Aspiring teenage chef releases debut cookbook

William Watters' book contains recipes for meals he likes eating and and would normally cook at home

A 15-year-old cook who aspires to become a well-known head chef has released his debut cookbook.

William Watters, known on Instagram as Williamtheminichef, has already performed cooking demos at food festivals around the south west.

"At the food festival when people came up and bought [the book] there and they were saying how they liked my demo it was a great feeling," he said.

Mr Watters, who has a heart condition, is donating £1 to Gloucester-based charity Heart Heroes for every copy of his book sold.

Mr Watters, who worked as a chef in a pub in Bradford-on-Avon aged just 15, said he took up cooking after watching food programmes on TV and found he enjoyed it.

"When I was eating it it was nice when you made it yourself," he said, adding one of his favourite meals to cook was toad in the hole.

He said he wanted to release the book "so other people can make nice food".

"There's a burger, there's some cookies, there's Yorkshire puddings, there's chicken dishes, it's just like home comfort food really, nice British food," he explained.

"One of my ambitions for the future is to be a well-known head chef so I'm thinking of going to college in Bath and doing an apprenticeship at a restaurant in Bath as well."

Mr Watters has been cooking since he was a young boy

A few years ago Mr Watters attended a couple of food festivals and enjoyed watching the demonstrations and trying the food.

He spoke to one of the chefs and ended up joining him for two demos at festivals in Bristol and Exeter.

"I did burgers, so they went well and the crowd liked it and it was good fun," he said.

He said creating the book meant meticulous weighing and testing of each recipe to make sure they were perfect.

He then wrote up all the recipes on his computer.

The cook, who is a fan of John Torode and Gordon Ramsay, has already sold 30 copies.

Sharon Watters showed her son how to cook family meals

Mr Watters' mum Sharon said: "I've always enjoyed cooking, so I've always cooked homemade meals at home and he's always joined in and helped me."

She said she was very proud of him "because he's got an ambition and he's always stuck to that same thing".

"And it's amazing for him to want to support the charity which he's involved in which helped him," she added.