PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Fredonia native Jennifer Salhoff was confident when she was chosen to appear on the popular cooking competition show “Hell’s Kitchen.”

Salhoff, currently the executive chef at Cuba Libre Restaurant in Philadelphia, made it to the final four on the Fox Network show before she exited.

“It was the experience of my life,” Salhoff said by phone from her restaurant. “I like the competition and being pushed to do my best. Being on the show has made me a better person.”

Salhoff taped the show in Los Angeles more than a year ago, though the series featuring celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay just finished airing Dec. 17. She noted she hopes to appear on the show again, given her new found confidence in competing against other chefs.

Salhoff, 34, is a 1999 graduate of Fredonia High School and began her culinary career shortly after graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where she studied special effects. She worked at Sullivan’s Charbroil in Fredonia and soon found a passion in the food industry.

Wanting to take her career to the next level, Salhoff moved to New York City. Even with a job under her belt, Salhoff found herself walking into high-end restaurants and volunteering to work at no cost.

“I would just go into these places and ask if they needed someone to help,” she said.

With a self-proclaimed brazen attitude, Salhoff said she was intrigued by “Hell’s Kitchen” and the required stamina to handle the cooking competitions and Ramsay – known to be tough on underperforming contestants.

“I always watched the show and it looked pretty easy,” Salhoff said. “I would always say that I couldn’t understand why some of these people were having problems because everything seemed so easy.”

After some nagging from some of her friends, and given that her fiance also attempted to be on the show, Salhoff called to inquire. Before she knew it, she was cast herself to be in the 13th season, which featured 18 contestants in the culinary industry. Understanding how the show worked from viewing past episodes, Salhoff spent a lot of time preparing, which paid off almost immediately.

“I kind of knew what to expect,” Salhoff said. “You’re basically put into a box (during the show’s taping), so I memorized as many recipes as I could.”

It was apparent some of Salhoff’s fellow chefs weren’t as ready for the demanding show, which features various challenges and dinner services. “It shocked me to see how some of these people weren’t prepared for this,” she said. “The challenges are pretty much the same every season.”

Salhoff said she was very confident in her cooking skills. Her approach to do the show was to be as focused and determined as she normally would be in her own restaurant. She noted that early on in her career, when something wasn’t done to perfection, the head chef routinely would berate the staff. The same experience helped her during the show.

“For me it’s just more motivation to get things right,” Salhoff said. “I try to never take offense when I’m yelled at and just use it to get better.”

Salhoff was eliminated from the second to last episode, though she said she’s not sure why. She spoke to Ramsay after the taping and wasn’t given a reason for her departure.

“Usually he will say something as to why you’re done but even he didn’t have a reason,” Salhoff said. “He said he was very pleased with my effort.”

Salhoff said it was difficult not revealing what happened on the show after taping ended and she returned to her job. However, when the show finally aired, she said she regularly talked to other contestants to remark on their time together.

“It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed every second of it, and I want to do it again,” she said.

Asked what it’s like to appear on television, Salhoff said a lot more went on than was shown. She said she was surprised by the amount of editing, which sometimes made her appear more aggressive.

“They didn’t always show what happened in its entirety,” she said. “I was kind of blown away by that.”

Regardless, Salhoff said she received plenty of support from her family, most of whom still reside in Fredonia.