Tonight on FOX Gordon Ramsay’s Masterchef Junior continues with a new Tuesday, November 18 season 2 episode 3 called “Mom Knows Best.” Tonight, a three-legged challenge is held to make a dozen cupcakes. Later, Gordon Ramsay’s mom visits the kitchen as a guest judge when the remaining contestants prepare one of the host’s favorite dishes from his childhood.
On the last episode, in a flipping awesome pre-challenge, the junior home cooks raced to see who could flip and stack the most pancakes, and the winner put the judges in a very sticky situation. The judges then tasked the kids to create their best citrus cream pie. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the FOX synopsis, “the kids pair up in a three-legged challenge to create a delicious box of 12 cupcakes. Later, Gordon’s mom visits the MASTERCHEF kitchen as a special guest judge, and the remaining junior home cooks will have to prepare their own versions of one of Gordon’s favorite dishes growing up. Find out which kids impress the judges and advance to the next round.”
Don’t forget to join us for our live recap tonight at 8:00pm when MasterChef Junior Season 2 episode 3 episode airs on Fox. While you wait for the recap, let us know how your enjoying this season of MasterChef.
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The top 10 kids steam into the #MCJunior kitchen and the judges welcome them. They will face a mystery box challenge tonight. Gordon reveals there’s another box under that box. Then Graham steps up and opens the lid and shows beautiful cupcakes. One is red velvet, there are also vanilla, strawberry and other flavors. Joe says they have 75 minutes to make a dozen cupcakes. They have to make them in teams of two. The kids cheer.
They assign the kids to compete with the other kid chef that picked the same flavor for the #TwoLittleCupcakes challenge. The teams are:
Mitchell and Abby
Sam and Adaiah
Logan and Sean
Josh and Oona
Levi and Samuel
Josh thinks he and Oona will have a dispute over who’s in charge. Graham tells them to open the box at each station. They do and see straps. There are two ties to tie their legs together. It’s a three legged mystery box challenge. The winning team will get a game-changing advantage. Oona thinks they are going to end up lying on the floor. They have staple items at their station and can access a limited pantry on their three legs.
Gordon starts their 75 minutes. They are struggling to carry equipment and ingredients back to their stations. Josh and Oona are making maple bacon cupcakes and lemon cupcakes. Graham says if he was doing this, he would make Gordon do all the mixing while he cheered him on. Abby tells Gordon she’s doing peanut butter cupcakes and Mitchell is making a Mexican hot chocolate cupcake. Abby tells Mitchell he’s annoying.
Logan is making lemon basil cupcakes. Sam and Adaiah are doing vanilla and orange. Many of the kids are dragging each other along. Oona and Josh are struggling because they also have to use the step stool. Joe asks if they’d like to wear the tethers after the challenge is over and Oona says that would be a nightmare. Gordon says they all seem to be doing 6 and 6 rather than 12 together. Graham says Sean and Logan are really focusing on looks.
They are down to the last two minutes and they are each yelling at each other. There are 60 seconds left and the kids are in a panic. They count down from 10 and the kids are all hands off. Gordon, Joe and Graham are all strapped together as they come down to check them out. They hobble along to decide which three groups of kids they will sample. Gordon first calls down Adaiah and Sam to taste their #MCCupcakes. They bring their box down.
Gordon opens the box and the cupcakes are gorgeous. They have orange honey blossom with cream cheese and then vanilla with raspberry frosting. He cuts into them and says they’re light, crispy and delicious. He offers a lot of wows. He says they nailed it. Joe comes down next and says they are beautiful and he would spend money on cupcakes like these. He tastes and says they delivered well. They head back to their station, still tethered.
Graham then calls down the next team of Abby and Mitchell. They have the chocolate peanut butter with Mexican hot chocolate. Graham cuts into one and says they are cooked perfectly and he loves the peanut butter. He then tries the chocolate and says they needed a little more frosting, but they were phenomenal cupcakes and they should be proud. They hobble back to their station.
Joe then calls down the third team – Logan and Sean. They bring their cakes down for Joe to open it. They have lemon basil cupcakes and chocolate caramel cupcakes. They even have sugared sculpted decorations. Joe loves the lemon and then tries the chocolate and is shocked to see it has a filling. He tastes and says it’s very impressive. Gordon tastes and then compliments the sugar work. He says it was dynamic teamwork and high fives them.
The judges talk for a few moments to decide who will win it. They ultimately decide the victors are Logan and Sean. They take those two back to the pantry to discuss the elimination challenge. Neither has to cook tonight which puts them in the final eight automatically. Gordon says his mum would always make him the best food including chicken curry, shepherd’s pie and fish finger sandwiches. He calls out to his mum and says he’s hungry.
Then his mum shows up and he gives her a kiss. His mom says when Gordon was learning to cook they would hide the bad food in napkin and chuck it in the bin. The kids get to pick from Gordon’s three childhood dishes the other kids have to cook. It will have to be an elevated restaurant version of the dish. They decide and head back out. Logan and Sean head upstairs to have a nice cup of tea while they watch the other kids cook.
Gordon brings out his mom and introduces her to the rest of the kid chefs. They all clap to meet #GordonsMum. She has the dish and shows them that Sean and Logan picked shepherd’s pie. Joe says they have to elevate the dish. Oona says she’s never eaten the dish or seen it. Graham tells them they can each use the tablet in their drawer to Skype their moms. Abby tells her mom she needs her help since she hasn’t made shepherd’s pie. Her mom suggests truffle butter.
Sam’s mom talks veg with him and Oona discusses doing an Asian version with her mom. Gordon tells them they need to put the tablets away and they have 60 minutes to cook. Joe tells them this could be the last challenge and says two of them will be going home tonight. The kids all hit the pantry to pick up their ingredients. Two of the six that are cooking will be leaving. That’s a one in three chance of going home!
Gordon’s mum tells him that he couldn’t cook like that at their age. Sean and Logan walk around upstairs watching the others cook. The judges talk and says it’s usually served family style and not in individual servings. Sam is crying and panicking because his potatoes went bad. The other kids encourage him. Logan says he feels really bad for him.
Graham comes down to check on Sam and gives him some advice on combining the peas and mashed potatoes so he doesn’t have to start over. Gordon and his mum come to look at Oona’s dish and his mom asks if she has a BF. Gordon offers to fix her up with his son Jack and she giggles and says no and tells him to quit it. Joe goes to talk to Samuel who is making a deconstructed shepherd’s pie. Joe reminds him they were supposed to elevate it and Samuel says he’s reinventing to elevate.
They are down to the last five minutes and Joe says some of these dishes are amazing. Helen says Levi’s dish looks good and Graham says Adaiah’s seems sophisticated. Gordon asks his mum if he was that good at eight and she tells him he’s still not that good. He laughs. Logan says Samuel’s dish is looking food but says he’s worried about Oona’s plating and says it’s a little sloppy. They count down from 10 and it’s all done.
Joe calls Oona down first. She says she’s not very confident. She tells them it’s curry shepherd’s pie with beef and sausage. Gordon says it looks a little unfinished on top but says the meat is a little greasy. He says it’s the first time he’s seen her stressed out. Helen tells her to never give up. Poor kid is sniffling. Joe tastes next and she says she’s not happy with it. She says she’s never cooked so badly.
He asks if she does everything right all the time and he says he makes mistakes all the time. He asks about her seasonings and says the plating is a little rustic but the mashed potatoes were well-flavored. He thanks her and everyone applauds. Logan says he hopes she doesn’t go home. She thinks she’s going home and goes back to her station, lays down her head and cries.
Gordon calls Abby down next. He tells her mum she’s the youngest contestant and has been cooking since she was two. Helen says Gordon didn’t start cooking til he was 27 then laughs and says he was 16. Abby has made a really nice dish with sweet potato puree and beef and lamb. Gordon says it’s delicious but needs just a touch more seasoning. Wow – the littlest one killed it.
Samuel is up next with his Moroccan shepherd’s pie. Graham says it’s cooked beautifully and that he’s separated himself from the pack. Josh is next and made a deconstructed shepherd’s pie with a peas and carrots garnish. Gordon says the meat is good and seasoned beautifully and the presentation is amazing. Levi brings down lamb shepherd’s pie with Parmesan mash. Joe is floored and says he likes that he didn’t deconstruct or reconstruct it.
Mitchell is next and made a lamb, beef shepherd’s pie. Gordon says it’s not his most attractive dish and says it tastes like a chopped up burger. Helen says the mince is a little dry. Next up is Adaiah with her shepherd’s pie Napoleon. She’s got two cool smears of garnish. Graham says it’s delicious and loves the sauce work. Hers is crispy and interesting.
Last up is Sam who made pea puree with his. Helen and Gordon tests. Gordon says he loves that he stacked it but says the beef is a little dry. Helen agrees and says it was tasty but a bit dry. Gordon compliments the mash and says it was well done for bouncing back. That’s all the dishes. Gordon tells them all to tell his mum goodnight and she tells the kids to do their best. Logan says she’s way more peaceful than Gordon. The judges go to talk.
Joe says Adaiah’s was amazing. Graham says he likes that Levi went super-traditional. The judges come back out and Joe says there were two standouts that won – Levi and Adaiah. Joe then calls down Sam, Oona and Mitchell. Joe says they all did an amazing job but says it is a competition. Graham says Oona is staying. She’s relieved she’s not going home. She says she stayed in by the skin of her teeth and her teeth don’t even have skin.
Gordon tells Sam and Mitchell they are both going home. He says they are brilliant and made top 10. He says they are a credit to their parents, their school and themselves. Joe says setbacks make you better so you can move ahead in life. He says they are all proud of both of them. They come up and the judges give them goodbye hugs. Mitchell says he’s excited about how far he went and says he’ll continue to cook and open a little cafe. Sam says he’s more confident about his cooking now.
THE END!
