MasterChef Junior (2013) s03e08 Episode Script
The Finale
Oh, my gosh! Many months ago, thousands of young home cooks set their sights on achieving something extraordinary.
But just 19 got to wear those coveted aprons and face some of the toughest challenges - Switch! - Go! Ever encountered.
We don't blow on a fire! Challenges that tested their tender years What is wrong with your eyebrows? Challenges that were downright deadly And challenges that were literally bananas.
Oh, God.
- Those remaining - Yes.
- Grew stronger.
- That is perfection.
- This is about as good as it gets.
This is one of the best things that I've had in the competition.
Thank you.
And one by one, they left, more skilled than ever before.
This is one of the great groups, and I consider it my privilege to be a part of your journey.
The last two young home cooks now face the ultimate test.
But just one will be America's next MasterChef Junior.
Tonight you are about to witness an historic culinary battle.
The two most talented young home cooks in the country, age just 11 and 12, are about to go head-to-head for the most coveted culinary prize in America.
This is the MasterChef Junior finale.
First up, from San Diego, California You don't seem fazed at all.
Nathan started out as a dark horse in this competition.
Looks perfect.
But his prodigious culinary skills established him towards the front of the pack.
Wow.
You added dark chocolate to this? It's delicious.
I may be a quiet competitor, but I'm also someone to be feared.
- Plating restaurant quality dishes - Good job.
- Full of elegance and sophistication - Person with the winning dish, Nathan; well done.
Never one to brag, his fellow competitors soon feared - Plate of steak up.
- His culinary roar.
Beautiful.
You let the food do all the talking, and it speaks volumes.
I could quite easily put them in my three-Michelin-star establishment.
- They're that good.
- Thank you so much.
I'm so excited to be a finalist in MasterChef Junior.
Winning could help me reach my dreams as a chef and pay for my culinary school and for college, and help me set up my life for the future.
- Who's gonna win? - I would have to say Nathan.
- Nathan.
- Nathan.
California all the way.
Andrew better watch out, because I'm the superman of the saute pan.
Will Nathan's passion and sophisticated skills be enough to take home the title of MasterChef Junior? The only person standing in Nathan's way is from West Deptford, New Jersey Listen.
You can give me anything.
I'll cook it, and I'll win this competition.
Representing New Jersey, Andrew was always a big presence in the MasterChef kitchen.
Pick it up! That shrimp looks killer! Though he may look tough on the outside My sauce is gonna be smooth.
It'll go well with the pasta.
Inside beats the heart of a culinary artist.
I love this guy.
I mean, he, for me, is already a head chef.
- How long, Andrew? - Four minutes, chef.
- Passionate and outspoken - We cannot go home.
Andrew gave his all in every single challenge.
You have more steak on your apron than you do on the plate.
Yeah, um, it got messy.
And put his big personality onto every plate that he served.
- It's super delicious.
- You nailed this, Andrew.
You run around crazy like a little baby rhino.
but you come with great finesse.
Thank you, chef.
This is the biggest thing of my entire culinary career.
It is on at this point.
Do or die.
You're looking at the next MasterChef Junior.
Tonight, can Andrew's New Jersey swagger and abundant energy in the kitchen be enough to take home the title of MasterChef Junior? Congratulations, Nathan and Andrew.
You have both achieved the near impossible.
You have both made it to the grand finale of MasterChef Junior.
Trust me.
It doesn't get any bigger than this.
You've had to beat other incredibly talented young home cooks, and some of them are here now to help cheer you on.
Also here to cheer you both on tonight are your family and your friends.
Nathan, you have your mom, Rebecca.
- Where are you? - Hi.
When did you first realize that he had such talent in the kitchen? Probably around the age of 6 or 7, when he started surpassing my talent in the kitchen.
I've been trying to keep up with him ever since.
Wow.
Dad, Bo, sum up the moment for me.
I'm absolutely welling with pride excited to see him standing up there and ready to rock and roll.
Andrew, here to cheer you on are your family and friends from New Jersey.
Mom, Karen, when did you first realize that Andrew not only had this passion, but this skill for cooking? Well, he started cooking when he was about 6 or 7, and he told me he wanted to a be a chef.
Dad, Phil, are you surprised at the amount of finesse he has in the kitchen? I am.
If I'd have known he had this much, I'd have had him out here sooner.
Andrew, what in your mind gives you the edge over Nathan? In the kitchen, I think that I'm more, you know, composed, and I think that that gives me, you know, a leg up on Nathan.
Nathan, what gives you the edge over Andrew? I would actually disagree with Andrew.
And I would say that I'm a bit more composed than he is because he's gotten a bit frazzled in the kitchen.
So I feel like that will definitely be my edge.
Tonight we want you to prepare and present a seamless stylistic three-course dinner.
You will have just 90 minutes to execute an appetizer, an entree, and finally a dessert.
To prepare for what's to come, you both have 10 minutes in the pantry to get everything you need to make the most perfect three-course dinner of your lives.
Nathan and Andrew, are you both ready to go into the pantry? - Yes, chef.
- Yes, chef.
Good.
Your 10 minutes Starts Now.
Beets.
I need beets.
For my appetizer, I'm making roasted beets with homemade herb ricotta cheese, apricot jelly, and toasted pumpernickel bread.
For my entree, I'm making braised beef cheek and ravioli With a pan sauce and shaved parmesan cheese.
And for my dessert, I'm making a cinnamon rice pudding Ground and cinnamon sticks With a verjus reduction and figs.
I'm gonna go out there and perfect that three-course meal, and you know what? I am gonna win.
I'm gonna walk out with that trophy in my hands.
MasterChef Junior right here.
You're looking at him.
For my appetizer tonight, I'm going to be making a roasted fennel and gruyere cheese au gratin topped with a little bit of French ham and a side of shaved fennel and grapefruit supreme salad.
And for my entree, I'm going to be making an herb-crusted rack of lamb with a side of white asparagus puree on a bed of fava beans and fresh morels.
And for the dessert, I'm going to be making a Earl Grey and Meyer lemon tart, flavored with a little bit of thyme and a blood orange coulis.
I'm part Mexican, but I really like making French cuisine, which is most technical and hardest to pull off.
I'm bringing to the table plenty of class and definitely a lot of elegance.
It's time for your final challenge.
It all comes down to these three stunning dishes that you're about to make us.
of perfect execution stand between you and victory.
After next 90 minutes are over, one of you will be crowned America's next MasterChef Junior.
- Are you two ready? - Yes, chef.
Your 90 minutes starts Now! Andrew! They're the best home cooks in America, and it's just really cool to see them go head-to-head.
One person is leaving with $100,000, a trophy, and the title of the next MasterChef Junior.
This is awesome.
Go, Nathan! This is the biggest showdown in MasterChef Junior history.
The two best chefs in all of America between the ages of 8 to 13.
It's such an epic battle, and I just am holding my breath to see what happens.
I cannot wait.
It's Andrew versus Nathan.
The little quiet mouse in the corner versus the big lion.
I wonder who gets eaten? Nathan and Andrew, keep it going, guys.
To become America's next MasterChef Junior, it's East Coast versus West Coast, as 11-year-old Andrew from New Jersey and 12-year-old Nathan from California are battling it out with the three-course menus that they've created.
Let's go, Andrew.
Let's go.
Andrew is making a roasted beet and homemade ricotta cheese appetizer, a braised beef cheek ravioli entree, and for dessert, an arborio rice pudding with verjus reduction.
I'm representing Jersey and Italy.
This is gonna be the biggest meal I've ever cooked in my entire life.
Italian bistro, ambitious.
Bring it on.
Go get 'em, Nate.
Get 'em, Nate! Nathan's menu features a fennel gratin appetizer with ham and gruyere cheese, a rack of lamb entree with morel mushrooms and an asparagus puree, and an Earl Grey tea lemon tart with blood orange coulis for dessert.
One thing that's really unique about my menu is, it consists of a lot of French cuisine, which is the most technical and hardest to pull off, but I feel like I have the skills to do it, and I'm gonna nail it tonight.
Yeah, Nathan! Go, Nate! Nathan started cooking when he was about 5 years old, and it's just gone crazy from there.
We have a very small kitchen in our house, and he can whip up some amazing things in that kitchen.
It's absolutely astonishing to me.
Here you go, buddy.
This is definitely the culmination of what he's worked so hard for.
He's excited and pumped up and ready to rock.
Good job.
You've got it, babe.
Most kids come home and play video games after school.
Andrew watches cooking shows.
When I was 11 years old, I couldn't even make toast without the smoke alarm going off in the house.
And Andrew is cooking us these dishes that are unbelievable.
I love having a little chef in the house.
Andrew's gonna put New Jersey on the map.
This is it.
MasterChef Junior finale.
- Incredible.
- Amazing.
It couldn't be more different.
Andrew, hard-charging young guy from South Jersey.
He likes rustic food, big flavors.
Then you have Nathan, a little bit more reserved, very intellectual.
Two contrasting personalities, two contrasting menus.
- It couldn't be any better than that.
- Go, Nathan! Nathan's gonna try to interpret French modernist cooking.
How sophisticated does that appetizer sound? Baby fennel with gruyere gratin and shaved fennel salad.
Gratin's the most difficult thing to pull off.
If the cream breaks, then it gets a little bit too cloying, a little too rich, then you don't want to go there, especially in an appetizer; rack of lamb, there's no better cut.
But he only gets one shot on that rack of lamb.
And it has to be the perfect pink medium rare that we're gonna be looking for.
And that could be a big point of jeopardy, because you know rack of lamb, very lean.
There's not a lot of wiggle room to make a mistake on that.
Yes.
Good job, Andrew.
Andrew's cooking like a Tuscan grandmother tonight.
Yes.
He's bring the bounty of the Italian motherly home cook to the MasterChef kitchen.
Andrew cooks from the soul and the heart.
He's doing some roasted beets with a homemade herb ricotta and pumpernickel, how crazy is that? It shows food savvy.
Making ricotta tonight with those roasted beets will set him apart.
Andrew's entree, beef cheek ravioli.
For me, it's the area of jeopardy tonight.
Braising and then getting that inside a ravioli and making sure they're encased tight enough to stay If he messes up any of those components, he's really screwed.
- Young man, how are you feeling? - Great, chef.
Now, this menu sounds almost like a modern European, very French, very classic.
Talk to me about your appetizer.
- Love the sound of the gratin.
- It's got a lot of flavor.
And when you make it right, it's amazing.
You're using one of the most expensive lamb cuts anywhere in the world, the rack of lamb.
Andrew's using the cheapest cut of beef.
How are you gonna pull this off? 'Cause that has to be pink, and it is so unforgiving.
I've cooked it a few times, and it's definitely a meat that if you do get it right, it can impress a lot of people.
The dessert, the Earl Grey, where did that idea come from? Earl Grey is one of my favorite types of tea, so I wanted a way to incorporate it into the desserts, since tea is good in a lot of pastries.
I think of some of the desserts you've done and the challenges you've had across that sweet section of this competition your dessert tonight should be one of the best dishes ever in this kitchen.
- You confident you can make that? - Yes, chef.
When you look at Andrew's rustic, classic style Italian menu, how do you think your compares? I think mine's definitely a lot more sophisticated, and I think I can really crush it tonight.
- Good luck.
- Thank you, chef.
All right, Andrew, where's this ricotta, this famous homemade ricotta? - Right here in the strainer.
- Are you crazy, making ricotta? What are you trying to prove? Let me see.
How did you curdle it? I used white wine vinegar and a splash of heavy cream.
Where does the idea of making homemade ricotta come from? I really want to do, like, Italian bistro food.
So you're cooking with an Italian theme tonight? - Yeah.
- Please explain your entree.
It's a gonna be a braised beef cheek ravioli with a pan sauce, and it's gonna be shaved, Shaved Grana Padano on top.
The dessert is arborio rice.
Now, I've eaten a lot of rice pudding, and I know arborio rice like the back of my hand.
I've never seen it in a rice pudding.
Why? Well, actually, I really want to make it like a risotto.
- You want to make it like sweet risotto? - Yeah, - And I'm gonna have a verjus reduction, - Smart.
which is like the grape juice.
And then I'm rehydrating the figs in it, make it look like truffles.
Why do so many difficult tasks that have so much jeopardy on them? It's a big risk, but if I can pull it off, I'll definitely impress you guys.
- Great.
Good luck.
- Thank you.
- What's he doing? - He's too impatient.
He's not trusting the integrity of the pressure cooker.
- It's not cooked.
- No.
You can tell they're just, like, square blocks of meat.
They're gonna take at least 55 to 60 minutes in the pressure cooker, which he's got time for.
Maybe he's just taking some liquid out.
He's not gonna take it out.
He is.
That's why he's got his bowl ready.
He's got the whole competition in jeopardy right now because we all know that if he doesn't put the lid back on that pressure cooker, continue to braise those beef cheeks, he's done.
No.
That might be the thing that will cost him this entire competition.
I know.
No.
You can tell they're undercooked by the way they're bouncing around the bowl.
Now it's the moment of truth.
I open the pressure cooker and I test the beef cheeks, and they seem good.
I mean, they don't seem undercooked.
They seem perfect.
So it's his choice to stop the pressure cooker.
I don't think they cooked long enough in the pressure cooker, and he's taken them out a bit too early.
- How is it? - Good, good.
Come on, guys.
You can do it! Let's go, buddy.
Let's go! Right, young man, how are you feeling? I'm feeling great, chef.
I am blown away with the complexity of these dishes.
What's the one big thing you're worried about? Honestly, not burning the risotto.
Young man, you've got Thank you, chef.
Looks good, Nate.
Nathan.
Where's the rack of lamb? Oh, let me get the lamb out here.
Let's take a look.
You've got a lot riding on that rack of lamb coming out a perfect medium rare.
- What do you think? - Might be a bit under.
it's a big deal for you.
You better figure it out.
Okay.
It's pretty important that I nail the cook on the lamb, so I'm going to cut off the end to see if it is cooked properly.
I see a pretty pink center and I'm getting really happy about that because it looks perfectly cooked, and I think that it's definitely going to taste amazing.
We are down to our last 2 minutes.
Time to start plating.
Come on.
Andrew's dessert to finish it all off with that Italian theme, he's doing arborio rice pudding.
He wants to have all the Italian staples, so goat cheese ricotta, pasta, arborio rice.
I'm amazed he's using arborio rice.
That is not the grain to use for a rice pudding.
Unless you can nail it.
What do you think about the Earl Grey tart? Love it.
Tantalizing, beautiful crust, Meyer lemon, Earl Grey tea, and blood orange as well.
It's not, like, a heavy, you know, flourless chocolate cake or anything.
It's not predictable.
And this is why we started this competition.
plating food like professional chefs.
I couldn't cook the way he cooked at 12.
I certainly couldn't cook the way he cooks at 11.
- Could you? - No, nowhere near it.
In the MasterChef kitchen right now, there is so much pressure.
You can feel the intensity.
They're definitely being very creative with their menus.
This could really be anybody's game.
Here we go.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, Stop! Good job, guys.
Unbelievable.
- Well done! - That's my man right there.
- Yeah, buddy! - Good job, guys! - Great job! - Nathan.
Your dishes all look spectacular.
Now, we need to see how they taste.
Please, very carefully bring your dishes up to the front.
Let's go.
Good job, guys! I finished everything in 90 minutes, a three-course meal.
I feel like all my dishes are going to impress the judges because they've definitely shown a lot of technical skill.
so I'm feeling great, and everything's looking pretty beautiful.
Overall, I'm really proud of what I put out.
This is everything that I stand for.
This is Jersey.
This is Italian food.
I think these three plates represent enough to win the title.
So I did all I could do.
It's in the judges' hands now.
Nathan and Andrew, based on what we taste, what we observe, and ultimately what we decide, one of you will be crowned America's next MasterChef Junior.
Please bring your appetizers to the restaurant.
Let's go, guys! Great job! We will begin with Nathan.
Please describe the dish.
This is a roasted fennel and gruyere cheese au gratin topped with a little bit of French ham and a side of shaved fennel and grapefruit supreme salad.
- So it's kind of a fennel two ways? - Yes, chef.
What was the trickiest part of this? Making sure the gratin doesn't burn, and also making sure the salad doesn't break down due to the acid in it.
What is this, cream or just the gratin? It's gruyere cheese and heavy cream that's been infused with fennel pollen and fennel seed that's ground.
It's very crunchy.
is that what you were looking for? Yes, chef.
The fennel salad with grapefruit segments.
- What did you dress this with? - Olive oil, champagne vinegar, salt and pepper.
Delicious.
Very punchy.
Thank you.
Visually beautiful, and it smells amazing.
Get the bubbly cheese action going on.
The gratin could have stood to cook longer so that it all concentrates together so you can almost eat it with a spoon.
Unfortunately, it's a little liquidy, you can see.
Maybe have the ham kind of going through it so that you get all that goodness together.
Normally I'm a very composed person in the kitchen, but my heart's starting to go from beating like this into beating like this.
Great idea.
Not as perfectly executed, I think, as it could have been.
I need to walk out of the MasterChef Junior kitchen with that trophy more than I need to do anything else in my life.
And right now, I feel like I could be in big trouble.
The gratin could have stood to cook longer so that it all concentrates together.
Great idea.
Not as perfectly executed, I think, as it could have been.
Thank you.
Why fennel to gratine? I figured potatoes would be a little bit too common.
And fennel's a flavor that a lot of people love.
And why a raw fennel salad next to the cooked one? To almost kind of clear your palate between each bite of the gratin.
See, that's what fascinates me about you, Nathan.
You're 12 years of age.
You get me all fat and spotty with a gratin, and then you get me all skinny and California with this salad.
So you tantalize both ends of the palate.
Now, here's the thing.
The gratin needs to overcook to become flavorsome.
You've got the idea spot on.
Great taste, great seasoning, but it needs more time.
However, your salad, raw, is absolutely delicious.
Dressed well, seasoned well, and vibrant beyond belief.
Thank you.
Things are definitely starting off a little bit frustrating, and I know it was risky to make an appetizer that I've never made before for the finale, but without taking risks, what would we ever get accomplished? Next, Andrew, we would like to taste your appetizer.
Please bring it up.
Please tell us what the name of the dish is and what's in it.
Here we have roasted beets with homemade herbed ricotta cheese, an apricot jelly, and toasted pumpernickel bread.
It's nice.
I have to ask you, though, you know, I've gotten to know you, and I know you're from South Jersey, part of the world I'm familiar with.
Where does this come from? This is a long way from a cheap pan of chicken parm.
I think that if you tasted it and closed your eyes, you would feel like you were somewhere in Naples.
If I taste this dish, you will transport me to my bella Napoli? I will transport you to Italy in about 30 seconds.
Before I dig in here, what is the green going through the homemade ricotta? The green is chive and mint.
I love this dish because you have a consistent theme of levels of sweetness coming through.
The beets are sweet, the ricotta's sweet.
It's all very harmonious and, I would say, very, very professionally executed.
Thank you.
So the idea is to get a little bit of everything together? Yeah.
I'd never expect to have cilantro and pumpernickel on the same plate, but somehow all those flavors are delicious.
And cook on the beets, croutons, all those are good.
The fact that you've made your own ricotta, a lot of work that you didn't need to do, and that shows a lot of your character.
You should be super proud of this.
Love that grassy, earthy flavor that ricotta delivers.
That goes really well.
I would have preferred to have seen a really nice sourdough drizzled again with thyme flowers, olive oil.
But The ricotta is delicious.
you've shown a lot of finesse.
That's a great way to get out of the gate strong.
- Hats off.
Really good.
- Thank you.
I think with the appetizer tasting, I definitely won the round.
Like, Joe is Italian, and he likes my food, so that means a lot coming from him.
I might have a chance at this.
I think I do.
Andrew, Nathan, what an amazing start.
Those appetizers were incredible.
Please now go back into the kitchen, and bring us your entrees.
This is all you! Let's go, Andrew! Good job, guys! - What a start.
- Yeah.
- Gorgeous.
- Amazing.
- I loved Nathan's flavors.
I think they were perfectly seasoned, both the raw and the cooked preparation.
The fact is that gratin could have used longer to cook because the cream itself was kind of seeping out.
The seasoning was right, the topping was right.
By and large, the guy knows his stuff.
But Andrew's appetizer visually looked beautiful.
How bold was that to see a young 11-year-old attempt to make fresh ricotta in a final of MasterChef Junior.
Brilliant.
Good job, guys.
Good job.
Okay.
Nathan, please present us your entree.
Thank you.
Describe the dish.
It is a herb-crusted lamb chop with fresh morels and fava beans, shaved fresh asparagus, and white asparagus puree.
Visually, it looks absolutely stunning.
Why fava bean and morels? Because they're two very classic springtime ingredients, and I feel like this dish exhibits springtime in France.
Absolutely delicious.
The lamb melts in my mouth.
I've got a bit of heat coming through there.
- It's almost like a mustard.
- It is a Dijon mustard.
The seasoning of the fava beans, and the morel mushrooms, they're clean.
What you've done very smartly, young man, is, you've turned that asparagus into puree, which adds a deep creaminess to the dish.
You've got four things on the plate, asparagus, lamb, fava beans, and morels.
But in my mouth, it tastes like there's 15 or 16 things.
- Thank you, chef.
- Really well done.
This dish is easily the best dish that you've ever done.
It's got a great idea behind it.
Flavor wise, everything's nailed.
The colors just scream spring.
This is a restaurant dish, through and through.
- Great.
You should be very proud of it.
- Thank you.
Tell me about the asparagus puree.
Where did you see that? It's something that my grandmother used to cook a lot with some of her Italian meals.
The asparagus puree is delightful.
- It's rich, it's pure.
Spot on.
- Thank you.
The dish kind of takes rack of lamb to another level.
The flavors are all unique to themselves.
They're pure.
To have the restraint not to put some reduction on, to let the beauty of just the plain fava bean speak for itself is very, very courageous, very smart.
This kind of a dish is the future of cooking.
- Unbelievable.
- Thank you.
- Good job.
Andrew, please, present your entree.
Thank you.
Please describe your dish.
So we have a braised beef cheek ravioli with a pan gravy and shaved Parmesan.
Visually, it looks like it's come out of a Italian restaurant.
The raviolis are uniformed.
Brilliant job on that.
For me, it's about what's inside there.
What am I expected to find inside my ravioli? You should expect to find 1/3 pasta and 2/3 filling.
That's a lot of filling.
Highly commend you on that pasta 'cause it is delicious.
Brilliant job on that.
However, the actual beef, Unfortunately, Andrew, is undercooked.
You were right in cooking it in a pressure cooker, but you were wrong in taking it out at the time you did.
The actual beef, unfortunately, Andrew, is undercooked.
Potentially, it was gonna be a stunning dish.
It just needed more cooking.
I love that ratio of filling to pasta.
Touch under, but seasoned wonderfully.
Great use of the cheese on top.
I know that you said that you cook for your family all the time.
This really shows that, you know, you put a ton of heart into your cooking.
- You should be very proud of it.
- Thank you.
Beef cheese ravioli is something that I've been eating for many years, and I love it.
And I think these are rich, the filling's rich, the sauce is rich, very tasty.
There's a lot of love in this dish.
And I think that it captures the spirit and the heart of true Italian pasta because they were delicious.
Thank you.
Nathan and Andrew, two great entrees.
Please, head back into the MasterChef kitchen and pick up your desserts.
Thank you.
Ah.
Fascinating.
I mean, what a tale of two entrees.
Guys, where are we? Joe.
I think Nathan's lamb dish was perfect.
It was a medium rare to rare.
I enjoyed it that way.
It was tender, and then the crust was good.
And the harmony of those broad beans with the morels and the asparagus puree, - I mean, incredible.
- Yeah.
We keep saying less is more, and that's what he gives us.
- And it's beautifully done.
- I have to say, I think that Andrew's ravioli, yes, he had certain errors in it, but the ambition of cooking such a sophisticated dish with so much technique, that takes a lot of guts.
Sure.
Incredible.
Put Andrew's appetizer and Nathan's entree, you got a perfect, perfect start to a dinner.
I'm excited about the dessert.
Yay, Andrew! The judges loved Nathan's entree, so it's all gonna come down to the dessert now, and if my dessert is bad, they're gonna throw it back at me and say, "Nathan, here's the trophy.
Here's a check for 100 grand.
And, Andrew, you can go back home.
" Please, Nathan, bring your dessert up.
For my dessert, I used some Earl Grey tea.
I think it's a bit of ambitious dessert for a 12-year-old.
It's very sophisticated.
But I'm pretty sure that the judges are gonna love it.
Nathan, can you please describe your dessert.
It is a Earl Grey and Meyer lemon tart topped with a little bit of candied orange peel and mashed pretzel with a side of blood orange coulis.
The blood orange and pretzel, where does that come from? The pretzel is one of my favorite snacks, and the blood orange is definitely something that I enjoy eating during the summers.
And the pastry, nice and crisp.
It's so subtle.
I think it's sophisticated, it's balanced.
To finish with blood orange and some Earl Grey tea shows that cohesiveness of your menu.
- Very, very smart preparation.
- Thank you.
I mean, here's the thing.
It shouldn't work, but it bloody does.
Love the thyme in that pie crust.
That is a very bold move 'cause that is very difficult to get right with the Earl Grey tea.
The cream is refined.
The Meyer lemon wakes up that sort of freshness of the Earl Grey.
It's very rare I get lost for words, but - Bloody delicious.
- Thank you.
Well, Nathan, you have put yourself not only on this plate, but on every plate tonight.
And that is an amazing, amazing quality to show.
- Delicious.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
Andrew, please bring that dessert up.
So please explain to us what you have.
So here we have a sweetened arborio rice risotto with a verjus reduction and figs.
- What's that spice in there? - It's cinnamon.
I used cinnamon sticks while the rice was cooking in the rice cooker.
The verjus cuts right through it.
Perfect amount.
The thing is, I don't want to share this with anybody, 'cause I honestly could go to town it.
It's really delicious.
I love the idea behind it too.
I'm amazed you didn't use long grain.
You've gone arborio.
I didn't think it was gonna work.
You proved me wrong.
and you've managed to elevate a somewhat boring-looking dessert into something modern.
I grew up with rice pudding, and I'm gonna cook this when I get back home to London and show my mum what a talented 11-year-old from New Jersey can elevate rice pudding with.
I mean, it's delicious.
Great job.
Wow.
- That's great.
- Isn't it? Really, really good.
Each kernel of rice is still intact.
You have the creamy starchiness around it.
This is like a king's rice pudding.
And you have taken incredible liberties and created something magnificent.
- I think it's awesome.
- Yeah.
The only thing I might change is, I might make a bigger portion because I'm gonna eat the rest of it.
It is on at this point.
Nathan may be my friend, but he's not the next MasterChef Junior.
The next MasterChef Junior is the one who you're looking at right here.
Nathan and Andrew, you guys did amazing.
And you have come so far that it's gonna be super, super difficult for us to decide who the winner's gonna be.
Next time you see us, one of you will become America's next MasterChef Junior.
Well done.
Guys, we got a 12-year-old from San Diego up against an 11-year-old from New Jersey.
I mean, come on.
Six incredible dishes.
Where on earth do we go? To me, Andrew has this innate cooking ability of cooking from the soul, whereas Nathan has almost the artistic sensibility.
Everything's very light and clean and for a reason.
And the gratin, I loved the flavor.
I think it was perfectly seasoned.
But that gratin could have used longer to cook.
But Nathan's lamb, I mean, wow.
No heavy sauces, no verjus.
Just elegance beyond belief.
- I mean, it was very nice.
- It was a moving dish for me.
To see a young cook like that put that kind of purity on a plate, for me, is a game changer for our industry.
Nathan's Earl Grey tea tart.
I mean, come on.
The refinedness, how refreshing it was.
- I mean, incredible.
- It was so light and clean, and it was a perfect note to finish that menu.
See, I think when you take what's personal to you and put it on the plate and blow people away, that's powerful.
This is the scariest moment of my entire life.
Me winning would change my family's life because we're not necessarily the richest family.
So this could help me reach my dreams as a chef and set up my life for the future.
Andrew's up next.
One of the youngest ever finalists, 11.
I love the theme, rustic Italian, I love his passion for it.
Appetizer-wise, Andrew's cilantro and beets with ricotta, the seasoning was there, the technique and idea was there, and that's probably what I would order again.
And the ravioli, I love the simplicity, few ingredients.
Spot on.
Andrew's dish had great potential, but it was just undercooked.
However, that arborio rice pudding, it was a dish done with finesse.
The fragrance of that freshened it up.
He took risotto and did something to it that I've never experienced before.
I mean, it almost was like a panna cotta.
I mean, it was very delicious.
We talk about the culmination of a journey and a finale, you think about Andrew, who comes from South Jersey, now plating a dish like that, I mean, what a transformation.
He's a different cook.
He's a different boy.
It was a fierce battle, but I think I won.
I don't know any 11-year-old that cooks with as much heart and soul as I do.
I put love in those dishes, and the judges, I think, I saw that.
Like, at the end of the day, New Jersey Italian food wins.
- So we have it.
- We have it.
- Let's tell 'em.
- Let's go.
This is the most important moment of my entire life right now.
It would mean everything to win, and I'm pretty proud of what I did today.
I took some risks, and I think I pulled them off.
I cooked with heart, and that's all I care about.
This night could change the rest of my life.
Me winning could mean a trophy and $100,000 and an amazing title that only a few people in the world have ever had.
And I definitely want this more than I have ever wanted anything.
Nathan and Andrew, you came here as a seventh grader from San Diego, California, and a sixth grader from West Deptford, New Jersey.
You have both risen to the very, very top of this competition.
And I am very, very proud to have shared that incredible journey with you.
That's why right now we would like both of you to switch places with us.
You both now deserve a place on this stage.
Let's go, guys.
Tonight, just one of you can be named the best young home cook in this entire country.
Just one of you will receive a check for $100,000 and gets to keep this piece of history Forever.
The most coveted, priceless culinary trophy anywhere in our industry.
The winner of MasterChef Junior Is Congratulations Nathan! Oh, my god! Oh, Nathan! Congratulations.
Tough loss, man.
How you feeling? Well done.
Good job.
Amazing.
This is insane.
I-I really can't think of any other words for it.
It's, like, the coolest moment of my life.
Congratulations, little man.
Thanks, dad.
I am a 12-year-old with $100,000, and I'm so excited to bring this trophy back to San Diego because this is going to help me make my dreams come true.
It's gonna help me to go to culinary school.
- I can open a restaurant.
- Oh, come here, you.
- How are you feeling? - I'm feeling great.
- Great job.
Seriously, one up, man.
I'm happy for Nathan.
You know what? I lost to a good competitor.
Of course I wanted to win, but he's a good person.
It's the end of MasterChef Junior, but it's the beginning of a whole new culinary career.
I'm only 11, but I'm gonna go back to Jersey and I'm still gonna open up that great restaurant and fulfill my dreams.
Hey, give me a high five.
You're awesome.
Andrew was a great competitor, and I'm super happy to have worked with him.
You were incredible.
Well done.
Enjoy every moment.
This means more to me than anything else in the world.
The kid who walked into the MasterChef Junior kitchen on day one was extremely shy and didn't have a lot of self-confidence in his cooking and now I'm the winner.
I'm the next MasterChef Junior! Corrected & sync: Terka
But just 19 got to wear those coveted aprons and face some of the toughest challenges - Switch! - Go! Ever encountered.
We don't blow on a fire! Challenges that tested their tender years What is wrong with your eyebrows? Challenges that were downright deadly And challenges that were literally bananas.
Oh, God.
- Those remaining - Yes.
- Grew stronger.
- That is perfection.
- This is about as good as it gets.
This is one of the best things that I've had in the competition.
Thank you.
And one by one, they left, more skilled than ever before.
This is one of the great groups, and I consider it my privilege to be a part of your journey.
The last two young home cooks now face the ultimate test.
But just one will be America's next MasterChef Junior.
Tonight you are about to witness an historic culinary battle.
The two most talented young home cooks in the country, age just 11 and 12, are about to go head-to-head for the most coveted culinary prize in America.
This is the MasterChef Junior finale.
First up, from San Diego, California You don't seem fazed at all.
Nathan started out as a dark horse in this competition.
Looks perfect.
But his prodigious culinary skills established him towards the front of the pack.
Wow.
You added dark chocolate to this? It's delicious.
I may be a quiet competitor, but I'm also someone to be feared.
- Plating restaurant quality dishes - Good job.
- Full of elegance and sophistication - Person with the winning dish, Nathan; well done.
Never one to brag, his fellow competitors soon feared - Plate of steak up.
- His culinary roar.
Beautiful.
You let the food do all the talking, and it speaks volumes.
I could quite easily put them in my three-Michelin-star establishment.
- They're that good.
- Thank you so much.
I'm so excited to be a finalist in MasterChef Junior.
Winning could help me reach my dreams as a chef and pay for my culinary school and for college, and help me set up my life for the future.
- Who's gonna win? - I would have to say Nathan.
- Nathan.
- Nathan.
California all the way.
Andrew better watch out, because I'm the superman of the saute pan.
Will Nathan's passion and sophisticated skills be enough to take home the title of MasterChef Junior? The only person standing in Nathan's way is from West Deptford, New Jersey Listen.
You can give me anything.
I'll cook it, and I'll win this competition.
Representing New Jersey, Andrew was always a big presence in the MasterChef kitchen.
Pick it up! That shrimp looks killer! Though he may look tough on the outside My sauce is gonna be smooth.
It'll go well with the pasta.
Inside beats the heart of a culinary artist.
I love this guy.
I mean, he, for me, is already a head chef.
- How long, Andrew? - Four minutes, chef.
- Passionate and outspoken - We cannot go home.
Andrew gave his all in every single challenge.
You have more steak on your apron than you do on the plate.
Yeah, um, it got messy.
And put his big personality onto every plate that he served.
- It's super delicious.
- You nailed this, Andrew.
You run around crazy like a little baby rhino.
but you come with great finesse.
Thank you, chef.
This is the biggest thing of my entire culinary career.
It is on at this point.
Do or die.
You're looking at the next MasterChef Junior.
Tonight, can Andrew's New Jersey swagger and abundant energy in the kitchen be enough to take home the title of MasterChef Junior? Congratulations, Nathan and Andrew.
You have both achieved the near impossible.
You have both made it to the grand finale of MasterChef Junior.
Trust me.
It doesn't get any bigger than this.
You've had to beat other incredibly talented young home cooks, and some of them are here now to help cheer you on.
Also here to cheer you both on tonight are your family and your friends.
Nathan, you have your mom, Rebecca.
- Where are you? - Hi.
When did you first realize that he had such talent in the kitchen? Probably around the age of 6 or 7, when he started surpassing my talent in the kitchen.
I've been trying to keep up with him ever since.
Wow.
Dad, Bo, sum up the moment for me.
I'm absolutely welling with pride excited to see him standing up there and ready to rock and roll.
Andrew, here to cheer you on are your family and friends from New Jersey.
Mom, Karen, when did you first realize that Andrew not only had this passion, but this skill for cooking? Well, he started cooking when he was about 6 or 7, and he told me he wanted to a be a chef.
Dad, Phil, are you surprised at the amount of finesse he has in the kitchen? I am.
If I'd have known he had this much, I'd have had him out here sooner.
Andrew, what in your mind gives you the edge over Nathan? In the kitchen, I think that I'm more, you know, composed, and I think that that gives me, you know, a leg up on Nathan.
Nathan, what gives you the edge over Andrew? I would actually disagree with Andrew.
And I would say that I'm a bit more composed than he is because he's gotten a bit frazzled in the kitchen.
So I feel like that will definitely be my edge.
Tonight we want you to prepare and present a seamless stylistic three-course dinner.
You will have just 90 minutes to execute an appetizer, an entree, and finally a dessert.
To prepare for what's to come, you both have 10 minutes in the pantry to get everything you need to make the most perfect three-course dinner of your lives.
Nathan and Andrew, are you both ready to go into the pantry? - Yes, chef.
- Yes, chef.
Good.
Your 10 minutes Starts Now.
Beets.
I need beets.
For my appetizer, I'm making roasted beets with homemade herb ricotta cheese, apricot jelly, and toasted pumpernickel bread.
For my entree, I'm making braised beef cheek and ravioli With a pan sauce and shaved parmesan cheese.
And for my dessert, I'm making a cinnamon rice pudding Ground and cinnamon sticks With a verjus reduction and figs.
I'm gonna go out there and perfect that three-course meal, and you know what? I am gonna win.
I'm gonna walk out with that trophy in my hands.
MasterChef Junior right here.
You're looking at him.
For my appetizer tonight, I'm going to be making a roasted fennel and gruyere cheese au gratin topped with a little bit of French ham and a side of shaved fennel and grapefruit supreme salad.
And for my entree, I'm going to be making an herb-crusted rack of lamb with a side of white asparagus puree on a bed of fava beans and fresh morels.
And for the dessert, I'm going to be making a Earl Grey and Meyer lemon tart, flavored with a little bit of thyme and a blood orange coulis.
I'm part Mexican, but I really like making French cuisine, which is most technical and hardest to pull off.
I'm bringing to the table plenty of class and definitely a lot of elegance.
It's time for your final challenge.
It all comes down to these three stunning dishes that you're about to make us.
of perfect execution stand between you and victory.
After next 90 minutes are over, one of you will be crowned America's next MasterChef Junior.
- Are you two ready? - Yes, chef.
Your 90 minutes starts Now! Andrew! They're the best home cooks in America, and it's just really cool to see them go head-to-head.
One person is leaving with $100,000, a trophy, and the title of the next MasterChef Junior.
This is awesome.
Go, Nathan! This is the biggest showdown in MasterChef Junior history.
The two best chefs in all of America between the ages of 8 to 13.
It's such an epic battle, and I just am holding my breath to see what happens.
I cannot wait.
It's Andrew versus Nathan.
The little quiet mouse in the corner versus the big lion.
I wonder who gets eaten? Nathan and Andrew, keep it going, guys.
To become America's next MasterChef Junior, it's East Coast versus West Coast, as 11-year-old Andrew from New Jersey and 12-year-old Nathan from California are battling it out with the three-course menus that they've created.
Let's go, Andrew.
Let's go.
Andrew is making a roasted beet and homemade ricotta cheese appetizer, a braised beef cheek ravioli entree, and for dessert, an arborio rice pudding with verjus reduction.
I'm representing Jersey and Italy.
This is gonna be the biggest meal I've ever cooked in my entire life.
Italian bistro, ambitious.
Bring it on.
Go get 'em, Nate.
Get 'em, Nate! Nathan's menu features a fennel gratin appetizer with ham and gruyere cheese, a rack of lamb entree with morel mushrooms and an asparagus puree, and an Earl Grey tea lemon tart with blood orange coulis for dessert.
One thing that's really unique about my menu is, it consists of a lot of French cuisine, which is the most technical and hardest to pull off, but I feel like I have the skills to do it, and I'm gonna nail it tonight.
Yeah, Nathan! Go, Nate! Nathan started cooking when he was about 5 years old, and it's just gone crazy from there.
We have a very small kitchen in our house, and he can whip up some amazing things in that kitchen.
It's absolutely astonishing to me.
Here you go, buddy.
This is definitely the culmination of what he's worked so hard for.
He's excited and pumped up and ready to rock.
Good job.
You've got it, babe.
Most kids come home and play video games after school.
Andrew watches cooking shows.
When I was 11 years old, I couldn't even make toast without the smoke alarm going off in the house.
And Andrew is cooking us these dishes that are unbelievable.
I love having a little chef in the house.
Andrew's gonna put New Jersey on the map.
This is it.
MasterChef Junior finale.
- Incredible.
- Amazing.
It couldn't be more different.
Andrew, hard-charging young guy from South Jersey.
He likes rustic food, big flavors.
Then you have Nathan, a little bit more reserved, very intellectual.
Two contrasting personalities, two contrasting menus.
- It couldn't be any better than that.
- Go, Nathan! Nathan's gonna try to interpret French modernist cooking.
How sophisticated does that appetizer sound? Baby fennel with gruyere gratin and shaved fennel salad.
Gratin's the most difficult thing to pull off.
If the cream breaks, then it gets a little bit too cloying, a little too rich, then you don't want to go there, especially in an appetizer; rack of lamb, there's no better cut.
But he only gets one shot on that rack of lamb.
And it has to be the perfect pink medium rare that we're gonna be looking for.
And that could be a big point of jeopardy, because you know rack of lamb, very lean.
There's not a lot of wiggle room to make a mistake on that.
Yes.
Good job, Andrew.
Andrew's cooking like a Tuscan grandmother tonight.
Yes.
He's bring the bounty of the Italian motherly home cook to the MasterChef kitchen.
Andrew cooks from the soul and the heart.
He's doing some roasted beets with a homemade herb ricotta and pumpernickel, how crazy is that? It shows food savvy.
Making ricotta tonight with those roasted beets will set him apart.
Andrew's entree, beef cheek ravioli.
For me, it's the area of jeopardy tonight.
Braising and then getting that inside a ravioli and making sure they're encased tight enough to stay If he messes up any of those components, he's really screwed.
- Young man, how are you feeling? - Great, chef.
Now, this menu sounds almost like a modern European, very French, very classic.
Talk to me about your appetizer.
- Love the sound of the gratin.
- It's got a lot of flavor.
And when you make it right, it's amazing.
You're using one of the most expensive lamb cuts anywhere in the world, the rack of lamb.
Andrew's using the cheapest cut of beef.
How are you gonna pull this off? 'Cause that has to be pink, and it is so unforgiving.
I've cooked it a few times, and it's definitely a meat that if you do get it right, it can impress a lot of people.
The dessert, the Earl Grey, where did that idea come from? Earl Grey is one of my favorite types of tea, so I wanted a way to incorporate it into the desserts, since tea is good in a lot of pastries.
I think of some of the desserts you've done and the challenges you've had across that sweet section of this competition your dessert tonight should be one of the best dishes ever in this kitchen.
- You confident you can make that? - Yes, chef.
When you look at Andrew's rustic, classic style Italian menu, how do you think your compares? I think mine's definitely a lot more sophisticated, and I think I can really crush it tonight.
- Good luck.
- Thank you, chef.
All right, Andrew, where's this ricotta, this famous homemade ricotta? - Right here in the strainer.
- Are you crazy, making ricotta? What are you trying to prove? Let me see.
How did you curdle it? I used white wine vinegar and a splash of heavy cream.
Where does the idea of making homemade ricotta come from? I really want to do, like, Italian bistro food.
So you're cooking with an Italian theme tonight? - Yeah.
- Please explain your entree.
It's a gonna be a braised beef cheek ravioli with a pan sauce, and it's gonna be shaved, Shaved Grana Padano on top.
The dessert is arborio rice.
Now, I've eaten a lot of rice pudding, and I know arborio rice like the back of my hand.
I've never seen it in a rice pudding.
Why? Well, actually, I really want to make it like a risotto.
- You want to make it like sweet risotto? - Yeah, - And I'm gonna have a verjus reduction, - Smart.
which is like the grape juice.
And then I'm rehydrating the figs in it, make it look like truffles.
Why do so many difficult tasks that have so much jeopardy on them? It's a big risk, but if I can pull it off, I'll definitely impress you guys.
- Great.
Good luck.
- Thank you.
- What's he doing? - He's too impatient.
He's not trusting the integrity of the pressure cooker.
- It's not cooked.
- No.
You can tell they're just, like, square blocks of meat.
They're gonna take at least 55 to 60 minutes in the pressure cooker, which he's got time for.
Maybe he's just taking some liquid out.
He's not gonna take it out.
He is.
That's why he's got his bowl ready.
He's got the whole competition in jeopardy right now because we all know that if he doesn't put the lid back on that pressure cooker, continue to braise those beef cheeks, he's done.
No.
That might be the thing that will cost him this entire competition.
I know.
No.
You can tell they're undercooked by the way they're bouncing around the bowl.
Now it's the moment of truth.
I open the pressure cooker and I test the beef cheeks, and they seem good.
I mean, they don't seem undercooked.
They seem perfect.
So it's his choice to stop the pressure cooker.
I don't think they cooked long enough in the pressure cooker, and he's taken them out a bit too early.
- How is it? - Good, good.
Come on, guys.
You can do it! Let's go, buddy.
Let's go! Right, young man, how are you feeling? I'm feeling great, chef.
I am blown away with the complexity of these dishes.
What's the one big thing you're worried about? Honestly, not burning the risotto.
Young man, you've got Thank you, chef.
Looks good, Nate.
Nathan.
Where's the rack of lamb? Oh, let me get the lamb out here.
Let's take a look.
You've got a lot riding on that rack of lamb coming out a perfect medium rare.
- What do you think? - Might be a bit under.
it's a big deal for you.
You better figure it out.
Okay.
It's pretty important that I nail the cook on the lamb, so I'm going to cut off the end to see if it is cooked properly.
I see a pretty pink center and I'm getting really happy about that because it looks perfectly cooked, and I think that it's definitely going to taste amazing.
We are down to our last 2 minutes.
Time to start plating.
Come on.
Andrew's dessert to finish it all off with that Italian theme, he's doing arborio rice pudding.
He wants to have all the Italian staples, so goat cheese ricotta, pasta, arborio rice.
I'm amazed he's using arborio rice.
That is not the grain to use for a rice pudding.
Unless you can nail it.
What do you think about the Earl Grey tart? Love it.
Tantalizing, beautiful crust, Meyer lemon, Earl Grey tea, and blood orange as well.
It's not, like, a heavy, you know, flourless chocolate cake or anything.
It's not predictable.
And this is why we started this competition.
plating food like professional chefs.
I couldn't cook the way he cooked at 12.
I certainly couldn't cook the way he cooks at 11.
- Could you? - No, nowhere near it.
In the MasterChef kitchen right now, there is so much pressure.
You can feel the intensity.
They're definitely being very creative with their menus.
This could really be anybody's game.
Here we go.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, Stop! Good job, guys.
Unbelievable.
- Well done! - That's my man right there.
- Yeah, buddy! - Good job, guys! - Great job! - Nathan.
Your dishes all look spectacular.
Now, we need to see how they taste.
Please, very carefully bring your dishes up to the front.
Let's go.
Good job, guys! I finished everything in 90 minutes, a three-course meal.
I feel like all my dishes are going to impress the judges because they've definitely shown a lot of technical skill.
so I'm feeling great, and everything's looking pretty beautiful.
Overall, I'm really proud of what I put out.
This is everything that I stand for.
This is Jersey.
This is Italian food.
I think these three plates represent enough to win the title.
So I did all I could do.
It's in the judges' hands now.
Nathan and Andrew, based on what we taste, what we observe, and ultimately what we decide, one of you will be crowned America's next MasterChef Junior.
Please bring your appetizers to the restaurant.
Let's go, guys! Great job! We will begin with Nathan.
Please describe the dish.
This is a roasted fennel and gruyere cheese au gratin topped with a little bit of French ham and a side of shaved fennel and grapefruit supreme salad.
- So it's kind of a fennel two ways? - Yes, chef.
What was the trickiest part of this? Making sure the gratin doesn't burn, and also making sure the salad doesn't break down due to the acid in it.
What is this, cream or just the gratin? It's gruyere cheese and heavy cream that's been infused with fennel pollen and fennel seed that's ground.
It's very crunchy.
is that what you were looking for? Yes, chef.
The fennel salad with grapefruit segments.
- What did you dress this with? - Olive oil, champagne vinegar, salt and pepper.
Delicious.
Very punchy.
Thank you.
Visually beautiful, and it smells amazing.
Get the bubbly cheese action going on.
The gratin could have stood to cook longer so that it all concentrates together so you can almost eat it with a spoon.
Unfortunately, it's a little liquidy, you can see.
Maybe have the ham kind of going through it so that you get all that goodness together.
Normally I'm a very composed person in the kitchen, but my heart's starting to go from beating like this into beating like this.
Great idea.
Not as perfectly executed, I think, as it could have been.
I need to walk out of the MasterChef Junior kitchen with that trophy more than I need to do anything else in my life.
And right now, I feel like I could be in big trouble.
The gratin could have stood to cook longer so that it all concentrates together.
Great idea.
Not as perfectly executed, I think, as it could have been.
Thank you.
Why fennel to gratine? I figured potatoes would be a little bit too common.
And fennel's a flavor that a lot of people love.
And why a raw fennel salad next to the cooked one? To almost kind of clear your palate between each bite of the gratin.
See, that's what fascinates me about you, Nathan.
You're 12 years of age.
You get me all fat and spotty with a gratin, and then you get me all skinny and California with this salad.
So you tantalize both ends of the palate.
Now, here's the thing.
The gratin needs to overcook to become flavorsome.
You've got the idea spot on.
Great taste, great seasoning, but it needs more time.
However, your salad, raw, is absolutely delicious.
Dressed well, seasoned well, and vibrant beyond belief.
Thank you.
Things are definitely starting off a little bit frustrating, and I know it was risky to make an appetizer that I've never made before for the finale, but without taking risks, what would we ever get accomplished? Next, Andrew, we would like to taste your appetizer.
Please bring it up.
Please tell us what the name of the dish is and what's in it.
Here we have roasted beets with homemade herbed ricotta cheese, an apricot jelly, and toasted pumpernickel bread.
It's nice.
I have to ask you, though, you know, I've gotten to know you, and I know you're from South Jersey, part of the world I'm familiar with.
Where does this come from? This is a long way from a cheap pan of chicken parm.
I think that if you tasted it and closed your eyes, you would feel like you were somewhere in Naples.
If I taste this dish, you will transport me to my bella Napoli? I will transport you to Italy in about 30 seconds.
Before I dig in here, what is the green going through the homemade ricotta? The green is chive and mint.
I love this dish because you have a consistent theme of levels of sweetness coming through.
The beets are sweet, the ricotta's sweet.
It's all very harmonious and, I would say, very, very professionally executed.
Thank you.
So the idea is to get a little bit of everything together? Yeah.
I'd never expect to have cilantro and pumpernickel on the same plate, but somehow all those flavors are delicious.
And cook on the beets, croutons, all those are good.
The fact that you've made your own ricotta, a lot of work that you didn't need to do, and that shows a lot of your character.
You should be super proud of this.
Love that grassy, earthy flavor that ricotta delivers.
That goes really well.
I would have preferred to have seen a really nice sourdough drizzled again with thyme flowers, olive oil.
But The ricotta is delicious.
you've shown a lot of finesse.
That's a great way to get out of the gate strong.
- Hats off.
Really good.
- Thank you.
I think with the appetizer tasting, I definitely won the round.
Like, Joe is Italian, and he likes my food, so that means a lot coming from him.
I might have a chance at this.
I think I do.
Andrew, Nathan, what an amazing start.
Those appetizers were incredible.
Please now go back into the kitchen, and bring us your entrees.
This is all you! Let's go, Andrew! Good job, guys! - What a start.
- Yeah.
- Gorgeous.
- Amazing.
- I loved Nathan's flavors.
I think they were perfectly seasoned, both the raw and the cooked preparation.
The fact is that gratin could have used longer to cook because the cream itself was kind of seeping out.
The seasoning was right, the topping was right.
By and large, the guy knows his stuff.
But Andrew's appetizer visually looked beautiful.
How bold was that to see a young 11-year-old attempt to make fresh ricotta in a final of MasterChef Junior.
Brilliant.
Good job, guys.
Good job.
Okay.
Nathan, please present us your entree.
Thank you.
Describe the dish.
It is a herb-crusted lamb chop with fresh morels and fava beans, shaved fresh asparagus, and white asparagus puree.
Visually, it looks absolutely stunning.
Why fava bean and morels? Because they're two very classic springtime ingredients, and I feel like this dish exhibits springtime in France.
Absolutely delicious.
The lamb melts in my mouth.
I've got a bit of heat coming through there.
- It's almost like a mustard.
- It is a Dijon mustard.
The seasoning of the fava beans, and the morel mushrooms, they're clean.
What you've done very smartly, young man, is, you've turned that asparagus into puree, which adds a deep creaminess to the dish.
You've got four things on the plate, asparagus, lamb, fava beans, and morels.
But in my mouth, it tastes like there's 15 or 16 things.
- Thank you, chef.
- Really well done.
This dish is easily the best dish that you've ever done.
It's got a great idea behind it.
Flavor wise, everything's nailed.
The colors just scream spring.
This is a restaurant dish, through and through.
- Great.
You should be very proud of it.
- Thank you.
Tell me about the asparagus puree.
Where did you see that? It's something that my grandmother used to cook a lot with some of her Italian meals.
The asparagus puree is delightful.
- It's rich, it's pure.
Spot on.
- Thank you.
The dish kind of takes rack of lamb to another level.
The flavors are all unique to themselves.
They're pure.
To have the restraint not to put some reduction on, to let the beauty of just the plain fava bean speak for itself is very, very courageous, very smart.
This kind of a dish is the future of cooking.
- Unbelievable.
- Thank you.
- Good job.
Andrew, please, present your entree.
Thank you.
Please describe your dish.
So we have a braised beef cheek ravioli with a pan gravy and shaved Parmesan.
Visually, it looks like it's come out of a Italian restaurant.
The raviolis are uniformed.
Brilliant job on that.
For me, it's about what's inside there.
What am I expected to find inside my ravioli? You should expect to find 1/3 pasta and 2/3 filling.
That's a lot of filling.
Highly commend you on that pasta 'cause it is delicious.
Brilliant job on that.
However, the actual beef, Unfortunately, Andrew, is undercooked.
You were right in cooking it in a pressure cooker, but you were wrong in taking it out at the time you did.
The actual beef, unfortunately, Andrew, is undercooked.
Potentially, it was gonna be a stunning dish.
It just needed more cooking.
I love that ratio of filling to pasta.
Touch under, but seasoned wonderfully.
Great use of the cheese on top.
I know that you said that you cook for your family all the time.
This really shows that, you know, you put a ton of heart into your cooking.
- You should be very proud of it.
- Thank you.
Beef cheese ravioli is something that I've been eating for many years, and I love it.
And I think these are rich, the filling's rich, the sauce is rich, very tasty.
There's a lot of love in this dish.
And I think that it captures the spirit and the heart of true Italian pasta because they were delicious.
Thank you.
Nathan and Andrew, two great entrees.
Please, head back into the MasterChef kitchen and pick up your desserts.
Thank you.
Ah.
Fascinating.
I mean, what a tale of two entrees.
Guys, where are we? Joe.
I think Nathan's lamb dish was perfect.
It was a medium rare to rare.
I enjoyed it that way.
It was tender, and then the crust was good.
And the harmony of those broad beans with the morels and the asparagus puree, - I mean, incredible.
- Yeah.
We keep saying less is more, and that's what he gives us.
- And it's beautifully done.
- I have to say, I think that Andrew's ravioli, yes, he had certain errors in it, but the ambition of cooking such a sophisticated dish with so much technique, that takes a lot of guts.
Sure.
Incredible.
Put Andrew's appetizer and Nathan's entree, you got a perfect, perfect start to a dinner.
I'm excited about the dessert.
Yay, Andrew! The judges loved Nathan's entree, so it's all gonna come down to the dessert now, and if my dessert is bad, they're gonna throw it back at me and say, "Nathan, here's the trophy.
Here's a check for 100 grand.
And, Andrew, you can go back home.
" Please, Nathan, bring your dessert up.
For my dessert, I used some Earl Grey tea.
I think it's a bit of ambitious dessert for a 12-year-old.
It's very sophisticated.
But I'm pretty sure that the judges are gonna love it.
Nathan, can you please describe your dessert.
It is a Earl Grey and Meyer lemon tart topped with a little bit of candied orange peel and mashed pretzel with a side of blood orange coulis.
The blood orange and pretzel, where does that come from? The pretzel is one of my favorite snacks, and the blood orange is definitely something that I enjoy eating during the summers.
And the pastry, nice and crisp.
It's so subtle.
I think it's sophisticated, it's balanced.
To finish with blood orange and some Earl Grey tea shows that cohesiveness of your menu.
- Very, very smart preparation.
- Thank you.
I mean, here's the thing.
It shouldn't work, but it bloody does.
Love the thyme in that pie crust.
That is a very bold move 'cause that is very difficult to get right with the Earl Grey tea.
The cream is refined.
The Meyer lemon wakes up that sort of freshness of the Earl Grey.
It's very rare I get lost for words, but - Bloody delicious.
- Thank you.
Well, Nathan, you have put yourself not only on this plate, but on every plate tonight.
And that is an amazing, amazing quality to show.
- Delicious.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
Andrew, please bring that dessert up.
So please explain to us what you have.
So here we have a sweetened arborio rice risotto with a verjus reduction and figs.
- What's that spice in there? - It's cinnamon.
I used cinnamon sticks while the rice was cooking in the rice cooker.
The verjus cuts right through it.
Perfect amount.
The thing is, I don't want to share this with anybody, 'cause I honestly could go to town it.
It's really delicious.
I love the idea behind it too.
I'm amazed you didn't use long grain.
You've gone arborio.
I didn't think it was gonna work.
You proved me wrong.
and you've managed to elevate a somewhat boring-looking dessert into something modern.
I grew up with rice pudding, and I'm gonna cook this when I get back home to London and show my mum what a talented 11-year-old from New Jersey can elevate rice pudding with.
I mean, it's delicious.
Great job.
Wow.
- That's great.
- Isn't it? Really, really good.
Each kernel of rice is still intact.
You have the creamy starchiness around it.
This is like a king's rice pudding.
And you have taken incredible liberties and created something magnificent.
- I think it's awesome.
- Yeah.
The only thing I might change is, I might make a bigger portion because I'm gonna eat the rest of it.
It is on at this point.
Nathan may be my friend, but he's not the next MasterChef Junior.
The next MasterChef Junior is the one who you're looking at right here.
Nathan and Andrew, you guys did amazing.
And you have come so far that it's gonna be super, super difficult for us to decide who the winner's gonna be.
Next time you see us, one of you will become America's next MasterChef Junior.
Well done.
Guys, we got a 12-year-old from San Diego up against an 11-year-old from New Jersey.
I mean, come on.
Six incredible dishes.
Where on earth do we go? To me, Andrew has this innate cooking ability of cooking from the soul, whereas Nathan has almost the artistic sensibility.
Everything's very light and clean and for a reason.
And the gratin, I loved the flavor.
I think it was perfectly seasoned.
But that gratin could have used longer to cook.
But Nathan's lamb, I mean, wow.
No heavy sauces, no verjus.
Just elegance beyond belief.
- I mean, it was very nice.
- It was a moving dish for me.
To see a young cook like that put that kind of purity on a plate, for me, is a game changer for our industry.
Nathan's Earl Grey tea tart.
I mean, come on.
The refinedness, how refreshing it was.
- I mean, incredible.
- It was so light and clean, and it was a perfect note to finish that menu.
See, I think when you take what's personal to you and put it on the plate and blow people away, that's powerful.
This is the scariest moment of my entire life.
Me winning would change my family's life because we're not necessarily the richest family.
So this could help me reach my dreams as a chef and set up my life for the future.
Andrew's up next.
One of the youngest ever finalists, 11.
I love the theme, rustic Italian, I love his passion for it.
Appetizer-wise, Andrew's cilantro and beets with ricotta, the seasoning was there, the technique and idea was there, and that's probably what I would order again.
And the ravioli, I love the simplicity, few ingredients.
Spot on.
Andrew's dish had great potential, but it was just undercooked.
However, that arborio rice pudding, it was a dish done with finesse.
The fragrance of that freshened it up.
He took risotto and did something to it that I've never experienced before.
I mean, it almost was like a panna cotta.
I mean, it was very delicious.
We talk about the culmination of a journey and a finale, you think about Andrew, who comes from South Jersey, now plating a dish like that, I mean, what a transformation.
He's a different cook.
He's a different boy.
It was a fierce battle, but I think I won.
I don't know any 11-year-old that cooks with as much heart and soul as I do.
I put love in those dishes, and the judges, I think, I saw that.
Like, at the end of the day, New Jersey Italian food wins.
- So we have it.
- We have it.
- Let's tell 'em.
- Let's go.
This is the most important moment of my entire life right now.
It would mean everything to win, and I'm pretty proud of what I did today.
I took some risks, and I think I pulled them off.
I cooked with heart, and that's all I care about.
This night could change the rest of my life.
Me winning could mean a trophy and $100,000 and an amazing title that only a few people in the world have ever had.
And I definitely want this more than I have ever wanted anything.
Nathan and Andrew, you came here as a seventh grader from San Diego, California, and a sixth grader from West Deptford, New Jersey.
You have both risen to the very, very top of this competition.
And I am very, very proud to have shared that incredible journey with you.
That's why right now we would like both of you to switch places with us.
You both now deserve a place on this stage.
Let's go, guys.
Tonight, just one of you can be named the best young home cook in this entire country.
Just one of you will receive a check for $100,000 and gets to keep this piece of history Forever.
The most coveted, priceless culinary trophy anywhere in our industry.
The winner of MasterChef Junior Is Congratulations Nathan! Oh, my god! Oh, Nathan! Congratulations.
Tough loss, man.
How you feeling? Well done.
Good job.
Amazing.
This is insane.
I-I really can't think of any other words for it.
It's, like, the coolest moment of my life.
Congratulations, little man.
Thanks, dad.
I am a 12-year-old with $100,000, and I'm so excited to bring this trophy back to San Diego because this is going to help me make my dreams come true.
It's gonna help me to go to culinary school.
- I can open a restaurant.
- Oh, come here, you.
- How are you feeling? - I'm feeling great.
- Great job.
Seriously, one up, man.
I'm happy for Nathan.
You know what? I lost to a good competitor.
Of course I wanted to win, but he's a good person.
It's the end of MasterChef Junior, but it's the beginning of a whole new culinary career.
I'm only 11, but I'm gonna go back to Jersey and I'm still gonna open up that great restaurant and fulfill my dreams.
Hey, give me a high five.
You're awesome.
Andrew was a great competitor, and I'm super happy to have worked with him.
You were incredible.
Well done.
Enjoy every moment.
This means more to me than anything else in the world.
The kid who walked into the MasterChef Junior kitchen on day one was extremely shy and didn't have a lot of self-confidence in his cooking and now I'm the winner.
I'm the next MasterChef Junior! Corrected & sync: Terka