Another day in the MasterChef SA kitchen saw the contestants waking up to no milk for their coffee.
“The first thing that pops into my mind is we’re going to milk cows!” laughed Mary (30), a professional dancer from Johannesburg.
The dairy invention test
Chef Benny Masakwameng explained that the pantry held all sorts of dairy – cream, milk, cheese and yoghurt.
Challenge: Make 1 plate where dairy is the hero of the dish.
Time: 60 minutes to cook, 10 minutes in the pantry.
Not much time at all!
In all the flurry, Khumo forgot the eggs for her mousse and Amanda the oil for her samoosas. Drama!
Flopped
Khumo’s dish did not work out and her chocolate mousse without the eggs flopped. ‘When something goes wrong
it goes way, way wrong. This is just not good enough,’ Pete told Khumo sternly.
Poor old Ozzy’s pannacotta turned out to be more of a ‘panna puddle’ and his baklava didn’t cook properly as he’s layered it too thickly. Í was really upset with myself’, Ozzy said sadly.
Shining dishes
Pete thought Seline’s Earl Grey tea panna cotta with ‘drunk cherries’ was the best dish she had presented so far in the competition and the judges also raved over 29-year-old Cape Town food blogger Kamini’s Mixed Spice and cinnamon panna cotta with deconstructed apple-and-pancetta crumble. “The panna cotta, light … creamy … Then you get the smokiness of the pancetta … the sweetness of the apple and the crunch … that soothing, sweet, but still lots of flavour in that sauce …” Benny swooned, and Pete just flat-out declared it to be the best plate of food that they had tasted in the whole competition.
Kamini wins
With that triumph Kamini once again emerged the winner and she won the privilege of choosing her team for the next Team Challenge.
But for Herman, Mary, Khumo, Ozzy and Amanda the day ended with the spectre of another Elimination Challenge looking over them. ‘I never want to feel like this ever again,’ Ozzy admitted. ‘I want to be at the top of the class.’
Watch tomorrow for the nail-biting elimination challenge with none other than top chef David Higgs!