The Mind of a Chef Episode Rating Graph

Travel with Ed to the foothills of the Andes to explore the most elemental part of cooking: fire.

Host Sean Brock prepares an outdoor feast on a friend's farm, where he's joined by barbecue pitmaster Rodney Scott, who roasts a whole pig; and Steven Satterfield, who makes Savannah red rice. Brock also prepares frogmore stew

Chang travels to Tokyo and Kyoto where he visits a street market and Kikunoi, a Michelin three-star restaurant.

Trois Mec and Petit Trois can be found side-by-side in a Hollywood strip mall, nestled between a dry cleaners and a Yum Yum donut. Ludo’s restaurants and the dishes he creates for them embody the cultural mash-up and high/low flair that is the strip mall philosophy.

The resurrection of Carolina gold rice, which disappeared following the Civil War era, is examined. Included: making pilaf and Hoppin' John fritters. Also: Louisiana chef Donald Link makes jambalaya; and Senegalese chef Fati Ly makes pilau.

Korean-American Author and Chef David Chang visits a noodle factory in Japan, eats the best bowl of ramen in his life, and cooks two incredible dishes with the instant ramen variety. Food Scientist Harold McGee explains how alkaline salts make ramen noodles unique.

There is something rotten in David Chang’s kitchen and that’s a good thing. Rotten is delicious; katsuibushi in Japan, XO sauce, rotten bananas with Chef Christina Tosi, and Kimchi.

A look at Louisiana cuisine features a visit to Middendorf's Restaurant in Akers, La., with food writer John T. Edge; and a frogging excursion with chef Donald Link.

This episode is all soy; Chang visits tofu and miso factories in Japan, Chef Christina Tosi makes Burnt Miso.

Chang profiles regional BBQ in North Carolina, Texas, and Kansas City plus the other-worldly smoky bacon from Allen Benton in Tennessee.

This episode is all New York with the Torrsi boys, oysters, carrot dashi, and farming. Plus Chang visits native New Yorker Ivan Ramen in Tokyo where he is making ramen that is taking the city by storm.

Chang cooks and goofs around with his friends; Peter Meehan in Japan, Laurant Gras, Set Bains, and Rene Redzepi in Copenhagen.

This episode explores the idea of fresh in the kitchen; instant broth, pea agnollini, fresh and aged steak with Chef Tien and Ike Jime with Dave Arnold and Chef Murata in Kyoto.

It all began when Sean Brock went looking for Jimmy red corn. That simple journey turned into a lifetime of searching, archiving and reviving lost crops of the South. His partners in crime are legendary owner and operator of Anson Mills, Glen Roberts, and University of South Carolina professor David Shields — a trifecta of seed nerds hell-bent on preserving Southern food heritage.

Dishes in this episode are deceivingly simple; Chang travels to Japan for some Yakitori and high-end sushi, and his pal Daniel Patterson makes beets.

Chang hangs out with one of his best friends- who happens to be the world’s top chef- Rene Redzepi.

This episode is all about Spain’s influence on Chang’s career. He visits with some of his idols- Juan Mari Arzak and Andoni Aduriz, makes fideos, salt cod omelet and a sponge cake from chef Albert Adria.

From the smokehouse to the plate, see why country ham is one of Ed’s favorite ingredients from the Bluegrass State.

It’s gluttonous goodness in this episode; over the top indulgence with Joe Beef chefs Federic Morin and David McMillian’s fois gras sandwich, a whiskey tasting Mayhem with Chef Sean Brock at Buffalo Trace in Kentucky and the classic dish Hot Brown served up three ways.

Chang makes eggs with his chef pals; Wylie Dufresne, Daniel Patterson, Rene Redzepi, and makes his Ko egg.

Head to Houston, Texas, where a sweat-inducing crawfish dinner exemplifies how flavors can blend together to create an entirely new American cuisine.

Danny has been to China several times, but he’s visited Chengdu (the geographical and spiritual capital of Szechuan food) only once. He’s returning here to reconnect with the place, the food and the person – renowned chef Yu Bo – that have influenced him the most. Szechuan food has been the greatest source of inspiration for Danny, and consequently his life. This episode is about the dishes, cooking methods, unique flavors and stories (both his and Yu Bo’s) that have driven Danny on a quest to master this style of food.

Ed tends bar and serves up a tentacled dish for actress and bourbon-lover Aisha Tyler.

Preservation techniques that play an important role in Southern culture are discussed, including drying, salt-curing, canning and fermentation.

Food is evolution, and wise chefs never forget from whence they came. A solid foundation allows them to test new boundaries and push things to new limits.

Examine how the bonds of tradition help to forge the identities of families and individuals.

It takes a great chef to make a great chef. This episode is all about paying homage to the greatest culinary minds in the world. Fergus Henderson, Eric Ripert, Pascal Barbot and more spend some quality time cooking with our alumni.

What would have happened if Danny never left Oklahoma, or was not adopted at all? Instead of looking at life as a series of “what ifs,” the lens of the multiverse allows us to see a reality with infinite possibilities and infinite selves. In this, Danny is still an orphan, and is not an orphan, he opens a Chinese bakery, he grows up in Korea, and he is even a puppet.

April travels four hours outside London to Cornwall to visit and cook with farmer and chef Tom Adams on his farm. Tom raises the cute, furry and delicious mangalitsa pigs. April and Tom butcher and cook the entire pig piece by piece: loin, shoulder, belly and head.

We take a long, hard look at the cherry on top of a dining experience. On the menu is burnt miso apple pie, the English classic banoffee pie, and sorghum ice cream, so grab a spoon.

Having been raised in a large family with many mouths to feed, to then needing to fend for herself from a very young age, Gabrielle Hamilton is the master of utilizing scraps.

Nobody gets a say in the life they’re born into. Thrust into a body, a family, a country and a history, the story of our lives are merely the sum of an endless combination of circumstantial factors determining who we will know, how we will fare, who we will become. But for those adopted, their origins are complicated as the where they were born fuses with the world in which they’re raised. Danny Bowien was born in Korea but only spent the first 3 months of his infant life there. He was adopted and raised by American parents in Oklahoma — religious, hard-working folks – and instead of a life in Seoul, Danny grows up in suburban middle-America. Adapting to this life was easy, for it was all he knew, but he constantly carried traces of his past with him, superficially and also buried deep below.

It’s an age-old saying, but where you have been is almost as important as where you are going and ultimately makes you who you are today. Gabrielle Hamilton has traveled the country and the world, but sometimes, it’s good to go back to your roots.

The demands of a celebrity chef, especially one that runs three vibrant restaurants and a fried chicken franchise, are rigorous. When Ludo needs to escape the chaos, he heads to the lilting and poetic world of Paris in the spring, where the emphasis is placed on the joy and fun of life.

Nothing is more calming or inspiring than the sea, and living in Santa Cruz, David is never far from one of his many muses.

Diners these days can be pickier than ever, and they seem to have no problem telling a chef how to do his or her job. Allergies, self-diagnosed sensitivities and customer “dislikes” have become the bane of several chefs’ existence.

When it comes to preparations, few could be as delightful and decadent as a good, old-fashioned deep fry. We dip THE MIND OF A CHEF basket in hot oil, serving up everything from oyster poboys to pig’s head, from alligator filets to sardine spines.

The influence of West Africa on Southern cuisine is explored during a visit to Senegal. Historian and chef Fati Ly leads a tour of the markets in Dakar and M'Bour; and cooks theibou yapp, a traditional Sengalese dish.

Chef April Bloomfield visits London, where she began her cooking career. Cooking walnut tagliatelle with chef Ruth Rogers. Making rabbit pie with chef Fergus Henderson, and enjoying a pint and scotch eggs with chef Rowley Leigh.

Chef Bloomfield wrestles with the questions every aspiring new or expanding veteran chef has to confront. April and her business partner, Ken Friedman, explore the challenges of opening their first out-of-state venture in San Francisco: Tosca. April is inspired by a local morning bun, and she’s busy in the kitchen testing and tasting dishes for her new menu.

Explore the ways that the Scandinavian people have survived winter through the practice of preservation and aging with Chef Magnus Nilsson.

From a very young age, Gabrielle Hamilton was left alone in her home to fend for herself. She rummaged through what was left in the pantry and refrigerator and satisfied her hunger with what she could scavenge. At 16, she moved to New York City where she used her jar of change to feed herself. All her experiences with hunger made her the chef she is today.

Things can change in an instant, as David discovered in July of 2014, when he got a fateful call that his restaurant Manresa had burned nearly to the ground.

From the NYC classic egg on a roll to Faroe Island fulmar egg and curry, re-fall in love with the best egg dishes from our archives. Crack it open, and let the fun begin.

Does an artist follow instinct, training or intuition…or perhaps all three? This episode examines the ties between artists and their education, and how childlike wonder can, in fact, translate into a career.

We open the birdcage on some of our familiar (and some not so familiar) poultry dishes. Chinese chicken noodle soup, and chicken and dumplings make an appearance, but also stuffed Faroe Island puffin and duck-on-a-string.

Milan is a meeting ground of both contemporary and classic Italian culture. But what really entices Gabrielle Hamilton are the small details, an embroidered curtain, a classically non-garnished plate, a perfectly folded napkin.

Explore how seasons affect a restaurant’s menu when the food is sourced in a 100-mile radius.

Surviving the restaurant game for 15 years in New York City takes some major hustle. From lying about her age to get her first dishwasher gig to lying about her tips, getting busted and charged with grand larceny, hustling was the easy part in running a restaurant for Gabrielle Hamilton.

This episode aims to prove that nasty bits have been given a bad rap and deserve to be on the kitchen table along with meatloaf and mashed potatoes. In the kitchen, April cooks faggots, bubble and squeak and pig parts; Fergus Henderson works his offal magic on kidneys.

Today’s chef reveres his gardener as much as his butcher. Ludo explores the vegetables, gardens, and memories he uses to cook some of his dishes.

Ludo came up under mentors like Alain Passard and Mark Meneau, chefs with an almost pathological obsession with ingredients. His eyes light up when he describes the Lobsters of Brittany, the Oysters from Cancale, and the myriad of other extraordinary culinary jewels in the oceanic bounty of France.