After last week's jaunt to Casa de Ramsay, we were back in the MasterChefkitchen and it was all business. Four hopefuls left – Addison, Zac, Avery, and Amaya – and only room for two of them in the finals.
Addison and Zac appeared the front-runners - the obvious choices, leading the pack since the beginning. Avery has played a slow and steady game, and has turned in some dishes that have wowed the judges. Amaya has had the fewest standout moments but one dish put her on the judges' collective radar and she shouldn’t be completely discounted just yet.
Tonight's dish: Soufflé. Amaya got dark chocolate, Avery strawberries, Zac’s milk chocolate, and Addison got blackberries.
Dessert expert Judge Christina Tosi explained that the soufflé is a technically difficult dish, even for world-class chefs. It needs to be cooked for the perfect amount of time, or else the pastry won’t rise correctly. It will be, quite simply, a big challenge.
The kids have never made a soufflé before, and were completely intimidated. For first timers, they did pretty well. The only mishap came from Zac, whose soufflé split while baking, but each of the girls servedup a fabulous looking dessert. In the end, the judges picked Addison’s.
THE ELIMINATION TEST
Although Addison didn’t win any kind of immunity for this semi-finals elimination test, she did get a great advantage. Gordon let her know that each of the four chefs would be cooking a dish with a different cut of pork – and Addison got to decide who gets which cut. Addison wanted the ribs, and gave the ears to her biggest threat: Zac, which was a slick move. Avery got the pork belly, which left Amaya with the loin.
Addison, 9, River Forest, Illinois
Soda-braised Pork Ribs
The judges were besides themselves for her ribs; they were cooked to perfection. The only problem Gordon really had with her dish was presentation.
Zac, 12, Orlando, Florida
Braised Pig’s Ear
Zac had the exact opposite problem as Addison. The judges loved his presentation, but unfortunately, his pig’s ear was undercooked. Zac was trying to stay positive, but the cards were stacked against him.
Avery, 9, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Braised Pork Belly
Avery was excited about her pork belly dish. She adopted the mantra: “Go pig, or go home." All three of the judges were completely blown away by Avery’s pork belly dish.
Amaya, 10, Bergenfield, New Jersey
Pork Loin
Gordon spotted trouble with Amaya’s dish even while she was cooking it. He noticed that Amaya began cutting her meat without letting it properly rest; it was raw.
The judges took some time to deliberate on whose dish was enough to push them through to the next round. It’s no surprise when they called Avery’s name first. Next, and to no one’s surprise, Addison moved on to the finals.
Addison started this whole thing with pretty solid odds, hitting BookMaker initially at +700, with Avery trailing at +1000. For the first time in MasterChef Junior history, there are two girls in the finale. Which tiny blonde will take the title? Probably Addison. But you never know.
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