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You're entering the biggest cooking competition in the world, and you've never whipped cream?!

Trouble Brewing is the sixth episode in Season 9 of MasterChef. It aired on June 20, 2018 on FOX. On that episode, the Top 20 served beer-infused food at the Anheuser-Busch brewery, both teams' performances were mixed at best, banana cream pie was the main dish, and one cook was exposed for not practicing enough prior to competing on the show.

Team Challenge[]

The Top 20 arrive at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery for their first Team Challenge. Lindsay was exhilarated to be at one of the largest brewery's in the America. After making it to the cooking area, they spot the judges riding in carts and fork lifters; much to Taylor's and Ryan's amusements. Once everyone met up, Gordon announced the 101 Brewers Team Challenge. Joe explained that this challenge would involve cooking with beer in the sense that they would have to cook with one of the Beer Based Dishes:

  • Fried Chicken Sandwich with Beer Battered Onion Rings and Corn Salad
  • Beer Battered Fish N'Chip with Coleslaw & Tarter Sauce

Because Bowen & Chelsea won the Dungeness Crab Skills Test, they would be team captains. Despite being excited, Chelsea was also nervous because she was out of her comfort zone. Joe asked Chelsea which advantage she wants, in either having 1st team pick or having to choose the dish. Chelsea then chooses to have 1st team pick, much to Shanika's disappointment, as she strongly believed that she should of picked the dish 1st. Too Add insult to injury, Shanika was also picked to be on Chelsea's team, along with Caesar, Farhan, Taylor, Emily, Lindsay, Juni, Alecia, & Darrick; forming the Blue Team, a team that Shanika fears has way too many strong personalities. That left Bowen with Gerron, Ashley (much to her relief given the backgrounds some of her fellow teammates have that are beneficial in the long run), Samantha, Julia, SJ, Ralph, Mark, Ryan, & Matt; forming the Red Team by default. Once the teams were formed, Ramsay told Bowen to choose which dish he wanted to cook with. Bowen decided on the Fish N'Chip because he saw that it was the easiest dish of the 2 plus the fact that SJ won his apron by cooking fish. With the teams formed, Gordon revealed that the 101 Brewers would be provided with their own MasterChef $10 Bill (which just so happens to contain Gordon's face in it) as a way for the 101 Brewers to vote for which dish they prefer.

Both teams had 75 minutes of prep time to prepare their beer based dishes. Bowen then instantly demands that Matt should start frying the fish; much to SJ's concern, as it's too early to start cooking the fish right now. Despite this Bowen still goes ahead out of fears of not having enough fish cooked on time. In the blue kitchen, Chelsea was not direct with her team as she flip-flopped on ideas and was getting overwhelmed by her teammates' suggestions. Emily feared that Chelsea was getting overwhelmed with the responsibility of being team captain, to the point where everyone is lacking a sense of direction. Ramsay then visits the Red team and demands that they bring him the already cooked fish. Ramsay then shows them that the fish would become soggy in 10 minutes if they continue down this route; in addition to also showing bits and pieces of fish that are Raw, much to both Bowen's and SJ's embarrassment, with the latter admitting that he knew he should have said something earlier and feels disappointed in letting his mentor down.

Afterwards, the 101 brewers were arriving for lunch. Ramsay asked Chelsea if she plans on expediting for the Blue team, to which Chelsea says yes, although Lindsay still fears that Chelsea is still in the weeds without any clue on how to resolve the numerous issues surrounding the blue team. As more brewers came for lunch, the red team begins to fall behind on fries due to a communication breakdown between SJ and Mark; in which the latter claims that nobody told him that they needed fries right away; much to Julia's frustration and confusion. Meanwhile, back in the Blue kitchen, Lindsay discovers that some of the chicken is coming out raw; which prompts Gordon to call them out for nearly serving it to the brewers.

Joe then heads to the dining area to check on the status of the meals each of the brewers were served; to which both the Chicken Sandwich and the Fish N'Chip were given mixed reviews. Back on the Red Team SJ & Mark continue to have their communication breakdown, resulting in the fries coming out soggy. As such, some of the brewers are passing by without Fish N'Chip, to which Aaron points out that it equates to lost votes. Ramsay then demanded that SJ & Mark start communicating better so that they would be in sync when sending out the Fish & the Fries, to which they did, resulting in the red team from bouncing back from their hiccups with the fries. Meanwhile, the Blue Team then begins to face a major dilemma once Farhan discovers that due to Darrick's earlier hiccups of serving raw chicken and overcoating them with flower respectively; the Blue Team is officially running low on Chicken, much to everyone's fear. As such, Chelsea begins to panic even more just as Shanika had predicted. Gordon then steps in and tells Chelsea to serve them half a portion of Chicken instead of none at all to savage the evening. Eventually, every brewer was served their lunches, ending service. As everyone relaxed, Alecia notes how despite the hiccups, they managed to serve all 101 brewers and thought they could still win. On the other side, SJ wasn't confident that the red team would win, given the few brewers that didn't get Fish N'Chip.

Once the dishes were eaten, The brewers went to the barrels of beer they voted for, but the red team won the challenge in the end. That relieved Bowen as that meant the red team would not participate in the Pressure Test, and they celebrated with the brewers. As for the blue team, they would compete in the Pressure Test, disappointing Farhan as he knew that because of the lack of communication from all sides, the blue team was bound to lose.

Pressure Test[]

The blue team entered the kitchen in black aprons the following day as the red team watched from the balcony. Chelsea blamed herself for costing the blue team their defeat due to jumping around and not delegating enough. Before the challenge began, Ramsay announced that not everyone would be competing in the Pressure Test. Joe then mentions that only 7 members of the Blue Team will be participating in the pressure test and that the decision of who is safe will be made by Chelsea; to which she saved Caesar for doing as he was told, Juni, and Alecia for them keeping her spirits up in moments of desperation; much to Shanika's anger and confusion, as she felt that Chelsea was only saving people she got along with as opposed to people who worked hardest enough during the team challenge. Chelsea then replied that she wished that she could save everyone and that it was not an easy decision for her. For the seven remaining home cooks, Joe revealed that they must recreate banana cream pie.

Once the seven were back at their stations, Ramsay began the Banana Cream Pie Recreation Pressure Test. They had 60 minutes to recreate the dish. As the challenge began, Chelsea notes how she made banana pudding for her boyfriend back home and is confident in making a banana cream pie, although she also notes how she isn't used to people hating on her, while Lindsay was unfamiliar notes that she doesn't do a lot of baking but has practiced knowing full well that she was going to be on MasterChef. Taylor also mentioned that she never made a Banana cream pie before, although she does have knowledge in baking as well. Forty minutes left, Gordon checked on Darrick and asked how he's going to nail the challenge. Darrick said he was going to nail the crust 1st to start. Joe asked Emily why she was down participating in the pressure test, and the latter said there were variables she couldn't control. Nonetheless, Emily has stated that she was a baker, and that she managed to practice several times back in Wisconsin. Aaron checked on Farhan, who said that the closest to baking for him was making Indian Sweets for his dad back at home. Aaron reminded Farhan to always taste everything, even if it's just pastry. Twenty minutes left, Joe visits Shanika who echoed on Emily statement of "variables that are out of their control" to see if the same applied to her as well, to which Shanika replied that some people weren't meant to be leaders with what happened in the team challenge as proof of that. Chelsea then remarked that she agreed which is why she's also participating in the pressure test as well, However, Shanika was still not satisfied with the response. This then prompts Alecia (from the balcony), to step in to defend Chelsea;, leading to some back and forth between the former and Shanika. In the midst of all this, Chelsea herself begins to break down on the verge of tears; which then causes her to fumble under the pressure of screwing up with her Banana cream pie; much to the Judges Concern. Fortunately, Gordon steps in to check on Chelsea, who tells her that being a captain can be tough at times and that she shouldn't doubt herself because of it. As such, Chelsea Manages to redeem herself and continue with the challenge. During the last 10-15 Minutes, the judges notice how Shanika in the midst of cooking angry, accidentally over whipped her cream. She then decides to add more cream to it, much to the judges concern; as they fear it would complicate things even more for Shanika. Meanwhile, Aaron expresses concern for Farhan who was also falling behind in the challenge. Eventually, time was up, and everyone had their dishes cooked and plated on time.

Chelsea was up first to have her dish judged. Joe saw that the pie had the right amount of filling an whipped cream. When Emily went up, the presentation was textbook perfection, according to Aaron. Also, the flavor was spot on, with little to no criticism to say about the dish. When Farhan went up, he admitted that he had problems thickening the whipped cream, much to Gordon's concern. As he cut into the pie, Gordon notes that whipped cream was starting to blend in with the pastry, but the flavoring came out perfectly. When asked on whether or not he was a baker, Farhan said no, prompting Gordon to whisper in his ear that he will never become America's next MasterChef if he can't bake. Taylor was the fourth person up and hoped that the flavors of the pie is going to do Gordon Justice. Fortunately, Aaron cut into perfectly cooked pie. Despite the crust being clunky, Aaron called it a great effort. When Lindsay went up, she admitted that she didn't have time to caramelize the bananas properly. However, the seasoning was good on the Pie despite having a under caramelized bananas and Joe said that it was more on the salty side. Shanika was next, who admitted that she let the anger get the best of her; as was proven with the Overwhipped Cream. The final person up was Darrick, who doesn't really make pies despite his family having a recipe for multiple pies back at home. In addition, Darrick admits that he didn't add Vanilla beans and that it was his 1st time whipping cream; even going as far as to say that he didn't like whipped cream, much to Gordon's confusion. When asked on why came to MasterChef, Darrick stated that it was to learn; to which Gordon asked everyone else if they practiced before coming to MasterChef, in which everyone unanimously raised their hands.

Elimination[]

Once the dishes were judged, Aaron said that while some made good recreations of his dish, others failed, and one would be sent home. Aaron said that Emily won the challenge as her recreation brought in the best representation of the original. As Emily went up, she knew that she was going to make it given her Wisconsin background. Then, Aaron announced Taylor, Chelsea, and Lindsay as the other safe home cooks. As the trio went up, Taylor refused to throw away her second chance and show she was a strong individual who could win. That left Farhan, Shanika, and Darrick in the bottom three. Ramsay then asked for the eliminated contestant to untie their apron and place it in their bench, to which Darrick obliges. Leading Farhan, & Shanika to safety. Before leaving, Ramsay told Darrick to keep his head held up high. During his exit interview, Darrick recounted how he used to think that he did not have an ounce of creativity, but he found his passion in cooking. As such, he was proud to make it to the top 20, and isn't done cooking.

Trivia[]

  • Title Reference: The title refers to the brewery team challenge.
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