This afternoon, the intersection of Broadway and 5^th Avenue at 23^rd Street held a cooking competition based off the creators of Chopped and BBC America’s, new travel-adventure-cooking series, No Kitchen Required. The chef’s and stars of the show, Michelin-starred New York restaurateur Michael Psilakis, first-ever Chopped Grand Champion Madison Cowan and elite personal chef from New Zealand, Kayne Raymond competed in preparing dishes using New York City ingredients.  Similar to the show, the three chefs used these native ingredients—squirrel, pigeon, hare, and crow—to create dishes that were then judged by New York natives. The judges for the competition were David Diehl, two-time Super Bowl champion and offensive lineman for the New York Giants, co-founder of the most popular food app “Foodspotting,” Soraya Darabi, and In Style Magazine’s Hal Rubenstein who had no idea what these “unique” ingredients would be.

The show follows the three chefs and host, Dr. Shini Somara, as they travel to ten different remote locations throughout the world. While on location the chefs work with the local community to find their traditional foods and learn how to prepare those foods in the methods and techniques of that culture. Their dishes, created with their own personal spin but without losing the integrity of the original, are then judged by the locals. As judge David Diehl said during today’s competition No Kitchen Required is what happens when “Top Chef meets Survivor.” Each chef, equipped with the secret weapon were given 30 minutes, compared to the three hours allowed on the show, to prepare their dish for the judges. And how did the judges feel about eating New York’s exotic game? Hal Rubenstein feels whenever a diner is experiencing a new protein we should be “eat[ing] by taste, not words” as he took the first bite of Chef Kayne’s dish.

The chefs traveled the world, cooked the food, and fed the locals…but what did they actually make from the native New York ingredients?

Chef Kayne created a Moroccan-style squirrel meatball and pigeon over caucus dish.

Secret Weapon: a traditional Moroccan steamer vessel called a tanjra.

Chef Madison cooked the judges a dish of crow and vegetables over a bed of freshly-made waffle.

Secret Weapon: a waffle iron (on the show the chefs cannot use electric appliances)

Chef Michael, using hare and escargot, created a handmade pasta dish for the judges.

Secret Weapon: a double-boiler with strainer

The winner of the No Kitchen Required New York City Cooking Competition was native New Yorker himself, Chef Michael Psilakis.

Make sure to tune in to No Kitchen Required premiering on BBC America this coming Tuesday April 3rd at 10 p.m.!