True Sabres fans already know that goalie Ryan Miller and rightwinger Pat Kaleta cook on the ice, but many may not know that they’re both pretty good sous chefs away from the rink.

The Sabres teammates lent their assistance Thursday to two of the area’s most well-known chefs, Paul Jenkins of Tempo restaurant and Mike Andrzejewski of Seabar, who took part in an Iron Chef competition.

The contest was actually an auction item from Miller’s Steadfast Foundation Catwalk for Charity event that was held last year. And while there weren’t enough cooks to spoil any of the delicious offerings in Thursday’s friendly competition, there were plenty of other tangential players to keep track of.

In addition to the competing chefs and the Sabres-cum-sous chefs, there were Chris Koch, chief executive officer of New Era Cap Co., and his wife, Lindsey, who were the highest bidders for the Catwalk for Charity auction item and who got to invite 18 of their best friends to act as judges in the competition.

“I like great food and great service and I got to know some of the restaurateurs in town. I wouldn’t call it a hobby or anything. I just like going out to dinner,” said Chris Koch, explaining his desire to bid on the Iron Chef competition at last year’s Catwalk for Charity auction.

Local wine connoisseur Kevin Lo- Vullo and his wife, Jackie, were the actual hosts for the cook-off, which was held in the spacious backyard of their North Forest Road home in Amherst.

“This was a no-brainer,” said Kevin LoVullo, explaining why he agreed to host the cook-off.

“The Catwalk was one thing, but Paul Jenkins—a good buddy of mine — added [to] the enthusiasm, which convinced me and my family to say, ‘Why not? Let’s do this.’ And here we are,” said LoVullo.

For Koch’s friends, like Tim and Cheryl Freer of the Town of Tonawanda, there were the perks of judging, which included sampling a variety of hors d’oeuvres leading up to the six main dishes prepared by the chefs, three for each chef.

“Just the aroma is terrific,” said Tim Freer.

With Miller and Kaleta helping, it was pretty much duck soup for the highly regarded chefs. While Miller acknowledged that he is no chef, he said he does know his way around the kitchen.

“When I was a kid, my mom always made us do stuff like that around the kitchen and teach us how to work certain things, you know, and measure this out or chop this up. I don’t think that will be hard,” said Miller.

“She used to wear goggles when she cut onions,” he added “Hopefully, the knife is not sharp enough to go through a finger,” said Kaleta.

Miller showed his skill with a knife as he cut the lobster tails for one of Jenkins’ main dishes, while Kaleta loaded up a steamer for Andrzejewski’s shu mai, an open-faced dumpling stuffed with pork and seafood.

The money that was raised for last year’s Catwalk for Charity went to the Steadfast Foundation and, ultimately, to Roswell Park Cancer Institute and to Carly’s Club for Kids, said Therese Forton-Barnes, charity event planner for Catwalk.