Masterchef Junior Season 2 Episode 4 Recap: Fried eggs, Restaurant Dreams and Over-cooked Protein

Tomorrow night premieres a new episode of Masterchef Junior, so how about a quick recap of last week’s episode?

Credit: Greg Gayne/Fox

Credit: Greg Gayne/Fox

Right from the beginning the kids are asked what they would do if they won the $100,000 and the Masterchef junior trophy. Adaiah said she would buy guitars, a piano, and a dirt bike. Oona would go to Vegas, and Abby would buy a bunch of horse posters. Gordon says she could buy her own horse, but Abby replies she doesn’t have enough room in her back yard. (Tehehe).

The first challenge: to make a perfect sunny-side up egg. No brown edges, no over-cooked yoke. Poor Oona and Abby seem to struggle. Sean, of course, has the most eggs. He wins the challenge with ten perfect eggs. Abby has the less, with just two eggs.

But there is a twist to the next challenge. They can only use the same amount of ingredients in their next dish as how many eggs they managed to cook. Looks like Abby is going to have to step it up some! Gordon gives her a hug and says that she can do it. (So adorable).

The kids are asked about their dreams of having their own restaurants. They are all so very creative. Abby wants to have a vet clinic/restaurant which specializes in healthy food. She said she’s going to name it “Horses and Courses.” Oh, we love you Abby! Logan wants an underwater bistro. And as Samuel is talking about his french restaurant which is (not surprising) called “Le Samuel,” he tucks the plans to his establishment back into a briefcase. Seriously? Where did they find this kid?!

For their next dish, the kids have one hour to create the signature dish that they would want in their restaurant. We also learn in this bit that Graham was most inspired by Gordon Ramsay in his career. We also learn that Sean wants a restaurant called “The Drunken Cow,” because he specializes in cooking with meat and likes to cook with wine a lot. Wait a minute, this kid is like…twelve.

Abby, who had only two ingredients, makes salmon with asparagus five ways and the judges are impressed because the salmon is perfectly cooked. Sean is next with the most ingredients at ten, he made a rib eye steak with paprika crema and potatoes. His steak is slightly overcooked, but graham likes the sauce. Levi makes a pan-seared salmon with a mustard maple glaze and broccoli done two ways. His salmon is also over-cooked. C’mon guys!

Adaiah is next with her yogurt-crusted lamb chop which she made with sweet potatoes and orange sauce. Graham likes the flavor of the orange and how everything comes together. Oona only had four ingredients as well, and she makes scallops two ways with ginger oil and cauliflower puree. Her dish is the most presentable, but half of her scallops are over-cooked.

Logan makes flat iron steak marinated in soy sauce and ginger with bamboo rice. The steak is perfectly cooked and well-seasoned, according to Joe, but the rice is over-cooked and missing salt. Gordon says that they are a little bit underwhelmed by his dish, poor fellow. I guess the days of sugar-coated niceties are over. He still gets a hug from Ramsay. What is even more touching is the other kids that get emotional in reaction to Logan’s disappointment. Even though it is a competition, its so sweet that these kids are also friends.

Josh is next to present his dish and he made curried duck a l’orange with cilantro rice. The duck is slightly over-cooked and Graham says that the cilantro wasn’t needed, that he should have used another ingredient instead to perfect the dish.

Samuel is last to present his dish, and already the judges aren’t impressed. He had his choice of eight ingredients and Gordan says it looks like he has only three ingredients on the plate. He made a five-spice seared duck with pesto cucumber and zucchini puree. But the earlier critiques are only to add to the drama, because Gordan says that the duck is cooked perfectly. Finally! Someone who didn’t over-cook their protein!

This makes me wonder yet again if last season’s kids were a fluke? Was it staged? Because so many of the contestants seemed to have mistakes tonight.

The two that had astounding dishes: Abby and Samuel. Samuel says that it is time to buy into the Le Samuel stock because it’s going to be an up day in the stock market. Okay, even as arrogant as that sounds…it is still amusing.

Sean, Oona, Levi and Josh are in the bottom four. Sadly, at the end of the night, Josh and Levi get sent home. This is unfair, I think, because Levi overall has had more successful dishes than many of them, but Oona is their entertainer, so of course she can’t go home yet!

Looks like a restaurant take-over in the next episode! Here’s a sneak peak:

 

15 Minute Journaling: Hot and Cold

Author’s Note:

Thanks all for the comments on Friday post, I haven’t decided what I’ll post that day, but I am leaning towards some kind of continuation story. Couldn’t think of what to post tonight, so went to the writing prompt app on my phone and came up with this post. Who knows, maybe it’ll be a story idea for later. 🙂 Hope everyone is having a great night!

Happy writing!


 

Writing Prompt # 34: You are at a restaurant when someone you know shows up. They make their distaste for you evident to the people you are with.

I was on a date with my boyfriend. I got the fried chicken with mashed potatoes. The potatoes were good, but the chicken was a bit dry and stringy. I chewed on a forkfull as I watched the steak wander around in my boyfriend’s mouth. Maybe we’d been too quick to make things official, I guess I didn’t realize how narrow his face was, how his mouth looked like a duck when he chewed. I choked on the bite of food in my mouth as I saw a body appear next to his left shoulder. I saw a bright pink scarf and followed it up to a bright, shiny face, and pink lipstick. Her face literally shown, like a Angel’s, I’d forgotten the way her blond hair framed her face, the way her blonde curls bounced and curved next to her upper lip. The place where I had kissed her freckles dozens of times.

“Jewel, God,” I choked on my chicken as Andrew glanced up at her standing behind him. “What are you doing here?”

“I might say the same to you,” she said with that pucker of her pink mouth. I never understood how she managed to be so sweet and so mean at the same time.

I stirred potatoes around on my plate, mushed them into soggy green beans. “I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean.”

“Oh, I think you know,” she said.

Andrew glanced up at her, eyes narrowed. “Have we met before?”

“Andrew, this is Jewel. She’s an…old friend of mine,” I said.

“Ex-girlfriend,” she clarified, with a hand on her hip. I tried to hold back my laughter as Andrew choked on a his water.

I tried my sweetest smile. “Did I forget to mention her, sweetie?”

His duck mouth pursed with obvious distaste. “I think we ought to go home. Are you finished?”

I looked sadly down at my chicken. “It tasted like shoe anyway.”

Jewel was standing there silent during our exchange. As we got up, she gave me this look. It was a look that lasted a second, but felt like a lifetime for me. “We should talk,” she said.

I pulled on my coat, as Andrew stood there, his eyes dark. “Later,” I murmured.

“Are you ready yet?” said Andrew.

I gave him a dark look. It was cold outside, negative two degrees last time I checked. It was a kind of cold that really did bite at the extremities. If my boyfriend was sending out chills, Jewel’s expression was warm. Probably warmer than it should have been, given the situation. I didn’t know what to make of that.

“Later,” I murmured again, as her eyes followed me out the door. I brushed my hair out of my eyes and sighed. “Later.”

It was a comfort knowing I would no longer be talking to my myself anymore.