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MOSSEL BAY NEWS & VIDEO - Imagine you are a young chef taking part in a competition.
You are given a mystery basket of ingredients and you have to use them all. In the basket is a whole, raw fish, which you must scale.
One of the spikes on the fish stabs you in the thumb. You pull out the spike and the wound gushes blood. You take 14 minutes to stop the flow of blood and seal the wound completely, losing valuable minutes in the contest.
Lost points
Sounds like a total nightmare?
Well, this is what happened to Mossel Bay chef Michelle de Jager in a prestigious national culinary competition held in Durban, in which she came third.
Because she lost time in the strict contest, she lost points.
But she is extremely humble and gracious, saying: "Perhaps I was not meant to win." The competition winner had only this year to win. The maximum age for the youth competition is 30 and the winner was 30 years old. Michelle is still a youthful 23 years old and has several years still to compete. Entrants must be older than 21.
The competition was the national Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Jeunes (junior) Chef contest held on 22 February.
The Chaîne des Rôtisseurs is the oldest culinary organisation in the world comprising members from culinary and also winemaking industries. Whoever nominates a chef for the competition must be part of this organisation.
Watch a video below:
Happy dream
Michelle was the only contestant who used 100% of the ingredients allocated to her and her nightmare turned into a happy dream when she created delectable dishes using her "basket of tricks".
There was no internet to consult and no recipe books - only one's experience and imagination.
Michelle rose to the occasion, cooking up starters of clams, that dratted slinger fish and poached green beans. She made a sweet citrus sauce to go with the fish.
Her main course was deboned, rolled lamb with a mince filling and mint oil, together with duchess potatoes, fried aubergine rounds and steamed broccoli.
Pears poached in white wine
Michelle's dessert was her pièce de résistance: pears poached in white wine with cinnamon and cloves, cased in shortcrust pastry rounds and complemented by mascarpone Chantilly cream and a hanepoot grape compote.
The chefs had to make four dishes of each course - one for each of the four judges in the competition.
Michelle de Jager with her winner's medal from the regional competition last September and her medal from the national competition which took place on 22 February.
Michelle has been executive chef at ReedValley wine estate outside Mossel Bay since July last year. She represented ReedValley at the competition.
She won the regional Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Jeunes competition, held at the Francois Ferreira Academy in George in September last year. In the regional competition Michelle, who was still a student at that academy at the time, competed against some of her lecturers at the academy, so it was remarkable that she came first.
Photo gallery: Local chef takes part in national competition
Every district of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs in South Africa sends its winner to the national competition each year.
Michelle photographed at ReedValley.
Still studying
Michelle was still studying when she began working as a chef at ReedValley wine estate.
She says: "I get my love of cooking from my parents. They are very good chefs." Michelle's father and mother, Willem and Heidi de Jager, own ReedValley, which is about 500m off the N2 highway on the way to Cape Town. One takes the turnoff to Herbertsdale.
Michelle's next venture is to get a restaurant in Portugal up and running. Her parents have bought a disused eatery in Aveiro and Michelle is leaving for Portugal in May to take on this exciting challenge.
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