The winner of MasterChef SA 2014 Roxi Wardman on December 11, 2014 the Sandton Convention Centre in Sandton, South Africa. The assistant train driver form Durban won the cooking competition and walked away with prizes worth R1-million. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Bafana Mahlangu)
Mdlankomo and Wardman went toe-to-toe last night in the MasterChef kitchen for a marathon three-challenge showdown at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
In the final Invention Test the two finalists had 90 minutes to prepare a restaurant-quality dish featuring quintessential South African food.
Mdlankomo prepared traditional samp, infused in saffron and coconut milk, served with mutton curry, a bean and cucumber sambal and a banana sambal. Reuben and Benny each awarded Mdlankomo seven points out of 10 and Pete only six, which gave her a first round total of 20.
Wardman presented individual little boboties with traditional yellow rice and date and apricot chutneys as well as two sambals: quince, and onion and carrot.
The judges each awarded her eight out of 10 points, which put her in the lead at 24.
The second round was a Dessert Mystery Box containing butter, self-raising flour, milk, cream, amasi, castor sugar, basmati rice, sultanas, eggs, geranium leaves, granadillas, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, fynbos honey, and white wine vinegar.
Wardman presented a lamington made with rice flour, along with a fudge crumble and a passion fruit and amasi granita, which earned her five out of 10 from Reuben and six each from Pete and Benny, for a new total cumulative of 41 points.
Mdlankomo’s dessert was a crème patisserie tart with granola and a passion fruit and amasi sorbet, which earned her rave reviews. Pete and Reuben each scored her six out of 10 and Benny seven, for a total of 39 points.
For the third challenge the judges had a surprise – a “cook-off” alongside one of the world’s culinary legends, Chef Marco Pierre White.
The finalists had to work alongside Chef Marco and follow his example step-by-step to cook roast rump of lamb on the bone, with mussels in a white wine sauce.
The final scores were 67 points to Mdlankomo and 75 points to Wardman.
Wardman got R500 000 in cash from Robertsons, a brand new VW Tiguan, R100 000 worth of food from Woolworths, a trip to the French winelands for her and a partner, a year’s worth of wines from Nederburg and a five-night stay at a luxury resort in the Seychelles.
Mdlankomo got to take home R100 000.