The next time you find yourself looking for a new show to binge watch on Netflix, I would highly recommend starting Mind of a Chef. There are currently three seasons on Netflix, and season four aired this September so it should be up soon. Each episode is only around 23 minutes long, so the seasons go by pretty quickly. Here’s a breakdown of the first three seasons.
Season 1
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Season one is hosted by the hilarious David Chang, chef at Momofuku. David keeps things interesting as he travels around Japan trying different types of ramen and sushi. The show also follows him as he visits a ramen factory and fish markets. Watch him cook up spins on traditional dishes, like making ramen into an Italian pasta dish. The season gets even better with guest appearances from Aziz Ansari and Milk Bar chef Christina Tosi.
Season 2
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Season two is co-hosted by Chef Sean Brock of Husk Restaurant in South Carolina for the first half and Chef April Bloomfield of NYC restaurant Spotted Pig for the second half. Brock explores southern favorites and dives deep into the history of rice and grains. He even tries his hand at roasting a whole pig for a southern BBQ.
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Bloomfield, during the second half of the season, cooks up British classics like scotch eggs and fish and chips, and then shows off her passion for Italian food. She focuses on making simple foods exceptionally delicious with her attention to detail.
Season 3
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Once again for season three, the hosts get switched up. This time, the hosts are Edward Lee and Magnus Nilsson. Lee is the chef at 610 Magnolia in Louisville, Kentucky and you may also recognize him from Season 9 of Top Chef. Chef Nilsson has one of the best restaurants in the world, Fäviken, where you will find him cooking up seasonal dishes in Northern Sweden.
Each episode makes you really feel like you are in the mind of a chef. You get insights into the process of creating dishes and see the food values that each chef has. This show made me look at food in a different way, and I have learned a lot about cuisines that I am not very familiar with.
I learned how each part of a dish that is plated has a purpose, whether it is to add texture, color, acidity or a salty flavor. Chefs take extraordinary thought to make a dish perfect. The process of creating dishes for menus is a painstaking process by chefs and their staff to put out art that is representative of them.
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Another thing that I loved to see was how willing each chef was to learn. Throughout the first three seasons, they bring on multiple guest chefs. The chef and guest show each other a mutual respect and genuinely want to share their ideas but they also really want to learn. New knowledge can help the chefs further innovate new cooking techniques and ideas.
I hope you will watch and see how truly amazing these chefs are. Cross your fingers that Season 4 is added to Netflix soon.