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Potato Salad

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Potato salad is on every New Zealand Christmas table and beside every barbecue from Labour Weekend to Easter, and most of it is disappointing in the same way: the potatoes taste of nothing and the dressing sits on the outside.

There’s one step that fixes it, and it takes no extra time.

This serves 8 and takes about 30 minutes.

Dress them warm

Cold, dry potatoes are sealed. Nothing gets in, so the dressing coats the surface and the inside of every piece stays bland.

Warm potatoes are still open — the starch hasn’t fully set and the surface is slightly porous. Toss them in the vinegar and mustard while they’re still hot from draining and they absorb it right through. Then let them cool before the mayonnaise goes in, so it doesn’t split.

So it’s two stages: acid while hot, creamy dressing once cool. That’s the whole trick, and it’s why a good potato salad tastes seasoned all the way through instead of just on the outside.

Which potatoes

Waxy, not floury. This matters more here than in almost any other potato dish.

Waxy potatoes hold their shape when boiled and stay in distinct pieces when you fold the dressing through. Floury ones — Agria, Ilam Hardy, most of what’s sold as “roasting” or “all purpose” — collapse into mash the moment you stir them.

In New Zealand look for Nadine, Draga, Jersey Benne, Perlas, or anything labelled “salad potatoes” or “boiling”. Jersey Bennes are the December luxury and worth it if the price hasn’t gone silly. Nadine is the reliable year-round supermarket option.

Cut after cooking, not before

Boil them whole if they’re small, or in large halves if they’re not, and cut them once they’re cooked and drained. Small pieces boiled in water absorb it, go waterlogged, and dilute the dressing from the inside.

The exception is skin-on new potatoes, which can go in whole and be left whole.

Don’t overcook them

A skewer should meet slight resistance at the centre. Potatoes carry on cooking in their own heat after draining, so pull them a minute before you think they’re done. Overcooked potatoes fall apart when you fold the dressing in, and then you have a very nice mashed potato.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best potatoes for potato salad in NZ?

Waxy varieties — Nadine, Draga, Perlas, or Jersey Bennes in season. Anything sold as “salad” or “boiling” potatoes. Avoid floury ones like Agria and Ilam Hardy; they collapse when you stir the dressing through.

Should you dress potato salad warm or cold?

Both, in stages. Toss the potatoes in vinegar and mustard while they’re still hot so the seasoning soaks in, then let them cool completely before adding the mayonnaise, which would split on hot potatoes.

Why is my potato salad bland?

The potatoes were dressed cold. Once a potato cools its surface seals and the dressing can only sit on the outside. Season them hot and the whole piece tastes of it.

Can I make potato salad the day before?

Yes, and it’s better for a few hours in the fridge. Overnight is fine, though hold back the herbs and stir through a spoonful of extra mayonnaise before serving, as the potatoes absorb some of the dressing.

Do you peel the potatoes?

Not for new or thin-skinned potatoes — the skin adds texture and holds the pieces together. Peel older, thicker-skinned ones.

Egg or no egg?

Regional and personal. Egg makes it more substantial and it’s the standard Kiwi version. Without it you get a lighter salad that suits a rich barbecue better.

How do I stop it going watery?

Let the potatoes steam dry in the colander for two minutes after draining, and cool them completely before the creamy dressing goes on. Warm potatoes under mayonnaise release moisture and split it.

How long does it keep?

Three days in the fridge. Don’t leave it sitting out at a summer barbecue for more than two hours — mayonnaise and eggs in the sun is exactly the situation food safety advice is written for.

Variations

  • Bacon and chive — 4 rashers, crisped and crumbled, folded in at the end.
  • Mustard and dill — wholegrain mustard in place of Dijon, and a large handful of dill.
  • No mayo — dress with 1/3 cup olive oil, 3 Tbsp white wine vinegar, Dijon and plenty of spring onion. Better in the heat and it doesn’t split.
  • Kūmara — replace half the potato with orange kūmara, roasted rather than boiled.

Glazed Christmas Ham

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The Christmas ham is the least stressful thing on the table, because it arrives already cooked. You are not cooking a ham. You are warming it through and putting a glaze on it, and the entire job is about ninety minutes of oven time you can do the day before.

This serves about 20 from a 5 kg half leg, which is the size most New Zealand families buy.

What to buy

A half leg on the bone is the default and the right choice for a table of ten or more. The bone keeps the meat moist, it carves better, and — not a small thing — you get the bone afterwards, which is worth a pot of pea and ham soup in January.

Allow about 250 g per person if the ham is the centrepiece, less if it’s one of several meats. A 5 kg half leg feeds 20 comfortably with leftovers, which in a New Zealand summer is the actual point of a Christmas ham.

Boneless is easier to carve and fits a smaller oven, but it’s noticeably drier and you lose the bone. A whole leg is 8–10 kg and won’t fit most domestic ovens.

Taking the skin off without wrecking it

This is the part people dread and it takes about two minutes once you know the trick.

Run a small sharp knife around the shank end, through the skin only, about 10 cm up from the bone. Then slide your fingers — not the knife — between the skin and the fat, working from the cut edge. The skin lifts away in one sheet like a glove, leaving the fat behind.

The fat is what you want. Don’t take it off with the skin, and don’t trim it back further than about 1 cm. That fat renders under the glaze and is most of what makes the outside good.

Score, but not deep

Diamonds about 3 cm across, cut through the fat only, never into the meat. Cutting into the meat lets juice out and it dries.

The scoring isn’t decorative. It opens up surface area for the glaze to catch in, and it lets the fat render out through the cuts instead of sitting in a solid layer.

A whole clove pressed into the intersection of each diamond is traditional. It’s also genuinely worth doing — cloves and pork are a very old pairing and the aroma is half the occasion.

The glaze, and when to put it on

Glaze goes on for the last 30 minutes only. Sugar burns. Put it on at the start and you’ll have a black ham after two hours.

Warm the ham through first, covered, then uncover, brush on the glaze, turn the oven up, and baste every ten minutes for the last half hour. Each layer sets and builds on the last, and by the third basting you’ll have a proper lacquer.

Hot or cold?

In New Zealand, mostly cold — and a glazed ham is arguably better on Boxing Day than it was on Christmas Day. Glaze it the day before, cool it, and refrigerate it wrapped in a damp tea towel rather than plastic, which sweats.

If you’re serving it hot, rest it 20 minutes before carving.

Frequently asked questions

How long do you cook a glazed ham?

A cooked ham only needs warming through — about 15 minutes per kilo at 160°C, then 30 minutes at 200°C with the glaze on. A 5 kg half leg is roughly 1 3/4 hours in total.

How do you get the skin off a ham?

Cut through the skin around the shank end, then slide your fingers between the skin and the fat and peel it back in one sheet. Use fingers rather than a knife so the fat stays on the ham.

When do you put the glaze on?

For the last 30 minutes only, basting every 10 minutes. Sugar glazes burn — applied at the start, the ham will be black long before it’s warmed through.

How much ham per person?

About 250 g per person if it’s the main event. A 5 kg half leg on the bone serves around 20 with leftovers.

Can I glaze a ham the day before?

Yes, and many people do. Cool it completely, wrap it in a damp tea towel rather than plastic, and refrigerate. Cold glazed ham is excellent and it takes the pressure off Christmas morning.

How long does leftover ham keep?

Up to 10 days in the fridge in a ham bag or a damp tea towel, changed every couple of days. Don’t use plastic wrap — it traps moisture and the ham goes slimy.

What do I do with the ham bone?

Pea and ham soup. Simmer the bone with split peas, onion, carrot and celery for two hours. It’s the second half of the value of buying bone-in.

Can I use golden syrup instead of honey?

Yes, and it’s arguably more traditional here. It gives a slightly maltier, less floral glaze.

Variations

  • Marmalade and whisky — replace the honey with 3/4 cup marmalade and add 2 Tbsp whisky.
  • Maple and mustard — maple syrup for the honey, wholegrain mustard for the Dijon.
  • Pineapple — the retro version: pineapple rings pinned on with cloves, and pineapple juice in place of the orange.
  • Spiced — add 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp allspice to the glaze.

Pizza Dough

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Homemade pizza is usually let down by the base — pale, bready, and more like a scone than a pizza. Three things fix that, and none of them costs anything: the right flour, enough water, and an oven hotter than you think is sensible.

Makes four 30 cm bases. An hour if you’re in a hurry, but see the overnight note — it’s a better pizza for no extra work.

Use high grade flour, not plain

This is the New Zealand-specific bit, and it trips people up when they follow overseas recipes.

“High grade” flour in New Zealand is what the rest of the world calls bread flour. It has more protein — around 12% against plain flour’s 9–10% — and that protein forms the gluten network that gives pizza dough its chew and lets it stretch thin without tearing.

Plain flour makes a base that’s soft, a bit crumbly, and tears when you stretch it. It works, but it’s a different and lesser thing. If you can only get plain flour, add a tablespoon of gluten flour per cup, or accept a softer base.

Tipo 00 is the Italian pizza flour and it’s excellent if you can find it, but high grade is what’s in every New Zealand supermarket and it makes a very good pizza.

Enough water — the dough should feel too wet

Most home pizza dough is too dry, because a dry dough is easier to handle and people instinctively add flour when it sticks.

This dough is about 65% hydration, which means the water weighs 65% of what the flour does. It will feel slack and tacky and slightly unpleasant for the first few minutes of kneading. Keep going and don’t add flour — it comes together as the gluten develops.

Wet dough gives you an open, bubbly, chewy crumb. Dry dough gives you a dense, cracker-like base.

The overnight fridge rise is the free upgrade

A dough proved for an hour in a warm kitchen tastes of bread. A dough left in the fridge for 24 to 72 hours tastes of pizza — faintly sour, complex, properly savoury.

Yeast works slowly in the cold, so the dough rises gently while enzymes break starch into sugars and produce flavour compounds. You get all of that for zero effort; you just have to start the day before.

Mix the dough, knead it, and put it straight in the fridge in an oiled covered bowl. Take it out an hour before you want to use it. Anything from one to three days works, and day two is arguably the best.

If you’re making pizza tonight, an hour in a warm spot is fine. It’ll be good. It just won’t be as good.

Don’t roll it — stretch it

A rolling pin crushes out every bubble the dough has spent hours making, and those bubbles are what become the puffed, blistered edge.

Press the dough out from the centre with your fingertips, leaving the outer 2 cm alone, then pick it up and let gravity stretch it by turning it around the edge in your hands. If it springs back, let it rest five minutes and try again — that’s the gluten telling you it needs a moment.

The oven, as hot as it goes

Pizza wants 450–500°C. A domestic oven does 250°C, and that gap is why home pizza is often pale and soft.

Compensate by preheating a heavy oven tray, a pizza stone or a cast iron pan for a full 30 minutes at maximum, and sliding the pizza straight onto it. The stored heat in the metal or stone hits the base hard and gives you the fast bake you can’t otherwise get. It’s the difference between a crisp base and a soft one.

Grill element on for the last minute helps the top catch up.

Frequently asked questions

What flour should I use for pizza dough in NZ?

High grade flour. That’s the New Zealand name for bread flour — about 12% protein, against 9–10% in plain flour. The extra protein is what gives the base its chew and lets it stretch thin without tearing.

Can I use plain flour for pizza dough?

Yes, but the base will be softer and more crumbly and it’ll tear when you stretch it. Add a tablespoon of gluten flour per cup if you have it.

How long should pizza dough rise?

An hour in a warm place works. Twenty-four to seventy-two hours in the fridge is considerably better — the slow cold ferment develops far more flavour for no extra effort.

Why is my pizza base soggy in the middle?

The oven wasn’t hot enough, or the base wasn’t cooked on a preheated surface. Get an oven tray, stone or cast iron pan properly hot for 30 minutes first. Overloading with wet toppings also does it.

Why does my dough spring back when I stretch it?

The gluten is tight. Cover it and rest it for 5–10 minutes and it will relax, then stretch easily. Fighting it just tears the dough.

Can I freeze pizza dough?

Yes. After the first rise, divide into balls, oil lightly, and freeze in bags for three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and bring to room temperature before shaping.

Should I use a rolling pin?

No. It crushes out the gas bubbles that create the puffed, blistered edge. Press it out with your fingertips and stretch it by hand.

How much dough per pizza?

About 250 g for a 30 cm base. Weigh the balls if you want them even.

Variations

  • Overnight cold ferment — the version described above. Do this if you can.
  • Wholemeal — replace a quarter of the high grade flour with wholemeal. Nuttier, slightly denser.
  • Semolina crust — replace 1/2 cup of the flour with fine semolina for extra crunch.
  • Pan pizza — press the dough into a well-oiled cast iron pan, let it rise 30 minutes, and bake. Thicker, and the base fries in the oil.
  • Herb dough — a tablespoon of dried oregano in the flour.

Waffles

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Most homemade waffles are pancakes with a pattern on them. They come out of the iron looking right and they’ve gone soft and floppy by the time the second batch is done.

Crisp waffles are a different batter and one piece of technique, and neither is difficult.

Makes 8, about 25 minutes.

Waffle batter is not pancake batter

The two get treated as interchangeable and they shouldn’t be. A waffle needs to crisp on the outside while staying soft in the middle, and pancake batter has neither the fat nor the sugar to do it.

More fat. Butter is what crisps the surface — it fries the outside of the waffle against the hot iron. This recipe uses 125 g for eight waffles, roughly double what you’d put in the same volume of pancake batter.

More sugar. Sugar caramelises against the plates and contributes directly to the crust and the colour. It doesn’t make the waffle sweet in any noticeable way at these quantities.

A little cornflour. Replacing a quarter of the flour with cornflour lowers the gluten and gives a crisper, more brittle shell. It’s the same principle as the shortbread — less protein, less toughness.

Whisk the whites separately

Beat the egg whites to soft peaks and fold them in at the end. This is the step that separates a good waffle from a heavy one, and it takes three minutes.

The air you fold in expands in the iron and gives you the open, light interior. Without it the waffle is dense all the way through, and dense waffles never really crisp because there’s too much moisture trapped inside.

Don’t stack them on a plate

This is the technique bit, and it’s why your waffles go soggy.

A waffle straight out of the iron is full of steam. Put it on a plate and the steam has nowhere to go but back into the waffle, and the crust you just made softens within a minute. Stack two and it happens twice as fast.

Put them on a wire rack in a 100°C oven as they come off. The steam escapes, the surface stays crisp, and they hold for twenty minutes while you cook the rest. It costs nothing and it’s the difference between crisp waffles and disappointing ones.

Don’t open the iron early

The waffle sets as it cooks and the two halves knit together in the middle. Lift the lid before that’s happened and it tears in half, with the top stuck to the top plate.

Wait until the steam coming out of the sides has slowed to almost nothing. That’s the reliable signal — about 4–5 minutes on most domestic irons, regardless of what the indicator light says.

Frequently asked questions

Why are my waffles soggy?

They were stacked on a plate. A hot waffle is full of steam, and on a plate that steam soaks straight back into the crust. Put them on a wire rack in a low oven instead and they stay crisp for twenty minutes.

Can I use pancake batter to make waffles?

You can, but they won’t be as good. Waffle batter needs more butter and more sugar to crisp against the iron, and pancake batter has neither — the result is soft and pale.

Why do my waffles stick to the iron?

Either the iron wasn’t hot enough, it wasn’t greased, or the waffle was opened too early. Wait until the steam from the sides has almost stopped before lifting the lid.

Do I have to separate the eggs?

It makes a real difference to how light they are. If you’re short of time, whisk the eggs in whole — you’ll get a denser waffle that’s still perfectly good.

Can I make the batter ahead?

The base batter keeps overnight in the fridge, but fold the whisked whites in immediately before cooking. Folded in early, the air is gone by morning.

Can I freeze waffles?

Yes, and they reheat better than almost any other breakfast. Cool completely, freeze flat, then reheat straight from frozen in a toaster. Better than most shop-bought frozen waffles.

What’s the difference between Belgian and regular waffles?

Belgian waffles use a deeper iron with larger pockets and often a yeasted batter, giving a thicker, lighter waffle. This recipe suits either iron.

How much batter per waffle?

Enough to cover about three-quarters of the plate. It spreads as it cooks and as the lid comes down, and overfilling makes it squeeze out the sides.

Variations

  • Buttermilk — replace the milk with buttermilk and add 1/2 tsp baking soda. Tangier and lighter.
  • Savoury — leave out the sugar and vanilla, and add 1/2 cup grated cheese and 2 Tbsp chives. Very good under a poached egg.
  • Chocolate — replace 2 Tbsp of the flour with cocoa and add 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
  • Cinnamon — 1 tsp cinnamon with the dry ingredients.
  • Yeasted overnight — a proper Belgian approach: use 1 tsp dried yeast instead of the baking powder and rest the batter overnight in the fridge.

Weet-Bix Slice

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Every Kiwi household has a version of this slice, and every version is slightly wrong according to someone’s mother. It’s the cheapest tray of baking you can make — a box of Weet-Bix, a bit of flour, some coconut and cocoa — and it’s been going into lunchboxes since long before anyone thought to photograph it.

This one makes 24 solid pieces in about 35 minutes, and it holds together properly, which is the part most recipes get wrong.

Why Weet-Bix, and not just more flour

Weet-Bix isn’t filler. It’s wheat that’s already been cooked, rolled and malted, so it brings three things flour can’t.

It stays slightly crunchy. Because the wheat is pre-cooked, it doesn’t dissolve into the butter and sugar the way raw flour does — you get flecks of texture right through the slice instead of a uniform crumb.

It adds malt. That faint toasty background flavour people can never quite identify in a good Weet-Bix slice is the malt extract in the biscuits. Cocoa alone won’t give you it.

And it soaks up butter. This is the one that matters for texture, and it’s why the ratio here is deliberate: three biscuits to one cup of flour. Push the Weet-Bix higher and the slice turns dry and sandy, because there’s more dry matter than the butter can carry.

How many Weet-Bix, exactly

Recipes are vague about this and it’s the commonest reason a slice fails. A standard NZ Weet-Bix biscuit is about 15g, so three biscuits is roughly 45g, which crushes down to about one loosely packed cup. If you’re crushing straight into a measuring cup, aim for 45–50g on the scales rather than trusting the cup — crushed fine, the same three biscuits pack into far less than a cup, and you’ll end up short.

Crush them in a bowl with the back of a spoon. A food processor turns them to powder, and powder is exactly what you don’t want.

Getting the base right

Two things decide whether this works.

Press it firmly. Not gently, not “level it off” — press it hard with the back of a spoon or the base of a glass until the surface is compacted and even. A loosely pressed base is the reason slices crumble when you cut them.

Ice it while it’s still warm. Not hot, not cold — warm, about ten minutes out of the oven. Warm base melts the icing just enough to bond it to the surface. Ice a cold slice and the icing sits on top as a separate layer that lifts off in one sheet the first time someone bites into it.

Frequently asked questions

How many Weet-Bix in a Weet-Bix slice?

Three, which is about 45 g. Weigh rather than measure by cup if you can — finely crushed Weet-Bix packs down to much less than a cup, and using a full cup of crushed biscuits makes the slice dry.

Can I use Weetabix instead?

Yes, but they’re not identical. UK Weetabix biscuits are larger (around 19 g each) and slightly less malty, so use two and a half rather than three, and expect a marginally plainer flavour.

Why is my Weet-Bix slice crumbly?

Almost always one of two things. Either the base wasn’t pressed firmly enough before baking, or there was too much Weet-Bix relative to the butter. If you crushed the biscuits to powder and measured a full cup, you’ve likely used close to double the intended amount.

Do I have to ice it?

No, and plenty of people don’t. Without icing it’s a plainer, more biscuit-like slice that suits a lunchbox better because it doesn’t melt. If you skip the icing, add an extra tablespoon of sugar to the base.

How long does it keep?

Five days in an airtight container at room temperature. It doesn’t need refrigerating, and the fridge dries it out.

Can I freeze it?

Yes. Freeze it iced, in a single layer with baking paper between the pieces, for up to three months. It thaws in about half an hour and goes straight into a lunchbox frozen if you’d rather.

Is it gluten free?

No. Weet-Bix is made from wheat, so the slice contains gluten from both the biscuits and the flour. Sanitarium’s gluten-free range doesn’t include a direct Weet-Bix substitute that behaves the same way in baking.

Variations

  • Chocolate chip — stir 1/2 cup of chocolate chips through the dry mixture before adding the butter.
  • Golden syrup — replace 2 tablespoons of the sugar with 2 tablespoons of golden syrup, warmed with the butter. Gives a chewier, denser slice.
  • Sultana — add 1/2 cup of sultanas. Common in older NZ versions, and it works better than it sounds against the cocoa.
  • No cocoa — leave the cocoa out of the base and ice it with plain lemon icing instead. This is closer to the original 1970s version.

Creamed Paua

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Creamed paua is one of those dishes that never made it into cookbooks because it never needed to. If you dive, someone showed you. If you don’t, someone brought you a bag and told you what to do with it.

It’s also the dish most often ruined. Paua turns to rubber the moment you overcook it, and most people, being cautious with shellfish, cook it far too long. The whole recipe hinges on getting it out of the pan sooner than feels right.

This is the classic version – minced paua, onion, plenty of butter and cream, spooned onto hot toast. Serves four as a starter, or two people who aren’t sharing.

Before you gather any

Paua is one of the most poached species in New Zealand, and the rules are enforced. Worth knowing before you go:

  • Daily limit: 10 per person per day in most of the country, but only 5 in the central and lower North Island.
  • Minimum size (blackfoot paua): 125mm across most of New Zealand. It is 130mm around Kaikoura, and 85mm inside the Taranaki paua fishery area. Yellowfoot paua is 80mm.
  • Measure each one on the rock as you take it, and put undersized ones straight back. Once it is off the rock it will usually die, so measuring later is not a kindness.
  • No breathing apparatus. You cannot use or even carry it while gathering paua.
  • You cannot buy wild paua, which is why it is a gift economy. Farmed paua is sold legally and works fine in this recipe.

Rules change and vary by area – check MPI’s paua rules or the NZ Fishing Rules app before you go.

Preparing the paua

This is most of the work, and it’s why the prep time is 20 minutes rather than 5.

  1. Get it out of the shell. Slide a flat, blunt knife or a dessert spoon between the meat and the shell, keeping flat against the shell, and lever the muscle free.
  2. Cut away the gut. The dark sac at the pointed end comes off with one cut. Discard it.
  3. Trim the frill. The dark ruffled skirt around the edge can stay or go. It’s tougher, so if you’re keeping it, mince it finely.
  4. Clean the foot. Scrub the black film off the sole with a scourer or a handful of coarse salt until you’re down to the pale meat. Rinse.
  5. Tenderise. Either pound each one with a meat mallet or rolling pin until it goes limp and roughly doubles in width, or skip straight to mincing. For creamed paua, mincing does the job on its own.
  6. Mince. A mincer is traditional. A food processor works if you pulse it – six or seven short bursts, not a continuous run, or you’ll get paste.

Tips

On the rubber problem. Paua has two states: cooked for under three minutes, or cooked for over an hour. Anything in between is a rubber band. If you’ve overdone it, don’t try to rescue it quickly – add a splash of stock, put a lid on and simmer for a full hour. It will come back tender. It won’t be quite the same dish, but it will be edible, which is more than can be said for the alternative.

Don’t salt the paua before cooking. It draws out moisture and firms the meat before it ever hits the pan.

Cold butter, hot toast. The toast wants buttering while it’s hot enough to melt it, then topping straight away. Creamed paua sitting in a bowl going lukewarm is a waste of a good dive.

Variations

  • With egg. Some families stir a beaten egg through at the end, off the heat, which thickens it and stretches it further.
  • Paua fritters. Same mince, but bound with 2 eggs and 2 tbsp flour instead of the cream sauce, then fried in spoonfuls until golden.
  • A bit of heat. A pinch of cayenne or a dash of Worcestershire sauce is common and doesn’t fight the paua.
  • Farmed paua. Smaller and more tender than wild. Cut the cooking time to 90 seconds.

Creamed paua FAQs

What does paua taste like?

Rich and mineral, somewhere between scallop and mussel but firmer and more savoury. Stronger than most white fish, much milder than oyster.

Can I use frozen paua?

Yes, and freezing actually helps tenderise it. Thaw it slowly in the fridge overnight, drain well, and pat dry before mincing – excess water will thin the sauce.

How do I know when it’s cooked?

It turns from translucent grey to opaque and firms up slightly. That’s it. Two to three minutes in a simmering sauce.

Why did mine go rubbery?

It was cooked for longer than about four minutes and less than about an hour. There’s no middle ground with paua.

Can I make it ahead?

Not really. The sauce can be made ahead and reheated, but the paua should go in at the last minute. Reheating creamed paua overcooks it a second time.

Can I buy paua?

Not wild-caught – it’s illegal to sell it in New Zealand. Farmed paua is available legally from some fishmongers and online suppliers.

Yorkshire Puddings

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Yorkshire puddings are flour, eggs, milk and salt. There is nothing in the ingredient list that can go wrong, which means every failure is a technique failure — and there are only three techniques that matter.

Makes 12. About 40 minutes, plus resting time for the batter.

Equal volumes of egg, flour and milk

Forget weights. Measure the eggs in a jug, then use the same volume of flour and the same volume of milk.

Four eggs come to roughly 200 ml, so that’s 200 ml of flour and 200 ml of milk. It scales perfectly and it works with any size of egg, which weight-based recipes don’t.

This is the classic ratio and it produces a thin batter — about the consistency of pouring cream. If your batter is thick like a pancake batter, it’s wrong, and the puddings will be dense.

Rest the batter — at least 30 minutes, an hour is better

Two things happen while the batter rests.

The flour fully hydrates, so the starch granules swell and the batter thickens slightly and becomes smoother. And the gluten you developed by whisking relaxes, which lets the pudding expand freely instead of fighting itself.

Thirty minutes minimum at room temperature. An hour is better. Overnight in the fridge is better still, though take it out 30 minutes before using — cold batter into hot fat gives a smaller rise.

A rested batter can rise noticeably higher than one used immediately, for zero extra effort.

The fat must be smoking hot

This is the one that matters most, and it’s where most failures happen.

Put the fat in the tin, put the tin in a 220°C oven, and leave it for 10 full minutes until the fat is visibly shimmering and beginning to smoke. Then pour the batter in — it should hiss and spit immediately.

That instant heat flash-sets the outside of the pudding and turns the water in the batter to steam, and it’s the steam that inflates it. Batter poured into merely warm fat sits there, cooks slowly from the outside, and produces a flat dense disc.

Beef dripping is traditional and best. Lard, goose fat or the fat from your roast all work. Vegetable oil works fine and is what most people use — just not olive oil or butter, both of which burn below the temperature you need.

About a teaspoon of fat per hole, and don’t fill the holes more than halfway with batter.

Do not open the oven

Not to check, not to turn the tray, not for twenty minutes.

Opening the door drops the oven temperature sharply and the puddings, which are held up entirely by steam pressure, collapse. They will not come back.

Look through the glass. If your oven door has no window, wait the full time.

Why they sink afterwards

Some deflation as they cool is normal — the steam holding them up condenses. Serve them within a couple of minutes of coming out and it doesn’t matter.

If they collapse dramatically the moment they leave the oven, they were undercooked. They should be deep golden brown and feel dry and crisp, not pale and soft. Give them the full 20 minutes and don’t be nervous about the colour.

Frequently asked questions

Why didn’t my Yorkshire puddings rise?

Almost always the fat wasn’t hot enough. It needs 10 minutes in a 220°C oven until it’s shimmering and beginning to smoke, and the batter should hiss when it goes in. The other common causes are opening the oven door, and batter that was too thick.

What is the ratio for Yorkshire pudding batter?

Equal volumes of egg, flour and milk. Measure the eggs in a jug first, then match that volume with flour and with milk. It scales to any number of eggs.

Do I have to rest the batter?

It makes a real difference. Thirty minutes minimum, an hour is better, overnight is best. The flour hydrates and the gluten relaxes, both of which let the pudding rise higher.

Can I open the oven to check?

No. The puddings are held up by steam pressure and opening the door drops the temperature enough to collapse them permanently. Look through the glass.

What fat should I use?

Beef dripping is traditional and gives the best flavour. Lard, goose fat or the fat from your roast all work. Vegetable oil is fine. Don’t use butter or olive oil — both burn below the required temperature.

Why did they sink after I took them out?

Some deflation as they cool is normal. Dramatic collapse means undercooked — they should be deep golden and feel dry and crisp, which takes the full 20 minutes.

Can I make the batter ahead?

Yes, up to a day in the fridge. Take it out 30 minutes before using; cold batter rises less.

Can I freeze Yorkshire puddings?

Yes, and they reheat surprisingly well. Cool completely, freeze, then reheat from frozen at 220°C for 5 minutes. Better than most frozen shop-bought ones.

Can I make one big one?

Yes — that’s a traditional Yorkshire pudding, baked in a single roasting dish and cut into squares. Use the same batter, the same hot fat, and bake for 30–35 minutes.

Variations

  • Toad in the hole — brown sausages in the tin first, pour the batter around them, and bake for 35 minutes in a single dish.
  • One large pudding — a single roasting dish, cut into squares, which is the older way of serving it.
  • Herb — 1 Tbsp finely chopped thyme or rosemary in the batter.
  • Mustard — 1 tsp mustard powder in the flour, which suits beef particularly well.
  • Mini puddings — a 24-hole mini muffin tin and 12 minutes, for canapés filled with rare beef and horseradish.

Fried Rice

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Fried rice is a fifteen-minute dish that exists to use up leftovers, and there is exactly one non-negotiable rule. Get it right and you have separate, slightly chewy, well-coated grains. Get it wrong and you have a sticky beige clump, and no amount of technique afterwards will save it.

Serves 4.

Day-old cold rice, and this is not optional

Fresh rice does not work. Not “works less well” — does not work.

Freshly cooked rice is full of water and its starch is fully gelatinised, so the grains are soft and sticky. Put it in a hot wok and it steams, breaks down, and clumps into a paste.

Refrigerate it overnight and something useful happens: the starch retrogrades, meaning the molecules recrystallise and the grains firm up and dry out slightly. Cold rice grains are separate, firm, and low enough in surface moisture to fry rather than steam.

Cook the rice the day before and refrigerate it uncovered or loosely covered, spread out on a tray if you can rather than in a lump. Overnight is ideal; four hours in the fridge spread thin is workable at a pinch.

No leftover rice? Cook it, spread it on a tray, and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes. It’s a compromise, not a substitute.

Break the clumps up with your hands before it goes near the pan

Cold rice comes out of the fridge in a solid block. Break it apart with your fingers until every grain is separate before you start cooking, over a plate or a board.

Trying to break clumps up in a hot wok means the outside of each clump burns while the inside is still cold and stuck together.

Very hot pan, and don’t crowd it

Fried rice wants the highest heat your stove will produce. You’re trying to drive off surface moisture fast and get a little browning on the grains, and a medium pan just warms the rice through wetly.

Cook in batches if your pan is small. Four serves of fried rice in a 24 cm frying pan will steam. Two batches of two is faster than one batch that doesn’t work.

A wok is ideal. A large heavy frying pan is fine. A non-stick pan that can’t take high heat is the worst option.

Eggs first, out, and back at the end

Scramble the eggs on their own in the hot pan, break them into pieces, and tip them onto a plate. They go back in at the very end.

Leave the eggs in while the rice fries and they overcook into rubbery specks and coat the grains in a slightly greasy film. Cooked separately, you get distinct pieces of soft egg through the finished dish.

Soy sauce goes in at the end, around the edge

Two reasons.

At the end, because soy added early has time to soak into the rice and make it wet again, undoing everything the hot pan just did.

Around the edge of the pan, not into the middle. Poured onto the hot metal it sizzles and caramelises for a second before it hits the rice, which deepens the flavour considerably. Poured into the middle it just wets the rice.

Two tablespoons for four people. It should season the rice, not dye it — properly made fried rice is pale golden, not brown.

Frequently asked questions

Why do you need day-old rice for fried rice?

Freshly cooked rice is full of water and sticky, so it steams and clumps in the pan. Refrigerating it overnight makes the starch recrystallise, drying and firming the grains so they fry separately instead.

Can I use fresh rice for fried rice?

Not successfully. If you have no choice, cook it, spread it thin on a tray, and freeze for 30 minutes to dry the surface. It’s a compromise, not a fix.

Why is my fried rice mushy?

Fresh rice, a pan that wasn’t hot enough, too much in the pan at once, or soy sauce added too early. Usually the first one.

What rice is best for fried rice?

Long-grain — jasmine or basmati. Short-grain and sushi rice are too sticky. Brown rice works and takes a little longer to fry.

When do I add the soy sauce?

At the very end, poured around the edge of the pan rather than into the middle. It caramelises on the hot metal for a second before hitting the rice, which adds depth. Added early it just makes the rice wet again.

Why cook the eggs separately?

Left in the pan while the rice fries they overcook into rubbery specks and coat the grains greasily. Cooked separately and returned at the end, you get distinct pieces of soft egg.

Can I make it vegetarian?

Yes — leave out the meat, add 200 g of diced firm tofu browned separately, or double the vegetables. Use a mushroom soy for depth.

Can I reheat fried rice?

Yes, in a hot pan rather than a microwave. Note the food safety point: cooked rice should be cooled quickly and refrigerated within an hour, and reheated only once.

What else can go in it?

Prawns (added raw for the last 2 minutes), char siu pork, sweetcorn, capsicum, bean sprouts, or Chinese sausage. It’s a leftovers dish — that’s the point.

Variations

  • Egg fried rice — leave the meat out entirely and use four eggs. The simplest and arguably the best.
  • Prawn fried rice — 300 g raw prawns added for the final 2 minutes.
  • Kimchi fried rice — 1/2 cup chopped kimchi with the rice, and gochujang instead of soy.
  • Nasi goreng — add kecap manis, sambal oelek and a fried egg on top.
  • Bacon and egg — bacon, egg and peas only, which is the version most Kiwi kids grew up on.

Overnight Oats

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Overnight oats are five minutes of work the night before and nothing at all in the morning, which is the entire appeal. They’re also easy to get wrong in a way that puts people off for good — too much liquid and you get soup, too little and you get cement.

The ratio is the recipe. Everything else is preference.

Serves 1. Scale it up in the same jar proportions.

The ratio: 1:1, then adjust

Equal volumes of rolled oats and liquid. Half a cup of each per person, which sets to a thick, spoonable, porridge-like consistency overnight.

That’s the starting point, and it’s the one most recipes get wrong by adding too much milk. If you like it looser, go to 1:1.25. If you want it very thick — closer to a set pudding — stay at 1:1 and add a tablespoon of chia seeds, which absorb several times their own volume.

Yoghurt counts as liquid but behaves differently. A half-and-half split of milk and yoghurt gives a thicker, tangier result and is worth doing. Straight yoghurt makes them very dense.

Rolled oats, not instant and not steel-cut

This matters more than the ratio.

Rolled oats (also sold as wholegrain or old-fashioned oats) are steamed and flattened. They absorb liquid steadily overnight and hold their shape, so you get distinct oats in a thick base.

Instant or quick oats are cut finer and pre-cooked further. They absorb liquid almost immediately and break down completely, which is why overnight oats made with them come out as a uniform grey paste. This is the single commonest reason people say they don’t like overnight oats.

Steel-cut oats barely absorb anything cold. They’ll still be hard in the morning.

Four hours minimum, two days maximum

Four hours is enough for rolled oats to fully hydrate — so you can make them in the morning for lunch, not just overnight.

They keep two days in the fridge, three at a push. Beyond that the oats keep swelling and the texture goes claggy, and any fresh fruit in there starts to go.

Make a jar for tomorrow and a jar for the day after. Don’t make five.

Add-ins: what goes in now, what goes on later

In at the start: chia seeds (they need time to gel), cinnamon, cocoa, protein powder, peanut butter, honey or maple syrup, mashed banana, grated apple.

On at the last minute: fresh berries, sliced banana, nuts, seeds, granola, coconut. Nuts and granola go soft overnight and lose the entire point of adding them. Fresh berries bleed and go mushy.

Frozen berries are the exception — stirred in at the start they thaw overnight and release their juice through the oats, which is genuinely good.

A pinch of salt

Two grams of salt in a jar of oats does not make them salty. It makes them taste of something. Overnight oats without salt taste flat and slightly cardboardy no matter how much honey you add, and almost no recipe mentions it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the ratio for overnight oats?

Equal volumes of rolled oats and liquid — half a cup of each per person. That sets thick and spoonable. Add more liquid for a looser result, or a tablespoon of chia seeds for a thicker one.

Can I use instant oats?

You can, but they turn to paste. Instant oats are cut fine and pre-cooked, so they absorb liquid immediately and break down completely. Rolled oats are what you want.

Can I use steel-cut oats?

Not for this. Steel-cut oats barely absorb liquid cold and will still be hard in the morning.

How long do overnight oats need?

Four hours minimum, which means you can make them in the morning for lunch. Overnight is convenient rather than necessary.

How long do they keep?

Two days in the fridge, three at a push. Beyond that the oats keep swelling and go claggy.

Why are my overnight oats gluey?

Either instant oats were used, or they’ve been sitting more than three days. Both cause the oats to break down completely.

When do I add the fruit and nuts?

Fresh fruit, nuts and granola go on in the morning — they go soft or mushy overnight. Frozen berries are the exception and are good stirred in at the start.

Can I make them without yoghurt?

Yes, use all milk. Yoghurt makes them thicker and tangier but it isn’t essential. Any plant milk works too.

Can I eat them warm?

Yes, microwave for a minute and stir. It’s essentially porridge at that point, and perfectly good, though it defeats the convenience.

Do I really need the salt?

Yes. A pinch makes the difference between oats that taste of something and oats that taste of nothing. Almost no recipe mentions it and it’s the easiest improvement to make.

Variations

  • Apple and cinnamon — half a grated apple and 1 tsp cinnamon in at the start.
  • Chocolate peanut butter — 1 Tbsp cocoa and 1 Tbsp peanut butter in at the start, banana on top.
  • Berry — 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries stirred in at the start; they thaw and bleed through overnight.
  • Feijoa — 1/2 cup scooped feijoa flesh in at the start. Very good, and very seasonal.
  • Bircher — grated apple, sultanas, lemon juice and a little cream stirred through in the morning, which is the original Swiss version.

Nachos

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Nachos fail in a very specific way: the top layer is perfect, the bottom is a pale soggy raft of chips with nothing on them, and the middle is somewhere between. That’s a construction problem, not a recipe problem.

Serves 4 as a main, 6 as a shared plate. Thirty minutes.

Build in two layers, not one

This is the whole thing.

Pile all the chips in, dump the toppings on the surface, and gravity does the rest — the wet ingredients soak straight through the top layer while the chips underneath stay bare. Every mouthful is either overloaded or dry.

Two layers. Half the chips, half the mince, half the cheese. Then the second half of the chips, the rest of the mince, the rest of the cheese. It takes ten extra seconds and it means every chip has something on it.

For a big tray, three layers.

Cheese goes directly on the chips

Counterintuitively, cheese should be the layer touching the chips, not the layer on top of the wet stuff.

Melted cheese forms a partial seal that slows moisture soaking down. Cheese on top of a wet mince layer just sits there while the mince soaks the chips from above.

So the order within each layer is: chips, cheese, mince, cheese. A little cheese under and a little over.

Wet toppings go on after baking

Sour cream, guacamole, salsa, tomato, coriander, jalapeños — all of these go on after the tray comes out of the oven.

Baked sour cream splits. Baked guacamole goes grey and bitter. Baked fresh tomato releases water. None of them improve with heat, and all of them make the chips soggy if they’re in the oven.

Cheese and the meat are the only things that need to be hot.

The mince needs to be thick and dry

A loose, saucy mince is the fastest route to soggy nachos. Whatever you use — a quick spiced beef mince, or leftover chilli con carne — it should be thick enough to hold a spoon shape, not spoonable like a sauce.

If your chilli is loose, reduce it in a pan for five minutes before it goes near the chips.

Oven, not microwave

The microwave heats the cheese and steams the chips at the same time, and steamed chips are soft chips. A hot oven — 200°C for 10 to 12 minutes — melts the cheese while keeping the chips crisp.

A shallow, wide dish beats a deep one. You want surface area, not depth.

Frequently asked questions

How do I stop nachos going soggy?

Build in two layers rather than piling everything on top, put a little cheese directly on the chips, keep the mince thick rather than saucy, and add all the wet toppings after baking rather than before.

What order do you layer nachos?

Chips, cheese, mince, cheese — then repeat. The cheese touching the chips forms a partial seal that slows moisture soaking through.

Should sour cream and guacamole go in the oven?

No. Sour cream splits, guacamole goes grey and bitter, and fresh tomato releases water. Only the cheese and the meat need heat.

Can I use leftover chilli con carne?

Yes, and it’s the best version. Reduce it in a pan for five minutes first if it’s at all loose — nacho mince needs to be thicker than chilli you’d serve with rice.

Oven or microwave?

Oven, 200°C for 10–12 minutes. A microwave steams the chips while melting the cheese, and steamed chips go soft.

What cheese is best for nachos?

Tasty cheddar for flavour, or a mix of cheddar and mozzarella if you want the stretch as well. Grate it yourself — pre-grated cheese is coated in starch to stop it clumping and melts less smoothly.

Can I make nachos ahead?

Not assembled. You can make the mince up to three days ahead and refrigerate it, then assemble and bake at the last minute.

How do I make them vegetarian?

Replace the mince with two extra tins of beans plus 200 g of finely chopped mushrooms browned hard. Same spices, same method.

Variations

  • Chicken nachos — shredded poached or roast chicken tossed with the spices instead of mince.
  • Pulled pork — leftover slow-cooked pork shoulder, which is excellent here.
  • Vegetarian — black beans and mushrooms, as above.
  • Cheese-only — chips, cheese, jalapeños. Fast, and arguably the original.
  • Nacho fries — the same toppings over hot chips instead of corn chips.