MasterChef Junior, the hugely popular youth cooking competition show, crowned a new champion Thursday night, and she’s a 12-year-old student at Atlanta. Jasmine Stewart, a sixth-grader, took home the MasterChef trophy as well as a $100,000 grand prize.
“This is the biggest moment of my entire life. Who would ever think a little girl from Milton, Georgia would ever win “MasterChef Junior?” said an elated Jasmine, moments after winning the final round of the competition, which aired Thursday evening on Fox in a two-hour-long finale.
Jasmine, who is a sixth-grader at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta went in with high hopes. The show, now in it’s fifth season, is hosted by Gordon Ramsay, British star chef of “Hell’s Kitchen” and Christina Tosi, renowned pastry chef.
“Some of the highlights of the show was winning of course,” Jasmine told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an interview. “But I did love it when I got an apron. I never thought I would even make it on the show, let alone be getting an apron and get to wear it.”
After winning a molten lava cake challenge and impressing the judges with a rack of lamb dish followed by three-course-meal which included a scallop and white fish appetizer with a green papaya salad, a lobster tail and coconut curry entree and for dessert, a sticky rum cake with pineapple chips, Jasmine was declared the winner.
“Whether she’s baking flawless French macaroons or putting together stunning sushi, Jasmine’s culinary skill and sophisticated palate make her talented well beyond her years,” said Tosi.
After winning the first challenge — baking a flawless molten lava cake — Jasmine got to decide the choice of meat for contestants in the next challenge. Jasmine opted for a more challenging rack of lamb over beef and pork. She made a Mediterranean lamb dish with herb couscous, olive puree and pickled bell peppers. Ramsay called the lamb “breathtaking.”
Jasmine’s final task of the competition was to prepare a three-course meal. This time, renowned chef Wolfgang Puck and Martha Stewart helped judge the dishes.
While Jasmine’s made a scallop and white fish appetizer and lobster tail entree received high marks, it was her dessert — the sticky rum cake with pineapple chips — that helped secure her victory. Tosi said she could open a pastry shop and just sell the sticky rum cake, it was that good.
But this win almost didn’t happen. When Jasmine first went out for the show, she made her way from ‘Top 40’ to ‘Top 20’ to ‘Top 12’ before being eliminated. But it was her second time around that applied everything she learned from the first go round.
She described the biggest lesson learned was “not second guessing myself and staying confident in what I was doing.”
That confidence shined through when she challenged herself and…
Page 1 of 2
MasterChef Junior, the hugely popular youth cooking competition show, crowned a new champion Thursday night, and she’s a 12-year-old student at Atlanta. Jasmine Stewart, a sixth-grader, took home the MasterChef trophy as well as a $100,000 grand prize.
“This is the biggest moment of my entire life. Who would ever think a little girl from Milton, Georgia would ever win “MasterChef Junior?” said an elated Jasmine, moments after winning the final round of the competition, which aired Thursday evening on Fox in a two-hour-long finale.
Jasmine, who is a sixth-grader at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta went in with high hopes. The show, now in it’s fifth season, is hosted by Gordon Ramsay, British star chef of “Hell’s Kitchen” and Christina Tosi, renowned pastry chef.
“Some of the highlights of the show was winning of course,” Jasmine told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an interview. “But I did love it when I got an apron. I never thought I would even make it on the show, let alone be getting an apron and get to wear it.”
After winning a molten lava cake challenge and impressing the judges with a rack of lamb dish followed by three-course-meal which included a scallop and white fish appetizer with a green papaya salad, a lobster tail and coconut curry entree and for dessert, a sticky rum cake with pineapple chips, Jasmine was declared the winner.
“Whether she’s baking flawless French macaroons or putting together stunning sushi, Jasmine’s culinary skill and sophisticated palate make her talented well beyond her years,” said Tosi.
After winning the first challenge — baking a flawless molten lava cake — Jasmine got to decide the choice of meat for contestants in the next challenge. Jasmine opted for a more challenging rack of lamb over beef and pork. She made a Mediterranean lamb dish with herb couscous, olive puree and pickled bell peppers. Ramsay called the lamb “breathtaking.”
Jasmine’s final task of the competition was to prepare a three-course meal. This time, renowned chef Wolfgang Puck and Martha Stewart helped judge the dishes.
While Jasmine’s made a scallop and white fish appetizer and lobster tail entree received high marks, it was her dessert — the sticky rum cake with pineapple chips — that helped secure her victory. Tosi said she could open a pastry shop and just sell the sticky rum cake, it was that good.
But this win almost didn’t happen. When Jasmine first went out for the show, she made her way from ‘Top 40’ to ‘Top 20’ to ‘Top 12’ before being eliminated. But it was her second time around that applied everything she learned from the first go round.
She described the biggest lesson learned was “not second guessing myself and staying confident in what I was doing.”
That confidence shined through when she challenged herself and…
Page 1 of 2
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