Image: Charlie Sperring

by Jan-Hendrik Botha

The tenth episode of MasterChef SA ​not only marked the halfway mark of the season but also brought with it the announcement of the top 10. In celebration of this special occasion, the rarest and most expensive ingredient on the planet was brought into the MasterChef SA ​ kitchen.


Of course, South African abalone is also known locally as perlemoen, meaning mother-of-pearl in Dutch. 

Perlemoen is indigenous to South Africa shores and in honour of this exquisite ingredient, up and coming chef Callan Austin joined us in the MasterChef SA ​ kitchen due to his passion for working with perlemoen.


Chef Callan’s love for this ingredient stems from its sustainable farming in South Africa. He presented a master class to the contestants on how to work with the ingredient. Our contestants were in awe, but seeing that she’s a marine biologist, Tembisa’s reaction was priceless when chef Callan garnished his abalone with ice leaves, crispy abalone, and buchu.




Our contestants were tasked to showcase this ingredient in the form of a fine-dining dish and were able to make use of fresh and tinned abalone. Their dishes looked like masterpieces, and after a 90-minute invention test, it was time to judge.


Before presenting her dish to the judges, Didi said she wished the challenge was two minutes shorter. “[As] Coco Chanel said, always take off the last thing you put on because, in the last two minutes, I decided to put these carrot curls on the plate which are too cheesy for the presentation,” said Didi, but some of her online fans seemed to disagree.


At the start of the challenge, our judge Zola Nene said they would like to see more than chopped abalone on rice. And when Luyanda served up her abalone on Japanese rice with lime, we held our breaths waiting for the judges’ thoughts – and to our surprise, they loved it! Especially Zola. 


Shawn was commended for the way he treated the abalone, but though he put forward a beautiful plate, the judges felt that the beetroot flavour in it overpowered the abalone. The judges were also very impressed with the way dr. Harri cooked his abalone but felt that his burnt union sauce overpowered the whole dish.

And though the concept of Didi’s dish impressed the judges, they felt that the flavours didn’t meet their expectations. According to them, there was no harmony amongst all the flavours on her plate – and therefore, she was sadly asked to leave the kitchen.



See what Didi had to say after leaving the MasterChef SA ​ kitchen below:



What are your predictions for this season? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by using #MasterChefSA. Remember to watch MasterChef SA every Monday to Thursday at 18:00 on M-Net channel 101. In case you missed the latest episode, catch up with DStv using your connected device.