Local chefs and brothers Pete and Dany Sok had the chance to see themselves on Chopped Canada competing with each other against two other brothers in the episode Bro-DownShowdown.
After all four contestants did their best to make a dish to the judges liking, Pete came out on top, winning the prize of $10,000.
Pete plans to treat his family to an all inclusive vacation with the money he has won.
The brothers own Bamboo Hut in Sylvan Lake and Sophear Restaurant and Bar in Red Deer.
The brothers describe what it was like to be in the competitive environment where seconds are precious, especially when they had to make a dish out of mystery ingredients for their judges.
“It’s a tremendous amount of pressure,” Pete said. “It doesn’t matter how many years of experience you have or which famous chef you work under. All that matters is what is in that basket, if you’re able to use it, combine it and make a dish worthy of the judges liking.”
“The pressure is high and as soon as the clock starts your heart is pumping and your adrenaline is kicking in as soon as they say open up the basket,” Dany added.
After opening up the box and taking out the mystery ingredients Pete said you have to use your instinct of what to make.
The episode aired last Saturday and seeing themselves on television definitely gave them a different perspective.
“It’s kind of funny. You don’t talk in the mirror every day, you don’t hear your voice differently, but once you’re on screen it’s ‘that’s how I act, that’s how I look?’,” Pete said. “It’s neat but at the same time you see how you really are.”
Pete said they weren’t acting in the competition and were being themselves.
Opening up the basket of unknown ingredients left Pete and Dany speechless. They both had to figure out what some of the ingredients were and what to do with them, all while the clock ticked away.
“You ask yourself, do I know this item? Have I dealt with this item before and have I tasted this item before?” Dany said. “All these different questions just so you can try and put something together.”
Even though Pete was the overall winner of the competition there were still items in the basket that caught him off guard.
He said he was caught off guard with nasturtium in the dessert round.
“I looked at it and I’m like ‘oh nice herbs’ I took a bite of it and it tasted almost like powerful wasabi leaves. I was like ‘ah really dessert?’,” Pete said.
Dany was eliminated in this round. Thinking back to the round when he was eliminated Dany said he saw it coming.
He said he was still proud of his dish because he gave it his best shot.
“In that amount of time and pressure and with the ingredients I just gave it my all,” Dany said.
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com