The Great Hangi Test

Frozen hangi?
Purists might choke on their pork and kumara but is it the best thing since sliced Maori bread?
Sceptics told Ron Smith he wouldn't be able to sell frozen hangi in Rotorua because fresh hangi was so readily available.
It looks like they were wrong.
Mr Smith, who is the head of Puff'n Billy Foods Limited, has come up with Hangi to Go.
It's a frozen hangi with either pork and gravy or chicken with kumara, potatoes, broccoli, corn and stuffing.
The product has only been around for about six weeks and already Bay of Plenty and Waikato supermarkets have stocked up their freezers.
Obviously, the frozen version is a lot quicker than the real thing.
But what does it taste like?
The Daily Post took one "real" hangi and one microwaved hangi.
We taste-tested readers, and didn't tell them which hangi was which.
Three out of seven thought the microwave hangi was the fresh hangi.
Lynette Hamilton thought the frozen version was fresh.
The fresh hangi was "too watery", she reckoned.
However, she liked both meals and said the frozen version would be something she'd consider adding to her grocery list.
Helen O'Brien had to take about four tastes from each plate before she could decide which was the fresh hangi - and got it wrong.
However, there was no fooling Rangi Hawe, who has been eating hangi all her life. She rates the best hangi she's tasted as one her former partner used to make and said the frozen one just wouldn't cut it.
Most people, however, liked the idea of being able to pick up a hangi from the local supermarket and Lilly Zhao was one of two who liked the frozen meal better. "[It's] easy and handy and convenient," she said.
Trent Towers thought it was "a novelty" but reckoned people on a marae were unlikely to "go out and buy 200 frozen hangi".
While it might not be something marae will be buying in bulk, even those who weren't totally convinced by the taste of the frozen meal thought it would probably sell well.
Murray Sime thought the frozen hangi would grab the attention of tourists but said it lacked the hangi flavour of the "steam and the smoke and dirt".
Only 16-year-old Denice Oranje thought the idea of selling a frozen hangi in a supermarket was a bad one. In fact she considered the frozen hangi tasted "disgusting", saying it wasn't like the real thing at all.
Whakatane hangi master Brian Cribb disagrees. He's given the thumbs up to the four-minute hangi meal. Mr Cribb has been cooking both traditional and steamed hangi for decades and gave the frozen pork hangi a "not bad at all" rating.
"There is a taste of traditional hangi there - it's a good, filling hangi meal."


Puff'n Billy Foods, Ron Smith, of Matamata, defends his product saying that unlike traditional hangi it complied with health regulations.
This meant that unlike traditional hangi it could be marketed.
A nutrition chart on the rear of the packet listed the ingredients, emphasising it was was low on fat and salt.
"Our hangi is healthy eating," said Mr Smith.
He emphasised his product was earth infused, giving it the taste of traditional hangi without the possibility of it being contaminated.