Milwaukee chef competes on 'Chopped,' places second

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A local chef put her talent to the test in front of a national audience.

Chef Ashley Turner competed on the 55th season premiere of "Chopped," a competitive cooking show on The Food Network, on Tuesday night.

The competition features four chefs who are tasked with using "skill, speed and ingenuity," to turn random ingredients into a three-course meal.

A chef is eliminated from the competition after each round.

"You're just flying blind and doing what you do," Turner said. 

Turner is no stranger to a little heat in the kitchen. She grew up in her family's bar b-que restaurants in West Texas and brought her spin on that cuisine here to Milwaukee, where she's the executive chef at Door County Brewing and Hacienda Taproom and Kitchen.

Turner said she pulled together all of her skills in the kitchen together, but everything on the show is heightened.

"The pressure's on and the timer's on, and you're just you there on the line hoping that nothing goes sideways," Turner said.

On the episode she's featured in, the appetizer, entree and dessert all had to feature a fried food.

"That's not kind of my go-to culinary move, but certainly it's part of the repertoire, right?" Turner said.

Turner made it to the final round. She came in second place.

"I really don't feel like I lost," Turner said. "It would have been cool to see any of those folks win."

Behind the scenes, Turner told CBS 58 it was less about the competition and more about building comradery with the other chefs from around the country.

"We had a really tough time keeping a straight face, like somebody had to tell us like be serious about this, and we're like but it's silly, you know, we're standing here trying to mean mug each other and just goofy," Turner said.

Turner said she flew out to New York for four days in October to film the show. She had to keep the outcome a secret until it aired.