An Oregon Chef Will Compete on a New Cooking Show

Matt Kuerbis will appear in an April 14 episode of “Rat in the Kitchen.”

Matt and Catharine Kuerbis (PATRICE DWYER)
By Bennett Campbell Ferguson

Salem chef Matt Kuerbis has been announced as a contestant on Rat in the Kitchen, a new TBS cooking show (no, it’s not a sequel to Ratatouille).

Hosted by celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre and comedian Natasha Leggero, Rat in the Kitchen is a peculiar recipe of culinary craft and reality-TV skullduggery. While whipping up dishes to impress Lefebvre, contestants must combat an undercover “rat” seeking to sabotage their progress.

While Kuerbis is the former director of the now-shuttered Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland, he is perhaps most famous as the owner of Hoss Sauce, the hot sauce line that he launched with his wife, Catharine Kuerbis, in 2016.

Hoss Sauce actually led to Kuerbis’ appearance on Rat in the Kitchen. He was recruited for the show because of an Instagram post in which he played the guitar in honor of National Hot Sauce Day.

For Kuerbis, who is coming to the PDX Hot Sauce Expo in August, Rat in the Kitchen presented a prime opportunity to interact with Ludo.

“Chef Ludo is well known for his work,” he stated in a press release. “He has a restaurant in Denver, and I’m from Colorado, so it was super cool and I got a little star struck.”

Kuerbis is scheduled to appear in the show’s April 14th episode. “Although it was stressful and nerve wracking to be on camera, it was a super fun experience,” he said.

Related: Ted Wheeler Has a Hot Sauce Named After Him. It’s Not Meant as a Compliment.

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