Press Release
Francois is out, Ian gains immunity and it’s time to travel
Episode 12
In Thursday night's episode of MasterChef SA, Capetonian musician Francois Zietsman (22) had to hang up his apron after losing out to Durban teacher Penny (31) in a 40-minute blitz-challenge to produce a MasterChef-worthy dinner using only the ordinary type of ingredients that you would typically find in any household fridge.
Benny Masekwameng explained that 40 minutes is the average time it takes most people to prepare dinner, but Francois wasn’t convinced. “What can you make in forty minutes?” he worried. “I just pictured myself making a normal dish ... if I’m late for something, you know ... make it quick and flavourful.”
Penny wanted to cook something Asian but the ingredients in her fridge didn’t allow for that, so she explained to Reuben Riffel that she would make some spicy meatball wraps and a salsa, and a tzatziki on the side.
The judges were a bit worried that she might not have enough time to cook tortilla wraps from scratch in only forty minutes, but privately Penny was more concerned about her plating skills. “I’m not fantastic at plating,” she confessed.
Francois, meanwhile, told Benny he was planning grilled lamb chops with herbed potatoes and a carrot purée, accompanied by a tomato-and-corn salsa. With only 40 minutes to prepare his dish Francois unveiled a little trick to peel tomatoes in a hurry: “blowtorch the skin and then it comes off easily under running water!” he laughed.
Penny was up first to be judged on her spicy meatball wrap with raita and salsa, which Benny thought was a flavourful dish. “You made a really fabulous meatball,” Reuben agreed, but Pete Goffe-Wood pointed out that it was still a relatively simple dish. “We saw what Francois was up to. He’s a great cook as well, he worked like a demon, as did you,” Pete told Penny. “We’ll have to wait and see...”
But in the end Francois had run into trouble with his carrot purée. “A purée has to have the right texture. Unfortunately you didn’t cook the carrots long enough,” Reuben explained.
The end result was “incredibly close”, Reuben revealed, and he encouraged Francois to keep cooking as the judges bid him a fond farewell.
“MasterChef is an awesome experience. It makes you dream, you know? It makes you go forward,” said an emotional Francois. “I am going to begin a journey of food and keep on with it. Definitely.”
Earlier that day, the winning Red team in last week’s wine pairing challenge at Nederburg - advertising consultant Ian (49) and domestic worker Siphokazi (38) - had won a “Mystery Reward” at chef Luke Dale Roberts’s Pot Luck Club in Cape Town’s trendy Old Biscuit Mill Centre, which turned out to be a battle for this season’s only Immunity Pin.
Reuben was there to explain that this would be a straight “like-for-like” challenge - “whichever one of you will be able to copy Chef Luke’s dish the best will win this Immunity Pin,” he said.
“You know, I thought we were coming here to have a feast - now we’ve got to serve the master his own goods!” Ian quipped nervously.
And he was right to be nervous as Chef Luke lifted the cloche to reveal braised pork belly with a miso and soy glaze, which he served with a Chinese steamed bun, crispy pork skin, salt-cured apple and julienned vegetables. “It’s quite a simple dish,” he announced disingenuously, “but yeah, there’s definitely a few places there where things can go wrong!”
“That bun – it’s quite intimidating. It’s the most difficult thing for me to make,” Sipho worried. But in the end it was the pork belly that tripped her up when Sipho ended up burning her pork in the pressure cooker. And so Ian became the only contestant this season with the advantage of being able to bow out of any future Pressure Test.
And, as if those weren’t already enough shocks, Pete had one more surprise for the Top 7 at the end of a tense day when everyone was back in the kitchen after the Pressure Test: “The fact of the matter is that today,
all of you will be leaving the MasterChef kitchen,” he announced ominously, as he sent them into the Tsogo Sun lounge area.
The contestants’ dubious expressions quickly turned to elation and tears of joy as they were greeted by suitcases and travel booklets. They quickly suspected that the infamous overseas trip was upon them and Benny confirmed this by announcing that everyone would be jetting off to the tropical paradise of Mauritius.
MasterChef South Africa is broadcast on M-Net (Channel 101) every Thursday evening at 19:30.