Chef Peter Goffe-Wood spent many years making unforgettable food. Now he’s the unforgettably mean judge in the highly acclaimed M-Net reality TV cooking competition MasterChef SA

A cowboy in the kitchen

In MasterChef you seem to be the bad guy of the three judges – does that come naturally?More naturally than I thought. For years my wife’s been telling me I’m horrible; now I’m beginning to see that maybe she’s right.

Are you that nasty in real life?Unfortunately yes – I’m just a mean bastard. You see, none of us judge s on the show are actors so we couldn’t possibly put that kind of performance on for such a long time. I suppose the real point is I don’t suffer fools.

So you think the dishwasher-turned-chef who made South Af-rica cry is a fool? Yes, he’s a total fake. It’s all put on for TV – the tears on screen, the praying. Everyone was taken in by him but he just knew how to get his 15 minutes of fame – and he milked it. I didn’t take that. Plus his food was average.

What will it take to win Master-Chef?When it comes to the last 18 can­didates, they can all cook. So the one who’ll win is the one who shows the greatest commitment.

It’s shot over three months so a lot of people have put their lives on hold, resigned from their jobs, mortgaged their houses. That’s commitment.

What are you looking for in the winner?Someone who can put their soul on a plate.

Do you only ever judge with your palate or does your heart get in the way?You have to judge with your pa­late. I’ve done a lot of judging over the years and you simply have to remov e yourself from the people and judge the plate of food in front of you. It’s not fair to judge with your heart.

What was the worst thing you tasted on MasterChef?Tripe. But strangely it wasn’t

masterchef

Keep it cooking ON ANY given day you can find London-born chef Peter Goffe-Wood and his wife, Elize, making great lunches at the Kitchen Cowboys Canteen in Woodstock, Cape Town.

The classically trained chef is also a restaurant consultant, a food critic, events organiser and educator.

After graduating in South Africa and becoming a profes-sional chef in 1986 he spent

eight years working in kitchens around the world before re-turning to SA to open the re-nowned La Couronne Hotel and Winery in Franschhoek, which was named one of the world’s top 50 most exciting restaurants by Condé Nast Traveller.

In 2001 he launched his com-pany PGW eat and has since consulted on many top restau-rant projects from Victoria Falls to Sydney and Oman.

He has been running his pop-ular Kitchen Cowboys cooking workshops since 2003.

34 The interview compiled by adam cooke

cooked by the contestants. One of their challenges was to replicate a dish of tripe. I tasted the dish they were meant to copy.

It was inedible and the contes­tants made it taste better than the original.

What meal would really impress you on the show?It’s not about a particular meal but about how people approach it. When contestants have had to cook a meal they’ve never tried before and they master the chal­lenge, that is impressive.

What happens when you don’t like the taste of something?It’s not a case of what you like, it’s a case of whether it’s been properly cooked. Simple things like “too much salt” or “too hot”.

What is your current favourite ingredient and how do you like it cooked?Brisket [cut of the breast from beef or veal]. I’m doing a lot with slow cooking and cooking with smoke. It’s a real Louisiana, Deep South barbeque style of cooking. You cook for up to 12 hours at care­fully controlled temperatures.

What’s the worst mistake untrained cooks make in preparing a meal?They don’t taste their food. Taste as you cook.

What’s the best tip you have for wannabe cooks at home?Experiment on your family, not on your guests.

Before we go . . . Do you ever need to take Enos?I should have bought shares in Rennies years ago. I can’t do anything without them.

Peter Goffe-Wood: The main mean man on MasterChef SA.

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