If there’s one team that’s riding its luck on Ultimate Braai Master it’s the Boerie Brothers who contested their fourth elimination challenge out of five.

It was Collin du Plessis who assumed team leadership for the Gourmet Boerewors and Burger challenge in which they chose the wrong cut of meat (rump) for their boerewors which ultimately sent them into the elimination rounds.

They were thrown a life line with a preliminary challenge at Panyaza in Soweto where the three braai masters of Boerie Brothers, Mojo and Ying Yang were to braai it out with the winner escaping the final elimination challenge.

Tendai “The Beast” Matawarira was a very hungry guest judge for the challenge in which they had to braai for Panyaza’s customers and serve up a platter of food for the judges to rule the roost over.

It was a very hot kitchen to work in and the braai masters were under extreme pressure to produce the perfect plate of food which included steak, chicken and boerewors.

Mojo’s meat was pretty well cooked, the boerie was moist, the chicken perfect

Ying Yang were short on the boerewors and “The Beast” battled with their steak, it was a bit too tough for him… never thought I’d hear that from the man.

Collin’s meat was a bit dry but on the whole he did a good job.

The question however was not which was the worst but which was the best and that honour went to Ashok Naidoo of Mojo with all three judges voting in favour of him.

Boerie Brothers headed into their fourth elimination challenge going up against Ying Yang who have struggled to maintain the pace thus far in the competition battling to find the right balance in their performances.

It was a bit of a drive as they headed south to the Black Mountain Hotel at Thaba Nchu in the Free State where the challenge was to prepare three braai salads; one with butternut, one with beans and the third with pad thai noodles.

Visually the Boerie Brothers impressed Bertus Basson and Marthinus Ferreira said that they had thought their salads through properly.

They presented the judges with an asparagus, corn and honey butternut salad, a mixed veg, honey and noodle salad and a six bean mayo salad which Bertus called a proper broad bean salad.

Ying Yang served up a cashew nut & butternut salad, a pad thai noodle salad and a curry bean salad.

It was the Boerie Brothers who somehow managed to escape elimination once again leaving Shaun and Samantha of Ying Yang to part company with the show leaving 8 teams left in the battle to find South Africa’s Ultimate Braai Master.

Boerie Brothers survive another elimination challenge while Ying Yang falter. first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

It as a tough days fishing for Shaun Cavanagh as he returned to shore without reeling in a SASSI Green List Tuna and incurred a ten minute cooking time penalty.

The Braai Masters had earlier in the day headed out to sea to catch tuna, one of the species found on the SASSI Green List. Team Spectacular caught the biggest fish of the day and earned safe passage through to the next episode of Ultimate Braai Master.

As for Ying Yang while they were allowed to head for the pantry with the rest of the teams in their group they were not allowed to start prepping until the 10 minute time penalty had lapsed.

This all seemed to work in Ying Yang’s favour as in the previous challenge they had battled with their organisation and time keeping, it would appear that stripping a few minutes off their allocated time gets them into gear leaving them less time to start faffing around.

They plated you with a fish curry and a sesame seed tuna with their very own Ying Yang sauce.

Bertus Basson liked the flavour but was disappointed that they did not show the fish off better.

This time round they received no special mentions good or bad at judgement time, the best team from the group was West Coast Bros and they received all the plaudit while the two teams that headed into the elimination round were Kasi Guys and eventual losers Quince Cooks.

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Ying Yang survive 10 minute time penalty first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Ying Yang committed the greatest cardinal sin in the first episode of Ultimate Braai Master, no seasoning with salt on their food.

Shaun Cavanagh and Samantha van Niekerk tried out for Ultimate Braai Master last year but failed to make the grade and they’re going to have to get the basics right and get more organised especially with time management if they are going to progress much further on the show.

They lacked organisation and this was obvious to the judges with Marthinus noticing that they along with eventual losers Darkies Unleashed had hardly any food coming out when it should have been.

They went with pork sausage, Springbok loin and the pineapple and custard dessert.

A clearly indignant Bertus Basson simply said “no salt” and was quickly followed by a forlon Marthinus, “not a single drop of salt”.

The group as a whole was very week and they all came in for some tough words from the judges but it was Darkies Unnleashed who were the worst and went into the elimination challenge.

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Ying Yang forget the salt! What? Ultimate Crimes! first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

YING YANG

BRAAI MASTER: Shaun Cavanagh, aged 34 – programmer from Pretoria, Gauteng

BRAAI BUDDY:  Samantha van Niekerk, aged 26 – receptionist from Pretoria, Gauteng

RELATIONSHIP: Engaged

FACEBOOK: Ying Yang

STAY IN TOUCH: Ultimate Braai Master Newsletter | RSS

Last year the couple entered Ultimate Braai Master, made it to the second challenge, but say the ‘wheels fell off’ on that day. They were invited to enter again, and decided that it has to be a sign. Looks like they were right!

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Ultimate Braai Master premiers on SABC 3 on Wednesday 18 September at 8.30pm

Ying Yang | Team Profile first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

The final round of Ultimate Braai Master auditions got under way at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg over the weekend.

This time however there was something a little different about them… a Gourmet Guy was around as a guest judge for the audition phase.

It is not surprising that the producers call on an array of people to help with this part of the process, 60 teams lined up on Saturday with as many as three courses on offer. Far too much for Bertus Basson and Marthinus Ferreira to handle.

The judges were assembled into groups of four with my compatriots being restaurateurs Martin Venter, Local Grill, Dillon du Plessis, Burnside Cafe and some Gal Power provided by season one’s Top Five Braai Buddy, Lethu Ncengwa.

Others in the star studded judging cast included Season One Winner, Laertes ‘Tubby’ Melidonis, Luca from the very popular Luca’s in Sunginhill, Braaiboy – Gareth Daniell and an array of professional chefs including Dallas Orr and Coco Reinharz.

Many of the contestants had been preparing since 6am to get ready for the first round of judging which commenced at 11:45am which considering some of the braai contraptions seen at the auditions was essential.

Judging the first table is always a difficult challenge as this is the benchmark against which all other meals will be judged and extra care was taken to ensure that each aspect of the meal is judged appropriately. What makes it even more important is that all the judges where informed that the first meals they taste will generally be the best. They were the people who were up the earliest and put the most work into getting everything perfect.

They were not wrong, as the judges passed from table to table the food generally got worse.

When I say worse it was not that the food was inedible (apart from the camel kebab) but mostly poorly thought out, under-seasoned and in some cases under/over cooked. Many of the competitors over complicated their dishes and did things that were totally unnecessary like marinade a beautiful rack of lamb in balsamic vinegar overnight… Why???

Perfect tortilla made on the braai with a little feminine flair.

Those who shone however really did shine brightly and for me it was the Diamond Divas who stood out head and shoulders above the rest of the meals we tasted that day. They displayed knowledge, skill, innovation and most of all confidence in what they were presenting, no doubt fostered by the preceding three qualities.

They made it through to day 2 of the audition process along with 14 other talented Braai Masters. How they performed the next day in the pressure test we do not know. The second day is a tough challenge and seeing as we did not get to taste everybody’s food we’re not quite sure how our favourites would stack up against the rest. We don’t have long to wait as the finalists are due to be announced on Friday 5th April.

The Diamond Divas get to meet Justin Bonello.

The teams that made it through to day 2 are:
1. Bravo Echo ta From Scratch
2. The Plot Rots
3. Blus
4. Ying Yang
5. Bare Grills
6. Darkies Unleashed
7. Diamond Divas
8. Simply Sisters
9. Team Spectacular
10. Kasi Guys
11. Sprigs & Sprouts
12. Hot Coals
13. Sumting Fresh
14. Mojo

Ultimate Braai Master will air on SABC 3 in September 2013.

Ultimate Braai Master wrap up the audition phase in Jo’burg. first appeared first on Gourmet Guys