Cooked is a South African travel and cooking television series created by Justin Bonello and produced by Cooked In Africa Films in which Bonello and friends go on an adventure around South Africa cooking simple but delicious meals in sometimes very surprising circumstances.
The series premiered in South Africa on DStv's BBC Food channel (which later became BBC Lifestyle) on Tuesday 18 April 2006, at 21h00. It later aired on TopTV's Top One channel and on SABC3, beginning with Season 4. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 4 - entitled Cooked: Out of the Frying Pan - premiered on SABC3 on Saturday 1 October 2011, at 16h30. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 13 episodes in the fourth season.
Season 4 Episodes
Season 1
This cooking adventure show sees food lover Justin Bonello and a group of friends travelling around South Africa cooking simple but delicious meals in sometimes very surprising circumstances.
There isn't always a kitchen to hand or even kitchen utensils but nothing fazes Justin, and his enthusiasm for all things food oozes from every frame.
Justin makes it clear from the start - he's not a chef but he simply loves cooking. His enthusiasm for cooking fresh food is infectious and inspiring.
To him, it's all about being creative and enjoying the experience, with his friends on board for the ride and with the amazing South African landscape as a backdrop.
Season 2
South African host Justin Bonello and his motley crew are loading up the combi once again for a second season of Cooked - the cooking, eating, travelling and jolling show.
After the success of the first series, Cooked: Weekends Away is still all about the joy of food shared with friends but this time the troops travel further afield - including to Namibia.
Once again they're out to find fresh, local ingredients and create uncomplicated but tasty dishes.
For Justin, who is a self-trained cook (he is not, he stresses, a 'chef' which he sees as someone more to do with restaurants and reputation than to do with simple enthusiasm for cooking and eating together), this is a chance to build on the knowledge and experience he gained from Season 1.
The journey starts in South Africa. The first four episodes include a relaxing weekend in a Pringle Bay beach house, a houseboat on the Langebaan Lagoon, a boys fishing trip on the Breede River and a stay in the Cedarberg treetops.
Dishes include abalone baked in seaweed, pan-fried mullet, ravioli stuffed with mussels, jaffles (toasted sandwiches), 'drunken' birds and the wonderfully named, Tarzan roast (lamb on a vertical spit).
Then it's away upcountry taking in a river trip with Unite Brothers and Fish River Canyon along the way before crossing the border into the extraordinary landscape of Namibia.
Here they go off the beaten track to the Kolmanskuppe Ghost Town near Luderitz for a seafood poitjie, inland to Klein Aus Vista to check out the feral horses and on to the red dunes of the Sousassvlei for, amongst other things, chicken in a bucket.
Then there's a hot air balloon ride after which Justin cooks and eats his national emblem (that's a springbok).
The season is rounded off with some truly memorable South African places and food including a 'smiley' (a sheep's head) in the vibrant Cape Town township of Gugulethu and strandloper kos (beachcomber food), a prison breakfast and a crab curry on Robben Island.
Season 3
Cooked once again comes from Africa, as Justin Bonello sets off on a gastronomic journey around Mozambique.
The thirteen-part cooking adventure show is subtitled My Heart is in Africa, and Justin heads off in search of Africa's wild heart, wanting to tell the stories of the continent he loves.
It's easy to focus on the tales of poverty, or marvel at the wild animals that roam the land, but Justin wants to dig deeper and introduce us to real people and societies, and above all their culinary genius.
Justin would describe himself as a cook rather than a chef, using local ingredients and extreme cooking methods to bring his dishes to life.
Join him as he makes pizza in a dustbin oven, roasts a warthog, and tries several oyster recipes when a fishing trip falls flat.
Part cookery show, part travelogue, Cooked does more than bring you the recipes from a particular region - it gets up close and personal, and is all the more rewarding for that.
Season 4
Justin Bonello has lost his mojo and appetite for cooking and believes that the only way to get it back is to up his game.
So over a three month period he'll be spending three or four days in the kitchens of 13 of South Africa's premier restaurants. Here some of South Africa's best loved chefs and their assistants guide him through the intricacies and rigours of preparing an array of traditional, exotic and very original dishes.
The hours are extremely long and the work exacting but the people he meets have the same passion for food that he does and in no time he's right back in his element.
They get him to do his fair share of kneading dough and chopping onions but he can see right off that there is a vast difference between cooking for mates on a beach and preparing food for paying guests.
It's obvious why everything has to be prepared well in advance and that each unit needs to operate like a well oiled machine. As he gains in confidence, the chefs allow him to prepare some of their signature dishes and he even gets to work on the pass.
Justin quickly begins to appreciate the real attraction of this profession. How when the pressure's on and the place starts rocking there's a tremendous adrenaline rush and a huge satisfaction in being part of the team that makes it all come together.
During this season Justin goes from rough bush cook to smooth operator as his skill set improves. Whenever possible he reciprocates by taking his mentors out into his open air kitchen and giving back some of what he's learned.
While picking up the finer points of haute cuisine Justin also makes lifelong friends and spends time at some spectacular locations.
Seasons
Season 1 (13 episodes)
Channel: BBC Food | Premiere: 18 Apr 2006 | Finale: 11 Jul 2006 | Tuesdays, 21h00
Channel: Top One | Premiere: 5 Jun 2011 | Finale: 28 Aug 2011 | Sundays, 18h30
Season 2 (13 episodes)
Channel: BBC Food | Premiere: 13 Jul 2007 | Finale: 5 Oct 2007 | Fridays, 19h30
Season 3 (13 episodes)
Channel: BBC Lifestyle | Premiere: 12 Jan 2009 | Finale: 23 Feb 2009 | Mondays, 18h30
Season 4 (13 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 1 Oct 2011 | Finale: 24 Dec 2011 | Saturdays, 16h30