Trying to cook up a winning dish

Although Hewlett High School senior, Mukanjo Mukuka’s dish was on the “chopping block” after the second round of the Food Network’s Chopped Teen Tournament, overall, “It was a very joyful experience,” the 18-year-old said.

Mukuka, who was born in Zambia, moved to Los Angeles when he was 4, and then later to New York (he is a Valley Stream resident), made a Korean short rib stir-fry, seasoned with turmeric and smoked paprika in the first round. He cooked a grilled skate fish dish for the second, entree round, in which he was chopped.

Contestants on Chopped are given four mystery ingredients in a basket for each round: appetizer, entrée and dessert. They must incorporate each ingredient into their creation and are judged based on presentation, taste and creativity. After each round, a contestant’s dish is selected to go on the “chopping block” and he or she is eliminated until the winner emerges at the end of the dessert round.

The ingredients for the first round in Battle Three of the Teen Tournament, in which Mukuka competed, featured an appetizer basket that included Korean short ribs and Brussels sprouts. The entrée basket included skate wing and rainbow pasta. The final round basket for dessert included pate a choux and chocolate milk.

Mukuka, competed against Brittany Matteson, of Pennsylvania, who was eliminated in the first round, Remmi Smith, of Oklahoma, who was eliminated in the final round and Gabriel Chirinos, of New York, who won and moved onto the finale. The finale is a competition between the winners of the four battles.

Mukuka submitted his application in 2014. He auditioned in January 2015.
After an interview, 12 contestants were chosen. Mukuka said he attended a day of taping in Manhattan in December 2015. “I like to cook and I wanted to just show everybody that I can cook,” Mukuka said. He was inspired to cook by his grandfather, a fisherman in Zambia and now enjoys making salmon dishes.

Acting since he was 7, he has appeared in commercials and as an extra on television shows, most notably, the situation-comedy “Modern Family” on ABC.
Mukuka transferred to Hewlett High from Valley Stream Central High School in his junior year. He said he plans to study electrical engineering in college. He is currently interning at a family-owned restaurant in the city, which he declined to name, and said he is able to cook there.

“He’s a low key kind of guy that flies under the radar,” Michelle Kinhackl, his guidance counselor at Hewlett, said. In April, he quietly told her that he would be on the show and now that his Chopped episode aired on Sept. 6, the first day of school, “the hype has gotten around town,” she said. Kinhackl described Mukuka as a sweet, polite and well-mannered student.