Starter

“This is pastry at the highest level!”

The black-aproned three in the pressure test – Kamini, Jason and Seline – faced the MasterChef judges, Andrew Atkinson, Benny Masekwameng and Pete Goffe-Wood to hear how daunting their test was to be. They were joined by Kelvin Joel, a pastry chef of exquisite talent who recently opened a culinary and pastry school in Johannesburg’s Maboneng Precinct. Whipping off the gleaming silver dome, he revealed his sputnik-shaped meringue masterpiece with wickedly precise layers of marvels lurking beneath the meringue. The trio of contestants gasped and tasted with expressions of respect – and dismay.

They landed themselves in this precarious position last Wednesday after the remaining five contestants peered into five Smeg fridges that contained month-end type odds and ends with which they were expected to produce yummy fare for the ‘unexpected guest’. Leandri and Ozzie did their imaginary guests proud – Ozzie’s plate even winning him a masterclass – but the others’ scrapings were less impressive.

The challenge now was for two to redeem themselves by replicating chef Kelvin’s lemon meringue gateau. The least fault would send the other contestant home.

Mains

“Remember, it has to look exactly like the prototype.”

Although the contestants had two and a half hours, there was a lot of time-consuming, precise execution involved in the layered textures.

The choc-chip biscuit base was followed by a pistachio, almond and green tea sponge dacquoise layer, then a zesty mousse layer and a lemon curd, and an exterior of brûleed meringue peaks, surrounded by shards of hard meringue.
Seline set about her work with the precision of the industrial engineer that she is, even halting the visiting Pete and Kelvin at one stage with, “I’m just doing the maths”. Jason curdled his curd and started it again. Kamini’s biscuit base crumbled and then she over-moussed the whole mould and scooped out as much as possible. It was, as she described it, ”a mousse mess” when it glooped lumpily out of the mould.

Far away from meringue peaks, Ozzie and his Dyer Island Conservation Trust hosts sped over cool indigo swells, off Gansbaai. His masterclass involved learning about sustainable fishing and getting a close-up view of great white sharks, all vital to the piscine food chain. It also included the preparation of a marine salad – using one of the most sustainable fish, the humble pilchard, fresh – and topped with crisped kelp. He was under the tutelage of chef Munsamy from The Marine Hotel in Hermanus.

Dessert

“Did you hear that knife?”

Kelvin’s comments in the judging phase were kind and helpful. Seline’s layers were perfect, though the curd a tad tart. Jason’s mousse was a bit too solid, with excess meringue. He found Kamini’s gateau tasted “as it should”, even if her meringue was weeping.

It was Jason that walked.

The next exciting episode will involve none other than techno-chef Richard Carstens of Tokara, four flabbergasted contestants and much chocolate.

By Marie-Lais Emond

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