Chef from Carey competes on TV

CAREY For this Carey native, cooking wasn’t his first career. Koop Wynkoop, 31, formerly of Upper Sandusky, worked in the auto industry until the economy took a downturn and he lost his job. Wynkoop, who has two children and a wife, said he needed to find a way to support them. “I became the caretaker cooking for my family and other household duties,” Wynkoop said. After a few months, Wynkoop attended Columbus Culinary Institute and, within a year, became a chef in a restaurant in Ada. “I found my passion for food,” he said. “I love everything about it.” His change in career has led Wynkoop to an opportunity to appear as one of 18 contestants on the season 16 premier of “Hell’s Kitchen” airing at 8 p.m. Friday on Fox with executive producer and award-winning chef Gordon Ramsay. The chefs will have to endure Ramsay’s intense culinary academy. Each week, the chefs are to be put through rigorous culinary challenges. The last contestant is to walk away with a head chef position at Yardbird Southern Table & Bar at The Venetian Las Vegas. Wynkoop enjoys cooking with ribeye and other meats, especially animal cheeks, he said. Wynkoop said he doesn’t try to emulate current celebrity chefs, but takes the traditional concepts of some dishes and puts his own twist on them. “There are some dishes people are scared to try, but the way I cook them people don’t realize what they are,” he said. Wynkoop found out about casting for “Hell’s Kitchen” through an email from the culinary institute. “I was bored one day and thought it would be interesting,” Wynkoop said. All the episodes have been taped and to discover Wynkoop’s outcome, he said, you’ll have to watch on TV. “Overall, it was a great experience,” he said. “To be far away from my family with no contact was a challenge, but it was a blast and I’d do it all again.” Wynkoop said he looks forward to the opportunities that await him. “This will give me the opportunity to hopefully move to a better job and have greater financial gain for my family,” he said. “I’ve learned that to have the ability to grow your own food makes you more aware of what you’re serving,” he said. At his home, Wynkoop has converted a third of his yard to a garden. In the long-term, Wynkoop said where he resides, there is an untapped market for food trucks and he hopes to own one himself one day. “I’d love to have my own menu,” he said. “You have to love what you do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life. I want to be able to make my own path.”