The shearers and fishermen Simon Gault feeds on his new series are no-frills kind of guys.
"I'm obviously trying to flash them a bit up, give them something a bit different. Some are not keen to try new things, some are," he says.
Chef on a Mission sees the Masterchef judge leave his five-star restaurant Euro on Auckland's Viaduct and travel everywhere - on a fishing rig, to a sheep station, to a wedding ceremony in Samoa - working his magic. It turns out his new diners are generally pretty satisfied with their lot - good hearty tucker, and lots of it - but Simon aims to add a little more pizzazz to their meals.
He's never without his trusty box of tricks and secret weapons: his special knives, and what he calls "Gault dust", the components of which he prefers to keep secret.
In this week's first episode, he joins a group of deep-sea fishermen on board a boat 150 nautical miles out into the Pacific. He helps the crew haul in hoki, eats with them, quizzes them on their favourite foods and flavours, then dives into the pantry to cook up a storm.
