Facing the biggest test: the pav

The easiest way to bring a plate is to bring the Good Woman but how to convince her to cook for my mates on the Portland psychology course, asks Gerry Forde in this week's Southlander.

"Darling, wouldn't it be cool if you made one of your pavlova and really wowed these people from all over the world with our national dish?"

No pressure.

She was immediately on a mission to find an egg beater and searched downtown Portland, over the river and out to Beaverton – no luck.

Next day she was at the pharmacy next door to our condo and found beaters for 10 bucks.

The girls back in Invercargill skyped over the recipe for her never-fail crusty-edge pav.

The American oven was in Fahrenheit but lucky I remembered something about doubling the Celsius temperature and adding 30 degrees.

She couldn't get castor sugar so used fructose.

In no time, the first Portland Pav came out of the oven.

"There's no crust!" shrieked the Good Woman.

It turned out my temperature conversion was about 20 degrees out.

She was glaring at me so I took my punishment like a man and ate the entire pav.

"Delicious! I should have saved some for the party."

Too late the Good Woman was already adjusting the oven and beating up a second batch.

Same soggy result. The Good Woman was just about to force feed the second pav the same way as the first when I protested: "It may not be crusty but it's just brilliant the way it is."

She paused.

On this trip she had faced international security at Los Angeles Airport, ridden up a glass elevator to the Space Needle towering above Seattle and let down her hair to ride a carousel like a little girl, but taking a soft pav to a party was her biggest test.

"They don't know what a pav is supposed to be so you'll be right," I said.

At the party the first person she met was Pete, from Australia.

The Good Woman's heart missed a beat. "Yeah, I used to come from the East Coast of New Zealand. Is this a pav?"

By this stage I was long gone to the opposite side of the room.

Though Pete did find me later to say it was the best pav he'd ever tasted.

» Gerry Forde is the Venture Southland regional identity brand manager.

- © Fairfax NZ News