28-year-old Desirée Jaks has previously won many prestigious awards for her cooking and works as a creative director at a restaurant in Stockholm. She is a member of the national culinary team and on Thursday she competed for the title of "Chef of the Year 2023"
"It was a bit like running a marathon. You give it your all. So you get completely exhausted but you just have to not sit down and you keep it up, says Jaks.
The Chef of the Year competition, the Swedish Championships in Professional Cooking, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The participants were judged in four different parts and among the eight finalists, Desirée stood out, according to jury chairman Jonas Dahlbom.
"Tasteful dishes, fine dishes and presentations, a good balance of flavours which is very important. She had harmonious dishes.
Two of the four elements were to cook a dish with lobster, the third was secret and was presented to the participants a day before the final. During the fourth and final stage, the finalists had to cook any main course on a saddle from reindeer inheritance.
Johan Dahlbom liked Desirée's lobster dish best of all.
"You were happy when you saw it and you were happy when you ate it.