Good afternoon! Lets get the Twitterview with @ChefJasonRoss, a judge for the #ChefChallenge, rolling!.
So @chefjasonross, when did you know that you wanted to get involved with cooking as a career?
Jason: I went to cooking school young-17, but had no plans on being a chef until later.
after a while I realized that I was always in a kitchen and around 1997 I began in earnest to go after it as a career.
age 25ish
So where did you go for schooling, and could you tell the kind/type of cooking you wanted to do early on?
Jason: I went to a school in Manhattan that no longer exists. I would go on weekends and after class sometimes…
It was like a hobby that I was really into as a teen. I guess kind of like sports or an instrument…
I didn’t really no much about types of food but once I got into a professional kitchen and felt the energy…
I was blown away. My specific food style education in a restaurant was place called Christers(Swedish)…
Off Broadway in NYC. Christer interviewed me, hired me, and I was on the line within an hour during an opening night.
So how did you end up going from NYC to MSP? What other restaurants did you work at?
Jason: Don’t they say you come here for love, money or treatment? :) I came for love. My wife was coming home for schooling…
The plan was to stay for a year. That was back in 1994. As for restaurants I’ve worked -embarassingly long list
D’amico Cuccina (now gone) was the first place with a great local chef -JP Samuellson…
at the time D’mico was the place to be and lots of chefs in town got their training in that kitchen
A great way to learn and network with other chefs! How did you end up becoming a Chef Instructor?
Jason: A job in the schools restaurant came up. I looked at it as another kitchen job. Over time I realized, I love the …
I love the teaching as much as the cooking. I thought I’d be at Le Cordon Bleu 3 years, tops. It’s almost 7 now…
it’s coming up on 7 years soon.
Must be having fun! So on @KARE11 they are covering the #ChefChallenge right now. What can people expect this wknd?
Jason: You really never know! The competition is at a really high level this year. It’s really the best of the best..
This is the first year for most of the field.We have 2 returning Champs.There’s sure to be some curve-balls…
I heard there are brackets in twin cities kitchens.I’d love to see the spreads.Well I guess not as a judge :)
Probably something for you to avoid. :) Are there categories, and what happens Saturday versus on Sunday?
Jason: It’s a 2 day cooking tournament. 8 chefs, then 4, then 2, then 1. New secret ingredient for each 1 hour round.
finals on Sunday afternoon. Winner take all for $10,000
And the #ChefChallenge is FREE! Thanks for your comments and time today today. Have a foodtastic weekend!
Jason: Great talking to you -lots of fun. See you at the Mall Rotunda on Saturday from 10-4.