{"id":59744,"date":"2014-07-24T11:21:31","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T09:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=59744"},"modified":"2014-07-24T21:42:18","modified_gmt":"2014-07-24T19:42:18","slug":"chopped-south-africa-chef-contestants-prepare-dishes-chop-chop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/chopped-south-africa-chef-contestants-prepare-dishes-chop-chop\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Chopped South Africa’: Chef contestants prepare dishes chop-chop!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chopped<\/a>Having attended the launch of Food Networks’ \u00a0‘Chopped South Africa’<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a> at Jenny Morris’ Chef’s Playground a week ago, we were shown most of the first episode of the programme, so the four contestants for the first episode last night were familiar to us. \u00a0 Feedback on Social Media was varied, Chef Jenny Morris being praised for her supportive yet honest feedback to the chef contestants.<\/p>\n

Packaging the preparation and evaluation of a three-course meal into a 45 minute programme was a tough challenge, which meant that everything had to be prepared chop-chop, the contestants being given 20 minutes to prepare their main course, and 30 minutes each for their main course and starter, being very tight and unrealistic timing deadlines. \u00a0 The time pressure made it hard to follow which chef’s dish was being evaluated at times. \u00a0There also was little time for the contestant chefs to explain which additional ingredients they had chosen from the pantry, in addition to the mystery basket of ingredients. \u00a0The local ingredients such as mebos, putu pap, and koeksisters were not well explained to foreign viewers.<\/p>\n

‘Chopped South Africa<\/em>‘ follows the format of the American ‘Chopped’,<\/em> and is broadcast on Food Network<\/strong> on channel 175 on Monday evenings at 21h00. \u00a0 \u00a0It is the\u00a0first professional chef reality TV competition in South Africa, and the\u00a0first international adaptation of the programme. \u00a0The local version was created due to the series\u2019 very strong following in our country, with 25000 viewers per programme, I was told by Nikki Cooper, the Commissioning Editor of \u2018Chopped South Africa<\/em>\u2018, based in London and working with programming for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. \u00a0She said that she was \u2018blown away by the talent and graciousness\u2019<\/em>\u00a0of our local chefs. \u00a0‘Chopped South Africa’<\/em> was launched in the UK on Saturday, which will expose our talented local chefs and our unique cuisine to food lovers in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and other African countries.<\/p>\n

The three core judges are Jenny Morris, the Giggling Gourmet who has hosted programmes on Moroccan and on Mediterranean\"Chopped<\/a> cooking for Food Network<\/strong>; David van Staden, the Executive Chef of the Tsogo Sun Group; and Siba Mtongana, who has her own \u2018Siba\u2019s Table\u2019<\/em>program on\u00a0Food Network. <\/strong>The judges told us at the launch that they\u00a0believed in their standards, and fought for their point of view in deciding which chef would be \u2018chopped\u2019. \u00a0The\u00a0series consists of ten programmes with four contestants each, 40 chef contestants having been selected from many applications received from young professional chefs in South African kitchens. \u00a0Shot in Johannesburg, hosted by Denvor Phokaners (in the photograph with the judges), produced by Sue Nel from Snelco in association with\u00a0Ukhamba, and directed by Eugene Naidoo, the contestants are given a mystery basket for each of three courses, one contestant per course being \u2018chopped\u2019, until only one contestant is left, to win R40000 per episode.<\/p>\n

The mystery basket ingredients were selected by Judge Jenny and Sue, and contained some indigenous ingredients (such as mebos, putu pap, and nastergal), which many chefs did not know, and therefore\u00a0did not use correctly. \u00a0Strict and tight time deadlines were set, only 20 minutes allowed to prepare a starter and 30 minutes for a main course.<\/p>\n

Last night’s contestants were Malebo Mapila from the Radisson Gauteng, Elze Roome from Tasha\u2019s, Ayanda Khumalo from the Hilton Sandton, and Leanne Galloway from the Centrecourt Restaurant at the Wanderer\u2019s Club. \u00a0Their dishes were judged on presentation, taste, and creativity. \u00a0The starter mystery basket contained calamari, Huguenot cheese, chillibites mix, and mebos, to which the participant chefs could add further ingredients from the well-stocked pantry. \u00a0 The main course mystery basket ingredients were dried Japanese mushrooms, prepared putu pap, pork fillet, and Amarula! \u00a0The dessert mystery basket was a weird one, with koeksisters, red chili, pepe buche goats cheese, and pumpkin seeds.<\/p>\n

Not much of the food preparation was explained, nor the motivation for the ingredients chosen. \u00a0We did see the kitchen ‘blapses’ which one would not normally see in a restaurant, including a restaurant soil of biscuits and the pumpkin seed \u00a0being over-blended, and a blended sauce coming out of the blender! \u00a0After each course the three judges gave feedback, and also spoke during the preparation, but we did not always know which chef or dish they were referring to. \u00a0Disappointing was that we were not shown how the final decision was made by the judges as to who would be chopped per course, even though the viewers and the chef contestants were given feedback about each dish. \u00a0Judge Jenny gave clear feedback, both positive and negative, and is well-spoken. \u00a0Judge David spoke very softly, looked grumpy and nervous most of the time, and very little seemed to please him. Funny was his succinct feedback to Ayanda about his main course: ‘Burnt pap, dead cow’<\/em>! \u00a0 Judge Siba looked beautiful and came across as very supportive, almost too much, \u00a0confusing the audience at times as to whether the dishes were acceptable or not.<\/p>\n

\"Chopped<\/a>Elze Roome was ‘chopped’ after the Starter round; \u00a0Ayanda Khumalo was ‘chopped’ after the Main Course; and Malebo Mapila was ‘chopped’ after the dessert. \u00a0Leanne Galloway (left) was delighted with winning R40000, \u00a0sharing in tears that she would use the money to make her very ill godmother Joan’s\"Chopped<\/a> bucketlist come true. \u00a0Judge Jenny cried too when Leanne was named the winner and she shared how she would use the money, reflecting her empathetic judging style – tough when she needed to be to guide and build the chef contestants, yet soft and gentle in packaging her feedback.<\/p>\n

Chopped SA<\/strong>, Food Network channel 175. \u00a0Wednesdays at 21h00 from 23 July onwards. \u00a0www.choppedsa.co.za<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Twitter: @ChoppedSA<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:\u00a0\u00a0www.whalecottage.com<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having attended the launch of Food Networks’ \u00a0‘Chopped South Africa’ at Jenny Morris’ Chef’s Playground a week ago, we were shown most of the first episode of the programme, so the four contestants for the first episode last night were familiar to us. \u00a0 Feedback on Social Media was varied, Chef Jenny Morris being praised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,22578,124,5794,587,266,20,1590,21],"tags":[2158,26667,26662,240,26661,32409,32378,26663,26496,26666,26500,7747,18536,26506,1461,26668,26665,8616,26501,26490,26664,15941,25638,26498,32395,26497,11356,15907,561,26499,26508,32373],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t