finalists was given six opportunities to collect ingredients from the table.  They were told that the ‘worst tasting soup‘ goes home.  Samantha commented that the soup ‘looks like dishwater with left-over vegetables’. She selected red onions, butter beans, garlic, tomato paste, and pancetta (Italian bacon), but chopped the pancetta (sourced from Wild Peacock Food Emporium, they Tweeted proudly during the show) into cubes, which Chef Pete said was incorrect, as Minestrone is a meatless vegetable soup. The soup tasted too much of the pancetta. Chef Benny added that Samantha had shown throughout the program that she could not get seasoning right, either having too much or too little. The tomato paste and garlic should have been added earlier by her, Chef Pete said.  Khaya added red onion, garlic, fresh tomato, tomato paste, as well as coriander, which she assumed was parsley.  Chef Pete was critical of the soup in having become a tomato soup, making it more Mexican and less Italian. The judges coughed on tasting her soup, there being too much pepper, but they liked its chunkiness.  Jade identified that the soup lacked body and flavour, and she added pancetta for the flavour (but removed it before plating the soup), garlic, celery, and parmesan.  She was praised for adding and then removing the pancetta, giving her soup a smokiness, Chef Andrew Atkinson said. Chef Pete said that the soup had great balance of flavour, and that her stock had ‘beautiful body’.

Chef Benny was very ‘talkative’ on Twitter during the show last night, and made some funny comments.  He remarked on Khaya’s red lipstick, saying she was wearing it for luck!  He called Manisha the ‘Flavour Queen’ on Twitter too.  Chef Andrew’s blue shirt was criticised on Twitter, and once again many wrote that Khaya should have gone home, given that she did not know coriander from parsley.  Criticised too was that Ilse Fourie’s dishes rarely are featured, as happened last night.

It was Samantha that was sent home last night, and she was told that she can ‘cook with passion, and that no one can take that away from you‘. She said that she ‘will never forget any of it’!

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

MasterChef SA episode 9: Around the world 11 ways, Twice Baked 3 Cheese Soufflé falls flat for Guy Clark!

A TV screen at The Grand Cafe and Rooms in Plettenberg Bay that lost its picture just as MasterChef SA started was an exciting start to episode 9 last night, but the problem was quickly fixed when I was moved to another room.  The Finalists were sent around the world in the dishes that they had to create, sending four of the eleven Finalists to the ‘Pressure Test’, and leading to gorgeous Guy Clark being eliminated.

Each Finalist chose a country and with it a method of preparation, having 90 minutes to prepare their dish.  Not all Finalists were visible in this episode, and only some of the Finalists were interviewed and their dishes shown.  Sarel Loots chose Brazil, and decided to make a chocolate dessert, with custard, and mango, all elements steamed. His dish got raised eyebrows from Chef Benny Masekwameng. He was berated for not making something ‘more MasterChef’, to show his technique. The dish was said to be ‘not good enough’.  Thys Hattingh chose Morocco, and decided to make a pear dessert poached in a Nederburg wine, to criticism of Chef Pete Goffe-Wood, given that Morocco is a Muslim country.  With this he prepared a sweet couscous and cinnamon custard.  He said he has ‘dessert in his genes’, influenced by his mom.  He received the highest praise from Chef Pete, saying that it was ‘visually beautiful’, and that he would ‘pay a lot of money in a top restaurant for that’.  Chef Bennie liked the custard, calling it a ‘lovely dish’.   Samantha Nolan was proudly South African, and chose to make vetkoek and mince, with a peach chutney.  Chef Benny was critical of her spice choice for the mince, which included cardamom, chilli, cumin, ginger, garlic, and tumeric.  Her vetkoek was praised by him for its light golden brown colour and for being ‘perfectly made’, but her mince ‘let you down in having too many spices’.

Manisha Naidu chose to make an Italian grilled chicken with a basil cream sauce and a Parma ham-wrapped tomato. Her plating was praised, representing ‘Italy on a plate’.  Guy Clark chose the United Kingdom, and decided to make ‘pub food’, using a beer batter for the fish, and poaching all the elements of the dish, saying it was ‘worth the risk’. Chef Pete said that he could taste the beer in the batter and that the fish was perfectly poached. However the peas were ‘too mushy’, and the mash ‘lumpy’. Lungile Nhlanhla represented China, and had made deep fried tempura vegetables and stirfry, served with crispy duck.  Chef Andrew Atkinson said that the flavour was ‘absolutely fantastic’. Jade de Waal made mini bite size hamburgers, with fries and a home-made tomato sauce, adding a guacamole topping after one of the chef judges asked her about it. Chef Pete was very critical of the hamburger bun, saying it was ‘too dense and chewy’, but praised her ketchup, saying it was ‘superb’ and ‘the hero’ of the dish, but that the hamburger was not. Khaya Silingile wanted to show the versatility of flavour and technique, making a French inspired chicken ballotine with turned vegetables, ‘with loads of butter’ in her mash, making Chef Pete smile.  When he tasted the dish, Chef Pete said that it was ‘perfect mash’, and Chef Benny said it was a ‘lovely dish’.  She was praised for its ‘taste of Paris’.  Khaya was so excited that she said that she felt ‘tres magnifique’.  Deena Naidoo had prepared Asian baked fish with tempura prawns; Sue-Ann Allen a Spanish deconstructed paella with an avocado, corn and red onion salsa; and Ilse Fourie made a Mexican chicken and chilly pocket with guacamole, salsa,  and a spicy red pepper sauce.

The eleven Finalists were praised by Chef Benny, saying that the judges were blown away by their international dishes, and that they should be proud of what they had presented. They announced Khaya as the winner of this challenge, to which she responded in saying that she had reached ‘culinary heaven’, with Thys in second place, happy about the ‘pat on the back’ which he had received.  Their ‘prize’ was a Masterclass just for the two of them, by Chef Andrew with assistance from Chef Benny. Chef Andrew taught them to make Tagliatelle pasta, and a Putanesca sauce containing garlic, peppers, tomatoes, and peppers.

Samantha, Sarel, Guy, and Jade were sent into the Pressure Test, for their errors in making the international dishes. One of the Finalists would be sent home as a result of it, they were told. It was to be the ‘toughest and most complicated dish to be prepared so far’. They had to recreate Chef Andrew’s dish, being a Twice Baked Three Cheese Soufflé with a Waldorf salad, Onion Braise, and a Gruyère tuile, in 80 minutes.  They were told that a soufflé is difficult to make well, Chef Andrew saying that the ingredients, grammage, and oven temperature are crucial to its success.  One has to be gentle with a soufflé, in folding in the egg white. Guy started with the beetroot, then made the soufflé, the onions, and finished off in making the tuille.  He seemed to panic, and his colleagues watching from upstairs encouraged him to start from scratch. Chef Andrew said that Guy was ‘too heavy handed’ in making his soufflé, saying that it needs air when one folds in the egg white.  Chef Pete said that Guy had left out the apple and celery from the salad, and that the bacon had not been cooked properly.  Chef Benny added that Guy had not followed the recipe properly. Guy commented that one needs science to be a MasterChef, and that he had last had science at school!  Jade said that she could not faff around, saying that she would start with the onions, then moving onto the soufflé, ‘giving it my all’.  She got her ramekins in the oven too late, running out of the 20 minutes baking time required.  She admitted that she was ‘not up to scratch’, had ‘gone through the wall’, and just had too little time. She served her soufflé in the ramekins, to the surprise of the judges, saying that she ran out of time. When he removed it from the ramekin and cut it, Chef Andrew said that it had ‘not cooked through’. Chef Pete was very direct when he told Jade that she is still young, and that she still ‘has a lot more to learn’. Samantha said that a soufflé requires ‘precision work’, starting with her onions, putting her beetroot in the oven,  and then making the soufflé, which if one is not gentle with it could become a ‘flat-fle’!  She did not make the Gruyère tuile, having run out of time.  Her soufflé was praised for its presentation, looking very similar to that of Chef Andrew, but Chef Pete said that it was not ‘souffle  light’, and tasted more ‘cakey’.  Chef Andrew praised her Waldorf salad, saying that he ‘thoroughly enjoyed it’.

Sarel immediately commented that he would have a time problem, in the recipe being three pages long.  He said this challenge was a ‘tough one’, and he didn’t make a cheese sauce, as he ran out of time.  Chef Benny said that the salad was very crispy, but that the walnuts had been ground, and not sliced as in the dish they had to replicate. Chef Andrew said that Sarel must have made many soufflés before, saying that his seasoning was right, and that he was happy with Sarel’s interpretation. The judges had observed the four Finalists at work, and commented that they were not starting with the soufflé, which worried them. All four of them ran out of time, and had to leave out an element of the dish. The four Finalists were praised for tackling the challenge head on. Guy was selected by the judges to leave MasterChef SA, and he was praised for his spirit and effort, and that he had showed glimpses of not giving up. Guy replied that MasterChef SA had given him a ‘doorway’ to his dreams. The remaining Top 10 MasterChef SA finalists were congratulated for having made it so far, and were told to ‘keep believing in yourself’.  Finalist Deena Naidoo said that they had been simmering up to now, but that they had now reached the ‘reduction stage’. Deena is the only MasterChef SA finalist to not have been in a ‘pressure test’.

For a second week running, the judges choice for elimination was questioned on Twitter, Jade’s soufflé flop having deserved elimination, it was felt.  It annoyed many Tweeters, and many threatened to no longer watch the show, given its loss of credibility.

POSTSCRIPT 19/5: Guy Clark’s ‘doorway’ to his dream to become a chef has come true.  He has been appointed as a Chef at the Madame Zingara group of restaurants, starting on Monday.

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