Top 3 SA MasterChef cooks named

Cape Town - The top three MasterChef SA finalists have been named.

Sarel Loots from Sabie was eliminated from the MasterChef kitchen after forgetting an integral part of his dish in the elimination test.

Deena, Sue-Ann and Manisha are left to battle it out for the title.

Family matters

Tuesday's episode began with a Mystery Box challenge which saw the four contestants create desserts from items such as pears, cocoa, Amarula, oranges, cream and sweet potato, among others.

The contestants had an hour to prepare a dessert which would be part of a blind taste test with a mystery panel of judges, which turned out to be the family of the remaining cooks.

Sarel, Deena and Manisha's spouses were joined at the tasting table by Sue-Ann's mom and Chefs Andrew, Benny and Pete.

Deena had the opportunity to use the bell he won in the last challenge to ask a chef a question. He called on Chef Andrew for advice on making a chocolate fondant with no chocolate - just cocoa. Chef Andrew advised him well as his dish scored three of the four votes cast by family members.

Only Deena's wife didn't vote for his dessert - she preferred Manisha's poached pears.

Deena's prize was a romantic picnic with his wife in the winelands.

Elimination

Sarel and Sue-Ann's desserts received no votes in the Mystery Box challenge, thus putting them in the elimination test.

The task was to recreate Greenhouse chef Peter Templehoff's roasted duck breast with hazelnut milk gel, confit duck pastilla and honey roasted figs.

While Sue-Ann's duck breast was slightly overcooked, her pastilla and hazelnut gel really impressed the judges. Sarel forgot about the gel and served his dish without it, ultimately costing him his place in the competition. 

MasterChef SA airs on M-Net and M-Net HD on Tuesdays at 19:30.