Storm's A Brewin' (Season 14, Episode 13)

Hello everyone!

I have talked about doing write-ups of older episodes of MasterChef, and I feel that the time to do so is now! 

As there are so many episodes in the series, I am not going to go in order from the beginning. Instead, I will be putting the season numbers into the Random Number Generator, seeing which season it lands on, and then putting in the number of episodes into it, and then seeing which episode it lands on. 

With all that out of the way, we are going to start our rewatch journey with Episode 13 of Season 14, Storm’s A Brewin’!

For this challenge, the home cooks all had to make dishes that featured Coffee. In order to prove that it was possible to make a dish featuring Coffee, Chef Ramsay gave a cooking demonstration, in which he incorporated Coffee in five ways. He started off by putting a Dry Coffee Rub on a Filet Mignon, which he said helps it tenderize, then put some Oil in a pan, and then put some Garlic, Thyme, and Rosemary in the pan as well. 

He then got out another pan, which was where he was going to make his Sauce. He started off by chopping some Shallots, which he said was going to start a Cafe Au Lait Sauce. He then put some Garlic in, sweated the Shallots off, and then put a Coffee Butter on the Shallots, and then poured in some Bourbon and flambeed the Sauce, which burned off the Alcohol. He then said that they now had the sweetness from the Shallots and the bitterness from the Espresso. He then poured in a few tablespoons of Stock.

He then put the pan with the Filet Mignon into the oven for four minutes, and then poured a couple tablespoons of Cream into the Sauce.

He then got out some Mushrooms and scored them in a crisscross fashion, seasoned them with Salt & Pepper, and then dusted them with an Espresso Dust with Porcini, saying that the Coffee would extract the Water from the Mushrooms and make them a lot crispier.

He then poured the Sauce through the sieve, and then started roasting his Mushrooms.

He then got some Belgian Endive out, which he described as being incredibly bitter, so he dusted them lightly with Powdered Sugar to extract the bitterness, and then drizzled Coffee Liqueur on them, as well as Balsamic Vinegar, which starts to marinate it, and gives them the sweet, the sour, and the bitterness.

He then started basting the Mushrooms in the Coffee Butter, took the Filet Mignon out of the oven and let it sit, and started sautéing the Endive.

He then took some Boiled Sweet Potatoes out of a pan that had been on the oven, put them in the blender, put the Coffee Butter in there as well, and then started to whip up the Potatoes with the blender.

He then plated his finished dish, and if you’re curious as to what it looked like, here it is.

I don’t know about you guys, but I would absolutely be willing to give this dish a try.

From there, Joe Bastianich told them they had 45 minutes to make a dish incorporating Coffee, and while Chef Ramsay used it in five different ways, the home cooks had to use it in two different ways. Joe then said that the home cooks could go either sweet or savory, but with only 45 minutes of cook time, a sweet dish might be too much of a challenge.

Chef Ramsay then spoke to Kimberly and Michael, who had won the Immunity Pins for winning the Tag Team Challenge in the previous episode, and told them that they could now pick three home cooks that HAD to make desserts featuring Coffee. They chose to target three of the strongest cooks in the competition at that time, who were Adam, Rebecka, and Becca. Yes, there were two contestants this season named Rebecka and Becca. That’s not even the weirdest thing with the names of home cooks this season, as I will explain to you all later.

This meant that those three contestants had to make a dessert, while the other six contestants could make whatever they wanted, as long as they incorporated Coffee in at least two ways. 

From there, the cook time started, and the home cooks started explaining what they were making. 

Hallie explained that she was making a Coffee Rubbed Lamb with a Coffee-Salt Finish on her Potatoes, which is a dish that I would be willing to try. 

Chef Ramsay then explained that the reason why you would cook with Coffee is because it has an amazing flavor, and as a result, the acidity is equivalent to the Tannins in Wine, and it also tenderizes whatever protein you are cooking. But the dangers of cooking with Coffee include the fact that if the pan is too hot, it burns and becomes bitter, and Coffee Liqueur is so powerful that you have to be careful with how you integrate it, as it can completely overpower a dish.

Becca, who had told the judges earlier that she does not drink Coffee for religious reasons, told Chef Ramsay that she was making a No-Bake Coffee Cheesecake with Coffee Liqueur Caramel Syrup and Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans. She also told Chef Ramsay that even though she couldn’t taste her dish as she was making it, she was confident in the balances and measurements she had, and she was also going by smell.

As Warren was explaining his dish to the judges, they pointed out that his Sauce was over-reduced, going to burn in a millisecond, and become bitter, so needed to get some Beef Stock.

One of the home cooks that was targeted in this challenge, Rebecka, found herself having trouble, as she didn’t put parchment paper at the bottom of her pan, so the filling came out, she had to throw out her Pastry Dough, and had to start over with 22 minutes to go.

Horacio then told Chef Ramsay that he was making a Filet Mignon with a Cafe Au Lait and Peppercorn Rub, a Coffee Sweet Reduction on Shallots and Brussels Sprouts, and Mashed Potatoes, which is a dish that I would absolutely be willing to try. Also, as I was just writing this, I realized that he essentially made a version of the exact same dish that Chef Ramsay made. I’m not sure whether this is smart or just lazy.

A little later, time was up, and the judges went around to have one final look at all the dishes to decide who landed in the top and who landed in the bottom. 

The first dish that landed in the top belonged to Kamay, who made a Coffee Rubbed Lamb Chop with Couscous, Coffee Spiced Carrots, and Port Cherry Coffee Reduction Sauce, which is another dish that I would be willing to try. Here’s a picture of it for those of you who are curious as to what it looked like. 

The judges said that the Lamb was cooked perfectly, the Coffee was giving it a nice acidic note, the Couscous was fragrant, light, and delicious, and the Carrots were exceptional. 

The next dish that landed in the top belonged to Murt. For those of you who are wondering what kind of name that is, allow me to explain. It is actually a nickname, as his real name is Christopher Murton, and the reason why he had to go by a nickname was because there were THREE other contestants this season named Christopher, which is just completely insane. 

Now that that’s out of the way, the dish that he made was a Deconstructed Stuffed Pepper with Coffee Infused Hanger Steak, Coffee Corn, Avocado Crema, and Cilantro Rice, which is another dish that I would be willing to give a try. Here’s a picture of what it looked like for those of you who are curious. 

Chef Ramsay immediately commented that it was a clever use of the Coffee, then said that it had a really nice acidic flavor, but he didn’t think the Avocado with the Coffee worked, but the deconstruction of the Pepper and the Hanger Steak were perfect.

The last dish that landed in the top belonged to Warren, who made a Coffee Crusted Veal Chop with Parsnip Puree, Coffee Roasted Cabbage, and Red Wine Coffee Reduction Sauce, which is another dish that I would be willing to try. For those of you curious as to what it looked like, here’s a picture of it.

Joe Bastianich immediately said that visually, he saw a real risk of extraction and flavor on the plate, so he was hoping that it all worked together. 

Chef Ramsay then cut into the Veal Chop, asking Warren what temperature he was going for, to which he responded that he was going for medium rare, but unfortunately, it was just a tad overcooked. He then said that the Veal was delicious, but when Warren was basting it, he needed to season it again, as it was falling flat of some Salt notes, but the fragrance was there from the Coffee, and it was a nice pairing. Judge Aaron Sanchez also said tasting the Mushrooms and the Coffee together gave a really nice earthiness. 

From there, the judges picked the best dish of the night, which was the one made by Kamay, which is not surprising at all, as they did not have any minor criticisms with her dish at all.

Then, it was time for the judges to call out the three worst dishes of the night.

The first dish that landed in the bottom belonged to Rebecka, who made a Coffee Custard Crinkle Cake with Chocolate Coffee Sauce, which is a dish that I would absolutely be willing to try if it was made correctly. Here’s an image of what the dish itself actually looked like.

Joe immediately called out that she had too much ambition when making the dish, as there was a chance that she was now presenting something that was completely liquid on the inside, and the dish itself had a lot of jeopardy that she created for herself. 

The judges cut into it, and were clearly surprised to find out that it had actually set. Chef Ramsay then said that the flavor of the Custard was good, it had set, and the Coffee Extract was there, but the Phyllo couldn’t get crispy underneath. Aaron then said that he also thought the Custard was good, and the fact that the Coffee came through so much helped save a lot of the mishaps with the Cake. Joe then said that she had an incredible amount of raw Phyllo Dough, and that she took a risk-less dish and did everything she could to make problems for herself, and ultimately created a dessert that was not good, and then Chef Ramsay chimed in and said the only correct thing about the dish was Kimberly and Michael’s decision to give her dessert.

The next dish that landed in the bottom belonged to Adam, who made a Coffee Infused Panna Cotta with Coffee Liqueur Poached Pear, Mascarpone Whipped Cream, and Reduced Coffee Liqueur Syrup, which is another dish that I would be willing to try if it was made correctly. Here’s a picture of what the dish looked like.

The judges immediately acknowledged that it looked like a mess and he overthought it, as there is no way to get a Panna Cotta to set in 45 minutes. When they actually tasted it, they said that the flavors were good, but it had not set at all, and Joe even said that a Panna Cotta is supposed to be like Firm Jell-O, while Adam’s Panna Cotta could be drank like a Milkshake.

The last dish that landed in the bottom belonged to Daniela, who made a Coffee Crusted Chicken Breast with a Mole Inspired Sauce and Patty Pan Squash, which is another dish that I would consider trying. Here’s a picture of the dish, in case you’re curious about what it looked like. 

Chef Ramsay immediately said that the dish looked swamped, and he also pointed out that she cooked the Chicken in a cast iron pan, took it out of the pan, and put it on a cold tray in the oven. As soon as the judges cut the Chicken open, they immediately saw that it was raw, and tried to see if there was any bit of it they could salvage, but the best they could have was a tiny piece at the end. Chef Ramsay then said that the tiny piece of Chicken that he had was seasoned beautifully, and the Mole Inspired Sauce spent more time in the blender than cooking out, so there was a lot of raw spices in it.

From there it was very unsurprising what happened, as Daniela was eliminated, because no matter how bad your dish might be, it’s not as bad as serving raw food. 

Overall, I had a great time revisiting this episode! I hope you all enjoyed reading what I had to say, and I’ll see you all soon to talk about another one!