Jan. 23--Addison Osta Smith, 9, said she has been cooking ribs her "whole life" and she loves to eat them when she's at barbecues.
Those memories inspired the River Forest chef to serve the "MasterChef Junior" judges soda-braised ribs with a strawberry salad and potato salad in Friday's episode to earn a spot in next week's finale.
"Those ribs, young lady, were extraordinary. The meat was delicious. They fell off the bone. You gave it your all. Well done," judge Gordon Ramsay said.
Addison covered her mouth with her hand in excitement when she heard the news that she is facing Louisiana's Avery Kyle in the Season 4 finale, scheduled to air 7 p.m. Friday on Fox. New Jersey's Amaya Baez and Florida's Zac Kara were sent home for undercooking their pork.
This was Addison's episode. Before the pork challenge, the young chefs were tasked with baking a souffle with either milk chocolate, dark chocolate, strawberries or blackberries.
The judges raved about Addison's blackberry souffle, which gave her confidence because she said she wants to own a bakery one day. She was awarded with an advantage that allowed her to pick the pork cuts her competitors would cook in the elimination challenge.
"It is so important for me to get into the finale because I worked so hard to get to this point," Addison said. "This is just the biggest thing I've ever done in my whole life and I want to make my whole family proud."
