Press Release
A Taste of Nostalgia and an unprecedented surprise
Episode 4
After two grueling days of MasterChef SA Season 3 Boot Camp, the Top 12 finally walked through those iconic doors into the MasterChef kitchen on the picturesque Nederburg wine estate last night [4 September], and it was a big moment for all of them.
“I feel emotional,” service consultant Refilwe (36) from Carltonville admitted. “I never thought something like this would happen to me.” Roxi (26), the train driver assistant from Durban, was equally overwhelmed. “It’s like a dream,” she breathed. “But I also feel so humbled at the same time because so many people wanted to be here.”
As events company owner Claire (27) from Cape Town noted wryly: “It’s not TV-land anymore. It’s actually real.”
But they came back down to earth very quickly when MasterChef judges Reuben Riffel, Benny Masekwameng and Pete Goffe-Wood announced that their first challenge in the MasterChef kitchen would be a Mystery Box.
If that wasn’t enough to get the contestants’ blood pumping, Benny then explained that the winner of the Mystery Box would be whisked off to Ireland for lunch with world famous Irish chef Kevin Thornton at the Fitzwilliam Hotel in Dublin. And for the three contestants with the least impressive dishes, a Pressure Test loomed.
The Top 12’s first Mystery Box challenge was themed around iconic South African products. “And iconic South African food needs an iconic South African wine,” Benny pointed out. So whatever dishes the Top 12 concocted with their Mystery Box ingredients had to be paired harmoniously with the Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve Pinotage, he announced.
As the contestants opened their Mystery Boxes the judges called out some of the ingredients and products they could see: some Mrs Balls chutney, some Oros orange squash, butternut, peanut butter, Peck’s anchovette, Ouma rusks, and Melrose cheese wedges, and it reminded Durban teacher Penny (31) how homesick she used to get on her travels.
“I grew up with my mom, who bakes, and my father’s side is Mauritian,” she explained. “I’ve traveled quite a bit. I really enjoy Asian food in general, particularly Thai and Vietnamese, lots of fresh flavours ...” Penny decided to do something with the iconic tinned pilchards. “I love pilchards,” she smiled. “I just think it is typically what I would eat at home, especially at the end of the month!”
But fellow Durbanite Roxi was intimidated by the proteins on offer and decided to stick with something sweet: “a peanut butter crème pat,” she announced, “with, like, caramelised butternut purée on top ...”
Cape Town musician Francois (22) was inspired by nostalgia to make an ostrich fillet crusted with crushed Ouma rusks, and Durban mobile bar owner Ndumiso (28) was also reminded of his grandma’s house. “We’d wake up in the morning and have coffee and rusks,” he remembered. “But then there’s spinach! And pilchards! You know? That throws me off a bit.”
Ndumiso described himself as an entrepreneur in the mobile bar services business. “My food philosophy is to really incorporate just the perfect food that goes with the perfect drinks,” he said. “I’m very competitive. It’s just I need to focus more and I know I need to put in the work, so I’m ready, and I hope everyone else is, because I’m coming!”
Ndumiso eventually decided to attempt ostrich stew and butternut mash, complimented with mielie meal. “I’m really, really just thinking, ‘what am I doing here’?” he sighed.
Mel, the 25-year-old lodge manager from Vaalwater, was inspired by thoughts of Italy and started on a butternut gnocchi made from the processed cheese, with meatballs made from the boerewors meat, while Phila (33), a Johannesburg IT specialist, planned ostrich fillet with mustard and a peppercorn crust, to be served with a red wine and Oros reduction.
Abigail (38), the dental technologist from Cape Town, revealed to Chef Benny that she was cooking “pap en wors”! But she clarified that the pap would be made with Maltabella and butternut, and that she would incorporate the red wine with the boerewors, fried in some onion.
Meanwhile Philippa (48), a life skills lecturer from Johannesburg, explained her food dream. “I want to take my teaching and my passion for food and bring them together and create something that improves both my life and the lives of people around me in South Africa,” she said. Philippa’s plan for the Mystery Box was a boerewors pie.
At the end of their first Mystery Box challenge Siphokazi (38), a domestic worker from Cape Town, was up first to present her dish to the judges for tasting. She was feeling confident, even though she’d never even tasted ostrich before – not even while preparing her dish of Ostrich Fillet with sweetcorn parcels and pinotage jus. So Pete invited her to have a taste with him. “Not bad, huh?” he teased.
Ian (49) an advertising consultant from Cape Town, presented pan-fried Ostrich Fillet with spinach, sweetcorn and butternut chips, which even he felt wouldn’t be enough to win him a trip to Ireland. “I would say ‘almost there’,” was Reuben’s judgment.
But they raved over Roxi’s Butternut and Peanut Butter Tart with chocolate pinotage syrup. “Butternut ... chocolate ... red wine ... There’s no ways that works together. No chance in hell that’s ever going to be tasty,” Pete noted. “But what do you do? It’s fantastic. It is magnificent. It really is unbelievably tasty.”
The same could not be said for Ndumiso’s Ostrich Stew with vegetables, unfortunately. “I mean, anyone can do this,” Reuben complained. “Anyone can cook a mielie and a butternut and cook spinach like that. That’s not really MasterChef.”
He was much happier with Penny’s Tempura and Curried Pilchards with sweetcorn chutney and butternut bhaji. “Man, I tell you – it could be better than my mom’s pilchards!” he smiled happily.
Unfortunately the judges found the gnocchi in Mel’s Butternut Gnocchi and Wors with butternut crumble and pinotage sauce a bit floury and tough, but they loved Abigail’s Butternut Pap And Wors with creamed spinach and pinotage sauce. “A very clever idea for using Maltabella,” said Benny. “This all comes together. You gave us a truly South African taste.”
The ostrich was overcooked in Francois’s Ostrich Fillet and Wors Cubes dish with vegetables and pinotage jus, but he was okay with that. “If I’m in the pressure test I wouldn’t be scared because I actually want to try it out!” he laughed.
The same was true of Phila’s Ostrich Fillet with vegetables and pinotage reduction, and the filling was a bit dry in Philippa’s Wors Pie, which she served with fried butternut and sweetcorn salad.
Refilwe was very confident about her Butternut With Wors Stew Filling and flatbread and béchamel sauce, but unfortunately Reuben thought adding butternut into the béchamel was overkill, since the wors stew was already being served inside a butternut.
And last to present was Claire, who said she was proud of the way her Ostrich Fillet and Vegetable Platter with sweetcorn fritters and béchamel sauce looked. “And I know it tastes good,” she said. “I’m just hoping that the judges are happy.” But unfortunately, even though he liked the sauce and the way she cooked the ostrich and the butternut, Benny though the fritter was heavy and doughy, and just way too starchy.
Penny, Roxi and Siphokazi were singled out for special praise by the judges, but the winner of the first challenge and the trip to Dublin was Roxi, with her inspired peanut butter tartlet. “I’ve never gone overseas so I’m so excited!” she squealed. “It’s really going to boost my confidence even more now further into my MasterChef journey.”
The three cooks with the worst dishes of the day were Ndumiso, Phila and Mel, and they now face the first Pressure Test of the season next week.
“A bad day in the kitchen here could be your way back home,” Ndumiso noted wryly. “Today I didn’t perform well,” a disappointed Mel admitted. “Tomorrow will be my way of showing I do deserve my place.”