Nearly halfway through Season 4 of Masterchef Junior, Baton Rouge’s Avery Kyle is going strong.
In the latest episode, Kyle pushed through a challenge that didn’t exactly fit her strong suit. After running into a few mishaps during the team challenge, the eight members of the losing team—including Kyle—were faced with a “Pressure Challenge.”
The contestants had to conquer the croquembouche.
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The caramel-bound tower of cream puff pastries was a new challenge to all but two of the participating contestants, but Kyle says she was never worried.
The 9-year-old chef dishes out her thoughts on episode five:
You’re almost halfway through, and you’re safe again. How do you feel?
I feel really good overall, and I’m feeling pretty good after the last episode. I think the rest should be interesting.
Thoughts on the team challenge, particularly when your chicken came out burnt?
Oh, Lord. I knew from the beginning. I kept saying, “They’re going to burn; they’re going to look burnt; they’re going to taste burnt.” The two people on the fryer had never used a fryer before … and they wanted me to make mango salsa!
(Kyle’s father, Ronnie Kyle, says Avery definitely should have been on the fryer. “She’s from Louisiana—we know how to fry.”)
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How do you think you did on the croquembouche?
I had never made one before, but it went surprisingly well. The hardest part was just doing everything in a timely manner. I got all positive reviews, except that is wasn’t the prettiest-looking. But what’s funny is that the ones that looked the best didn’t taste the best—the dough wasn’t cooked properly or they weren’t filled properly.
What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned from MasterChef Junior so far?
Try and have fun. On the first episode, I was all stressed out and it made me scared and tensed up. And because of that, I didn’t get to do a lot of the things I wanted to do, like put powdered sugar instead of salt on the sweet potato fries or put a tomato on my hamburger. After that, I tried to take a more “just relax and get it done” approach, and that’s helped me a lot.
MasterChef Junior airs Friday nights at 7 p.m. on FOX. A public viewing party will be held at Mellow Mushroom at 4250 Burbank Drive.