Trying to cook up a winning dish

Although Valley Streamer 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, 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 they are 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, apple green tea cooler, Brussels sprouts and Gorgonzola dolce. The entrée basket included skate wing, rainbow pasta, bok choy and giardiniera. The final round basket for dessert included pate a choux, cherry tomatoes, balsamic jelly 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.

Chefs and culinary experts Scott Conant, Maneet Chauhan and Aarón Sánchez were the chef judges for the contestants in Battle 3 of the Chopped Teen Tournament. Mukuka said the hardest part of his Chopped experience was explaining his creations to the judges and hearing their critiques.

Mukuka submitted his application to be on the show in 2014 and said that of the hundreds of people selected to audition, a group is then selected for an in-person interview. He auditioned in January 2015 and was asked to return for an interview.

After the interview, 12 contestants were chosen to participate in three rounds in groups of four. 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 when he was 7, and 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.