Iron Chef Tucson is an annual event where competitors from across the city showcase their cooking expertise and face each other in an exciting tournament. This year, the two competitors were Kenneth Foy, owner of Dante’s Fire, and Anthony Dromgoole, the executive chef at Obon Sushi & Ramen.

Before the competition started, previous participants demonstrated to visitors how to make expert-level dishes. Among them was John Hohn, a chef for GAP Ministries, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping foster kids in need.

Chef Hohn trains fellow chefs in the culinary arts in order to provide low-income foster kids with high quality and nutritious meals. His past experience as a foster parent has made him even more passionate about the work he is doing. “I used to be a foster parent. I served foster kids and children and I was even feeding the kids where I grew up,” Hohn said.

His ambition to become a chef led him to win Iron Chef Tucson in 2014. Unfortunately, he was dethroned the following year after forgetting an ingredient in the dish he handed to the judges. Despite this, he continued to be a part of the program by giving demonstrations every year.

The competition is centered around two opposing teams of chefs. Each team is given 15 minutes of preparation time to grab ingredients and supplies after receiving a secret ingredient that must be used in the dish. After the 15 minutes of preparation, each will have one hour to create three courses, which they then present to three judges who will grade them based on creativity, taste and presentation.

For this year’s event, reigning champion Foy felt very confident going in and viewed his opponent as a challenge. Specializing in Southwestern cuisine, he hoped the secret ingredient would be prickly pear cactus. When asked what he’d create if the ingredient was indeed cactus, he said, “If we get it, we’re gonna try to do a ceviche or El Pistol taco.”

His challenger, Dromgoole, also shared his opponent’s confidence going in and saw the competition as an opportunity to showcase his cooking skills. “I’m gonna give him a run for his money,” Dromgoole said. “I mean he has double the experience as me but we’ll see about technique and passion.” He wished for the secret ingredient to be fish, as he specializes in sushi.

The secret ingredient was announced: Pickles. Both contestants rushed to grab their ingredients and utensils. After the allotted 15 minutes, both went to work on their dishes with an hour remaining. It was close, but both of them finished with just seconds to spare as they presented their creations to the judges.

Foy’s dish was what he called a “picklesplotion” which was a mix of pickle potato chips, pickled eggs, and a bacon pickle burger. His second course included pickled tomatoes and sweet potatoes, while the third and final dish was pickled desert: pickled ice cream. Dromgoole’s dish showcased Japanese cuisine and included a special mochi recipe of his own making. The judges loved all of the courses and praised both chefs for their originality when it came to what they selected.

In the end, Dromgoole was selected to be this year’s winner after careful deliberation by the judges.