BOZEMAN — A room full of 100 Cooks – and just one from Montana.
Montanan Bryce Stubbs recently competed on the Food Network show “100 Cooks” – and MTN’s Esha Walia had the chance to speak with him about his experience and recipe for success.
“Kind of representing the whole 406 right now, a lot of pressure,” said Stubbs.
WATCH: Montana chef Bryce Stubbs grew up in Churchill, graduated from MSU, and is now competing on Food Network's "100 Cooks" for up to $250,000
Stubbs grew up in Churchill and graduated from Montana State University.
“Pretty much everything about me is Montana,” he said.
Stubbs is currently living in France while he attends pastry school. He started cooking at the age of 13 and cooked for his friends in high school and college.
“We’d have really big gold rush parties, and I started cooking for almost, like, 80 people,” said Stubbs. “We’d get two Traegers, three Traegers and smoke a bunch of ribs and stuff.”
His cooking skills led people to ask him for his recipes, so he decided to start making and posting videos.
But, Stubbs says, he wasn’t always sure about becoming a chef. In fact, he studied finance while at MSU.
“I was like, ‘I’ll make money in finance and cook for fun,’” said Stubbs. “That didn’t work out. Can’t really hide from your passion.”
After graduating, he landed a gig as a private chef.
“After that, I was like, I want to cook. All I want to do is cook and learn more about food,” said Stubbs.
So, he started working in the oil fields to save up money for pastry school. In the meantime, last December, the Food Network discovered his Instagram account and reached out to him about appearing on its show, “100 Cooks,” where home cooks compete for up to $250,000.
“I didn’t have a lot of followers, so I was kind of surprised,” said Stubbs.
A few calls with Food Network later, Stubbs found out he was headed to Los Angeles.
“They reached out to me like, ‘Hey, you made the show, we bought your ticket to LA, like, we’re going to fly you down there, we got a hotel for you, pack your bags,” said Stubbs.
“So, I had to call my boss and be like, ‘Hey, I can’t come to work, can I get work off?”
A few months later, the first episode of the show has aired, and Stubbs says he’s made it through to the next episode, which airs this Sunday.
“I can’t give you any spoilers. No spoilers,” said Stubbs.
As for his dream job, Stubbs says he wants to be a private chef.
“Any more knowledge and skills that I can build to continue on that private chef path; that’s kind of where I’m at,” he said.
Stubbs says he is grateful for the opportunity to be on Food Network.
“I think it’s opened a lot more doors up for me,” he said.
If you’re interested in learning more about Stubbs, visit this link.
