The WORST episodes of The Mind of a Chef
Every episode of The Mind of a Chef ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Mind of a Chef!
The Mind of a Chef combines travel, cooking, history, science, and humor into an unforgettable journey. Producer and narrator Anthony Bourdain explores the creative processes of international celebrity chefs to learn what fuels their culinary artistry.
#1 - Winter
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/1/2014
Over generations, preservation techniques developed to help humans cope with the scarcity of the season. The adherence to seasonality at Fäviken means that these techniques are maintained and the restaurant can continue serving food throughout the barren months. This episode explores the ways that the Scandinavian people have survived winter through the practice of preservation and aging.
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#2 - Legends
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/8/2016
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.
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#3 - Bourbon
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/25/2014
What is bourbon? A whiskey, sure, but what makes bourbon the classic American spirit, and why is it so closely associated with Kentucky? Chef Ed Lee and his band of merry men and women, including whiskey patriarch Julian Van Winkle, Matt Jamie from Bourbon and Barrel Foods, chef Paul Qui, and special guest and bourbon-lover Aisha Tyler, set out to distill this prized and often misunderstood liquor down to its many parts and enjoy it both in the glass and on the plate.
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Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/18/2017
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.
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#5 - Farmer
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/13/2013
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.
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#8 - Genesis
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/14/2017
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.
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#9 - Past
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/3/2015
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.
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Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/19/2016
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.
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#11 - Restrictions
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/5/2015
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.
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#13 - Fried
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/15/2016
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.
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#16 - Restaurateur
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 12/20/2013
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.
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#17 - Hunger
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/26/2015
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. 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.
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#22 - Napkin
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/17/2015
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.
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#23 - Hustle
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/10/2015
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.
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#24 - Leftovers
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/20/2013
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.
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