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T.the smallest competitor won the biggest prize! Georgia, an 11-year-old dynamo with her grandmother’s passion for Sri Lankan curries, has been crowned the winner of the 2020 Junior MasterChef. She takes home the trophy, title and $ 25,000.
A quick reminder: He was only two years old when Junior MasterChef’s last season aired.
It really makes you think about what you done with those nine years, right? Or at least it would be if you weren’t here to intentionally distract you with silly jokes.
Georgia and the other finalists have really been tested in these last few episodes. In Sunday’s semifinal pressure test, for example, the kids were tasked with recreating a coronavirus with lemon meringue.
The children had a little over two hours to prepare this complex dessert from renowned pastry chef Kirsten Tibballs. They expressed their excitement with cute (and very March 2020) phrases such as “I am terrified”, “I have never been more stressed” and “this is the face of despair”.
“It will, without a shadow of a doubt, be the hardest thing you’ve ever cooked in your life,” Mel said reassuringly.
But Georgia wasn’t the only one baptized into the source of existential terror!
Carter had a horror cook. He wasted so much time in the beginning; he forgot to put the butter in the cake batter; and at one point she burst into tears, out of breath, as she maniacally weighed some lemon juice.
It was a truly awful few minutes of prime time TV and probably the closest this sweet show has ever come to the Hunger Games.
The judges handled it perfectly. Jock was at Carter’s side offering calm reassurance, and Mel spoke to Georgia when she doubted herself; he looked the dead 11 year old in the eye and said “you are infinitely capable”. (@fooderati I would buy a customized Cameo to that effect).
Unfortunately for Laura and Dev – who had big flaws in their desserts – both of these little legends really changed that. The Georgia dish was the best of all. The rest of Carter’s dish was so good that the butter problem didn’t even matter.
Mel said a heartfelt goodbye to Dev: “a creative, humble and inspiring gentleman”. And Laura: “truly one of the most capable people I’ve ever met”. (@fooderati, seriously, give me that Cameo).
But this is a show about pure joy, so here’s a triptych of Georgia, Carter and Filo discovering they’ve made it to the grand finale:
Things were even more difficult on Monday night. The pressure was high and the stage was set – literally, because Network Ten hired an orchestra to play tense music while the kids competed.
It was made more intense by the fact that their moms were there! That meant the kids got a lot of back seat cooking and some mild parental humiliation on national TV.
The ultimate challenge was to be “as imaginative as possible”: each competitor had to prepare a two-course meal for four. The dishes (a main course and a dessert) could be anything; they just had to have a “refined” atmosphere.
In past seasons of MasterChef, many competitors have speculated that “fine dining” meant “French” or, in broader terms, “Rich White People Food”. But these sweets are too pure for that. They are so proud of their heritage and they knew their cultures are fine as hell!
Georgia made THREE Sri Lankan curries. Filo served fried shrimp and spicy Egyptian rice. And Carter, the symbolic white, made a complex variation of lamb and peas.
He followed it with vanilla panna cotta, raspberry sorbet and chocolate earth. Filo made a hazelnut cake with mirror glaze, crumble and strawberry sorbet. And Georgia opted for a slice of toasted coconut ice cream with Davidson plum meringues and pearls.
“It’s a mix of Sri Lankan and Australian, a bit like me!” he said, causing my ovaries to explode.
The guys did so well. The only negative signs for Carter were minor texture problems in a puree and panna cotta. The only negative for Filo was that his dessert could have used a salty element.
Georgia actually had the hardest time. Although his curries were the stars of the main dish, his dessert literally fell apart. The base cracked, the ice cream was not set up correctly. He started losing it. Her mother shouted, “You can do it, my angel” and she replied, heartbroken, “No, I can not”.
“I always try to do everything right, but that’s not how life works,” Georgia said. After a hug from her mother, she managed to put the last few items on her plate. And that’s a good thing he did.
“I don’t care what it looks like,” Andy said after tasting. “Your son is a genius,” Mel added, essentially sealing the win.
The judges said the decision boiled down to “pure goodness”. Georgia could not be beaten.
The one that made me feel the most inadequate
See all of the above. These children are not only talented, but also so sweet, strong and kind! When I was their age, my main talent was knowing all the words in Nelly and Kelly’s “Dilemma”. It’s not as impressive as cooking an elaborate meal, and it’s far less age-appropriate.
What I’ll be thinking about all week
My sweet boy. My lobster lover aristocrat.
It didn’t work for my man Filo, but he has a bright future ahead of him. Someday I’m sure I’ll eat in his posh Egyptian restaurant, but until then I’ll think about him whenever I’m in a kitchen that’s a little too hot.
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