The Mind of a Chef
The Mind of a Chef is a non-fiction television series on PBS narrated and executive produced by Anthony Bourdain, and combines travel, cooking, history, and science.[1] The first season premiered on November 9, 2012 with host David Chang.[2] Season 2 premiered on September 7, 2013 and starred chefs Sean Brock and April Bloomfield. Season 3 premiered on September 6, 2014 and stars chefs Edward Lee and Magnus Nilsson.[3] Chefs Gabrielle Hamilton [4] and David Kinch [5] were featured in Season 4. Season 5 will feature chef Ludo Lefebvre.[6] Each season consists of 16 episodes.
Episodes[7]
Season 1
Episode Number | Title | Airdate |
---|---|---|
1 | "Noodle" | November 9, 2012 |
David Chang makes instant ramen dishes and tsukemen. He travels to Japan for a bowl of the original tsukemen and visits a noodle factory. | ||
2 | "Pig" | November 9, 2012 |
Explore David Chang's relationship to the pig. He travels to San Sebastian to discuss pork bushi, prepares pork belly and tonkotsu, and more. | ||
3 | "Memory" | November 9, 2012 |
This episode explores David Chang's past: dishes from childhood, summer eating, his time in Japan and golf. | ||
4 | "Spain" | November 9, 2012 |
Learn all about Spain's influence on David Chang's career. He visits with some of his idols and makes fideos, a salt cod omelet and a sponge cake. | ||
5 | "Rotten" | November 16, 2012 |
David Chang explores cooking with rotten food: katsuobushi in Japan, XO sauce, rotten bananas with Chef Christina Tosi, and Kimchi. | ||
6 | "Rene" | November 16, 2012 |
David Chang hangs out with one of his best friends, Rene Redzepi, who happens to be the world's top chef. | ||
7 | "Simple" | November 23, 2012 |
Focusing on simple dishes, David Chang travels to Japan for some yakitori and high-end sushi, while his pal Daniel Patterson prepares beets. | ||
8 | "Gluttony" | November 23, 2012 |
David Chang explores indulgence in this episode with Joe Beef chefs Frederic Morin and David McMillian's foie 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. | ||
9 | "Chef" | November 23, 2012 |
David Chang prepares eggs with his chef pals -- Wylie Dufresne, Daniel Patterson and Rene Redzepi -- and makes his Ko egg. | ||
10 | "Japan" | November 23, 2012 |
David Chang travels from Tokyo to Kyoto to meet and eat with friends. He visits a street market in Tokyo and Michelin three-star restaurant Kikunoi. | ||
11 | "New York" | November 30, 2012 |
Enjoy this all-New York episode with the Torrisi boys, oysters, carrot dashi, farming, and visit a New Yorker in Tokyo whose ramen is wowing the city. | ||
12 | "Fresh" | November 30, 2012 |
This episode explores the idea of fresh in the kitchen: instant broth, pea agnollini, fresh and aged steak and "ike jime. | ||
13 | "Soy" | November 30, 2012 |
Savor an entire episode devoted to soy. David Chang visits tofu and miso factories in Japan, chef Christina Tosi makes burnt miso apple pie, and more. | ||
14 | "Sweet Spot" | November 30, 2012 |
David Chang's protégé Christina Tosi makes corn cookies three ways and her three-layered Arnold Palmer cake. Chef Burns makes ice cream. | ||
15 | "Smoke" | December 7, 2012 |
David Chang profiles regional barbecue in North Carolina, Texas and Kansas City and the otherworldly smoky bacon from Allen Benton in Tennessee. | ||
16 | "Buddies" | December 7, 2012 |
David Chang cooks and goofs around with his friends Peter Meehan in Japan, and Laurent Gras, Sat Bains and Rene Redzepi in Copenhagen. |
Season 2
Episode Number | Title | Airdate |
---|---|---|
1 | "Southerners" | September 7, 2013 |
Chef Sean Brock explores Southern cuisine. He travels to Prince's Hot Chicken in Nashville, TN, Chef John Currence makes tamales, Husk Nashville Pastry Chef Lisa Donovan makes buttermilk pie, and Sean and the Lee Brothers visit Fishnet's Seafood just outside Charleston, SC. | ||
2 | "Seeds" | September 14, 2013 |
This episode focuses on reviving lost Southern crops like Jimmy Red Corn. Sean makes Jimmy Red Corn Grits and Chestnut Bread with a Red Sieve bean salad. Guests include Glenn Roberts, owner and operator of Anson Mills, and University of South Carolina professor, Dr. David Shields. | ||
3 | "Rice" | September 21, 2013 |
This episode is all about rice and its role in Southern cuisine. Sean visits Anson Mills to see where they grow and mill Carolina Gold rice. In the fields at Anson Mills, Sean and Glen prepare an Appalachian classic, perlou. And in Nashville, Sean makes Hoppin’ John and Chef Ed Lee shows Sean how to make Korean BBQ. | ||
4 | "Louisiana" | September 28, 2013 |
This episode focuses on the influence Louisianan cuisine has on Sean Brock. Historian and food-writer John T Edge of the Southern Food Alliance takes Sean to Middendorf’s Restaurant to eat shaved catfish. In the kitchen, Sean makes a gumbo and his version of the catfish chip. Chef Donald Link takes Sean frogging then cooks up a frog dish. | ||
5 | "Preserve" | October 5, 2013 |
In this episode, Sean Brock explores preservation techniques such as drying, salt curing, canning, and fermentation. | ||
6 | "Roots" | October 12, 2013 |
In this episode, Sean Brock explores his roots of rural Virginia and prepares a typical Appalachian dinner, cooks chicken and dumplings with his mom, and learns how to make fried okra and country ham with chef Joseph Lenn at Blackberry Farms. | ||
7 | "Lowcountry BBQ" | October 19, 2013 |
In this episode, Sean Brock and pit-master Rodney Scott roast a whole pig, Steven Satterfield makes Savannah Red Rice, and Mike Lata prepares Frogmore stew. | ||
8 | "Senegal" | October 26, 2013 |
In this episode, Chef Sean Brock traces the roots of Southern cuisine to Senegal and meets with Fatimata Ly to explore the markets of Dakar and M’Bour and cook the traditional Senegalese dish Theibou Yapp. | ||
9 | "London" | November 2, 2013 |
Travel with Chef April Bloomfield to London, where her cooking career began. | ||
10 | "Sea/Salt" | November 9, 2013 |
Focus on April's love of the sea, which is deep and fully realized. | ||
11 | "Curry" | November 16, 2013 |
Explore the origins of curry and England's versions of this historic cuisine. | ||
12 | "Italian" | November 23, 2013 |
Explore April Bloomfield's deep love for Italian cuisine and its influence on her cooking. | ||
13 | "British Classics" | November 30, 2013 |
Review some of the signature dishes of UK cuisine: bangers and mash, fish-n-chips, and pies. | ||
14 | "Farmer" | December 7, 2013 |
Travel to Cornwall with April, who visits farmer and chef Tom Adams on his pig farm. | ||
15 | "Leftovers" | December 14, 2013 |
Find out why "nasty bits" deserve to be on the kitchen table. | ||
16 | "Restaurateur" | December 21, 2013 |
Follow April Bloomfield as she wrestles with the questions every chef has to confront. |
Season 3
Episode Number | Title | Airdate |
---|---|---|
1 | "Origin" | September 6, 2014 |
Ed returns to his roots in East Brooklyn and the eclectic mix of cuisines that inspired how he cooks today. | ||
2 | "American" | September 13, 2014 |
Head to Houston, Texas, where a sweat-inducing crawfish dinner exemplifies how flavors can blend together to create an entirely new American cuisine. | ||
3 | "Argentina" | September 20, 2014 |
Travel with Ed to the foothills of the Andes to explore the most elemental part of cooking: fire. | ||
4 | "Louisville" | September 27, 2014 |
Taste the food and culture of Louisville, Kentucky, the place Ed now calls home. | ||
5 | "Kentucky" | October 4, 2014 |
From the smokehouse to the plate, see why country ham is one of Ed’s favorite ingredients from the Bluegrass State. | ||
6 | "Latitude" | October 11, 2014 |
What grows together, goes together. Ed explores combining the food of different cultures as culinary borders disappear. | ||
7 | "Impermanence" | October 18, 2014 |
The more things change… the more they continue to change. Explore the ephemeral with Ed as he tries his hand at cooking alternative meats. | ||
8 | "Bourbon" | October 25, 2014 |
Ed tends bar and serves up a tentacled dish for actress and bourbon-lover Aisha Tyler. | ||
9 | "Winter" | November 1, 2014 |
Explore the ways that the Scandinavian people have survived winter through the practice of preservation and aging with Chef Magnus Nilsson. | ||
10 | "Spring" | November 8, 2014 |
Spring brings new ingredients to the flavors of Magnus’s creations. | ||
11 | "Creation" | November 15, 2014 |
Follow the life cycle of an ingredient as it transforms from an idea into a dish at Magnus’s restaurant. | ||
12 | "France" | November 22, 2014 |
Return with Magnus to France, a place that had a profound impact on his culinary career. | ||
13 | "Traditions" | November 29, 2014 |
Examine how the bonds of tradition help to forge the identities of families and individuals. | ||
14 | "Locality" | December 6, 2014 |
Explore how seasons affect a restaurant’s menu when the food is sourced in a 100-mile radius. | ||
15 | "Documentation" | December 13, 2014 |
Journey with Magnus around the region as he researches and documents Nordic traditions. | ||
16 | "Fäviken" | December 20, 2014 |
Experience a day in the life at Magnus’s restaurant, Fäviken. |
Season 4
Episode Number | Title | Airdate |
---|---|---|
1 | "Prune" | September 5, 2015 |
With every chipped plate and hand-written to-do list, Chef Gabrielle Hamilton’s “presence” is all over her NYC restaurant, Prune. Spend a day at Prune with Gabrielle and her staff. | ||
2 | "Garbage" | September 12, 2015 |
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. | ||
3 | "Rome" | September 19, 2015 |
Explore Gabrielle’s deep love with this ancient city. | ||
4 | "Hunger" | September 26, 2015 |
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. | ||
5 | "Past" | October 3, 2015 |
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. | ||
6 | "Hustle" | October 10, 2015 |
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. | ||
7 | "Napkin" | October 17, 2015 |
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. | ||
8 | "Evolution" | October 24, 2015 |
Gabrielle looks long and hard at how she has evolved not only as a chef, but as a writer and restaurant owner. | ||
9 | "Fire" | October 31, 2015 |
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. | ||
10 | "Legacy" | November 7, 2015 |
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. | ||
11 | "Ocean" | November 14, 2015 |
Nothing is more calming or inspiring than the sea, and living in Santa Cruz, David is never far from one of his many muses. | ||
12 | "Strawberry" | November 21, 2015 |
A dish is only as good as its ingredients, but an ingredient can also be manipulated in many ways. In this episode, David focuses his attention to the strawberry, at the height of its season during production, to celebrate the summer favorite. | ||
13 | "Balance" | November 28, 2015 |
For Chef David Kinch, balance in life is as important as balance in a dish. And seeking that balance means walking away from the bustle of the line and demands of running the restaurant. | ||
14 | "Restrictions" | December 5, 2015 |
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. | ||
15 | "New Orleans" | December 12, 2015 |
When your first restaurant job is Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, you are inevitably destined for great things. As a high school student in New Orleans, David’s eyes were opened by the glamorous Crescent City institution, and a long career in cuisine followed. | ||
16 | "25 Bites" | December 19, 2015 |
A perfect tasting menu relies on balance, and on not fatiguing a customer’s palate. Based on that theory, no meal should be more than 25 bites. |
Season 5
Episode Number | Title | Airdate |
---|---|---|
1 | "Eggs" | October 1, 2016 |
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 | ||
2 | "Legends" | 2016 |
Everyone knows that 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 | ||
3 | "Fried" | 2016 |
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. | ||
4 | "LudoBird" | 2016 |
How does a chef trained in the finest kitchens of France translate his haute cuisine to fast food? Ludo’s obsession with a perfectly cooked bird can be traced back to France, where he learned to roast chicken, and his love for the American classic was solidified when he ate at KFC for the first time. | ||
5 | "Strip Malls" | 2016 |
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. | ||
6 | "La Mer" | 2016 |
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. | ||
7 | "Le Végétale" | 2016 |
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. | ||
8 | "Joie De Vivre" | 2016 |
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. | ||
9 | "Tous Au Bistro" | 2016 |
A bistro is typically defined by its modesty – they are relatively small, affordable and humble. With Petit Trois, Ludo’s has brought the spirit of the bistro to Los Angeles. In this episode, Ludo brings us back to Paris to introduce us to some of the people and places that first inspired him to begin a culinary career. | ||
10 | "Instinct vs. Discipline" | 2016 |
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. | ||
11 | "LudoBites" | 2016 |
Ludo began his US career cooking at Los Angeles restaurant Bastide, but after it closed for renovations he opted not to return and instead chose to do things his way. Borrowing a friend’s bakery space, Ludo created a unique dining experience in the form of small, reservations-only, “chef’s choice” dinners that became known as LudoBites. | ||
12 | "Surf N Turf" | 2016 |
Explore the wet and dry side of our culinary world as Magnus Nilsson dry-ages a steak in kidney fat as long as he possibly can, April Bloomfield hallucinates while at a butcher shop, and Ed Lee makes a ribeye with eel puree. | ||
13 | "Dessert" | 2016 |
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. | ||
14 | "Birds" | 2016 |
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. |
Each episode is 24 minutes long. The bonus scenes are 1.5 mins long.
Awards and nominations
In 2013 & 2014, The Mind of a Chef won a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Television Program, On Location.[8][9] In 2014, The Mind of a Chef won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Culinary Program.[10]
References
- ↑ http://eater.com/archives/2013/05/22/the-mind-of-a-chef-season-two-this-time-with-sean-brock-and-april-bloomfield.php
- ↑ Orchant, Rebecca (October 10, 2012). "'The Mind Of A Chef,' Anthony Bourdain And David Chang's New PBS Show To Debut November 9th (VIDEO)". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
- ↑ http://www.foodrepublic.com/2014/04/08/season-3-mind-chef-will-star-edward-lee-and-magnus
- ↑ http://www.foodrepublic.com/2015/03/12/mind-chef-season-4-star-prunes-gabrielle-hamilton
- ↑ http://www.foodrepublic.com/2015/05/01/mind-chef-season-4-star-manresas-david-kinch
- ↑ http://foodgps.com/mind-of-a-chef-season-5-stars-chef-ludo-lefebvre/
- ↑ http://www.pbs.org/food/features/the-mind-of-a-chef-episode-descriptions/
- ↑ http://www.jamesbeard.org/sites/default/files/static/pdf/2013-jbf-winners-site.pdf
- ↑ https://www.jamesbeard.org/sites/default/files/attachments/050414_JBF_AWARD_WINNERS_LIST_0_0.pdf
- ↑ http://www.foodrepublic.com/2014/06/23/mind-chef-wins-big-daytime-emmys