The little things count on MasterChef South Africa this week
In yet another massive MasterChef South Africa Season 5 surprise, ousted contestant Refe re-entered the competition during last week’s gruelling Heritage Day challenge, during which the home cooks learned it’s anything but easy to make sausages from scratch.
Luckily, nobody went home after this meaty mess, meaning Refe, now determined to pull out all the stops to stay in the competition, was saved for another day. However, this week, someone will be shown the door again, and the only two contestants who know for sure that their MasterChef journey won’t end abruptly are Lona and Nabila. They earned themselves a spot on the gantry as the pair who presented the best meal in the heritage-themed episode.
This week’s extraordinary MasterChef South Africa challenge is huge for the survival of the competitors yet incredibly tiny in scope. Inspired by the delicacies of fine dining and the Dollhouse cooking trend on social media, it’s all about celebrating life’s little pleasures. The home cooks are tasked to create pint-sized luxurious offerings and gem-like culinary wonders.
But there’s a twist before they embark on their Alice in Wonderland cooking adventure. Since the ability to recognize distinct flavours and specific ingredients is a hallmark of a MasterChef, they are blindfolded to navigate their way through some taste sensations. Some kind of advantage awaits the last person standing in this mini-challenge within the day’s big assignment.
Ultimately, the main task will be to whip up two diminutive dishes with six small portions of each. For starters, they must create an amuse-bouche designed to be a one-bite tongue amusement. In the world of exquisite fine dining, an amuse-bouche is a single appetizer, which is not part of the restaurant’s hors d’oever menu but a surprise starter gift from the chef, showcasing their signature style.
Then, to round off their nouvelle cuisine skills, the home cooks must impress the judges – Zola Nene, Justine Drake and Chef Katlego Mlambo – with a sweet treat: dainty bon-bons, friandise or mignardise, including an element of chocolate.
Friandise and mignardise are interchangeable French terms for those tiny sweet after-dessert pastries or confections, and a bon-bon is simply a moulded chocolate shell with a creamy centre.
Soon, the show’s remaining contenders, all vying for the R1 million of prize money at the show’s finale, learn that dainty means more detail than they’re accustomed to, and working with chocolate is a foreign concept for many of them.
Will Refe, known as MasterChef South Africa‘s baking queen, excel at this challenge, or will her eagerness to succeed results in her second departure? Anything can happen in the MasterChef kitchen where the saying has become, “You’re just as good as your last meal.”
MasterChef South Africa Season 5 is proudly sponsored by Pick n Pay, where fresh ingredients take centre stage. The popular show’s premiere episodes air on Saturdays at 19:30 on S3 (formerly SABC 3). The rebroadcasts are on Sundays at 18:30 on SABC 2 and S3 on Wednesdays at 18:00 on S3. Bon appetit!