Tonight on FOX Gordon Ramsay’s Masterchef Junior continues with a new Tuesday, November 4 season 2 premiere episode 1 called “The Next Generation.” As NBC reports we will see on tonight’s show, the season 2 premiere, 16 junior chefs are asked to prepare dishes featuring Season 1 winner Alexander Weiss’ favorite ingredients. The winner selects the proteins to be used in the elimination round before 12 contestants are chosen to advance in the competition.
On the last episode, it was in the conclusion of the two-part season finale, the Top 2, Alexander Weiss 13-years old vs. Dara Yu 12-years old prepared a three-course meal before the winner is announced. They will be America’s first-ever Masterchef Junior and win a $100,000 prize. Did you watch the last season finale? If you missed it we have a full and detailed recap, right here for you.
On tonight’s show America’s first-ever MASTERCHEF JUNIOR, Alexander Weiss, returns to the kitchen as a special guest. Alexander presents the mystery box challenge, and the 16 junior home cooks will be tasked with preparing impressive dishes using the special guest’s favorite ingredients, including pork chop, pork tenderloin, green apples, hazelnuts, Brussel sprouts, filo dough, fingerling potatoes, wild rice, whole grain mustard and artichoke. The winner of the challenge will have a significant advantage and select which of the judges’ favorite proteins the remaining contestants will prepare in the elimination round. Later, the 12 junior home cooks with the best dishes will advance in the competition
Don’t forget to join us for our live recap tonight at 8:00pm when MasterChef Junior Season 2 premiere episode airs on Fox. While you wait for the recap, let us know how your enjoying this season of MasterChef.
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Last year’s competition inspired many more kids to try out this year in the second ever #MasterChefJunior. There are 16 competitors. The three judges greet the kids. Abby says her kitchen is not nearly as big as theirs. Samuel, 12, says he wants to throw all the rules out the window. Oona is 9 and has been cooking since she was 6. Gordon tells them one of them will win $100,000 and the MasterChef Junior trophy. Abby says she would buy a horse and donate the rest to charity.
Gordon introduces last year’s winner Alexander. He’s got his trophy and everything. He waves at the new kids. Alexander has cooked for foreign governments, flown all over the world and been on magazine covers. Alexander says winning has changed the way he thinks and cooks. He’s also going to be a judge on MasterChef Junior in Indonesia. Tonight they will start out with a mystery box challenge. The winner will get the advantage in the next stage.
Alexander chose the ingredients in tonight’s mystery box. The kids are told to lift their boxes and we see a pork chop, pork tenderloin, apples, nuts, fingerling potatoes and more. They then show some of Alexander’s creations made from the ingredients in the #MCJMysteryBox. He made 13 dishes to show them and the kids and judges are amazed. Alexander tells them to show their passion and put themselves on the plate. Natalie is totally in awe of him and thinks he’s cute.
The kids start cooking and they have just 60 minutes to deliver a restaurant-quality dish. Joe says he thinks this competition will be next-level and says he has high expectations. Mitchell is making a port tenderloin with a hot smoky rub. Logan is making an apple juice injected pork chop. Coco is making bacon wrapped pork tenderloin. The judges go around to look. Oona tells Gordon she’s doing a spicy seared pork loin with mustard crème sauce.
Graham talks to Natalie and she’s making a pan seared pork chop and he asks if her parents cook. Her dad owns a restaurant. She says people think Samuel is a front-runner. Gordon gos to talk to him. He’s making a stuffed pork tenderloin with mousseline. He says he learned to cook creatively from his mom. Gordon is impressed by how hard the kids are working. They are down to 10 minutes and Coco starts to cry because her mashed potatoes are too salty. She tells Gordon she can’t do it.
Gordon asks if he can help but she’s distraught. He samples the potatoes and says they aren’t. He reassures her and says his three daughters laugh til they cry in the kitchen and works a smile out of her. They have just one minute to go. Gordon counts down the last 10 seconds. The judges go around to look at the final dishes to choose the top three that they will taste. Gordon tells them well done and then begins to announce the best dishes.
He first calls up Natalie and says her plating was great and her pork was cooked perfectly. She says she made a pork stock mustard sauce, rosemary potatoes and sauteed apples and carrots. He tells her it’s a perfect sear on the outside and the inside is juicy and perfect. He tastes and says it’s beautiful. He tells her he might like a little more seasoning on the veg, but otherwise it’s perfect. Joe says it’s beautiful and delicious. She says she likes to cook Mexican food and he praises the spice on the chop.
Graham then calls up a dish with a lot of flavors and says it’s Mitchell. He made a tenderloin with a spicy rub and wild rice pressure cooked. Graham tastes and says it has heat and is bold. He likes the egg to make it richer. He tells him good job. Gordon asks how he got into those spices at 12 and he says his dad is a fire captain and cooks a lot. Gordon says it needed to cook for two more minutes but it’s good.
Joe says the next one has big flavors for a little person and calls up Oona. Samuel is jealous that he didn’t make top three. She’s just 9. She made spicy seared pork loin with a fried egg. She says she cooks for her parents at home. Joe says the cook is textbook perfect. He says his only criticism is to take the skin off the apples and the sprouts are perfect. Gordon says all three dishes were great but one was a little more refined and that they would serve as-is in their restaurants.
Gordon announces the winner of the Mystery Box challenge is Natalie. The others applaud and she thanks them. She heads to the pantry with the judges. Oona says she’s lucky and does a little pout. She’ll make decisions about the elimination test. Gordon welcomes Natalie to the pantry and says she’s safe from elimination and gets to choose what the others cook. Joe comes back with a live chicken. Graham comes in with a live duck. Gordon then comes in with a giant turkey in his arms.
Natalie says it looks like her grandma and she didn’t realize turkeys were that big. She chooses the protein and they come back out. She heads upstairs to the safe zone and she says she’s not telling what they have to cook. Gordon tells the kids to run back into the pantry. There are a couple of dozen chickens running around the pantry and the kids squeal. Josh doesn’t want to lift a chicken. Abby finally grabs one. They all come out holding a chicken and Gordon says they have to make a great chicken dish.
OMG! Please don’t make the kids kill the chickens. Gordon says they don’t have to kill those chickens. Logan is relieved. He says he didn’t sign up to kill animals. Joe says in the pantry they will find all the parts of a chicken in the pantry to choose from. They race into the pantry as their hour starts. It’s the #ChickenChallenge. The kids run back out and several of the kids are too small to carry their goods. Joe says the rules are the same and they have to produce a restaurant-quality dish.
Joe says this may be more of a challenge since kids eat chicken every day. Coco is making chicken milanese with potatoes and wilted greens. Sean is making wings with yuzu salad. Samuel is making marinated chicken wings and pickled vegetables. Gordon asks if he’s thought about making less things well than spreading across five items but he says he can do it. Joe talks to Abby who’s making fried chicken and zucchini. Nasir has his oil too hot and is burning his chicken. Gordon says that doesn’t look food and the other kids think Nasir may be headed home tonight.
Gordon tells him it’s not looking good and tells him to start with a fresh pan so he doesn’t burn it again. Natalie encourages him from upstairs. Oona is making chicken liver pate and Graham is floored. She’s also making pears and compliments his glasses so he lets her try them on. Isabella is making chicken Parmesan which sounds good but is too pedestrian to be called up. Oona has impressed Graham and Joe raves about Sean’s dish.
Gordon tells them to hurry as they are in their last minute. Natalie says Samuel looks like he’s in trouble. The judges all count down from 10 and it’s done. Gordon says they all look good and calls down Oona with her chicken liver pate and bruleed pears. He asks where she gets her ideas and she says she always wanted to try it since she was six. Gordon samples it and says it’s delicious – he says she showed both finesse and restraint. He says if she keeps this up, she could win.
Graham also tastes and says it’s awesome but needs to change her name from Oona to uno since she’s number one. Isabella is up next with her chicken parm. He cuts into it and shows her that it’s not cooked through. He says he can’t eat it since it’s raw. He pokes around for a bit that’s cooked through and says it’s seasoned well, but undercooked. She’s devastated and goes back to her station crying.
Several of the girls go over to hug and reassure her. Abby says no one is an a plus student all the time. Abby tells her that her dad’s number one rule is to always have fun. Isabella says it’s cool that they were all so supportive. Joe calls down Sean and he make chicken wings with yuzu salad. Joe says he’s turned $1 worth of chicken into a $20 dish. He says the flavor is amazing and aggressively spiced. He asks what he wants to do with his life and Sean says run a restaurant. Joe says it’s technical and flawless. The kids all applaud.
Graham calls down Coco. She has chicken Milanese with wilted greens. She did a basic breading. Graham shows her some errors on her cook and says it’s a little dry. Joe calls down Berry who made a Moroccan chicken. Joe tells her boiling it made it a little dry. Nasir is next with lemon drumlettes. Gordon coughs and says his mouth is on fire. He says the chicken is overcooked, dry and has raw spice on it. He says his veg is good but the chicken is like an appendix you want out.
Joe calls Abby down and she’s made Mexican fried chicken. At 8, she’s the youngest but says she’s been cooking since she was two. Her plate is colorful and gorgeous. Joe tastes and says it’s delicious. He says she’s got big, big potential. Gordon calls Samuel down last. He made five spice rings, pickled veg and rice. Gordon says the wings are delicious and says it’s technically ambitious.
He tells him well done. Wow – the kid pulled it off. He reminds me of Scottish Francis from last season’s grown-up MC with being so ambitious. Sometimes that works out and sometimes it burns you. This time, it seems to have served him well. The judges go to talk and tell the kids they have to make an important decision about who’s moving on and who’s moving back home.
Joe says Coco’s was unbalanced and Isabella had raw chicken. They come back out after their discussion. Gordon says it was a tough decision. Gordon calls seven kids down – Coco, Shawn, Berry, Oona, Berry, Nasir, Samuel and Isabella. Joe then calls out Sean, Oona and Samuel and says they are the top three of the night and then send them back to their station. Sean is thrilled that they chose him. That puts Berry, Nasir, Isabella and Coco at the bottom and Gordon says they are all going home.
He tells them all to keep on cooking and they leave to hugs and applause. Coco is really sad but says she wants to go home and see her dog and her dad. Nasir says he’s going to go home and keep on cooking while wearing his MasterChef apron.
THE END!
