And it was 20-year-old Dara who took down the two adult men for the win! “I’ve never seen my age as a disadvantage,” she told Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “Also, I’ve been working in the industry since I was 12. Since my time on MasterChef Junior, I have been working in the industry. I have always been the baby in the kitchen. I was 16 and I was on the opening team of Dominique Ansel Bakery.” Dara also pointed out that since several of this season’s contestants were from seasons that aired after her season of MasterChef Junior, they’ve only had maybe five years of professional experience compared to her eight. “So even though I’m only 20 on the show, I had more experience,” she added. Dara’s winning menu was based on a combination of some childhood favorites plus the French techniques she learned at culinary school: Appetizer: Crispy Skin Red Snapper with Grilled Asparagus and Miso Bearnaise Sauce Entrée: Chinese Style Short Ribs with Japanese Potato, Spiced Carrots, Caramelized Onions and Carrot Top Gremolata Dessert: Vanilla Ile Flottante with Crème Anglaise, Tropical Fruit and Caramelized Forbidden Rice But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Just minutes before the end of the appetizer round, Dara had a problem with her Miso Bearnaise sauce and it looked as if she wasn’t going to be able to get it fixed in time! “The first round the whole sauce thing happened and my blender wasn’t working,” she explained. “So, it did throw me off my game. I panicked a little bit. Genuinely, I had like five minutes to make my sauce and get my three plates done. I still don’t even really know how I got it all done. It threw me off my game a little bit, but I feel like I was able to bounce back and finish those two rounds strong.” Dara isn’t sure yet how she plans to spend the $250,000 prize money or where she will put the Vikking kitchen because she doesn’t own her own home yet, but she does know that she plans to continue working in the culinary business. “I am 21 and I’ve been doing this for a long time, which is so crazy to say as a 21-year-old,” she pointed out. “I’ve seen my career path take so many different forms over the past eight years. I’m really excited to continue that journey and see where it takes me. I thrive in a commercial kitchen. I definitely want to eventually have some type of food business. I don’t know if that’s a restaurant or a café or catering, but I definitely have plans to continue that passion.” In addition, Dara is passionate about teaching and educating and she would also like to pursue that, sharing her knowledge with other young, upcoming cooks, and she may turn to TV or the internet as a way of fulfilling that desire. “I’ve always looked up to chefs such as Anthony Bourdain and now Kristen Kish has a show,” she said. “And so, I would love to do something in that space and maybe have my own show one day.” In the meantime, she gets to enjoy finally sharing the news that she won season 12, which she has had to keep a secret since filming wrapped last year. “It’s surreal, to be honest,” she said. “I really went back into the MasterChef kitchen just like, ‘You know what, let’s see how it goes. Let’s just have fun and see what happens.’ Obviously, this is the ideal turnout. We filmed the show almost eight months ago and I’ve been holding this huge secret in. Now that I can finally talk about it and finally say that I’m the winner, it hasn’t quite hit me yet. I think maybe in the next week or so it’ll happen.” During our chat with Dara, we also talked about her strategy going into the final cook, where she gets her ideas for what to make for each challenge, how much luck plays a part, her favorite dish she made, and more! What was your strategy going into the final cook? I feel like for the Top 20 to Top 5 to the semifinals, I was really trying to figure out the MasterChef kitchen again and the competition and just really finding my footing in the competition. It’s really hard with the pressure and just things being thrown at us left and right. But by the time I got to the semifinals, I felt like I was pretty confident in myself at that point. I knew that I just needed to stay focused and get into my zone. I knew what I had to make and what I had to do. I felt really prepared, but I also knew that if I had to adapt or make changes that I could do that. Having plans A, B, C, D and E. All season long they throw things at you and say, “This is the challenge.” How do you come up with the ideas? It seems like such a quick turnaround before you have to run into the kitchen and start filling up your baskets. A big part of the competition is not just your cooking skills, but your creative skills and your ability to think on your feet. Yeah, a lot of the time those challenges are just thrown at us, and you have to pull something out of your back pocket that you know. There’s that fine line between do you go with something you’re comfortable with and you know how to cook? Or do you step out of your comfort zone and try something new and hope and pray that it works? I think especially this season you saw a lot of that happening with people stepping out of their comfort zone. With Derrick, he made that lobster tail en croute and it worked out for him. But sometimes people step a little too far out of the box. Yeah, it’s really a game. I was wondering if some of what happens in the MasterChef kitchen is due to the luck of the draw. For example, if Derrick hadn’t partnered with Amanda on that paired challenge, would he have survived? It seemed to me he was headed toward the finale, as well. Yeah, that day, that challenge was insanity in itself. I think that challenge was less about the cooking and more about how you navigated that challenge. I thought I was going home that day. It was a complete shock what happened with Derrick and Amanda. Derrick was one of the strongest cooks in the competition. He came out guns a blazing. He made it known that he was there to win and was not backing down. I think sometimes as much as we want to be able to control the competition or have it go our way, sometimes things just happen. At the end of the day, it is a competition and it’s a TV show. Which reminds me. How hard was it for you when Fred left? It was kind of crazy. When I first flew back to L.A. to start filming the show, I had no idea who was going to be on this season. I had been pretty far removed. I was on Junior, so I didn’t really have connections to the MasterChef contestants. I know that they had been talking and connecting to try to figure out who was going to be on this season, but it was a complete surprise to me. I immediately connected with Fred, Bri, Samantha, and Gabe. We were the youngest ones on the season and we would sit together every day while we were all there, sit at the same table backstage, and help each other with our dishes. It was really hard to lose them back-to-back. Fred is like a brother to me now and was during the competition. We were holding each other up, but we got to that tag team challenge and then I think he was mentally preparing himself for elimination but was really encouraging me to stay in the game and keep cooking and doing my best. What was your favorite thing that you made this season? I think any of the baking challenges obviously. The cake, I was really proud of that cake. It’s funny, I’ve been getting messages and I see comments about how my cake was better than the original. But I was really proud of that because I take pride in my baking and pastries, especially my cakes. To get that recognition was really nice. I think, also, the semifinals. I felt really strong in the semifinals, and I felt like my Baked Alaska worked out how I wanted it to. And the cook-along. That cook-along was crazy. To be cooking along with Gordon—Gordon does not stop, he’s so quick. The cuts of MasterChef, the show, are super quick, but that’s how he moves in real life. I was keeping up with him, so that was really nice. The MasterChef kitchen has all these wonderful ingredients, maybe things that you can’t afford in real life. Was there something that you tried because it was there that you had never made before? Yeah, that pantry is incredible. I wish that I could have spent more than five minutes in there each time. They had truffles and morel mushrooms in there at one point. Morels are a very luxury item. There were also some really great seasonings, too, like oils. I would always try to grab a spice that I didn’t really know or if I saw a fancy oil, but nothing off the top of my head that stands out as luxury or super special. One of the prizes that you win is a complete Viking kitchen. But you don’t own your own house yet, do you? So, what are you going to do? It’s funny, after I was on MasterChef Junior, I got some projects and had some money and I actually bought some appliances for my mom and for our home kitchen, so we have pretty new appliances. Yeah, it’s funny I have this Viking kitchen now. Still living at home currently but we’ll see. My mom does cook a lot, as well, so still figuring that out. We talked about the Viking kitchen. But what about the money? You win $250,000. Have you thought about how you’re going to spend that? Yeah, it’s a lot of money as a 21-year-old. I’ve been a student my whole life basically, so I haven’t seen that much money. I’m 21 so that amount of money, if I’m smart with it, can take me far in my life. So, I definitely want to invest a good amount of it. But, also, invest in some passion projects and possible future food businesses. But I think I am going to invest a majority of it but then take some of it and travel. That is what I really want to do. I’ve always been passionate about travel and learning about culture and different foods. So, yeah, that’s the plan for right now. But that could completely change. Maybe a car. Next, Get Cooking! MasterChef Season 12 Returns With an All-Star, Second Chance, Redemption Season
