Have fun cooking up a storm
LIVEN UP LOCKDOWN: INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND HOST A COMPETITION
The surge of basic bakes to ambitious culinary endeavours being whipped up in family kitchens across the country during #LockdownLife, may mean you’re running out of inspiration, but don’t despair – get ready to reach for the remote and join South Africa’s favourite dinner party: Come Dine with Me South Africa is back!
After five successful seasons, Come Dine with Me South Africa returns with an explosion of hilarious blunders, saucy sabotage and peppery commentary from the legendary Dave Lamb.
And if some of the more memorable moments over the past seasons are anything to go by – think pink dogs, spontaneously stripping guests and possible food poisoning – then you can expect season six, which premieres on BBC Lifestyle (DStv channel 174) at 8pm on Wednesday 27 May to top it all.
With social distancing taking physical dinner parties off the table, the return of Come Dine with Me South Africa is the perfect opportunity to gather your crew and create your own three-course extravaganza.
Host a virtual Come Dine With Me-inspired dinner party while you reconnect with family, friends and even the occasional frenemy, while putting those newly acquired kitchen skills to the test!
If you’re going to throw a fun, slightly silly yet somewhat serious cooking competition, then getting together the right blend of personalities is just as important as the menu. Every good dinner party includes an overly confident novice, a picky eater, a wine enthusiast, a cocky know-it-all, a vibrant storyteller and a recipe modifier.
Create a mood with an exciting theme and encourage your guests to dress for the occasion. How about a Mad Hatters party or a travel theme, inspired by the first city you all want to visit once travel bans are lifted. Ensure there’s a shoutout for the guest with the most sparkle on the night.
Plan the evening’s festivities – there’s nothing like entertaining games to strike the right note. Think never have I ever, two truths and a lie, Trivial Pursuit or Pictionary.
Or turn up your favourite playlist and get everyone off their chairs and dancing.
Use a video app such as WhatsApp, Google Hangout, Zoom or the increasingly popular Houseparty.
Each team should have a set dinner table with a starter, main and dessert.
To allow everyone to release their culinary crazy (read creativity), each team will be responsible for choosing and sharing a recipe and ingredient list for one of the three courses. Ahead of time, the host will nominate which team does which course.
Fancy pronunciations, which leave guests guessing what they will be served may provide a classic Come Dine With Me South Africa moment but it’s how you pull it all together that determines if the final product will be a simmering success or an undercooked flop.
For inspiration check out recipes from past contestants on https://www.bbcsouthafrica.com/ recipes/.
Get ready to present your culinary creations to the world’s harshest (or most adoring) critics – your friends and family!
As guests won’t be able to sample the fruits of your labour, each team will need to sell their courses based on other categories such as appearance, execution, creativity or plating.
Categories, points per category and penalties (if any) should be decided upon and shared with the group upfront – get creative!
After each presentation round, create official scoreboards which could be sent to the host to tally up.
The points are in and you’ve discovered that sometimes you just can’t win but someone has to!
As the host you’ll be responsible for announcing the points and placements of each team.
Offer up a prize to the overall winners, who will be crowned Host/s with the Most.
While a R10 000 prize might be out of the question, a bottle of wine or a dinner in a restaurant post-lockdown may be enough to incentivise your fellow competitors to pull out all the stops – ensuring the night is one to remember!
Make Come Dine With Me South Africa part of your lockdown essential viewing and catch the premiere on BBC Lifestyle (DStv Channel 174) next Wednesday at 8pm, with repeats on Sundays at 5pm.
The series will also be available on DStv Catch Up and DStv Now.