MasterChef Junior

Announcer: Last week...

Gordon: Please welcome Miss Piggy

- C'est moi! - and the Swedish Chef!

Give me that!

a new contestant joined the competition...

Aah! You singed my tips!

and the junior home cooks took on a French classic...

I'd like to order steak frites.

in a high-stakes challenge...

I think it's under.

It looks a little bit bloody.

- that led... - Cydney.

to a surprise elimination.

- You are safe. - What?

Miss Piggy, your time is up.

Dun dun dun.

Au revoir!

Tonight, the competition kicks into high gear...

Captain, four scallops away, table one.

- Yes, Chef! - Come on, let's go!

as the top six run the kitchen...

Way overcooked.

in their most intense team challenge yet.

Justise: A pop-up restaurant?

Two of Gordon's dishes? The pressure is on.

Cydney, let's go, then!

I'm not sure if she can handle the stress.

Are you okay? Cydney?

- Yeah! - Hi, everybody.

- Hi! - Welcome.

Come on down to the front. Let's go.

Cydney: It feels amazing to be in the top six

of "MasterChef Junior."

- Are we good? - Yes, Chef!

Excellent.

I'm the youngest kid left,

and I want to show that maybe

a 10-year-old girl like me

can win the biggest cooking competition

in the whole world.

Guys, welcome back again

to the incredible MasterChef kitchen.

The next obstacle between you and that MasterChef trophy

is a team challenge.

- Yes! - Ahh!

Here's the good news.

The winning team will officially

make it into the semi-finals of "MasterChef Junior."

- ( cheering ) - Oh, my God.

For this next challenge,

you'll be working in two teams of three.

And today, we will be picking the teams.

Christina and I have thought a lot about this,

and our first captain is someone who has amazing ideas

and incredible cooking skills.

Please step up here and pick up your apron...

Cydney, you are captain of the Red Team.

- Thank you. - Thank you, my darling.

Cydney: I'm a team captain!

I'm really excited,

but I have never really been captain

of anything before.

This is hard to put on.

So my biggest competition is probably myself.

The Blue Team captain

is someone who has continually impressed us

throughout this competition.

Please come on up here,

Justise, captain of the Blue Team.

Justise: I'm so excited.

I really want to be a team captain,

I haven't been team captain,

and this is great opportunity

for me to show the judges that I can be a great leader.

I've really got to give it my all,

I've really got to stay confident,

and I got to lead my team to victory.

The first person to be on Cydney's Red Team is Evan.

Well done. Please put your apron on, young man,

and go and join Cydney.

For the Blue Team,

to complement Justise's leadership style--

Shayne.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

The final choice to complete the Red Team

has a great palate-- Adam.

- Well done. - Thank you.

Last, but certainly not least, it's Jasmine.

Come on up and get this apron.

- Thank you. - Yes.

I know that being a team captain

is a lot of pressure, so I think that Cydney

might have a little bit of a hard time

dealing with the stress,

but if she can pull herself together,

she can really lead us to victory.

I'm sure you're all dying to know what the challenge is.

Yes, Chef!

- Well, it's a big surprise. - ( groaning )

Come on, you six are talented.

You're going to have to go with the flow,

ride the wave.

Oh?

Christina, why don't you drive the Red Team?

Oh, no!

- I'll take the Blue Team. - Yeah!

- Are we ready? - Yes, Chef!

- Let's go! - Let's do this, guys.

- Ha ha! - Whoo! Right here!

Christina's team, may I suggest wearing helmets as well, please?

Go, Gordon, go!

Oh, my goodness! This is so fun!

I never thought I would be riding

a dune buggy with Gordon Ramsay.

Oh, my God!

It is really, really crazy right now.

I mean, he's going so fast and doing doughnuts.

I'm just like, "Please don't flip over. Please don't flip over.

Oh, my God, this is so cool, but please don't flip over."

Go, Gordon!

Christina's sort of an out of control driver.

I'm not sure if she drives like this normally,

but is she does, you better take away her license.

Whoo! Whoo!

It's insane!

Hey! Right.

Christina: Seatbelts off!

- Line up, please, guys. - It is so pretty here.

The sand, the blue water-- it's beautiful.

The waves are crashing, the dolphins are splashing.

It couldn't be a more perfect day.

Right, quick question. Who's the best driver?

- Gordon! - Thank you very much.

- Thank you. Right. - Gordon!

All of you, welcome to this beautiful,

breezy Californian beach. Excited?

Yes, Chef!

This is, of course, the site of your next team challenge.

And, guys, it doesn't get any bigger

than the MasterChef pop-up restaurant.

- Wow. - This afternoon,

you six very talented young home cooks

will be making an incredible Pacific oceanside lunch

for our packed pop-up restaurant.

The movers and shakers attending today's lunch

are Los Angeles restaurateurs,

amazing chefs, food writers, and journalists.

Today you know that we will accept nothing

but your absolute best work.

Yes, Chef!

And just one more thing.

The VIP guests this afternoon

have no idea kids are cooking today.

They think all the food is being made my grown-ups.

We want you to prove that in the culinary world, age means nothing.

You all ready to find out what's on the menu?

Yes, Chef!

- Follow us. - Let's go.

Announcer: The menu our junior chefs will be cooking today

consists of an appetizer of pan-roasted scallops

with polenta cakes and fried quail eggs,

and an entree of pan-seared red snapper

with purple potato gnocchi

and a chorizo saffron lemon broth.

I'm personally going to show you how to make these.

First up, an incredible appetizer--

seared scallops, the most amazing polenta,

and then finished with delicious fried quail's eggs.

Yeah.

When you crack the quail's eggs,

tap gently, and then point very carefully.

You bring the pan up to temperature

and you let them sit there.

Polenta in at 12:00. Why 12?

- So you know when to flip them. - Exactly that.

Tilt the pan like that.

Spoon underneath and flip over.

Make sure you got a nice color on them.

From there, scallops in 12:00.

Gordon is moving so fast right now.

The secret of cooking these scallops is quick.

Very carefully, finger on, and flip over.

My head is spinning like a hamster on a hamster wheel right now.

When it comes to plating, scallop first.

From there, polenta on. Scallop on.

We call this shingling. Eggs go on the polenta.

- What's next? - The vinegar.

Exactly that.

Cydney: Watching Gordon demo his dishes,

it seems super complex.

Finally, beautiful sauce.

Gordon Ramsay just makes it look easy.

I'm thinking, "How in the world

are we supposed to make this?"

And there we have seared scallops with quail's egg,

polenta croutons, and a nice fresh salad of snap peas.

- Yummy. Wow. - Next up, a delicious entree.

What's the first thing we focus on?

- The snapper. - The snapper.

Snapper, exactly. Get the pan nice and hot.