What do you get when you combine 100 hungry sailors with two highly competitive MasterChef teams? The answer: a recipe for riveting cooking!

In this week’s episode of MasterChef, the Red and Blue teams were handpicked by last week’s challenge winners, Thys and Deena. After a strict briefing session, the two teams went below the decks to cook up a meal fit for a navy captain. The kitchen was located below the decks of one of the SA Navy warships docked in picturesque Simons Town. This was certainly a first for our contestants, but then again, that’s what it’s all about. It was a real eye-opener to the challenge of preparing meals for men and woman who have highly demanding physical jobs. It is crucial that the correct nutritional requirements are taken into consideration, while placing great emphasis on satisfying meals that boost morale.

The Blue Team’s dish of the day was deep fried chicken – one of Samantha’s winning recipes – while the Reds decided on grilled lamb with a sticky sauce. Both these dishes seemed to go down very well. The top-notch meal was decided by the sailors themselves and at the end of the day, the winning bell rang for the Blue Team’s deep-fried chicken. Well done guys – it looked delicious!

The Pressure Test was rather peculiar (to say the least) with seven unusual cuts of pork waiting to be cooked to perfection. Each of the Red Team’s members got to rank their fellow teammates and were allowed to choose the meat cuts according to how they ranked overall. The selection included, pig’s ear, cheek, hoof and even tail. Sue-Ann got the highest score and chose the loin cut, which she unfortunately overcooked much to the judges’ despair. Mmutsi got the short end of the stick with the cheek.
When it comes to flavouring pork cuts, we recommend herbs that have a sweet aroma. Try adding rosemary, thyme, cloves or sage and keep the applesauce close by. Be careful not to overdo it as these herbs and spices have a very strong and distinct flavour.

The challenge was also too outlandish for Guy who ended up undercooking his pig’s ear and Mmutsi made a blunder of her dim sum. And so, it was unfortunately the end of the road for Mmutsi and time for another aspiring chef to leave the MasterChef kitchen.

One thing is certain, the pace is picking up and each new episode of MasterChef seems more intense than the one before. We can’t wait to see what happens next, so stay tuned.

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