While not everyone is comfortable working under tight time constraints and with cameras rolling as they compete against their peers, the situation isn’t that unusual for Canmore’s Stefan Kuhn.
Kuhn, a cross-country ski Olympian, Tour de Ski competitor and longtime national team member who is used to competing on world stages, though, trades skis for knives as he appears in episode four of the second season for Chopped Canada on The Food Network, Saturday (Jan. 31) for a chance at $10,000.
Each week on Chopped Canada, four chefs compete for the cash prize under the watchful eyes of celebrity judges. Each is given a surprise basket of ingredients, then has 20 minutes to create first an appetizer, then main course and dessert. Each then has to survive judging, and the possibility of being chopped.
On Saturday, Kuhn goes head to head with chefs from Vancouver, Quebec and Toronto, under the eyes of judges Roger Mooking, Susur Lee and Massimo Capra.
“My brother is a big fan of the Food Network and he loves Chopped and he sent me an application form,” said Kuhn. “He said, ‘you should go for this.’ All my friends and my girlfriend are pretty excited about seeing the show.”
In all, said Kuhn, more than 3,000 chefs applied and 200 got in on the action for the second season. Kuhn himself has a culinary diploma from SAIT, 10 years of experience, owns Classic Chef catering and works as a guest chef at Paintbox Lodge in Canmore.
“I think the Olympics got me in,” he said. “Most of the people who applied work in a unique restaurant, or had a cool story, and I think my skiing was the difference. They even filmed me skiing as part of an intro and asked about the Olympics; they made a big deal of that.”
Kuhn said he won’t divulge how he faired while creating his fare, and he hasn’t seen the episode he appears in, but said he hopes the camera is on his face when he opens his surprise basket.
“I’m going to watch with one eye open,” he said. “I saw a few episodes in the last few months leading up to it, but it was pretty cool to be in the studio and the 20 minutes seemed like five minutes.
“I’m good with time constraints and being on TV, but the challenge was deciding what to do with it (basket items). The night before, I thought about was options I might have for appetizers, dinner and dessert, but as soon as I opened the basket, it was a surprise.”
During filming, Kuhn admitted to casting an eye toward his competitors, to see how they were progressing, but said he didn’t want to copy anything and just concentrated on his own item preparation.
“Some of the guys had been to France to be a chef and my goal used to be to be the best skier. Now I want to be a good cook, but I’m also a full-time ski coach (Alberta World Cup Academy).
“At the end of the show (filmed in June), everyone was sweating and the stations looked like a bomb went off. It was awesome, though, and I’d go back for sure.”
As part of the interview process, Kuhn was asked what he’s spend the $10,000 on, should he win. “There are a few options, but I said ‘a vacation,’ or ‘paying down my mortgage’ because it’s so crazy high in Canmore.”
Kuhn, 34, was born in Banff and competed in cross-country skiing internationally from 1998 to 2000, before retiring to become a chef in 2001. In 2005, he resumed his ski career and continued through the Vancouver Whistler Olympics, finishing 15th in the sprint – the best Canadian male result to date.
