Meet the talented MasterChef contestant who went to school in Croydon

A former Croydon schoolboy is one of the contestants on MasterChef 2024.

Khinley Trott is a chef who took part in the latest series before his elimination from Heat 5 in episode 7.

Khinley went to Whitgift School in south Croydon and has lived in Senegal, Cape Town, Ethiopia, Malawi and the Solomon Islands.

The 19-year-old chef, who is studying philosophy and international relations, said the decision to enter MasterChef was to push himself, adding: “I felt it would be the right step forward because I had been cooking for about a year and a half.

“So what I did with cooking was I tried to cook a new dish every time I cooked.

“But at the same time I found it quite difficult to find new recipes and the pressure of the MasterChef kitchen and that kind of environment would be the best place for me to take that step forward in terms of creating my own recipes. “

Khinley’s work in the kitchen began when he was less than two years old, with shelled shrimp being an early memory of his.

Khinley said his style of cooking was fusion, combining elements that people wouldn’t expect, and the first thing he cooked in the MasterChef kitchen was a potato gnocchi and some sort of Korean stew.

His last dish was, as he described it, “an attempt” at salmon with poached eggs and hollandaise.

Khinley explained: “The bread I tried to make wasn’t flat enough.

“The Dutch girl broke away so I ran out of time pretty quickly and had to go second.

“And when I pulled the poached egg out of the water, it must have cracked because one of the judges ended up with a poached egg with no yolk.”

At 19, Khinley is the youngest contestant on this year’s MasterChef.

Khinley said: “Even though I didn’t have as much experience as other competitors, I think the way I approached the cooking made up for it.”

Khinley’s favorite thing to cook is a pork belly dish, which he said he slow cooks and then adds lots of ginger – his favorite spice.

He added: “It’s kind of like Korean-inspired gooey pork belly bites that have been slow cooked in ginger and ginger syrup with lots of Asian flavors, garlic and spring onions.”

His favorite dessert to make is panna cotta.

Khinley notes that “with the right time frame, it’s not particularly complicated.

He recalled that in October 2023, to master the dessert, he made 24 in one month and ate them all.

Khinley came 40th with Purley strategy manager Yogita Nagara and after his time on the show he has other hopes and ambitions and said: “I want to experience more cultures through cooking, either traveling to different places and trying local food.

“Alternatively, I will go to different restaurants that represent different cuisines in the UK.

“And given my age and the fact that I’m still at university, I want to inspire students as well, because many students are more put off by the idea of ​​cooking in the first place without having tried it.”