Derry's Seana McAirfryer to take part in BBC cooking show

Derry's very own Seana McCafferty, aka 'Seana McAirfryer,' has taken part in the new season of BBC's Farm to Feast: Best Menu Wins.

Hosted by Eamonn Holmes and featuring Michelin star chef Danni Barry and food critic Joris Minne as judges, Farm To Feast: Best Menu Wins returns for a second series, filmed in County Fermanagh.  

The cookery competition celebrates award-winning produce from farms and fisheries across Northern Ireland. 

This series introduces seven brand new amateur cooks, who move into a castle in Fermanagh to live with and compete against each other, until one is crowned the winner.  

Competing alongside Seana is Kerry Kane from Newtownards, Alex Huston from Belfast, Shubham Baviskar from India and currently living in Belfast, Karen Mulholland from Bangor, Ricky Robinson from Belfast and now living in County Tyrone, and Mandipa ‘Mandi’ Dhliwayo, originally from Zimbabwe currently living in Belfast.

Seana, known on Instagram as Seana McAirfryer, has racked up over 33,000 followers with her unique and tasty Airfryer recipes.

The mum of two was never a trained chef but when Airfryers became a craze during the first national lockdown, shortly after the banana bread phenomenon, Seana bought one to see what all the fuss was about.

It was then she discovered she could cook up tasty and quirky recipes and created her Instagram account so everyone could enjoy them too.

Two years on, Seana continues to post delicious and inventive recipes for inexpensive tasty meals as well as teaching at community hubs, sharing her passion for cooking.

Seana was then recruited for the BBC show after many local people recommended her for the show and, after an interview process, she was selected. 

Speaking to Derry News ahead of the show's release on Friday, Seana said the whole experience was amazing but extremely nerve wracking.

"I don't know if I could do anything like that again," she laughed. "I was so so nervous but the craic was ninety.

"The rest of the contestants are so so good, they're so talented, and we formed some friendships.

"I was shaking with nerves the whole time but it was such a brilliant experience, I loved it."

On the show, episodes one to four begin with a reveal of two key ingredients, from which the contestants must create a menu for one small and one large dish. 

Danni and Joris blind select their favourite three menus – determining the three cooks who’ll battle it out in the kitchen for a place in the semi-final. Those not picked enjoy an opportunity to taste the competitor’s dishes, and a chance to try again next time.

After four heats, the judges whittle the contestants down to four deserving semi-finalists and the pressure ramps up as they have their culinary creativity put to the test once more.

All four semi-finalists will get to cook their small dish – the top three then go onto cook their large dish, with the cooks responsible for the judges’ favourite two dishes becoming the finalists.

In the finale the last two cooks standing face the ultimate culinary showdown.  Revisiting two of the ingredients previously featured in the competition, they’re tasked with preparing a formal two course meal to be served in the castle’s grand state dining room; enjoyed by the Earl of Erne, the two food producers behind the key ingredients, the five cooks who didn’t make it into the final and judges Danni and Joris.  

The series will be available in its entirety on BBC iPlayer from Friday March 24, and also shown weekly from the same date on BBC One Northern Ireland at 7.30pm.