MasterChef South Africa bid a sad, tearful farewell tonight to Sanet Labuschagne (47), the bubbly, larger-than-life financial manager from Boksburg, who failed to impress the judges in her Elimination Challenge with Jason and Tiron in tonight’s episode of the hit cooking series.

For this Elimination Challenge Sanet, Jason Steel and Tiron Eloff had to perfectly replicate a signature dish from one of South Africa’s top chefs: Chef Henry Vigar of La Mouette restaurant in Sea Point, Cape Town. Chef Vigar has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in the U.K., France and Australia, and he explained that his philosophy is to provide “normal people” with a fine dining experience, without them feeling that they’re breaking the bank. Being a chef is about more than hard work and perseverance, he explained, it’s also about having a flair for flavour and a balance of different ingredients and techniques.

The dish that the contestants had to replicate was Chef Vigar’s Salt-and-Pepper Prawns with popcorn, chorizo, sweetcorn purée and shaved radish, and a tamarind dressing. “I’m just in awe!” exclaimed 32-year-old former video store clerk Tiron. “The colours and the seasonality that he’s put on that plate – it’s beautiful!”

Chef Henry carefully explained the intricacies of his dish: “We have salt-and-pepper prawns which are lightly put in milk and then put in the salt-and-pepper flour and deep-fried,” he pointed out. “And you have a sweetcorn purée underneath, a fine dice of chorizo, and a popcorn that’s just been cooked with a little bit of smoked paprika, and then you’ve got some grilled baby corn.”

“The sweetcorn purée is creamy and it is sweet and savoury and … just amazing!” Sanet raved when she tasted the dish. Chef Vigar pointed out the pressure points of the dish: the purée can’t be too loose or too thick, he warned. The dish had to be seasoned properly and the home cooks would have to make sure that their prawns were not over-cooked or under-cooked. “And also today you’re going to be making four portions,” he revealed. “They’ve all got to look identical, and that’s going to be a key factor.”

“If I can do one, I suppose I can do four,” Sanet reckoned. “It’s just focusing and getting my head around it.”

Chef Benny explained that the contestants would be given the recipe and all the ingredients that they needed, and they would have one hour to complete the task. “Maintain composure and I think it’s doable,” said 22-year-old Jason, a student from Johannesburg.

Sanet started off by reading the complicated recipe carefully, to the concern of her friend Joani, up in the gallery. And when she finally did start cooking, Sanet started with the popcorn. “If there was one thing I was going to forget, it was going to be the popcorn!” she explained. But by this time the contestants were already ten minutes into the competition, and in the corner of the kitchen Chef Vigar explained to the MasterChef judges that he would have started with the purée first, and he would also have gotten the fryer going to fry the prawns later because it would take some time to get the oil heated properly. At this point only Tiron had started up his fryer yet.

Halfway through the test Sanet was struggling to get her sweetcorn puréed, wrestling with what she called “the fancy machine” – the blender. “Obviously I have to get the challenge with the fancy machine in it,” she complained. By this time her friends up in the gallery were seriously worried about her. “Sanet doesn’t have her oil on. She doesn’t have the hot grill on,” her friend Herman (34), the electrician from Witbank, pointed out. “She took so long on her corn purée, and she still has to peel her prawns. Half an hour… I don’t think Sanet is going to finish this,” he worried.

To make matters worse Sanet forgot about her tamarind dressing reducing on the stove and it burned, and because she had to make a second batch from the ingredients allocated to her, she didn’t have enough sugar left for the sauce. “I’m not too positive,” she admitted at this stage, near tears. And then, with five minutes to go, the nervous Sanet accidentally touched her very hot deep fryer and dropped her bowl of popcorn on the floor. “Sanet is in a frantic panic and it’s just, for me, an absolute emotional nightmare,” Joani commented sympathetically from the gallery as Sanet desperately started popping fresh popcorn.

When Chef Andrew counted them down to the end of the challenge Sanet broke down and sobbed on her workbench.

Meanwhile, the winner of the Beef Invention Test, Karen, the 35-year-old stay-at-home-mom from Howick, was missing all the drama and happily learning to make ice cream at The Creamery in Cape Town, from the owner herself, Kate Schrire. “I’m very, very fortunate to have had this MasterClass today because that’s going to give me an advantage in the future,” said a wide-eyed Karen as she tucked into her naartjie-and-dark-chocolate homemade ice cream.

Back at the MasterChef kitchen it was time for the contestants to learn their fate. Pete reflected that Sanet had been “at sixes and sevens” towards the end of the challenge, “but you persevered, you got four plates of fancy-schmancy food out,” he told her encouragingly. Jason’s dish didn’t have exactly the same portions as in Chef Henry’s example, Pete said, but his dish was well-balanced and tasty. And although Tiron’s dish wasn’t an exact replica of Chef Henry’s he did present four identical plates, and they were well balanced and proportioned, said Pete.

But one contestant had to go home today and Sanet was understandably emotional when Andrew announced her name. “It’s not the end of the journey. You haven’t seen the last of me,” she sobbed. “I expected MasterChef to be amazing,” Sanet said in her farewell. “I never, never, never expected it to change my life. And it has. It’s been absolutely, absolutely magic!”

Sanet says a sad goodbye to the MasterChef SA kitchen first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Karen Els stormed to the top of the class in the Beef Invention Test while others failed miserably.

It’s been coming for a while now as Karen Els made her mark on the competition wowing the judges with her Spanish inspired creation.

Chef Benny Masekwameng explained to the Top 13 that red meat is the most quintessential of South African ingredients, across all cultures.

His family slaughters for almost every occasion;

But in particular we slaughter a cow for big events like weddings, where it becomes a three-day eating fest, and we use the whole animal.

Pete Goffe-Wood added;

Every piece of the cow awaits you in the pantry today!
If you think you’re going to get away with steak, egg, and chips today you’re sorely mistaken, you’ll go straight to the Pressure Test with that kind of thing.

The Top 13 had 90 minutes available to create a dish with beef as the hero of the plate.

The winner of this challenge would win a personalised MasterClass and the bottom three contestants would go into a Pressure Test and another would leave the MasterChef SA kitchen.

Karen plated up with a Spanish-flavoured Beef Fillet with paprika beef sausage stuffing and Patatas Bravas.

She wanted to do something different and when she saw the paprika in the kitchen she immediately knew what direction she wanted to go in.

She had never made a dish like this before so it did present its own challenges but having such a wonderful array of ingredients to work with she felt inspired.

This dish is essentially meat and potatoes but clearly illustrates that with a few inspirational touches even the simplest of meals can be turned into a masterpiece.

Chef Benny called it magnificent.

Sanet Labuschange came in for some harsh critiscim from the judges for her Meatballs on Cannellini Beans with Spinach and Mushroom and Tomato Sauce.

Sanet had hoped to demonstrate that you can make good food with the contents of a normal pantry at home, but Chef Andrew was not impressed that she simply used tinned cannellini beans and tinned tomatoes.

Chef Andrew said;

I think this dish could have been done in 15, 20 minutes.

While Pete Goffe-Wood did not hold back;

It’s uninspired, it’s dull, and it’s badly made.

Jason Steel also came in for some harsh criticism for his 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.”

His risk 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.”

The third contestant to find himself in the #MCSA Episode 12 Elimination round was Tiron Eloff.

Karen Els makes her move winning her first MasterChef SA challenge. first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Neil Lowe who had impressed in the early rounds and considered by many to be an early favourite has left MasterChef SA kitchen.

Neil, a 40-year-old visual communications consultant from Cape Town who loves molecular gastronomy ended up in the Elimination Round thanks to being on the losing Red Team in the #MCSA Episode 9 Food Truck Pizza Challenge.

This was Neil’s second elimination round after having to endure the experience in #MCSA Episode 6 in which he survived to claim a safe spot, he was not so lucky this time.

First up for Neil and the six other contestants, Jason Steel, Khumo Twala, Sanet Labuschagne, Leandri van der Wat, Karen Els and Joani Mitchell was a spice identification test.

Each of them were presented with several tasting plates and they had to correctly identify two spices or herbs used in each dish.

At each stage whoever correctly identified the correct spices or herbs would be safe until only three were left.

Leandri was the only person to correctly identify the first dish, being garlic and oreganum ensuring her survival in the competition.

The next two to scramble to safety were Joani and Khumo leaving the rest for fighting for one safe spot.

Neil and and Karen both guessed wrong and went into the elimination round leaving Jason and Sanet to battle it out for the last spot with Sanet winning it by correctly identifying both the dried parsley and the cayenne pepper.

The three talented cooks were tasked with replicating one of Chef Pete Goffe-Wood’s signature dishes, pan fried white stumpnose fish fillets with a fennel and saffron risotto and a nicoise salad on the side.

The key to this type of challenge is to replicate it as close as possible and on this occasion they were given the recipe.

The first pressure point in the dish was filleting their own fish and this was where Neil had his first setback with only one being good and the other just acceptable.

It really fell apart when it came to the risotto where he talked a good story but in reality had only made it once before and even then it wasn’t all that good.

What you want with risotto is you want perfectly-formed little grains of rice that have just absorbed the right amount of moisture and flavour
You don’t want to stir it too vigorously and break it.
You don’t want to let it dry out.
You don’t want to add too much liquid at any time so that it becomes soggy

When the judges tasted his dish they immediately zoned in on the risotto.

Pete explained that when you cook risotto “almost paella-style”, not stirring the rice, you run the risk of not releasing the saffron’s colour.

Chef Andrew complained that his portion of fish was slightly overcooked and that Neil’s risotto lacked the depth of flavour of Pete’s version.

Benny thought the dish wasn’t seasoned properly and Pete agreed. “The answer to that is taste, taste, taste, all the time,” he advised Neil.

Neil was rightly devastated, along with many of his fans;

I’m gutted.
Devastated.
So, so disappointed.

It is a sign of things to come as we whittle through the contestents, talented cooks will be going head to head in a battle of survival to become MasterChef.

Neil’s departure opens up an opportunity for the other contestants as he always appeared to be a strong contender but to be a MasterChef you have to be able to see your way through many cooking challenges and in Neil’s case risotto was surprisingly one challenge he could not overcome.

The moral of today’s story is “practice makes perfect risotto”.

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Watch a disappointed Neil Lowe in his exit interview

Shock elimination from MasterChef SA as Neil Lowe, the Science Guy heads for the exit door first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

In one of the most tense MasterChef SA challenges to date the contestants teamed up for the Food Truck Pizza Challenge to be judged by ten of South Africa’s top foodies.

It was the first time this season that the MasterChef hopefuls were split into teams which guarantees some of the early favourites will find themselves in an elimination round.

The very nature of the challenge and random team selection, they drew red or blue out of a dutch oven with only one team winning would result in someone who has thus far avoided an elimination round, thanks to their culinary skill, would now be at the mercy of how well they and their fellow team members perform as a unit.

If you have ever looked inside a restaurant kitchen that is exactly what you will see, a team working together to produce one plate of food, each responsible for a different component.

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On the Red Team; Leandri van der Wat, Jason Steel, Karen Els, Neil Lowe, Joani Mitchell, Sanet Labuschagne and Khumo Twala.

Herman was delighted with his team;

I’m pretty happy about the other people also choosing the Blue Team ’cause we’ve got Kamini which won the first challenge, we’ve got Ozzy which is our spice king, we’ve got Seline which is like, the sugar wizard.
I think we’ve got a very strong team and I think we can win this challenge.

On the Blue Team; Mary Martin, Tiron Eloff, Kamini Pather, Herman Cloete, Amanda Beck, Ozzy Osman and Seline van der Wat.

The fact that the Blue Team has some very strong cooks in it’s line up was not lost on Sanet but this was only going to spur the Red Team on;

I’m in the Red Team, we are so motivated, we’re so excited and because the other team has got the two team challenge winners in we’ve got such a point to prove.
We are so going to win it.

With that the two teams got stuck in to making two pizza’s, a mains and a dessert in some trying conditions.

A truck by it’s very nature is not designed to be a kitchen and conditions in the galley are cramped and claustrophobic, add to that seven cooks, a cameraman, an occasional judge and you’re not left with much room for the elbow grease.

I like small kitchens but they must have clean surfaces and limited wall fittings, a man needs his wing span.

To make matters even more trying once they were outside prepping the pizza’s for the oven the wind picked up, as it does in Cape Town, with Seline getting a smack in the face from a pizza box.

We are always guaranteed a ‘pic of the day’ from Seline, even if it is a little blurry…

The food bloggers had assembled from Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town and was a mini reunion for most.

While the contestants were battling away in the food trucks we were completely oblivious to all the goings on as we sat about 100 meters away next to the sewage works sipping on iced teas and sucking on ice creams.

When we finally got the call we displayed a complete lack of ability to adhere to the directors “direction” with the latter half of the blogging line up failing to sit in the correct spot, hence a slight lack of continuity in terms of the seating arrangements.

What little we understood about “direction” was soon made up when it came to the task at hand, judging the pizzas boxed up by the two teams.

The Red Team was up first with a Crispy Duck & Chorizo Pizza with Caramelised Onions and Aubergine.

The bloggers didn’t agree entirely with the duck, some thought it was a great component and well cooked while others were not to keen on it.

This was down to a lack of consistency in what was served, I would have preferred just the crispy duck skin, some of the slices of meat were too thick and left me chewing on the meat while the rest of the pizza bite had been swallowed.

If pizza ingredients could sing it would be “We all go down together…”.

Fritz Brand was mightily impressed with the duck;

I love the duck, it’s cooked beautifully, it’s nice and soft, it’s not chewy.

Ishay Govender-Ypma was in agreement with Fritz while Aubrey Ncgungama wasn’t;

The duck to me I think is actually just not right, its overcooked for a start.

On the whole it was a good combination of flavours and deserved the praise it received.

Next up was the Blue Team with a Chorizo & Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza with Chanterelle Mushroom Cream.

It was in a word, ‘boring’ with the only saving grace for some being the Chanterelle Mushroom Sauce while the biggest crimes being the size of the pizza and the fact that the base was burnt on some.

The best comment came from Luvo Nteo, Head Sommelier at the One & Only;

I would like to say something quite nice about it but it’s difficult, really.
I’m sorry.

There was one dissenter amongst the bloggers, Candice Le Noury who made it through to boot camp in season one of MasterChef SA, she voted for the Blue Team leaving the score 9-1 to Red after the first pizza.

Next up was the dessert pizza the concept of which tends to leave many people with a funny look on their face.

Dessert pizza’s are delicious as long as you get your priorities right, they are first and foremost a dessert and a pizza second, it is simply a delivery format.

What I found lacking on both teams pizzas was the amount of fruit, they had designed it to look like a pizza which meant a far too spacious arrangement when it came to the most valuable components.

With one bite I would have a piece of fruit and the next a mouthful of ganache, my view on this subject is to have more fruit if that is in fact the main component.

You wouldn’t expect a mouthful of fruit tart to simply consist of the base would you?

The Red Team presented a Creme Fraiche with Stone Fruit Pizza with Thyme infused white chocolate ganache.

The chocolate was burnt and let the entire pizza down, no other component could make up for this fatal error.

The moral of this story is spread the chocolate ganache on afterwards, it simply will not work if you put your pizza in a 400°C oven with chocolate spread on.

The Blue Team under severe pressure and somewhat deflated energy still managed to pull together and served up a magnificent Tiramisu Pizza with a Trio of Ganache, Creme Fraiche, Basil Coulis and Spun Sugar.

The Basil Coulis was a triumph which when we first read the menu left some of us concerned.

Once we tasted it however it pulled all the flavours on the dessert pizza together and lingered for a little while leaving everyone with a memorable food moment that will not be forgotten.

The Blue Team pulled back with a perfect 10 out of 10 to win 11-9 and send the Red Team into the #MCSA Episode 10 Elimination Round.

Neil Lowe, Leandri van der Wat and Sanet Labuschange have all been there before and this time will be joined by fellow team mates, Jason Steel, Joani Micthell and Karen Els.

The moral of the story is that with virtual unanimity in the food bloggers voting pattern they all know what they’re talking about, a triumph for South African bloggers.

Subscribe to our MasterChef SA Newsletter for all the latest news or follow us on Twitter and Facebook, a little to the right and up a bit.

Images courtesy MasterChef SA

Biggest comeback ever on MasterChef SA as the basil coulis takes it for the Blue Team. first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Tonight on MasterChef SA another will leave the kitchen as six contestants, including the sisters, go head to head in a battle for survival.

The fight for survival sees some familiar faces in Mary Martin, Tumi Moche and Seline van der Wat make their second appearances in only the second elimination round.

This time they are joined by Amanda Beck, Sanet Labuschagne and to raise the stakes even higher Seline’s sister, Leandri van der Wat.

We don’t know much about what awaits them other than they will have to use the most important weapon a chef has, his senses!

This we suspect means there will be an “identify the ingredient” challenge lined up for them.

They should not worry too much as last years winner Deena Naidoo was awful at these types of challenges.

MasterChef Episode 8 Preview, time to use your senses! first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

The Top 16 MasterChef SA Finalists arrive at the MasterChef kitchen in Paarl for the very first time.

The finalists will be faced with an invention challenge and Pete Goffe-Wood warned them all that they need to put their “heart and soul into every challenge” thrown at them.

The show has been an unrivalled success thus far way surpassing expectations and last seasons show on a couple of levels.

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The first and most important is the culinary quality of the contestants that have been competing over the first four episodes with some talented cooks having to forgo their dreams of pursuing a career in food via the MasterChef kitchen and find another route.

There have been a couple exceptions when it came to culinary expertise, most notably Donovan presenting the judges with the worst dish in the history or MasterChef anywhere in the world… cigarette tobacco smoked chicken!

Poor Donavan explained that it was a technique that he’d seen somewhere…

Where? On a 1970′s Marlboro Man advert, sitting smoking his beans with his cigarette?

It tasted like… you guessed it… cigarettes!

Read more: How smoke meat on a braai.

The worst MasterChef dish ever… Cigarette tobacco smoked chicken

Some early departures may opt to return like Joani Mitchell has or find success by other means like Anel Potgeiter who after getting over the disappointment of bowing out at the boot camp stage in season one started her own blog, Life is a Zoo Biscuit and later that year won Dinner Divas, a television cooking competition for food bloggers.

Watch the full first season of Dinner Divas

Anel’s career in food has continued to blossom and those who did not make it on MasterChef SA this year should take note that all is not lost.

The Top 16 present us with an array of characters, we have Neil Lowe the “Science Guy” who has impressed all three judges, Andrew Atkinson in particular, with his food knowledge and ability to bring ingredients together in a way that reveals his understanding of them.

Tiron Eloff, the “Crying Guy”, who at every opportunity has shed a tear (not that he’s been the only one) has also impressed the judges as the video store clerk persues his dream of finding a career in food.

Many of the men on MasterChef SA this year have been guilty of ‘un-manly’ expressions of emoticons :’(

I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with guys crying, it’s just that we’d like to see a lot less of it even if it is creating a stir on twitter.

The show does have an offering for the “boy’s don’t cry” brigade in Seline van der Wat who is not only intelligent, caring and gorgeous but at times delightfully nutty, especially when things aren’t going her way, like using a little black magic to make sugar caramelise.

More drama from Seline during the breakfast challenge

She is accompanied by her beautiful younger sister Leandri van der Wat who keeps an eye on Seline and on occasion makes little excuses for her sisters behaviour.

Having the sisters on the show adds an extra special dimension as they will do absolutely anything for each other and are delighted to be sharing the journey… up to a point.

I have two sisters and I know that while loving and caring for each other is one thing, it’s not going to prevent a blow out at some stage and one we hope will be caught on camera

Click to view the full contestant gallery

Then we have Sanet Labuschagne who is one of the finest role models a person could have, who after 24 years of raising a family is doing this for herself and boy is she doing it.

She’s not only impressing the judges but she’s impressing herself too, amazed at some of the quality of the food she is putting out.

Sanet is definitely an early favourite for the title, inspiring many others in South Africa to pursue their dream at the same time.

Karen Els is another mother doing it for herself and having scraped through the early rounds is no doubt determined to make a full go of it.

Kamini Pather has also impressed, she has a steely, knowledgeable determination about her and regardless of whether she makes it through to the finals or departs this week she is going to be a famous foodie.

The second big change this year has been with the judges, Pete Goffe-Wood, Andrew Atkinson and Benny Masekwameng.

All three have had the advantage of hitting the ground running, they know exactly who they are on the show and have not needed any time to acclimatise.

Most importantly they have stopped dressing Andrew Atkinson as Mr Min and expertly avoided shots of him inspecting polished surfaces or polishing his buttons.

Andrew Atkinson inspecting the surfaces

Not everyone is going to get a mention here so if you’re a contestant, chill out, there’s plenty of cooking to do and Gourmet Guys has its eye on all of you.

For all the contestant profiles click here

Stay up to date with all the latest MasterChef SA news by subscribing to our MasterChef Newsletter and follow Gourmet Guys on Facebook and Twitter… a little to your right…

MasterChef SA Episode 5 Preview. It’s heart and soul time! first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Sanet Labuschagne wowed the MasterChef SA judges with her Corn Flapjacks Recipe with some bacon, salsa and asparagus thrown in for good measure at the Mealie Challenge.

Sanet Labuschagne’s Corn Flapjacks with Bacon, Salsa and Asparagus

Sanet described the whole experience as very nerve racking as she tried to get to grips with the task at hand.

When it came to tasting her dish the judges did not help either as they commented on how many fritters had crossed the tasting table already with Pete saying;

Sanet, let me guess… more corn fritters

“Bootcamp brunch” was her reply which brought a smile to Pete’s face.

Sanet danced a little jig while Pete tucked in with his verdict being;

Its a crazy, wild, colourful plate, much like yourself. Its a great plate of food.

Sanet was in the second group of ten to go through.

And now its fabulous.

More: MasterChef SA Recipes | Sanet Labuschagne Recipes

Corn Flapjacks Recipe with Bacon, Salsa and Asparagus | Sanet Labuschagne first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

SANET LABUSCHANGE
AGE: 46
CITY: Boksburg, JHB
OCCUPATION: Mom, Financial Manager

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Sanet is crazy for food. Now that her kids are grown up, she considers it “her time” and has decided to finally follow her passion for food.

Sanet has a bubbly, big personality and what you see is what you get, with her bright purple hair and flamboyant personality,

Along with that big personality comes confidence which was justified by making it into the Top 16 on MasterChef SA.

I’m confident, I’m confident in my food, I’m confident in my palate, I cook the food that my friends and family love to eat.

For the hot audition she made a chicken breast fillet cooked in a port and porcini sauce served on a risotto.

She hoped the judges would see her personality in the dish, “the sauce is bold and brash and in your face”.

I’m a Mom and I’m loveable and I’m kind and I’m friendly and I’m actually quite a darling. That’s what my food is about.

Sanet views MasterChef SA as something she had to do, it is her time and place, she has devoted 24 years to her family and now it’s her time. This is something that will no doubt resonate with many viewers and bound to make her a firm favourite.

Her hair colour has drawn quite a lot of attention but this in not something that she has done especially for the show, it has been that colour for over a year, it is the colour of her birthstone, the colour of royalty and the colour of luck.

Despite all the confidence Sanet shed a little tear while Andrew was tasting her food but this was driven by the overwhelming pressure and her drive to succeed.

When Andrew asked why she was crying Sanet said;

Its just emotion, I think its the whole day and having my food judged. I know its good, I know I’m a good cook, I know it’s a good dish.
It’s just having it right on the day, just everything right on this…

Andrew asked if she wants this badly?

Oh my goodness, ja.

Pete said there was enough skill there for him to want to see more, Benny played it out with a sigh saying it’s a very flavourful dish that said a lot about her and it’s a big yes.

With that she was through to boot camp.

Sanet proved to herself that she is more than “just a home cook” when she excelled in the Big breakfast challenge, and ultimately made it into the Top 16.

Tweets by @ZanLabz

Sanet Labuschagne | MasterChef SA Profile first appeared first on Gourmet Guys