We all know that Filipino food is damn good, and the rest of the world is finding out. If you need more proof, just take a look at the New Year’s Eve episode of the cooking show Chopped, where Fil-Am chef Charleen Caabay won.
The chef impressed the judges with her innovative take on Filipino food and her ability to combine ingredients not usually found together.
Watch the video below:
In Chopped, contestants are pitted against each other in three rounds featuring Appetizer, Entrée, and Dessert.
For the Appetizer round, Caabay prepared a crab torta with collard green-caviar laing. For the Entrée round, she served a martini-steamed lobster tail with barbeque strip loin. In the Dessert round, the chef served a a funnel cake with pomegranate-grape compote.
During a private screening at Caabay’s Somar Bar in Oakland, California, she told ABS-CBN News, “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.”
She will receive $10,000 (roughly P500,000) for winning the New Year’s Eve episode.
Chopped is a cooking show where contestants must create dishes based on ingredients not commonly found together. They are each given a period of time to create a dish using the ingredients, and at the end of each round, one contestant is “chopped” off.
The show is hosted by Ted Allen, with a revolving set of judges.
This is not the first time a Filipino chef won an episode in Chopped. In September, Josh Arcilla impressed judges with his Filipino-style sea bass with runner bean salad using black sea bass, yuca, flat runner beans, and blueberry grappa.
Caabay’s episode of Chopped will air on the Food Network from December 29 to December 31.
What’s your favorite Filipino dish? Share your thoughts below!
Follow @When in Manila Koji for more stories like this!
