In order to raise funds for three charities: the Sisanda Fundaytion, Common Good SA, and SA Children’s Home, I auctioned off a cook-with-me demo after the Masterchef vs Mayor event last year. This is how it went down.

The MasterChef Mystery Box Challenge

The cook-with-me demo was based on one of my favourite types of MasterChef challenges: the mystery box.

The Mystery Box Ingredients and MasterChef Pantry

Within the box, the ‘contestants’ found some basic ingredients:

• Risotto Rice

• Stock cubes

• Olive Oil

• White wine

• Butter

• Onions

• Lemons

• Parmesan Cheese

• A packet soup

They were also given a recipe for the best risotto as well as my five tips to cooking a perfect risotto!

In the ‘pantry’, different proteins, herbs and alternatives to the base ingredients were available, such as fish, ostrich steak, beef, etcetera.

Judging the Contestants

Each pair of two had to choose a team name and their creations I judged their creations marking six criteria a score out of five:

• Taste - of course, the flavour needed to be good!

• Texture - risotto is gooey when overcooked, and when undercooked the rice grains are too hard to be enjoyable. The perfect risotto has a velvety, creamy texture, but it’s important to offset this with something crunchy to keep it balanced.

• Waste - I learned in the MasterChef kitchen to not waste food, and keep the counter clean and organised at all times.

• Drunk - of course, we are just here to have a bit of fun.

• Dress up - like I said - let’s have fun. Some of the ‘contestants’ took the competition rather seriously, and dressed up in their best chef’s outfit!

• Plating - you eat with your eyes first, and so I was looking for a fine dining-worthy dish, carefully plated and good on the eye.

Also keen to have a private or corporate function at the Bosch Showroom?

You can hire the Bosch Showrooms in Cape Town and Johannesburg for Private & Corporate Functions. Contact the Bosch Showroom directly to book the space, or reach out to The Roasted Dad if you want me to be involved your private or corporate function.

About Shawn Godfrey

Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.

Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.

It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.

On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (6), Olivia (4) and Harvey (2).

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