Hillsboro Christian Academy's Kiersten Williamson to appear on Food Network show
Lead Summary
By
Caitlin Forsha-crforsha@gmail.com
A young local chef’s journey from New Market to Chelsea Market will be aired on Food Network next month, as 12-year-old Kiersten Williamson flew to New York to appear on the fifth season of “Chopped Junior.”
Kiersten is currently a sixth-grader at Hillsboro Christian Academy. She is the daughter of Brent and Cathy Williamson of Hillsboro, and the younger sister of Hannah Williamson, also a student at HCA.
Kiersten, who said that she has been cooking for two or three years, developed a passion for the hobby through cooking with her grandmother.
“At church, they had a Super Bowl party, and my grandma and I made this cake shaped like a football, and I won,” Kiersten said.
“She just started doing a lot of cooking with my mom at home,” Cathy said. “She’s done a lot of experimenting throughout the last two or three years. She just gets in the kitchen and goes. She’s learned a few things from her dad and me, but mostly she’s learned from just getting in there and doing it.
“I always kid that her dad and I cook out of necessity, but she cooks out of passion. She loves to do it.”
The two of them even drove to Cincinnati to take a sushi class recently “just for fun,” but Kiersten is otherwise completely self-taught, along with learning from Food Network and other cooking shows. Kiersten said her favorite shows include “Chopped” and “Chopped Junior,” “Masterchef” and “Masterchef Junior” and “The Pioneer Woman.” Her favorite celebrity chefs are Gordon Ramsay (“except for his language”) and Ree Drummond (“the Pioneer Woman”).
According to Food Network’s website (foodnetwork.com), “Chopped Junior,” featuring young chefs ages 8-13, “showcases the talents of children seeking to make unforgettable meals from mystery ingredients under a ticking clock.” Each round features a box of four such “mystery ingredients” that the young chefs are asked to transform and incorporate into one dish.
The episode featuring Kiersten and three other young chefs is the second episode of the fifth season and will air Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m. and Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 3 a.m.
“Before they went on, [the producers] said, ‘there’s four of you, and one of you is going to leave really happy, and the other three are going to be disappointed in some way or another,’” Cathy said. “They just told them to be really thankful and happy they made it there, because they beat at least a thousand other kids for this season to be on.
“They said there’s something about your cooking and your personality that they liked, and that you stood out from lots and lots of other kids.”
Kiersten wasn’t able to discuss the ingredients used on the episode, but she and the other three contestants competed on a special “themed” episode, which featured breakfast food. After preparing for the usual bizarre or rare foods used on the show, she was disappointed by the theme.
“I had practiced all kinds of meats, all different kinds of exotic fruits,” Kiersten said. “I was like, is there any way I can change episodes or something? Some other kid can take my place and we can switch?’”
Kiersten said that she is used to making a variety of different dishes – except breakfast – although she does make homemade pomegranate pancakes and French toast.
Kiersten’s episode was judged by one frequent “Chopped Judge” and Food Network regular, Geoffrey Zakarian, along with two guest judges.
“That was the judge I was hoping I wouldn’t get,” Kiersten said. “He always seems so serious.”
Prior to the episode taping, Kiersten and the other contestants went on a tour of the studio, where they were able to pose for photos and learn where the food and equipment is kept in the “Chopped” kitchen. Although Kiersten and her family stocked their home kitchen with a variety of ingredients to prepare for the show, Kiersten said she liked having the full array of spices, ingredients and appliances offered by the “Chopped” kitchen during the episode.
“We transformed our kitchen,” Cathy said. “I had every kind of spice and sauce, just anything I could think of to try to get her ready.”
During her preparation, Kiersten said she took the convenience of the “Chopped” kitchen into consideration.
“Sometimes I’d give myself one more minute extra time,” Kiersten said. “My mom would give me ingredients in the mystery basket, and I’d give myself 31 minutes because in the ‘Chopped Junior’ kitchen, everything is right there. Pots and pans are there, bowls, everything is within arm’s reach that you need.”
Getting used to cooking with numerous cameramen nearby, as well as adjusting to all of the lights and other equipment, however, was a bit of a challenge.
“The ceiling was full of lights and all this stuff to make the room look perfect,” Kiersten said. “It seemed like every single kid had at least one camera guy that was directly on you. Anytime you walk anywhere, there’s a swarm of cameras, because they want to see every single thing that you do.
“Plus, the judges are all over there talking about you.”
Although Cathy said Kiersten practiced cooking “everything from lobster to goat to alligator,” her specialty is venison, which she said she makes all the time as she and her father enjoy hunting. She had to prepare her “signature dish” for the producers as part of the application process.
“It was venison, asparagus, stuffed portobello mushrooms and potatoes,” Kiersten said.
From applying to going through a number of interviews to submitting video footage and photos, the application process took up the bulk of the summer for Kiersten and her family.
“The process to get there was just grueling at times,” Cathy said. “To be completely honest, there were times when she looked at me and said, ‘Do we have to videotape another thing?’ It was a very grueling process. It took hours to get everything done that they asked of us.”
Cathy said Kiersten first approached her in June and told her she wanted to apply.
“I remember she said, ‘I hate to get your hopes up, but it’s not a very good chance that you’re going to get on,’” Kiersten said.
Cathy said that two or three weeks after filling out the initial application, she received a call from one of the producers, who interviewed Cathy about Kiersten’s cooking and guided her through the next steps of the audition process.
“We had a 10- or 11-page application that we had to fill out with multiple questions,” Cathy said.
Cathy said that she and Kiersten worked together to fill out the application “to make it as good as possible,” with Kiersten being asked to explain recipes for original dishes she’s made and to describe styles and dishes (of cooking) she enjoys.
“One of the questions was what’s your favorite ingredient to use in the kitchen,” Kiersten said. “That one was easy … garlic.”
They also spent a week working on an audition video.
“Hannah recorded it and set me in positions,” Kiersten said. “They had so many requirements. They said you can’t have any windows, you have to have good lighting and you can’t show any time. We had to unplug appliances that showed the time, like our coffee pot.”
At the end of August, Kiersten had two separate phone calls from two different “Chopped Junior” producers. The first phone call was about 20 minutes, while the second was over an hour, she said.
Cathy said that after the two phone interviews, the producers told Kiersten they were still interviewing other prospective contestants and “not to get her hopes up, more or less.”
“At that point, it was probably at least three weeks till we would hear something,” Cathy said. “We just basically tried to forget about it, and then I actually ended up getting an email that said that she made it. It kind of all happened really fast.
“From when they told us she was getting on the show to when she got on was not very long, maybe two and half or three weeks.”
Kiersten said that she and a fellow contestant became friends and went out to eat together while in New York, where they bonded over their love of dill pickles. Cathy said that she and the other contestants’ parents also keep in touch.
“New York was really fun,” Kiersten said. “We went to the Empire State Building, and we got to eat there.
“We went to a lot of different restaurants.”
Kiersten and her mom said they splurged by eating at the Empire State Building restaurant, as well as checking out some New York delis and Chinese restaurants. They also walked the Brooklyn Bridge and spent a long day walking and riding bicycles in the city.
“We went to Central Park, and we got bikes,” Kiersten said. “We rode around all of Central Park, which was a very long ride.”
It was Kiersten’s first airplane ride and first trip to New York, where their hotel window was on the 25th floor and overlooked the Empire State Building. She said she was impressed by the noise of the city, especially compared to Ohio.
The Williamsons weren’t informed of the episode’s air date until this month, so they had to wait several months before they could even tell anyone Kiersten had been selected for the show. Trying to avoid conversations about the show, including when taking time off of school to travel to New York, was one of the biggest challenges of the last few months. Kiersten even had to miss some volleyball practices and games due to her preparation for the competition.
“It was really hard, because we basically had to tell them she was sick,” Cathy said. “We weren’t allowed to tell that we were going to New York. They wouldn’t let us tell [that they were taping], and we knew if we told people we were going to New York, they would know because a lot of people knew that she had tried out.
“We had the hardest time trying to say it to people who were asking if she’d made it without lying.”
They began telling people they were “still waiting,” instead of saying “yes” or “no,” when asked if they had heard anything about “Chopped Junior.”
Now that the news is out, Kiersten said she also has to avoid answering questions about the show’s outcome, especially among her classmates.
“They were like, ‘I’ll sign a contract if you tell me what place you got,’” Kiersten said.
Kiersten is looking forward to watching the episode Feb. 14 when it airs with her loved ones and seeing her hard work pay off.
“If I had to guess, I would say the whole process took at least 70 to 80 hours of our time,” Cathy said. “If you want something bad enough, you have to be willing to work for it. It was definitely a lot of work to get to where she got.”
Kiersten said she is grateful to God for blessing her with this experience.
“We realize that hard work and dreams help you achieve your goals, but we also realize that favor and blessing comes from God, and we just want to acknowledge Him through all of this,” Cathy said.
Kiersten is currently a sixth-grader at Hillsboro Christian Academy. She is the daughter of Brent and Cathy Williamson of Hillsboro, and the younger sister of Hannah Williamson, also a student at HCA.
Kiersten, who said that she has been cooking for two or three years, developed a passion for the hobby through cooking with her grandmother.
“At church, they had a Super Bowl party, and my grandma and I made this cake shaped like a football, and I won,” Kiersten said.
“She just started doing a lot of cooking with my mom at home,” Cathy said. “She’s done a lot of experimenting throughout the last two or three years. She just gets in the kitchen and goes. She’s learned a few things from her dad and me, but mostly she’s learned from just getting in there and doing it.
“I always kid that her dad and I cook out of necessity, but she cooks out of passion. She loves to do it.”
The two of them even drove to Cincinnati to take a sushi class recently “just for fun,” but Kiersten is otherwise completely self-taught, along with learning from Food Network and other cooking shows. Kiersten said her favorite shows include “Chopped” and “Chopped Junior,” “Masterchef” and “Masterchef Junior” and “The Pioneer Woman.” Her favorite celebrity chefs are Gordon Ramsay (“except for his language”) and Ree Drummond (“the Pioneer Woman”).
According to Food Network’s website (foodnetwork.com), “Chopped Junior,” featuring young chefs ages 8-13, “showcases the talents of children seeking to make unforgettable meals from mystery ingredients under a ticking clock.” Each round features a box of four such “mystery ingredients” that the young chefs are asked to transform and incorporate into one dish.
The episode featuring Kiersten and three other young chefs is the second episode of the fifth season and will air Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m. and Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 3 a.m.
“Before they went on, [the producers] said, ‘there’s four of you, and one of you is going to leave really happy, and the other three are going to be disappointed in some way or another,’” Cathy said. “They just told them to be really thankful and happy they made it there, because they beat at least a thousand other kids for this season to be on.
“They said there’s something about your cooking and your personality that they liked, and that you stood out from lots and lots of other kids.”
Kiersten wasn’t able to discuss the ingredients used on the episode, but she and the other three contestants competed on a special “themed” episode, which featured breakfast food. After preparing for the usual bizarre or rare foods used on the show, she was disappointed by the theme.
“I had practiced all kinds of meats, all different kinds of exotic fruits,” Kiersten said. “I was like, is there any way I can change episodes or something? Some other kid can take my place and we can switch?’”
Kiersten said that she is used to making a variety of different dishes – except breakfast – although she does make homemade pomegranate pancakes and French toast.
Kiersten’s episode was judged by one frequent “Chopped Judge” and Food Network regular, Geoffrey Zakarian, along with two guest judges.
“That was the judge I was hoping I wouldn’t get,” Kiersten said. “He always seems so serious.”
Prior to the episode taping, Kiersten and the other contestants went on a tour of the studio, where they were able to pose for photos and learn where the food and equipment is kept in the “Chopped” kitchen. Although Kiersten and her family stocked their home kitchen with a variety of ingredients to prepare for the show, Kiersten said she liked having the full array of spices, ingredients and appliances offered by the “Chopped” kitchen during the episode.
“We transformed our kitchen,” Cathy said. “I had every kind of spice and sauce, just anything I could think of to try to get her ready.”
During her preparation, Kiersten said she took the convenience of the “Chopped” kitchen into consideration.
“Sometimes I’d give myself one more minute extra time,” Kiersten said. “My mom would give me ingredients in the mystery basket, and I’d give myself 31 minutes because in the ‘Chopped Junior’ kitchen, everything is right there. Pots and pans are there, bowls, everything is within arm’s reach that you need.”
Getting used to cooking with numerous cameramen nearby, as well as adjusting to all of the lights and other equipment, however, was a bit of a challenge.
“The ceiling was full of lights and all this stuff to make the room look perfect,” Kiersten said. “It seemed like every single kid had at least one camera guy that was directly on you. Anytime you walk anywhere, there’s a swarm of cameras, because they want to see every single thing that you do.
“Plus, the judges are all over there talking about you.”
Although Cathy said Kiersten practiced cooking “everything from lobster to goat to alligator,” her specialty is venison, which she said she makes all the time as she and her father enjoy hunting. She had to prepare her “signature dish” for the producers as part of the application process.
“It was venison, asparagus, stuffed portobello mushrooms and potatoes,” Kiersten said.
From applying to going through a number of interviews to submitting video footage and photos, the application process took up the bulk of the summer for Kiersten and her family.
“The process to get there was just grueling at times,” Cathy said. “To be completely honest, there were times when she looked at me and said, ‘Do we have to videotape another thing?’ It was a very grueling process. It took hours to get everything done that they asked of us.”
Cathy said Kiersten first approached her in June and told her she wanted to apply.
“I remember she said, ‘I hate to get your hopes up, but it’s not a very good chance that you’re going to get on,’” Kiersten said.
Cathy said that two or three weeks after filling out the initial application, she received a call from one of the producers, who interviewed Cathy about Kiersten’s cooking and guided her through the next steps of the audition process.
“We had a 10- or 11-page application that we had to fill out with multiple questions,” Cathy said.
Cathy said that she and Kiersten worked together to fill out the application “to make it as good as possible,” with Kiersten being asked to explain recipes for original dishes she’s made and to describe styles and dishes (of cooking) she enjoys.
“One of the questions was what’s your favorite ingredient to use in the kitchen,” Kiersten said. “That one was easy … garlic.”
They also spent a week working on an audition video.
“Hannah recorded it and set me in positions,” Kiersten said. “They had so many requirements. They said you can’t have any windows, you have to have good lighting and you can’t show any time. We had to unplug appliances that showed the time, like our coffee pot.”
At the end of August, Kiersten had two separate phone calls from two different “Chopped Junior” producers. The first phone call was about 20 minutes, while the second was over an hour, she said.
Cathy said that after the two phone interviews, the producers told Kiersten they were still interviewing other prospective contestants and “not to get her hopes up, more or less.”
“At that point, it was probably at least three weeks till we would hear something,” Cathy said. “We just basically tried to forget about it, and then I actually ended up getting an email that said that she made it. It kind of all happened really fast.
“From when they told us she was getting on the show to when she got on was not very long, maybe two and half or three weeks.”
Kiersten said that she and a fellow contestant became friends and went out to eat together while in New York, where they bonded over their love of dill pickles. Cathy said that she and the other contestants’ parents also keep in touch.
“New York was really fun,” Kiersten said. “We went to the Empire State Building, and we got to eat there.
“We went to a lot of different restaurants.”
Kiersten and her mom said they splurged by eating at the Empire State Building restaurant, as well as checking out some New York delis and Chinese restaurants. They also walked the Brooklyn Bridge and spent a long day walking and riding bicycles in the city.
“We went to Central Park, and we got bikes,” Kiersten said. “We rode around all of Central Park, which was a very long ride.”
It was Kiersten’s first airplane ride and first trip to New York, where their hotel window was on the 25th floor and overlooked the Empire State Building. She said she was impressed by the noise of the city, especially compared to Ohio.
The Williamsons weren’t informed of the episode’s air date until this month, so they had to wait several months before they could even tell anyone Kiersten had been selected for the show. Trying to avoid conversations about the show, including when taking time off of school to travel to New York, was one of the biggest challenges of the last few months. Kiersten even had to miss some volleyball practices and games due to her preparation for the competition.
“It was really hard, because we basically had to tell them she was sick,” Cathy said. “We weren’t allowed to tell that we were going to New York. They wouldn’t let us tell [that they were taping], and we knew if we told people we were going to New York, they would know because a lot of people knew that she had tried out.
“We had the hardest time trying to say it to people who were asking if she’d made it without lying.”
They began telling people they were “still waiting,” instead of saying “yes” or “no,” when asked if they had heard anything about “Chopped Junior.”
Now that the news is out, Kiersten said she also has to avoid answering questions about the show’s outcome, especially among her classmates.
“They were like, ‘I’ll sign a contract if you tell me what place you got,’” Kiersten said.
Kiersten is looking forward to watching the episode Feb. 14 when it airs with her loved ones and seeing her hard work pay off.
“If I had to guess, I would say the whole process took at least 70 to 80 hours of our time,” Cathy said. “If you want something bad enough, you have to be willing to work for it. It was definitely a lot of work to get to where she got.”
Kiersten said she is grateful to God for blessing her with this experience.
“We realize that hard work and dreams help you achieve your goals, but we also realize that favor and blessing comes from God, and we just want to acknowledge Him through all of this,” Cathy said.