Cooking an egg might sound easy, but on MasterChef South Africa, an egg is never just an egg. In this week’s double-yolk episode, packed with egg puns, the humble pantry staple had the Top 9 contestants scrambling. Unfortunately, it proved to be a crack too far for the show’s beloved “Spice King”. After serving up many splendid dishes throughout the season, calm and collected HR Manager Keith Reddy, originally from Durban and now living in Boksburg, was eliminated after two poached-egg mishaps.
The instructions for the first of the two challenges left the MasterChef South Africa contestants shell-shocked. Instead of focusing on flavour, it was all about skill, precision and speed. They each received six eggs – and six eggs only – to cook one perfectly poached egg, one perfectly boiled jammy egg and a simple two-fold omelette, all within an unbelievably tight ten minutes.
The pressure was on as the three with the best executions would go to the gantry and sit out the upcoming elimination challenge. Adding to the “egg-xiety”, they would only know whether it was a hit or a miss when the judges cut into the three eggs. Nobody wanted to present eggs that were too hard, runny, gooey or rubbery.
The results were sunny-side up to the gantry for Jeshen, Nkululekho and Candice, marking Candice’s first visit to the safety zone. Notably, Shoki’s eggs were a mess, while Keith disappointed by serving an overcooked poached egg.
In the second challenge of the day, where the least successful cooks from the first round faced elimination, flavour and creativity were back on the menu. The contestants had access to an open pantry stocked with a variety of beautiful eggs, ranging from ostrich and duck eggs to quail and the ever-popular chicken eggs.
Within 60 minutes, they had to celebrate one or more of the many wonders of eggs, such as their taste and their ability to act as an emulsifier, a binder, or a raising agent.
Although the egg did not have to be visible, Keith wanted to redeem himself after his previous poached-egg fail. Banking on his ability to create spicy sensations, he bravely decided to hero a poached egg in his take on South African Indian chutney, giving it a Sashuka-style twist.
When Judge Zola Nene visited Keith’s workstation, she was concerned that his poached egg might have swung too far in the opposite direction – from overcooked to undercooked. Keith swiftly returned it to the water and, when the clock stopped, believed it was perfectly poached and soft to the touch.
But it wasn’t.
At the tasting table, Zola explained: “There is a fine line between a wonderful, oozy egg and a raw one.”
Keith’s was raw. And that’s a deadly sin in the MasterChef kitchen – one even his exquisite flatbread and tomato gravy could not save.
While Keith’s redemption dish fell short, Shoki bounced back from her first-round egg disaster, despite several glitches during the second cook, including a bewildering battle with the blender and a genuine fear of going home.
Judges Justine Drake, Chef Katlego Mlambo and Zola Nene immensely enjoyed her Japanese soufflé pancake with white-chocolate whipped cream and strawberry syrup. Chef Katlego described it as a sensational “modern take on scones, jam and cream”, and they all agreed that the pancakes were light and fluffy, and that the chocolate cream was absolutely divine.
With that, Shoki sealed the deal on her first Dish of the Day.
In the next episode, the Top 8 must take the judges on a tropical gastronomic adventure. Still in the running are the “Zulu gang” – Ntobeko, Simele and Nkululeko – Dish of the Day frontrunners Benjie and Jeshen, Calvin, who has been in the bottom two in two consecutive challenges, as well as the competition’s last two female home cooks, Candice and Shoki.
MasterChef South Africa Season 6 is proudly sponsored by ABSA and Coke and produced by Homebrew Films for Primedia Studios.
The premiere episodes of MasterChef South Africa air on e.tv on Sundays at 18:00, with simultaneous streaming on eVOD Live TV. Episodes are rebroadcast on the channel on Saturdays at 17:00, with additional rebroadcasts on eExtra on Saturdays at 20:30 and on eReality on Sundays at 17:00.
For loads of fun around the show, follow @sa_masterchef on Instagram or MasterChef South Africa on Facebook.