Nici is not the only culinary celebrity in these parts. As contestants gathered at the community hall we had the chance to sample some cooking from Teina Foster. Teina is known locally as the Whitebait Queen. She and her partner Peter Pleydell travel the area selling their whitebait and also some fine smoked kahawai. Entrants are required to bring all their cooking requirements - plates and garnishes - and set themselves up on the trestle tables around the hall. At the word "go", the cooking begins and the finished results, identified by numbers, are brought to the judges' table. We had to score on taste, texture and final presentation. The final totals, collated by the Mayoress Trisha Sanson, decided the category winners.
Once the fritters had been tasted by the panel, the public had a chance to taste each contestant's efforts and vote for the "People's Choice Award", which was won by Wayne Flanagan.
What is whitebait? These tiny translucent fish are juveniles of five native species. In spring they head inland from the sea, in this case the Tasman and up the Waikato river to grow into adults.
Swimming up stream, they stay close to the river banks where the current is weaker.
Whitebaiters stake-out or hold wide-mouthed nets to scoop out the fish, fishing from their regular spot.
Early Maori caught them in woven flax nets, drying them in the sun, then steaming them. Before refrigeration, whitebait was canned.
Long-time local iwi resident Rick Karaka remembers a Dunedin-based canning factory in the area. The factory would be opened each season. Locals would sell their catch, the bait canned and taken down to Dunedin and sold as South Island whitebait.
These days, catches are much smaller, many estuaries where whitebait hatched have been destroyed, and river water is more polluted. Hence these delicate treasures fetch higher prices.
Back to the competition. We tasted fritters stacked with avocado and topped with a cracker crumbs and lemon zest. We ate fritters with red-pepper zig zags. We tried whitebait beignets with a South American dip.
A Father Christmas-shaped fritter took out the most imaginative prize. Lemon foams, sauces and garnishes were all over the place. However, the ultimate winner stood out by a country mile. Her fritter was generous in whitebait, moist and perfectly cooked and had a wonderful innovative touch.
What do you need with whitebait? Lemon and salt. The winner had sat her fritter on a base of the lightest lemon mayo and surrounded it by deep-fried capers. True Kiwi bliss.
Congratulations, Kiri Te Kahika.
Recipes
• Whitebait Puffs
• Whitebait 'Frittata'
• Winner Takes All Whitebait Fritters
Most early New Zealand cook books will have recipes involving whitebait, flour, eggs, baking powder and parsley. This formula is also common kitchen lore.
There are recipes for mock whitebait fritters using grated potatoes. These days most people leave out the flour and rising agent, mixing the bait into a beaten egg and cooking them off into small patties.
Just make sure you season the mixture well. You can also just dust the whitebait with the meanest amount of seasoned flour and cook the whitebait in sizzling butter, keeping them separate. Serve with a squeeze of lemon. I recommend this if you have lots to use.
Don't try to extend your catch too far with batters. I'd rather eat a decent amount in one go - 100g of whitebait and a couple of eggs will supply an indulgent amount for two.
• Many thanks to Sue Winslow, Jacqui Church and Nici Wickes at Port Waikato for an extraordinary day.
• Pip Wylie is the head chef at Ripe, who generously supplied prizes.
