“I wanted to show that cooking isn’t just making food, it’s actually creativity, a break from life,” says Liya, who is now 13 as the series filmed three years ago. “For me, cooking is a break, a freedom, a time I spend with family, so I was happy I got to show that in my dishes.” In the semifinals, Liya faced off against 11-year-old Grayson Price from Austin, Texas, and 8-year-old Ivy Childs from Darien, Connecticut, and she decided to incorporate something that she learned from her family, which means that she prepared a dumpling dish that had been taught to her by her mother. “It was a tradition that we’ve had for a long time,” Liya old Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “My mom learned from her mom and her mom learned from her mom. So, it was something that I wanted to show everyone, our bonding, and our family time together, and what has become of what I’ve learned.” Then, for the last meal she would cook in the MasterChef Junior kitchen, Liya continued utilizing her family’s culture, so for the finale, her entrée consisted of pan roasted duck breast with scallion pancake, charred long beans, miso eggplant and red miso demi-glace, and for dessert, she made coconut and pandan panna cotta, tapioca, passion fruit coulis, and mango heart. Her strategy worked as Liya walked away with the $100,000 prize, which she plans to use for college tuition after she graduates high school. “It’s crazy that I won that,” she said. “I want to thank everybody for that because I couldn’t have done it just by myself. I have to even thank Grayson because he taught me so much through cooking. Also, I want to thank the chefs, the judges, Gordon, and also the filming crew.” Read on for more of our exclusive interview with Liya in which she talks about her competition, the dream restaurant she hopes to open one day, how she initially became interested in cooking, her favorite foods, who she stays in touch with from season 8, and more. How hard has it been to keep the secret? You filmed three years ago. It’s been really hard because just having that experience and the uniqueness of being in that MasterChef Junior kitchen and then wanting to express it to everyone and tell everyone the good news, having to keep that in for three years, it was so hard. Finally, now, I can tell everyone and it’s such a relief. Who did you see as your biggest competition all season? Was it the people who ended up with you in the finale? Or maybe it was somebody else who made a mistake and left earlier? My biggest competition was definitely Grayson because he’s super good at cooking. He knows literally everything, and he has a book about cooking. He knows every scientific thing about cooking because he’s been studying it. So, he was definitely one of my biggest competitors. Also, Eva because she’s such a good baker. She knows how to bake literally everything, from cookies to crazy financiers to cakes and macaroons. When you won, did you celebrate? Well, I kept it quiet, but I celebrated with my family and that’s what counts. What’s the dream? Did this experience change what your dream was going in, which was to open a restaurant that serves hibachi and sushi? Three years ago I wanted to open a hibachi and sushi restaurant, but now I’m leaning towards a different type of restaurant. It’s basically a restaurant with its own garden or farm and I would be in charge of that garden and farm, so I could control what food and ingredients go into my restaurant. I thought of this because of sustainability and how right now a lot of plastic and different ingredients and things are going into our foods. I want to try and find a healthy way for people to eat. You came in with a lot of knowledge but was there something specific that you learned in your time in the MasterChef Junior kitchen that you didn’t know how to do? I definitely learned a lot. I learned how to fillet a salmon. I filleted different types of fish at home but having to fillet that huge salmon was definitely an experience. And also, just having to cook in a time scale and having to stay focused and not give up, learning that process was a lot, too. One of the things that the MasterChef kitchen has that you may not have at home is all these really expensive proteins and spices and other ingredients. Was there something that you got to try that you had never had at home? Truffle. When we did that challenge where we had to cook alongside Gordon Ramsay, the amount of truffle I got to touch and use was just crazy. I’m going to cherish that moment. Did one of the judges give you advice that you’ll take away and use later on in life? In the restaurant takeover episode, I was bawling my eyes out, I was just a mess in the kitchen. Gordon pulled me aside and he calmed me down and told me, “It’s not over, you can get back from this, never give up, wipe those tears away and get back in the kitchen.” That just stuck with me because it’s such an important thing in life, you can’t give up and you can’t let one little thing make you stop and make you not keep trying because then you won’t get to where you want to be. Talk about getting started in the kitchen. Was it your mother? Was it your grandmother? Who was it that got your interest piqued in cooking? It was definitely my family, my mom and dad mostly, though, because they’re always cooking dinners and making things. Also, the restaurants because I would always visit them when I was younger. Just being surrounded by cooking made me want to get into cooking. Also, watching different cooking shows, I love watching cooking shows and watching other people cook. Like Gordon, his cooking shows, I’ve watched a ton of his shows. So just the shows and the family and the restaurants that all kind of put me together and made me want to start cooking. The new season of MasterChef has two former MasterChef Juniors on it. Is that something you would come back and do again if you were allowed to? Yes, I would definitely come back. As I said that kitchen is so unique and just that environment is something that you’ll never experience in your life. So, any moment I can just relive being there I would take it. How did you decide you were going to audition? I’ve been watching the show and my mom was like, “Hey, Liya, there’s an audition.” I was like, “Oh, really?” She was like, “Yeah.” Actually, my friend Shannen from season 7 was also on the show. I was like, “Wait, I want to be on that show, too.” That kind of made me want to go on the show, too. Knowing that you were going to go audition, did you practice how to make certain things that maybe you’d seen them do in previous seasons so that you’d know what you were doing? I did practice a lot before I went. I was very nervous because I didn’t know what I was expecting. Definitely season 8 was such a different season, so many different things and a lot of new stuff that I learned and I was not prepared for. But when I got into the kitchen, I learned and I was able to make new things that I’ve never made before. The other part of MasterChef Junior is that you need to be team captain at some point. How hard was that? Team captain was really hard because you have to make sure that everybody does the right thing, and everybody gets something good out. Because whatever is on that plate, you’re in charge of, that’s your work. So, if the rice doesn’t have enough flavor in it or the steak isn’t cooked, that’s on me because I wasn’t a good team captain. There was a lot of communicating that I learned and I learned how to work in a group well. Just being able to speak out and make everyone listen together and work together well was a big learning step and will help me later, too. When you’re at home cooking, do you cook from things that are in the refrigerator, or do you research new recipes? When I cook at home, I sometimes just take stuff out of the refrigerator and see what I can put together. Or some days, I scroll on social media, I see a new recipe I want to try out and I try to recreate it myself. Have you thought about doing spots for TikTok or one of the other social media sites? On Instagram, I’m actually trying to recreate every dish that I made this season, and then I want to post the recreation and how to make them. Do you have a favorite dish? What do you like to eat? My favorite dish to make is definitely dumplings because they’re so much fun. I love to make stuff with my hands, and you have to take the time to fold each one. Then when you finally get to eat them, it’s like, “I did so much work and now I get to eat it.” Also, I’m a big fan of sweets, so I’d rather eat sweets than savory food, but I’d rather cook savory food than cook sweets. What do you like to stuff your dumplings with? I like to stuff them with ground pork and also ginger, soy sauce, green scallions and chives. Since you love to eat sweets, did Eva teach you any baking secrets? You mentioned earlier that she was a really good baker. Eva taught me that when it comes to baking, it’s like science. You have to be precise with how your measurements. Who washes the dishes at your house when you cook? Usually my mom. But she definitely yells at me to go clean the dishes and make sure I clean up after I cook. Who will you stay in touch with from the show? Who did you make friends with? We actually all stayed in touch. We have a group chat where we try to get video calls together and just talk as much as we can.
Who won MasterChef Junior season 8?
10-year-old Liya Chu from Scarsdale, N.Y. won MasterChef Junior season 8.
Who won second place on MasterChef Junior season 8?
Grayson Price from Austin, TX took second place as the runner-up on MasterChef Junior season 8. Next, Cute Kids in the Kitchen! Everything We Know So Far About MasterChef Junior Season 8
