New cooking shows in New Zealand

We have two new cooking shows we look forward to here in Wellington.

Firstly, there's MasterChef New Zealand



It's on the third episode so there's still a long way to go for the contestants. Last Wednesday, the main ingredient was chicken. I'd say one of the easiest meats to cook, and each contestant was given the chance to choose 10 ingredients to go with it. But MasterChef is about adding flair to dishes and so they had to innovate. I would have cooked tinola with rice on the side but I don't think it's MasterChef material, unless I make the soup really really yummy, like one of the contestants did for his chicken and corn soup. Come to think of it, our tinola might have a good chance...

MasterChef New Zealand is shown on Wednesdays, 7:30PM, TV One. The website is a great accompaniment to the show, with contestant and judge profiles and recipes from the episodes.



Another new show is New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker where the contest is on... um... baking. Unlike MasterChef, I think that this show has a lighter atmosphere to it, perhaps because the hosts (one of them being New Zealand’s Next Top Model judge Colin Mathura–Jeffree) do not exude stern authority, and Colin banters with the contestants.



I dabble with baking only occasionally and have not yet graduated from muffins so I also find this series interesting. Last week, they made New Zealand classic baked goods Pavlova and scones. I've tried scones one time but with disastrous results unfortunately, so I still have a long way to go. I think.

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