Baton Rouge’s Avery Kyle talks reaching the top six on ‘MasterChef Junior’

Baton Rouge’s Avery Kyle is no “one-legged pony,” as she proclaimed on the most recent episode of FOX’s MasterChef Junior.

After four challenges during a 2-hour special of the show, Kyle is safe in the top six competitors. And with only three episodes remaining, the fourth grader is feeling more confident than ever.

“If I make it through this Friday’s episode, then I’m in the semi-finals,” she says excitedly. “And then, after that … it’s the finals! Wow.”

Kyle was exempt from the first challenge—a deviled egg platter—but says she’s sure she “would have rocked it” if she participated.

The first elimination challenge included the discovery that the kid chefs were asked to make a personal cookbook earlier in the season. The contestants’ cookbook themes ranged from gourmet desserts to high-end French recipes, but Kyle stayed true to her home and her personality with “Avery’s Southern Bistro” recipe book.

The cookbooks served as an opportunity for the contestants to show the judges who they are as chefs and people, Kyle says. She did just that when she wowed all three judges with a bold crawfish étouffée. Chef Gordon Ramsay found the dish visually stunning and chef Graham Elliot was shocked at how perfectly the zesty flavors and Southern charm of the dish summed up Kyle’s personality.

The judges crowned Kyle’s étouffée “Dish of the Night” and agreed Kyle made her father proud with the dish, the highest praise for the self-proclaimed daddy’s girl.

Kyle surprised the judges again in the next challenge when she prepared her first dessert for the season, a strawberry pie with a cocoa crumble crust and strawberry compote.

“I’m no one-legged pony,” she told the judges on the show, not wavering until Elliot pointed out that she really meant “one-trick pony.”

Two contestants down, the remaining eight were faced with a tag team-style challenge to whip up a plate of international street food.

Kyle was paired with fellow contestant JJ and the two had to cook five different types of street food from around the world: samosas from India, arancini and marinara sauce from Italy, spring rolls from Vietnam, beef in steamed buns from China and lamb kofta from Greece.

Kyle and her partner faced some mishaps from a lack of communication and presented a plate with a few missing items, but the items they did manage to plate were winners.

“That was rough,” Kyle says of the team challenge, “but we pulled through. It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish.”

Kyle and her family will have a viewing party at Mellow Mushroom at 4250 Burbank Drive starting at 6:30 p.m. this Friday, Jan. 15. MasterChef Junior airs Fridays at 7 p.m.

Can’t get enough of Avery Kyle?

Baton Rouge’s best young chef will present a cooking demo at the downtown Red Stick Farmers Market Saturday, Jan. 16, at 10 a.m. Kyle plans to make shrimp and grits with a Creole sauce.