“Every piece of the cow awaits you in the pantry today!” Chef Pete Goffe-Wood told the Top 13.
The challenge: To create a dish with beef as the hero of the plate.
Time: 90 minutes
There were some great ideas, a Cajun-style beef wellington from Seline and a tea smoked fillet from her sister Leandri with a chocolate sauce.
Amanda’s idea was a Chinese boerewors dumpling and 22-year-old Cape Town student Jason told Andrew he was making a trio of beef with grilled beef fillet, deep-fried tongue strips and braised shin.
Andrew was immediately worried that the shin meat would not braise tender in the allotted time but “this is MasterChef,” Jason commented bravely, “so the greater the risk, the greater the reward.”
Risks backfired
Jason’s risks backfired badly when it came to the tasting. “You know how long it takes to braise shin?” Pete demanded sternly. “Two-and-a-half hours. This is going to cost you big-time,” he berated Jason, “because this is inedible.”
Tears
Purple-haired Sanet’s dish also did not make the grade. Andrew commented, “I think this dish could have been done in 15, 20 minutes,”. “It’s uninspired, it’s dull, and it’s badly made,” said Pete, reducing Sanet to tears. “They absolutely slated it,” she cried. “I’m absolutely mortified!”
Coming out tops
Top dishes were Karen with her Spanish stuffed fillet and Kamini with her amazing beef croquettes. Ozzie did well with his pickled ox tongue and Amanda’s boerewors wontons made a good impression.
Winner of the Invention Test: 35-year-old stay-at-home mom from Howick, Karen, with her Spanish-flavoured Beef Fillet with paprika beef sausage stuffing and Patatas Bravas, which Chef Pete called “magnificent”.
She won an ice cream MasterClass at The Creamery in Cape Town. “They are the experts in the art of making ice cream and it’s an advantage that will set you well in the competition,” Pete told her.
“I am very, very happy. You’re not going to get the smile off my face today!” she grinned happily.
But Jason, Tiron and Sanet were heading into a Pressure Test. “You’re going to have to dig deep if you really, really want to stay in this MasterChef kitchen” Andrew told them. “If you want to be South Africa’s next MasterChef you’re going to have to pull out all the stops and do each challenge to the best of your ability at that moment,” he said.
Good luck for tonight guys!
Whose dish did you like the best?