BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | For brother and sister chefs and Chelsea residents Marc and Rachel Hodorov — 12 and 10 years old, respectively — there is no ordering off the kiddie menu. The duo and their little sister order escargot when they dine at Le Grainne Café (183 Ninth Ave.), said their mom, Marina Levin. “My husband and I really insisted that we treat their palettes like they were adult palettes,” Levin said in a phone interview. “We never ordered from the kids’ menu for them. We really put an emphasis on food and trying new things and experimenting.” That stress on culinary adventures prompted both Hodorovs to vie for a spot on the first season of “Chopped Junior” — a cooking competition show hosted by Ted Allen on the Food Network. Four young people from the ages of nine to 15 compete for a $10,000 prize each episode. Like the adult version, four contestants must create dishes from whatever is inside the “mystery baskets.” Marc, a seventh grader at Lower Manhattan Community Middle School, said that he and his sister first tried out for a different Food Network show called “Rachael vs. Guy: Kids Cook-Off.” “We didn’t make it, and we decided that we would keep on trying,” Marc said in a phone interview. “[We tried] to get on ‘Chopped Junior’ once we heard about it.” He started cooking when he was around six, helping his parents by stirring pots or chopping vegetables up for salad. “As I grew, it progressed [to] more complicated things, until I started making full dishes by myself,” he said. Grilling and working with meat is his forte. “I also like making pretty much any type of steak. That’s one of my favorites,” he said. Speaking like a pro, Marc said when it comes to seasoning, all a steak really needs is salt and pepper. “One of the family sayings is, ‘When you have a good piece of meat, you don’t dress it up,’ ” Marc said. He said he will pretty much eat anything, but he loves steak, of course, as well as seafood and sushi.
While Marc is focused on meat and grilling, his sister Rachel is on the desert tip. She is really into cheesecake and cupcakes. Rachel, a fifth grader at PS11, said her interest began when she was around four and saw her mom cooking in the kitchen. “When my mom started cooking I would always walk around the kitchen and say, ‘Can I help?’ or ‘What can I do?’ ” Rachel said. She counted grapes for salads, stirred in stuff for her mom, and, as she got older, began using a knife and the stove. Rachel said her family always eats together. Levin, their mom, said, “We have always made them a part of our meals. The center of our family is the kitchen. Our life happens around the kitchen table.” Rachel and Marc watch a lot of “Chopped,” “MasterChef” and “Cutthroat Kitchen.” “ ‘Cutthroat Kitchen’ is very awesome because it’s very serious and it’s very competitive, and you can mess up easily,” Rachel said. Both were a little nervous to be on the show, which taped in the middle of August, and started airing Oct. 27. The brother and sister were not in the same episode. There are no dates yet for when their episodes will air. Rachel said she definitely wants to be a chef when she grows up, and wants to attend the Culinary Institute of America. “That’s my dream college, and I want to open up a restaurant,” she said. Marc would love to have a food truck, but doesn’t know if he will go to culinary school. “One of my culinary dreams is a food truck,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to have one. I really like the idea that you get to travel around in a foodmobile.” If Rachel won the prize money, she would save it for her education. Marc said he would put it toward his truck — which would either be grilled foods or seafood — and give his parents some money as well. Marc enjoyed his time on “Chopped Junior.” “It was a good experience and I had a lot of fun,” he said. “And it’s definitely going to send my kitchen career to the moon.” Rachel agreed, saying, “I think that this was a very life defining experience because it really set me off on my cooking career even though I’m 10. It’s something in myself that says I need to continue cooking. I can’t stop. I should not stop and I have to do it.”
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