As the three contestants walked into the kitchen this week for their Pressure Test, Sipho immediately noticed that this would be something completely different.
The challenge
The mystery was explained when judges Pete Goffe-Wood, Reuben Riffel and Benny Masekwameng introduced a very special guest for the challenge, Swedish superchef Niklas Ekstedt, who only ever cooks over an open fire. “It’s old, ancient Scandinavian cooking techniques – that’s what it’s all about,” he explained.
The judges explained that for their Pressure Test Ndumiso, Claire and Sipho would have to replicate Chef Niklas’s langoustine dish with tomato concassé, lightly smoked avocado, and dill, by cooking over an open fire!
Judgement time
Claire was up first to have her version of Chef Niklas’s langoustine dish judged. “I think they’re overcooked and they’re not a hundred percent clean and beautiful,” she worried. Chef Niklas agreed that he would not have served her dish to his customers, but “I think you will become a great chef one day,” he complimented her nevertheless. “It’s the best compliment ever!” Claire beamed.
Sipho was worried about her broth, but Pete and Reuben thought that was the best part of her whole dish. “I can tell that you can cook,” Chef Niklas told her. “You just need to become a chef.”
Ndumiso’s struggle
And last to present was a very nervous Ndumiso. “What I’ve produced tells a struggle story,” he sighed. Chef Niklas admitted that there were small details in Ndumiso’s dish that irritated him, like the avocado that was supposed to be divided into quarters that Ndumiso had sliced instead. But the broth was better than he expected, he allowed.
Nevertheless, when the verdict came it was Ndumiso who had to hang up his apron.
We’re hate to pick favourites but there was a collective sigh of relief from the Food24 team to see that Sipho stays in the MasterChef kitchen!
Catch MasterChef South Africa on M-Net Channel 101 every Thursday evening at 7.30pm.