With a white apron fastened around his waist, a dish towel tucked into the right side and another over his left shoulder, Shaun Werbicki mechanically chopped vegetables as he recounted the tale of his first cooking show.

“Brad (Anderson) just started filming out of the blue while I was cooking dinner one night,” Werbicki recalls. “We had been talking about a cooking show since we were 15 years old, and he just said, ‘We’re filming.’”

And so became the first episode of Cookin’ with ‘Sner, a YouTube cooking show filmed in Jasper. 

The show is currently in its second season and has more than 8,700 views. Werbicki, known as Chef Tuna, is the star of the show, while Anderson does the filming, editing and producing.

“I literally do nothing. I’m just what you see,” said Werbicki, as he stirred a pot of his homemade chili last week.  

Anderson and Werbicki have been friends since they were kids and grew up watching the Food Network. Werbicki said he loved it so much, he would even sleep with it on. 

“I think that’s why I know how to do things that I don’t know, that I wasn’t taught,” he said.

Werbicki trained to be a chef at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2002. He said he doesn’t have a favourite food to cook, but he does like utilizing Pilsner beer, or ‘Sner, as he calls it, in many of his dishes, as is seen on the show. The episodes feature recipes like ‘Sner can chicken, hangover breakfast sandwiches and meatball subs.

But the show isn’t all about the food, it’s also about showcasing some of the colourful characters that the guys grew up with.

Anderson said it’s more like a variety show, with skits and, in the first season, goofy product endorsements for, of course, Pilsner, but also Windsor Salt.

The second season, which premiered Aug. 1, is a little different, though. The production value is higher and there are no longer product endorsements. 

What’s with the change?

Well, Werbicki and Anderson are practising for a new show, called Rocky Mountain Vittles, that will premiere on an American cooking website in January. The duo signed a contract with Krazy Good Food TV, a website that features videos of amateur chefs who dream of having their own cooking shows. 

But that means the guys have to stop promoting brands and products, and it also means they have to cut down on their use of profanity.

“It has turned out to be a bit more challenging,” said Werbicki. “Cookin’ with ‘Sner is so natural for us. We like to cook and we like to drink.”

“With Rocky Mountain Vittles, it’s more about the cooking and teaching people how to cook.”

Despite the difficulty, Werbicki, who works as a conductor for CN Rail, said he’s excited to have the six-episode show premiere. 

So far, three of the 24-minute episodes have been filmed, while the other three still have to be completed.

Filming has been a bit of challenge for the men, though, because Anderson is stationed in Shilo, Man., with the Canadian Armed Forces and usually only spends three to fours weeks a year in Jasper. 

So all of the filming involving the kitchen has to be done during a short period of time, which in some cases means filming three meals in one day – the equivalent to one and a half episodes of Rocky Mountain Vittles. 

The filming outside the kitchen is then shot in Manitoba, to free up more time while Anderson is in Jasper.

Although a lot of effort goes into the shows, Anderson said he and Werbicki don’t have any set goals.

“After the six episodes of Rocky Mountain Vittles are produced, I think, Tuna and I will evaluate how it went in the U.S. market and go from there,” he said. “As for Cookin’ with ‘Sner, as long as we have a couple cubes of beer, random food items in the fridge and a camera, we will continue to post our shows on YouTube.”

Episodes of Cookin’ with ‘Sner can be found by simply searching YouTube for the title of the show or at Anderson’s channel: www.youtube.com/user/bradleyj027