The dish: Hangi, New Zealand

Plate up

A hangi is simply meat and vegetables. It’s the way it’s cooked that matters. Alamy

The hangi is New Zealand’s national dish, and every single visitor to the country should experience one. These are the words of Ben Bayly, one of New Zealand’s best-known chefs, a restaurateur and former judge on My Kitchen Rules. He’s passionate about many things, but most of all the hangi, the traditional Maori style of cookery that has become an ingrained part of modern Kiwi culture. A hangi is a method of cooking – meat and vegetables are packed in wire baskets and buried under hot rocks in a ground oven, left to steam over several hours – but it’s also a social occasion, much like the Aussie barbecue.

Meat and vegetables are packed in wire baskets and buried under hot rocks.…