MasterChef Junior episode recap S7E3: Under the Big Top

In this MasterChef Junior episode recap, a circus theme adds some levity. What shenanigans will MasterChef Junior put our young chefs through and who will manage to juggle the challenges thrown to come out on top?

The MasterChef Junior episode recap begins with the kids being welcomed to the Circus Vargas. As they enter the tent, they see posters for Christina the Captivating Contortionist, Gordon the Great Magician, and Aaron the Acrobatic Aerialist. I hope the judges got to take these props home.

The kids enjoy a show full of stunts, magic, juggling, and everything circus that you can imagine. Reid, an eight-year-old from Georgia, adorably tells us, “It’s just really fun because I’ve never been to the circus before ‘cuz my brother is scared of clowns.” Cut to Reid looking at clowns dubiously. “And I am too,” he adds.

A trio of motor bike riders come out to perform death defying stunts. Once finished, they remove their helmets to reveal…the judges. They are there to introduce the first team challenge.

MASTERCHEF JUNIOR: L-R: Judges Aaron Sanchez and Christina Tosi with host/judge Gordon Ramsay in the “Junior Edition: Under the Big Top” episode of MASTERCHEF airing Tuesday, March 19 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2019 FOX Broadcasting. CR: FOX.

There are fifty-one performers that will be eating lunch that the kids will prepare. The kids are instructed to look under their seats for their team aprons which splits them into a blue and a red team. Che, a confident twelve-year-old from New York, finds that he is team captain of the red team. Evie, an eleven-year-old from Georgia, plans to use her Southern charm as team captain of the blue team.

The blue team must make New York strip steak with sweet potato mash, pan-seared bok choy, and baby vegetables. The red team must make pan-seared salmon with orzo, grilled leak, and a tomato vinaigrette. The teams have forty-five minutes to prepare and sixty minutes to serve their fifty-one guests.

We first see Evie with her team. She designates who will man which station, though if someone asks to do something else, she accommodates them. For the most part, everyone accepts their assignment and they are able to begin preparations smoothly. We see Evie checking on each station, requesting alterations as she sees fit.

When Che pulls his team aside, he asks everyone what they want to do which leads to mass chaos as everyone calls out their choice at once. Far too many want to cook salmon, so he has to tell some people to be on alternate stations. However, he is firm and confident in his choices. He tells us, “the key to being team captain is definitely being stern and demand that everybody listens to you. Because if that doesn’t happen, it all falls apart.” The team seems to appreciate his decision-making and they get to work.

Over on Evie’s team, things begin to go south. Her team begins to ignore her, each person staying focused on what they are doing. She asks for a team meeting and most do not respond. The few who do respond tell her that they are busy. Evie then approaches Jayden to beg him to get the others to listen to her, which he does and they do.

Evie, now in tears, tells the team, “I find it a little ironic because nobody’s listening to me about coming to a meeting that’s about not listening to me.” Christina, seeing the meltdown, gives Evie a pep talk. This seems to do the trick because Evie makes the executive decision to pull Ben off cooking steak and has Reid on the station instead. She then puts more people on the vegetable sides which have fallen behind.

MASTERCHEF JUNIOR: L-R: Judge/host Gordon Ramsay and contestant Ben in the “Junior Edition: Under the Big Top” episode of MASTERCHEF airing Tuesday, March 19 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2019 FOX Broadcasting. CR: FOX.

Meanwhile, Mateo, an eight-year-old from New Jersey, has decided that Che can’t possibly handle reviewing all the stations on the red team and that he needs a co-captain. He thus leaves his station and goes to all the other young cooks, offering unsolicited advice that yields little more than eye rolls. Not only that, but more and more people have crept over to the salmon station so that a large portion of the team is trying to cook salmon, including Mateo.

It is time to begin serving guests and the blue team seems to have a good system that allows them to serve smoothly. Che’s red team is not prepared and the team scrambles, yelling for tomatoes (which Mateo was supposed to be working on) and vinaigrette, while the guests stand waiting. Not only that, but they attempt to plate raw salmon.

MASTERCHEF JUNIOR: L-R: Judges Christina Tosi and Aaron Sanchez with the contestants in the “Junior Edition: Under the Big Top” episode of MASTERCHEF airing Tuesday, March 19 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2019 FOX Broadcasting. CR: FOX.

Gordon pulls a classic Gordon move from other shows where he demands that the young chefs feel the cold, raw salmon and then he throws it in disgust. He asks who has cooked the salmon and Mateo, who has been cooking salmon himself, quickly points to Sadie and Malia. Gordon sees through this and pulls Mateo off salmon, stating that only Malia, Ashley, Kate and Sadie are to cook salmon.

As things wind down, Reid is becoming exhausted, having been in charge of cooking fifty-one steaks at the grill by himself. After chugging some water, he powers through. On the red team, Sadie instructs her teammates to compliment the performers to try to get their votes.

MASTERCHEF JUNIOR: L-R: Judge/host Gordon Ramsay and contestants Reid and Ben in the “Junior Edition: Under the Big Top” episode of MASTERCHEF airing Tuesday, March 19 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2019 FOX Broadcasting. CR: FOX.

The performers vote by honking the bicycle horn nose of a red or blue cardboard clown. To reveal the winning team, the circus performs one last magic trick where a girl mysterious appears from an apparently empty box. She is dressed in blue so Evie’s team has won. Che’s team will face elimination. Evie is proud but humble and says, “I don’t know if I deserve a standing ovation, but maybe a little golf clap.”

Before the elimination challenge, Che, Ivy and Malia are elected by the judges as MVPs for the red team and they head to the balcony. I am relieved they didn’t ask Che to make any decisions about who was safe.

The challenge is to create a two-tiered birthday cake in ninety minutes. Many of the home cooks have not done much baking but I am very impressed that they not only create cakes but most are well decorated.

Sadie is up for judging first with her pink champagne cake with rose buttercream and raspberry jam. She continues to show very sophisticated flavors, not just for her age, but for anyone. Also, champagne and rose are very challenging flavors to work with as it can be so hard to get them to be noticeable without being overpowering. Her cake, prettily piped in pink and topped with very good fondant roses, earns a high five from Gordon.

Poor Tal must go up immediately after Sadie and his cake is a stack of bad choices. He ran out of frosting so he decided to cute the edges off his cake to make it smaller. He then poured ganache over the top to try to hide some of the mistakes, but he messed around with the ganache, smearing it all over the cake until it was a mess. Not only that, but Christina finds his cake average and his frosting dry.

Aaron has made blueberry lemon cake with lemon frosting which is a little under-baked and gummy. Mateo’s vanilla sponge cake with chocolate buttercream seems to be good but not great. Kate’s tie dye cake with raspberry frosting fairs better as the judges love her frosting.

Jaala’s blue and purple vanilla galaxy cake with buttercream is visually appealing but tastes of nothing but sugar and food coloring. Ashley’s four berry cake with coconut cream frosting is ambitious but failed due to her ratios. She has put a lot of berry puree in her batter and her cake is dense. She has added too much coconut cream to her frosting so it is too loose.

Top Chef winner Kelsey Barnard Clark talks to FoodSided. light. Related Story

In the end, Kate, Aaron, and Mateo are safe and Sadie once again is deemed best. Tal, Jaala, and Ashley are on the bottom and Tal and Ashley are sent home. Both of them leave with their heads held high, as they should. What crazy challenges await our remaining bakers, and will anyone be able to best Sadie?

Home/Food TV