Masterchef NZ finalist is a hit with 'cheap and realistic' cooking

1News

3 days ago

Although Alice Taylor has always wanted to share her cooking on social media, for a long time, she felt like her kitchen wasn't beautiful enough, her appearance too much like she'd "just finished work", and her budget too "strict".
But when the 2022 MasterChef NZ finalist posted her first Instagram video, "clumsiness" was what people loved about it, she says, so now any mishaps are left in.
In a "very exciting" development for Taylor, creating recipes and content for Instagram has become her full-time job in the last few months.
Alice Taylor shares recipes for both 'cheap' and 'expensive' tiramisu. (Source: rnz.co.nz)
"It's just great because it gives me more time to produce good recipes and really think them through."
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As her social media following has grown and become international, the filming quality of the videos is the only thing that's changed, she says.
"I really want people to feel proud of what they're putting on the table and leave my page feeling happier and more sort of empowered."
When it comes to keeping meal costs down, Taylor doesn't recommend supermarket shopping with a full list.
To her, it makes better sense to figure out a set of staple ingredients by looking at the ingredients in the recipes that you cook most often and then buying whatever produce is in season and whatever meat is well-priced.
"Online shopping is great for that too, because you can easily see what's on special."
Her own pantry must-haves are:
Flour, rice, pasta and bread (frozen and sliced)
Dried green herbs, paprika, curry powder
Frozen vegetables, like peas
Soy sauce
Peanut butter
Coconut cream
Tinned tomatoes
Olive oil (one "bloody expensive" item that she will never give up).
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Although people often think baking is "this really strict thing", Taylor makes even her sweet recipes as adaptable as they can possibly be.
"I try to put as many substitutes as possible so that people never feel like they need to go to the shop to cook my recipes; they can just use whatever they have."
To cut back on "expensive" dairy, she often uses at least 25% less of it in any given recipe, but always has Greek yoghurt in the fridge because it's relatively inexpensive.
Alice Taylor's Orange Yoghurt Cake. (Source: rnz.co.nz)
Although eggs are pretty expensive at the moment, there are plenty of cheaper substitutes you can replace them with, Taylor says, including grated apple, flax seeds or chia seeds mixed with a bit of water, mashed banana, butter or neutral oil.
Aquafaba — the liquid from chick peas — works really well as an egg substitute, too.
"If you whip that up, it does really look like egg whites, and it really stabilises a cake. You can freeze it, and then when you don't have an egg, you've got that there to use as well."
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Sticky toffee pudding can be pretty expensive, so to bring the cost down, she substitutes brown sugar for treacle. (Source: rnz.co.nz)
About once a week, Taylor and her Albanian partner — a chef who helps develop her recipes — eats the easy, versatile and cheap rice dish Täve, which costs about $4 a person, she says, but could be less with a cheaper cut of meat or no meat at all.
Tave is also very adjustable to whatever vegetables are in season, she says. In the summer, she adds capsicum and eggplant, but right now it's onion, potato and leek.
rnz.co.nz