Monteith's Wild Food Challenge Chefs Set To Be TV Stars

MEDIA RELEASE

14th June 2011

Monteith's Wild Food Challenge Chefs Set To Be TV Stars

Nearly 80 chefs from around the country are currently cooking their hearts out for the coveted 2011 Monteith's Beer and Wild Food Challenge title under the watchful eye of consumers. But this year they have good reason to feel a little more nervous than usual.

Television production company, Eyeworks, renowned for series such as Missing Pieces, DIY Rescue, Game of Two Halves, Dragon Den and My House My Castle, will film 14 entrants for a new eight week series for TV One called, 'The Monteith's Beer and Wild Food Challenge'. The series will screen weekly from Thursday 6th October at 9.30pm until 24th November.

Fronting the series will be Auckland-based Foodstore head chefs, Mark Southon and Wylie Dean, who will embark on a road trip of New Zealand sampling entrants' wild food dishes and beer matches as well as meeting suppliers and local identities in the towns they visit.

Monteith's marketing manager, Jennie Macindoe says the television series is a huge opportunity for all involved in this year's competition, not just the chefs who end up being filmed.

"The involvement of a television network is a significant milestone and a great opportunity for the Challenge. Everyone will benefit from the series, regardless of whether or not a chef and their restaurant are involved in filming. The exposure that the entrants and their towns receive will be enormous. We're really excited about the opportunity and looking forward to helping profile New Zealand's longest running beer and food matching competition and some truly creative cuisine."

The series will be promoted by both Monteith's and TVNZ and those involved in the series will have their recipe detailed on TVNZ, thefoodstore.tv and Monteith's websites.

The chefs and restaurants involved in the series won't necessarily be in the Monteith's Wild Food Challenge final. Contestants in the Challenge are judged purely by their consumers and a panel of expert judges led by head convenor, Kerry Tyack. The winner would traditionally be announced in August but this year's winner will be kept under wraps until the series concludes given the final 'cook-off' will be the last episode.

Eyeworks will also visit the Monteith's Brewery in Greymouth as part of the series as well as filming the following chefs and restaurants:

1. The Drake - Auckland

Chef: Diego Stella

Dish: The Black Duck Hopper (Locally grown duck, rabbit, rosemary, goat's cheese, pears, carrots, leeks, red wine, coffee, chocolate, rice, mushroom, pistachios, raspberries, black grapes, Monteith's Black Beer, Monteith's Crushed Apple Cider)

Beer Match: Monteith's Black Beer

2. Clevedon Hotel - Auckland

Chef: Paul Povey

Dish: Italian Cowboy (loin of buffalo with cress/herb salad, buffalo ricotta, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, ravioli and huntsman sauce)

Beer Match: Monteith's Black Beer

3. Ribier Restaurant - Huapai

Chef: Eugene Sokolovski

Dish: Royal Hare Force

Beer Match: Monteith's Celtic Red Beer

4. Pepper Tree Restaurant & Bar - Coromandel

Chef: Scott Corbett

Dish: Honey, the Duck's Sweet on the Sow

Beer Match: Monteith's Radler Bier

5. The Porch Kitchen & Bar - Waihi Beach

Chef: Timothy Lumsden

Dish: Wild Peter Rabbit

Beer Match: Monteith's Pilsner

6. Smith & McKenzie - Hamilton

Chef: Tom Wiperi

Dish: Babbling Brook to Roar (Smoked Eel, Watercress, Monteiths Black Caviar, Horopito Rubbed Venison, Heritage Potato, Kumara, Pikopiko and Roast Capsicum Salsa, Port Wine Glaze).

Beer Match: Monteith's Black Beer

7. Plateau Restaurant & Bar - Taupo

Chef: Jude Messanger

Dish: Four Wild Pigs in the Orchard (Wild pork tender loin, wild boar neck, smoked bacon, wild watercress, apple, pear, baby carrots, grapes, fennel, chest nuts, walnuts, Madeira jus and fresh hand-made pasta).

Beer Match: Monteith's Crushed Apple Cider

8. The Redoubt Bar & Eatery - Matamata

Chef: Jenny (Ginge) Seidel

Dish: Bugs Bunny Comes to Matamata

Beer Match: Monteith's Crushed Pear Cider

9. The Loading Ramp - Havelock North

Chef: Daryle Schlierike

Dish: Paua to the Skate (skate wings and paua)

Beer Match: Single Source

10. The White Swan Hotel - Greytown

Chef: Shannon Katipa

Dish: Look Hare.....A Wild Little Pig Said, so what if I'm a tart! (Wild hare and pork belly ragout)

Beer Match: Monteith's Original Ale

11. Monteith's Brewery Bar - Khandallah, Wellington

Chef: John Mold

Dish: The Not So Boaring Billy Goat Burger

Beer Match: Monteith's Celtic Red Beer

12. Watershed Bar & Restaurant - Christchurch

Chef: John Finlayson

Dish: The Original Seabed and Boarshore (Carmalised wild pork belly, kumar, kawa kawa, flaxseed croquette, baked Monkfish, Nelson scallops, wild manuka smoked bacon and Kaikoura crayfish bisque cream)

Beer Match: Monteith's Original Ale

13: The Coalface - Greymouth

Chef: Colin Cutler

Dish: Marinated Venison with Celtic Cabbage and Brandied Blackball Bacon

Beer Match: Monteith's Celtic Red Beer

14: Taste Restaurant - Geraldine

Chef: Bryanna McNab

Dish: Catch 22 (Hare, butter, flour, water, eggs, chocolate, ginger, garlic, spices, chicken stock, cream Wallaby, nettle leaves, blue cheese, spring roll wrappers, berries)

Beer Match: Monteith's Crushed Apple Cider

ENDS

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