Happy New Year, indeed.
Filipino food is off to a great start as a Filipino-American chef from the San Francisco Bay Area served a win on the popular cooking contest Chopped.
Chef Charleen, who owns Kainbigan Restaurant in Oakland, was the last woman standing after three rounds in the kitchen. She took home a USD10,000 prize.
“The whole time I was nervous. I was looking at the other chefs and was seeing their strengths, their weaknesses but I was more grateful to be on the show itself. It’s huge!” she said in a report by ABS-CBN News.
The competing chefs were tasked to prepare a three-course meal using festive holiday ingredients, including caviar for appetizers and huge lobters for the entrée.
Chef Charleen’s winning recipes showcased her Filipino heritage.
For the appetizer round, she prepared a festive Crab Torta with Collard Green Laing and Champagne Butter Sauce.
Laing is a dish made of dried taro leaves cooked in coconut milk. It is often served spicy, and is a favorite in the Bicol region.
For the second round, chef Carleen served Martini Steamed Lobster Tail with Barbecue Strip Loin and Curried Black-Eyed Peas.
“In my culture barbecue on a stick is popular, so my first instinct is to marinate the meat with all the yummy seasonings,” she explained.
For the last round, she gave her performance a sweet ending with a funnel cake with pomegranate-grape compote.
This isn’t the first time a Filipino chef won the show. Last year, chef Josh Arcilla from the Center for Culinary Arts (CCA) Manila also bagged the top prize from the show.
READ: Filipino chef wins top prize in U.S. culinary show
“When I went into Chopped, I wanted to put down Filipino food from the get-go. That was just something I was comfortable with it. I wanted to show it. This was my chance to show Filipino food to the world,” chef Charleen said.
THe winning chef said she is planning a trip to the Philippines to look for inspiration for a new restaurant she’s planning top open in the Bay Area.
