Teenage Chef From Northport to Appear on 'Chopped Junior' Tuesday

A 13-year-old who attends Northport Middle School has a passion for cooking and hopes to open his own restaurant one day.

It only makes sense then that eighth grader William Connor would be featured on Food Network’s “Chopped Junior” on Tuesday, Oct. 25.

Tune into the Food Network at 8 p.m. to watch Connor on “Chopped Junior.”

Connor will be showing off his skills in the kitchen as he competes against three others for a $10,000 prize.

“I like combining foods and spices in different ways,” Connor said. “I’m really into Indian spices like cumin and coriander. I make my own curry, too.”

The teen first got into cooking by helping his mom in the kitchen. Now, he makes dinner for his family once a week, including meals like lobster mac and cheese, sautéed shrimp, peas in a curry cream sauce served over linguine and stuffed beef and sausage burgers with a mango salsa.

To prepare for the competition, Connor would come home from school every day to a Chopped-style basket created by his mom and would have 30 minutes to prepare an appetizer, entrée or a dessert.

“At first it was really hard, but then I got better at doing everything in 30 minutes,” he said. “The hardest part was not being able to tell people I was going to be on the show. Especially some of my teachers who watch it all the time, and my grandmother.”

Courtesy photo