Liam Pignolet of Waialua, a Hawaii Technology Academy student and self-described adventurous eater, competed on “Chopped Junior” in an episode that aired April 11 and will be available for streaming via the network’s mobile application.

Liam won $10,000 and a cool chef jacket that should fit the growing 10-year-old for at least a little while.

The prize money brings his dream of traveling to Australia, meeting Aborigines and eating goanna (monitor lizard) cooked over an open flame closer to reality.

“We are trying to make it happen, but it’s not like there are a lot of packages or tours. … It’s a bit off the beaten path,” said his mother, Olivia Harkins-Pignolet, an elementary counselor at Hawaii Tech.

“Since he was little he has always cooked with his dad,” she said. Micah Pignolet is a special-education teacher at the school, and father and son fish and forage together.

The “Chopped Junior” series is like the adult version in that it starts with four competitors who are given identical mystery baskets and must use the contents to create a dish. One contestant is “chopped” after each round — appetizer, entree and dessert — leaving just one chef standing.

His episode was titled “Three Ring Kitchen,” and all the baskets followed a circus theme.

Contestants spring into action on the show as if they instantly know what they’re going to make. Cooking with his father was his inspiration, Liam said. At home, “I make poke … Philly cheesesteaks, and I made a chicken pot pie from scratch,” including the crust, he said. He also can bake bread.

On the show, the appetizer basket contained corn dogs, avocados, a fresh corn cob on a stick, and circus cookies, which appeared to be decorated sugar cookies.

Liam scraped off the corn dog coating and made a hot dog grilled cheese sandwich with avocado corn salsa, to which he added fresh pineapple from the pantry that all competitors may access. The cheese in two of the judges’ sandwiches was not fully melted, but they mostly praised the salsa, and Liam survived to the entree round.

Using the entree basket’s beef sliders, heirloom tomatoes, potatoes and tiger tails (large, chocolate- covered pretzel sticks), Liam made Tiger Tail Chili, scraping the chocolate off the pretzels before adding the odd ingredient to the pot.

His chili was served with chopped cabbage, which judge Sunny Anderson, host of Food Network’s “The Kitchen,” praised as smart. Another judge, actor Ryan Guzman, credited the dish for having “all these delectable flavors.”

The dessert basket contained caramel apples, Concord grapes, circus peanut candies and elephant ears (puff pastry dusted with powdered sugar). Liam made circus peanut-studded ice cream to use in a banana split, with a grape-apple sauce and crisp, deep-fried elephant ears.

Before the final judging round, Liam said, “It would really make me proud. Not a lot of people from Hawaii have been on ‘Chopped’ and won, and I would really like to be that person.”