A Pflugerville ISD seventh grade student knows more than her way around the books, she is pretty crafty in the kitchen too.
Caroline Coleman, of Kelly Lane Middle School, taped an episode for the Food Network's Chopped Junior in New York City in May 2016.
Coleman, who claims she fell in love with cooking after learning polish recipes from her grandmother Lorraine Bingham, said she circled back and forth between disbelief about the experience.
“At first I was like, ‘Wha-, what?!’” she said. “Then you get used to it, and you freak out again, and then you get used to it. It’s just a cycle.”
On the show, contestants are tasked with making dishes from mystery ingredients under tight time constraints. Only one person can be crowned a winner, while the other contestants are chopped in each round.
But this wasn't Caroline's first rodeo into the world of competitive cooking. According to Pflugerville ISD, Coleman, who also attends Foodie Kids Culinary Center in Austin, took second place in the Aramark "Chef Patrick's Pals" Junior Chef competition in Pflugerville.
Coleman's episode of 'Chopped Junior" is set to air Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. Central; that means many people will have to wait to see if she survived the chopping block.
Coleman said she's not done with New York City yet, although her adventure with Chopped Junior may have ended.
“My plan is after my senior year of high school, I will move to New York,” she said. “I’m going to go to CIA (Culinary Institute of America), I’m going to get my food management degree, maybe my pastry chef degree, and then I’m going to move back to Texas. I’m going to open a restaurant – I’m going to keep building those in the Texas area. Then I’m going to go back to New York and I’m going to build my restaurants in New York and then I’m going to have my restaurants everywhere.”
In the meantime, Coleman and her mother are set to appear on another cooking show featuring celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey. Details for that show haven't been released yet.
