Celebrities' Chef.
-Celebrities' Chef. -Yes?
You have survived.
He made it.
Woo-hoo! Thank you.
Well done.
Good, good.
That was wonderful
You didn't tell me how to enjoy the dish. Just to close my eyes and try it.
Since you gave me the freedom to imagine for myself,
-I played right into your intentions. -Right.
Now I want a taste.
Me too.
I could tell that you really went out of your way
to treat our domestic produce with respect,
and make something truly delicious.
-Yes, thank you. -Of course
-Thank you! -Celebrities' Chef survived.
Impressive! Congratulations!
I'm coming. Here I come.
Hee-won, you gonna challenge me?
I mean, who knows?
If they let you pick an opponent, pick me.
Yes, sir!
Just you wait, White Spoons.
I'm coming to cut you down.
Shawn! Go, go, go, fighting! Fighting! Go, go, go, go!
Shawn! Shawn! Shawn! Shawn! Shawn!
Go, go, go!
There's actually a very special contestant
that's on the floor and cooking in the Black Spoon competition today.
Ooh, Shawn, Shawn.
Shawn! Fire?
Fire?!
He's Chef Spark!
I'm the owner of an Italian bistro
called Bistro Spark in Apgujeong,
so I decided to go with the name Chef Spark
to evoke the same idea of sparks jumping from a flame.
I used to work with Fabri when I lived in Italy.
I actually spent a whole year there,
working under him as the sous chef at his restaurant.
So I've always had immense respect for him as a chef.
-He's good with Italian food. -Mm.
He's especially good with pasta, because, well, you know…
-You taught him? -Yeah, I taught him.
The dish I've prepared today is seafood fresh pasta.
I make all the pasta myself.
-Whoa! -Wow!
That's seriously so cool!
He's using a real wine bottle to knead the pasta dough and flatten it.
What a cool guy!
-It's the technique. That tapping. -Oh, so that's a technique?
He's got technique.
It's in the technique, the hands.
He made this pasta dish.
A delicious seafood pasta dish.
And he made the pasta just as we made it in our restaurant,
Al Porticciolo 84.
I was so, so very proud of him.
Seriously!
Oof!
Finished, Shawn?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hmm.
The master chef is here!
Look, look!
He's evaluating the seafood pasta now.
I tried making a dish with seafood and pasta.
So this is fresh seafood pasta
prepared on a bed of squid ink pasta that I hand made myself from scratch.
It contains a medley of Alaskan shrimp, some octopus,
some Korean Venus clams, and herring.
-He made herring pasta? -Yeah.
Wow, that's amazing.
-There's so many bones. -Tons of little bones to remove.
Not an easy ingredient.
I recommend trying the pasta itself first,
and then trying the seafood individually, instead of mixing them.
I'll try this bite, then.
Is he enjoying it?
Do we think he likes it?
Hmm.
Chef Spark…
Go, Shawn, go.
Success, success, success.
I'm gonna put you on hold.
On hold?
Herring is
a rather difficult fish to handle.
They require a lot of prep.
If the chef misses a bone, it could get caught in your mouth.
And unfortunately, that's what happened.
I had finished the herring and moved on, but I could feel the bone.
It was such a shame because the pasta was delicious.
I kept going, "Holy shit. This is so delicious," inside my head.
I wanted to put him through,
but that piece of bone remained in my mouth, so…
Spark? Wow.
BOTH JUDGES TASTE ANY DISH ON HOLD TO REACH THE FINAL DECISION
It does prickle a bit.
Did you find a bone?
It's… very brave.
The herring's greasy and delicious and all,
but there's too much bone.
I think it would've been better if he hadn't gone with the herring today.
-Same. -Yeah.
My chances of making it to the survivor's table decreased
every time they gave someone a pass, so I was getting nervous.
IF LESS THAN 20 PASS, ADDITIONAL SURVIVORS CHOSEN FROM CONTESTANTS ON HOLD
Name one person that you think will make it past this round.
-Seung-woo's Dad. -Seung-woo's Dad?
Seung-woo's Dad, the YouTuber.
Seung-woo's Dad.
He's not only a very famous YouTuber,
but he also has lots of experience in the restaurant industry.
He has a lot of in-depth content
that even professional chefs would be able to find useful and insightful.
He's extremely well-known and highly regarded in this line of work,
so I was a little puzzled as to what he was doing down there.
I'm going with that guy. That handsome guy there.
-That handsome young man? -Yeah.
Mr. Chef of All Trades.
There's also Austin Kang.
Isn't he pretty famous already?
He not only excels at making a variety of dishes,
he also runs a super popular restaurant with great food,
so I didn't really understand why he was a Black Spoon
and not a White Spoon.
The Chef of All Trades, huh?
So you're a chef, and you do something else?
Something else, yes. I used to work as a model back in the day.
Oh, a model! But you've decided to commit to cooking now?
Yes, that's my passion, that's my cooks-- uh, that's what I wanna do.
You're putting your heart and soul into this.
-Right. -And you want others to see that.
-That the message you're trying to send? -Yes.
Being a chef is his main gig, right?
I'm sure he's struggled with his image being diluted
from getting cast on TV shows.
I wanted to show everyone the real me.
Getting to show my passion for cooking,
that's all that matters.
-Let's go! You've got this. -Let's go.
Is Seung-woo's Dad's dish coming along nicely? The salad?
He's been working hard on his ingredients
So what are you making today?
So the ingredients I'm cooking with today
are actually completely out of season.
We're shooting this in January,
so it was tough to get them.
-Oh! Watermelon? -What is it?
It may not have its peak flavor…
but I'm making a winter watermelon salad.
-You're using a watermelon? -That's correct
-In winter? -Yes, sir.
-Ooh. That sounds a little risky. -Yes.
-So you went ahead knowing the risks? -I did.
Why did it have to be a watermelon though?
I guess you could call me an eccentric.
Honestly, I just love watermelon salad so much.
And since we're supposed to make a signature dish for this first round,
I had to make this one.
I did it my way.
-What's he gonna make? -Californian galbi.
-Californian galbi? -Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Smells good…
I created a dish inspired by my hometown of LA, California,
a dish that I felt represented me.
My jjamppong soul food? I don't know.
I took some ribs and seasoned them Mexican-style.
Then I steamed them for about 50 minutes,
while I prepared a gochujang aioli.
As for the pesto, I prepared a sauce with perilla leaf,
which I'll then combine with port wine.
And I'll finish it off with a salsa fresca topping.
A Little bit of Mexican,
Korean,
and European.
A little bit of jjamppong.
Just…
…me. I guess this dish is me. Me.
That's the kind
of meaning it holds for me,
and I'd like to hear your thoughts.
Since he's also a California native, I thought he might really enjoy the dish.
Mexican,
Korean,
and American cuisine elements
are all here.
-Yeah. -I can certainly taste it.
The way you cooked this was spot-on as well.
I think this is a dish that has the potential
to garner a widespread appeal.
If he says it's delicious, that's a pass.
I'm intrigued by Seung-woo's Dad.
-It's Seung-woo's Dad. -Wanna go take a look?
I figured that I'd be at my best when making my favorite dish,
and my favorite ingredients are chicken breasts and watermelon.
So I prepared two dishes today.
On the left is a chicken breast steak prepared sous vide,
and on the right is a watermelon dish.
WINTER WATERMELON SALAD
I'm sure he was a bit puzzled at first.
Watermelons taste best during the summer, when they're in season,
but I had presented him watermelon in January.
I couldn't help but wonder whether this was a display of confidence
or just a really misguided experiment.
When we debate good food, we discuss a chef's ability
to bring out the flavors in seasonal ingredients.
But watermelons?
Using watermelon in winter is a risky maneuver
since they're not as sweet.
Since they're not as sweet.
Hmm?!
I think this is a dish
that has the potential to garner a widespread appeal.
However, I don't think
mashing a bunch of ingredients together
gives a dish a distinct identity.
Right.
I personally think it's the kind of thing that will come naturally
with time and practice.
Over time, the Mexican and the Korean influence
will naturally blend into your food.
But if you go, "I'll throw this in and throw that in,"
you just get… some bullshit comes out.
-I see. -It's just bound to happen.
So, uh, in its current state, this dish feels a bit forced.
And the mixture of flavors is really all this dish has going for it.
Chef of All Trades,
you've been eliminated.
-Thank you. -All right.
CHEF OF ALL TRADES ELIMINATED
-Oh. -Thank you.
Oof!
I thought he'd get put on hold.
Cheer up, cheer up.
I guess I'm gonna have to return to the kitchen
and find my identity.
Hmm?!
It's not a summer watermelon, so it's not very sweet.
It's lacking in the flavor department as well.
How'd you pull this off?
There's no way a winter watermelon can be this sweet.
I added some sweetness to it, sir.
Well, there really wasn't much to it.
If you take some fresh vanilla and combine it with some sugarcane syrup,
then put the watermelon with the syrup into a vacuum bag,
you can quickly and evenly work the sweetness into the watermelon.
Using this technique,
I can make the watermelon taste ripe, as if it's naturally juicy.
The next step is the dressing,
which I made by combining watermelon, cilantro, and cucumber,
and blending them together.
I then froze it in liquid nitrogen
to turn it solid and serve it as I would an ice cream dish.
I prepared this dish in a way
that would let someone enjoy a non-seasonal ingredient
as if it was still in season.
Who would've thought it could taste this good in winter?
-Delicious. -Thank you so much.
You pass.
-Oh, he also made it. -This here, a great idea.
He had a great idea,
and he had the skills required to pull it off.
But what really convinced me was the taste itself,
which deserved the pass.
He didn't just sprinkle sugar on watermelon.
If that was all, you could dip radishes in sugar.
Seung-woo's Dad has survived.
That was close.
-Wow. My heart is racing. -Congratulations.
Congratulations. Congrats. Congratulations!
Hey, good work.
I wanted Chef Anh Sung-jae to be the one to evaluate my dish.
It had to be him. It just had to be.
I've had some experience working for,
you know, Michelin restaurants and the like.
Even now, I'm still in fine dining,
cooking and serving full course meals.
So I hoped Chef Anh Sung-jae could take a look.
That was my wish. I kept thinking, "One of those spots will be mine."
Of course, my area of expertise is creating fresh pasta dishes.
My pasta is nothing like your typical pasta.
Each one of them are handmade by yours truly,
and they're kind of like dumplings.
So, for today, I'm preparing a pasta dish which tells the story of Napoli.
Is he making fresh pasta over there?
Wow.
That's amazing.
I've got high hopes for this one. I can't wait to see what he makes.
He seems to know what he's doing as far as Italian cuisine is concerned.
Oh, really?
There's a lot of depth to what he's doing.
He's even making the broth himself. He made it all by hand.
I think it's going to be delicious.
The way I see it, I'm at the peak of my career right now.
I guess you could call me a Matfia from Napoli.
Hello, Chef.
That plating…
…mamma mia!
Wow, there's a lot to take in here.
See, I wanted this dish to capture the city of Napoli,
both its splendor and all the hardships it's experienced over the years.
To evoke the glitz and glamour of Napoli,
I created these colorful, extravagant potato purees,
and plated them
beside Mediterranean seafood in a colorful display.
And, to represent the hard times that the city fell on,
I also included pasta created to look like black trash bags,
creating a dish that encompasses the whole of Napoli.
-If you could tell me-- -Yeah?
Two components I need to try. I'll have them with the sauce.
I think the best way to enjoy it would be tasting the red shrimp with the bisque.
-Since this is ultimately a pasta dish… -Right.
I guess I was pretty confident in my dish.
At the very least,
I was confident that I'd get some kind of points for creativity,
since my dish was unique and had a story to tell.
Deciding to attempt a dish like this
couldn't have been an easy decision to make.
In addition to that, I tried the sauces one by one,
and they've all been seasoned correctly. They're correct.
But if I had to name one issue that sticks out like a sore thumb,
it's how you utilized your ingredients.
The one ingredient that really bothers me…
uh, is adding the flavorless flowers.
You made such a beautiful pasta dish using such fancy ingredients,
only to top it off with the flowers, and I don't get it.
However, I don't think that alone warrants an elimination.
Especially when you've got the flavor down.
Mm.
However, since you added something unnecessary,
Napoli Matfia,
I'm placing you on hold.
NAPOLI MATFIA, CHEF SPARK: ON HOLD
After hearing that evaluation,
I looked up every dish at Chef Anh Sung-jae's restaurant,
just to see they used any flowers.
There were no flowers, so that made me go, "Oh, I guess I shouldn't have used them."
I absolutely detest the practice
of using useless crap just to make the dish look more appealing.
I'm sure a lot of chefs will disagree with me,
but that can't be helped.
There was zero flavor,
and no flavor means there's no reason for it to exist.
He chose to place the flowers there
solely for the sake of adding something else.
Even so, it was delicious.
I went, "Man, this guy really knows how to nail the flavor."
Since this was just a one-time thing and he had the skills required,
I decided to give him a chance to explain himself.
-I doubt you've seen this before -This is new. It looks like a painting.
Napoli. So the black trash bags are Napoli's--
-Trash bags? -Right.
It's one of the symbols of the hardships Napoli went through in the past,
so I wanted to represent that in my dish.
Wait a second. So this right here is a trash bag?
That's good.
He was really good at making pasta.
That had to be the most delicious pasta I had in recent memory.
Since the food was delicious, the presentation really grew on me.
This chef was really confident in the flavors of his dish,
and that's why he went with such an elaborate layout,
with the colors and all.
I got the feeling Chef Paik Jong-won would enjoy my dish more,
so I have high hopes.
I'm the Yakitori King.
I've prepared a yakitori dish using Korean chicken.
KOREAN CHICKEN YAKITORI USING VARIOUS CUTS OF CHICKEN
He's judging my dish using his tongue. I'm sure he won't lie.
It's well-cooked.
-I have to give you the pass. -Thank you.
It's a delicious pasta.
I'll be putting you on hold, Boy Who Returned.
THE BOY WHO RETURNED: ON HOLD
I prepared a ratatouille dish by searing the sauce just a little bit.
It's too oily.
-I'm sorry. -Okay.
Happy Birthday, you're eliminated.
A memorial service meal.
You're on hold.
You've been eliminated. You've been eliminated.
Chef Anh's gonna get a lot of hate once this airs.
I think seasoning really matters,
even when it comes to pasta dishes.
And I think I'm pretty good at getting it right.
People don't normally describe food like this,
but you've got that magic touch.
-Yeah. -You've survived.
Thank you.
KITCHEN BOSS SURVIVES
This concludes the evaluations for the Black Spoon elimination round.
Only four spots left.
Oh, just four people left?
4 SURVIVOR SEATS REMAIN
And now for the contestants on hold…
You'd think it'd be easy to evaluate on the spot,
but it's not that simple. We're picking 20 people out of 80, after all.
That really complicates things.
Tasting another dish?
If I do, which one do I try?
I think that's the fairest approach.
Without further ado,
we will now be announcing the additional survivors.
The first
of the four surviving chefs is…
…Napoli Matfia.
Oh.
Congratulations.
I had a hunch they would call my name.
All according to plan.
The second additional survivor is
Cooking Maniac.
Ugh, fuck yeah.
Chef Spark.
I was so happy.
I know it didn't show,
but seriously, I was completely over the moon.
And the final additional survivor is
Master of School Meals.
Congratulations.
I don't know if I can keep up with the competition in round two.
I'm nervous, but I'll do my best.
And now, with 20 finalists selected,
this concludes the Black Spoon elimination round.
Taking the fight to the White Spoons is all that's on my mind right now.
I don't care if I win or lose. I'm just gonna do it.
Get ready for an all-out war from us.
ROUND 1: BLACK SPOON ELIMINATION ROUND SURVIVORS: 20
I don't particularly care who I end up going up against,
as long as they're gunning for me.
I'm ready to go up against anyone.
WHITE SPOONS: 20
Huh? Whoa. What's this?
-What the…? Whoa. -Wait, wow.
-What is this? -Whoa, what's all this?
-Huh? -What?
-Whoa. This is amazing. -What's going on?
Are they Squid Games-ing us?
-Are those fridges? -They're fridges?
Didn't see that coming.
Why are there so many fridges?
This is mental.
This is insane.
This is crazy.
No way, is it inside? Are the ingredients in there?
Interesting. This must be for the next round.
I'm sure the next mission's inside.
The fridges have to be important.
GENIUS RESTAURATEUR
We'd like to welcome our 20 finalists
who have made it past the Black Spoon elimination round.
Congratulations.
Starting this round, the Culinary Class Wars,
which will pit the Black Spoons against the White Spoons,
and vice versa, will finally kick off.
-And so it begins. -Our culinary class?
Before we proceed with the main match,
allow us to tell you the allotted number of survivors for this round.
There will be a grand total…
of 20 contestants surviving.
20 SURVIVORS
…of 20 contestants surviving.
I'm not dropping out.
Wow, half of us get eliminated.
Half, got it.
For this round, you will be facing off
in a one-on-one duel, Black Spoon versus White Spoon.
Let's do this!
-Totally saw this coming. -This was bound to happen.
-Damn. -That's nuts.
A duel to end all duels.
This next round came sooner than I thought.
KITCHEN BOSS
Now that we're down to 20 of the 80 we started with,
I can finally show off my real skills.
Honestly, I personally think
the Black Spoons who survived the elimination round
are actually at an advantage.
They had murder in their eyes. You could tell they were thinking,
"Just you wait, White Spoons. We're coming to get you,"
so tensions were running high.
The theme of the one-on-one duel,
Black Spoon versus White Spoon,
can be found right here
in the 20 fridges you see now in front of you.
What's in those fridges?
Inside each fridge
is one of 20 different cooking ingredients.
Twenty, huh?
Each pair
of dueling Black Spoons and White Spoons
must pick a fridge together
to determine the featured ingredient for their duel.
Then they must each use the ingredient found in their chosen fridge
to come up with their best dish,
to face their opponent.
Wow.
So we use the same ingredient,
and then it's, "Now I'm gonna take you down"?
More like "I'm taking you down to survive."
Ah.
-Now the real fun begins. -The gloves are coming off.
This is going to be a true test of skill.
We will now proceed with the selection process
to determine the pairings
for the Black Spoon versus White Spoon duels.
I wonder how we're doing this.
I wonder how.
-God, I'm so nervous. -In hip-hop terms, this is like a cypher.
I really don't wanna get picked.
Just skip me.
They're all gonna be like,
"Hope y'all had fun watching us from up there."
Starting with
the White Spoon…
…Choi Hyun-seok.
As expected.
We all saw this coming.
All Black Spoons who wish to go up against the White Spoon,
Choi Hyun-seok,
please step forward.
-Guess they're throwing us to the wolves. -They get to point at us and call us out?
No way, so that's how we're doing this?
Everyone here looks really scared
Everyone's got cold feet.
I really wanted to avoid going up against him.
He was the last person I'd pick.
I'm sure he's not here to play around.
-Come on! -Guess I'll do it.
-What a stunning display. -Look how tall they are.
Look at their height. We don't belong here.
Interesting choice.
I personally think it's hard to cook duck over a charcoal grill like that.
He's heated the charcoal to a nice level.
Your cooking has improved a lot.
-You have survived. -Thank you.
He scraped it all up.
You're the first fine-dining dish to make it up here.
I was genuinely shocked by his dish.
It left a lasting impression.
ONE TWO THREE HEAD CHEF OF "BORNYON"
We don't belong here. We don't belong here.
I knew I wanted to do this from the moment you made your entrance.
I felt like we were bound to go up against each other eventually.
-"Eventually," he says. -So I'd like to do this here and now.
I hope this turns out to be a fun match.
They're both skilled fine dining chefs, so I can imagine
this will be fun to watch.
Now that we have a matched pair,
please proceed forward and select a fridge,
and stand in front of it together.
What's in those fridges?
It seems like they all differ based on the teams.
-Go, uh- -Pick one.
-Oh no, I insist. -Well…
Let's go, One Two Three!
Which one should I go with?
Hmm.
I'll go with this one.
Whoo!
I wonder what's inside.
We will now reveal the featured ingredient for the match.
Ooh, jang.
The two of you will be facing off using the Jang Trio.
Gochujang, doenjang, and ganjang.
Aah!
They need to bring out all three flavors, right?
That's right. They did say Jang trio, after all.
-Ooh! That's a tough one. -Holy crap…
White spoon chef, Lu Chinglai, please, step up to the center.
All right, let's go!
Whoever picks him is in for the ride of a lifetime.
Chef Lu Chinglai
is someone who's been the judge at numerous events.
He's someone that's already at the top of his game.
To my knowledge, as far as culinary skills are concerned,
he gets a lot more recognition in China and Taiwan than he does in Korea.
He's something like one of the four kings of Chinese Cuisine.
My professor.
I attended a lecture he did on Chinese cuisine
back when I was a college freshman.
My bet's on Chef Lu Chinglai winning.
Black spoons who wish to go up against White Spoon, Lu Chinglai,
please step forward.
Seriously?
Please step forward.
Wow!
They're all coming out. It's a mob!
They're all Chinese cuisine chefs.
Things are heating up. He's so popular.
SELF-MADE CHEF CHEF-OWNER, DO RYANG
GOD OF SEASONING CHEF-OWNER, EDAMAME
COMIC BOOK CHEF CHEF-OWNER, CHO KWANG 201, 101
Wow, there's a lot of them!
Wow.
Oh my, what are you doing?
Beating him would be like overcoming 50 years of experience.
Please select the Black Spoon you wish to go up against.
Oh wow.
I wish they would just pick for me. I'm in a bit of a pickle right here.
But if I have to make a choice, I'm going to pick Self-Made Chef
since I, myself, started out with a steel container as well.
Yeah, sorry, everyone else.
Respect!
White spoon Lu Chinglai and Black Spoon Self-Made Chef
will be facing off against each other in a one-on-one duel.
Black spoons that were unable to match with a partner
will be given another chance to do so.
White spoon, Jung Ji-sun, please step up to the center.
We know who she'll be paired with.
-Let's go. -That's no surprise.
-Oh goodness. -We all know who her match is.
People were saying they'd like to see us compete.
Black spoons who wish to go up against White Spoon Jung Ji-sun,
please step forward.
It's gonna be the match of the century.
PROTÉGÉ OF CHEF LU CHINGLAI
Eun-young challenging me was so predictable,
so I was a little disappointed.
Let's dance. I was thinking something like that.
Choi Kang-rok, please step up to the center.
Black spoon, Seung-woo's Dad,
you will be facing off against White Spoon, Choi Kang-rok.
It's gonna be a bloodbath.
Black spoons who wish to go up against White Spoon Pak Joon-woo,
step forward.
Damn!
Bring it.
Black Spoons who wish to go against White Spoon Fabri, step forward.
I'm sure everyone is aware,
but Neapolitan cuisine is the poster child of Italian cuisine.
Okay, now that's pretty hip-hop.
Business Genius.
-Whoa! -This oughta be fun.
Young, modern Korean cuisine versus traditional Korean cuisine.
Please open the fridge.
Open the fridge.
The two of you will be facing off using conger eels.
-Ooh! -Pig trotters.
Beef gopchang.
Live octopus.
Whoa!
And your ingredient is
fresh skate fish.
That's the absolute worst.
Wow, no way.
And with that,
all of the duel ingredients have been revealed.
Black spoon versus White Spoon,
White Spoon versus Black Spoon.
Welcome to the kitchen,
where the first round of the Culinary Class Wars will commence.
In a few moments,
the one-on-one Black Spoon versus White Spoon duels will begin.
But before that,
we will go over
the special judging process for this round.
For this round
the judges
will be blind tasting all your dishes to make their judgment.
Ooh! Whoa!
Wow.
That's insane.
Not only will the judges be tasting blind,
they also won't be watching you cook.
What's more,
when they're conducting the blind taste test,
they will not be able to see the completed dish.
What?
They won't be seeing the dish either?
The judges
will be wearing blindfolds…
…and judging your dishes based on taste and taste alone.
Shit.
You're kidding.
I was flabbergasted.
I wanted to show them what I was doing,
and the most optimal way to eat the food for the best experience.
Ah.
I did think that I was going to have to switch up my game plan a lot.
In other words,
the contestant who manages
to captivate the taste buds of the judges
with flavor alone
will emerge as the sole survivor.
This helps get rid of any bias.
As far as fairness is concerned,
this really is as fair as it gets between the White and Black Spoons.
No explanations whatsoever. We won't even know what we're having.
It doesn't get any fairer than this.
I have a feeling that this round is going to be very crucial.
This is our first time seeing the White Spoons cook.
You can't just write off this thing called experience.
I'm sure the Black Spoons are going to be pretty nervous.
Now then,
let us begin the one-on-one Black Spoon versus White Spoon duel.
Let's go!
Oh! Oh! Go! Go!
Go!
Let's go! everyone! Crush it!
-Let's Go, White Spoons! -White Spoons!
Chef Edward Lee's so cool.
The man oozes class. Must've been born that way.
I've looked up to Chef Edward Lee for as long as I can remember.
I have been a chef for 27 years in the United States.
He's incredibly famous in the United States.
I'm surprised a chef of his caliber would come all this way.
If anything, he should be judging in my place.
I have competed and won on Iron Chef.
I have been on Top Chef.
I have won the James Beard Award for my books,
Um…
It was an honor for me
to be asked to cook at the White House State Dinner
for the President of US and the President of South Korea.
I would not come all the way from the US
if I did not believe I could win.
He's got such presence. He's got this aura.
He's a heavyweight.
He's an incredibly talented chef.
Black Spoons who wish to go up against White Spoon Edward Lee,
please step forward.
Whoo!
-I thought he might be the one to step up. -It's, uh, a picture-perfect narrative.
Right? Yeah, I see it. America.
-Please step forward. -All right.
Lee, Lee, Lee! Chef Lee!
-That's the Meat Master, right? -Uh-huh, right, yup.
I really wanted to face him,
but I also really wanted to avoid him at all costs.
I was conflicted.
Edward Lee.
I've always looked up to him,
so imagine my surprise seeing him in-person.
Jackpot!
Seeing Edward Lee here was definitely not on my bingo card.
Man, this is next-level.
He did mention how he wanted to square off against Edward Lee.
It was really cool how he said it.
He got his wish.
Chef Edward Lee's been keeping an eye
on the person who made the galbi-jjim as well.
They somehow ended up matching.
Uh, and so, I actually watched him for a while
because the way he made galbi-jjim was very creative and very different.
So he has a lot of experience cooking in the US,
um, so I think his skills match very well with mine.
Contestants, please step up and select a fridge.
-Black side? White side? -Uh…
Right side.
-Right side? -Yeah.
-Ooh. -Ooh, what now?
Oh!
And your ingredient is
mukeunji.
You're kidding!
Aged kimchi.
-You're kidding! -Aged kimchi?!
But they… they just need to add in some meat.
-Mukeunji, of all things? -Wow, what a shame.
You gotta go with the Korean ingredients!
It was a shock.
Living in America,
I've only tasted mukeunji maybe once or twice in my whole life.
Mukeunji is just kimchi.
Dishes that let it take center stage are way too predictable.
Kimchi soup, kimchi stew, kimchi fried rice,
all dishes we're familiar with.
So keep your eyes peeled
and pay close attention to how we use the kimchi.
He's the meat guy, so why is it that I don't see any meat?
Did he get distracted and not see the meat earlier?
Yeah, you're right. I don't see any meat there.
Yeah.
Mukeunji needs to be served with meat.
My nickname's the Meat Master,
so people assume I'm going to use meat as the main ingredient for my dish,
so I think they're in for a nice surprise.
There's a sour scent in the air. What is that?
-Is that skate fish? -It's skate fish.
What? No one's forcing him to use skate fish.
I was asking myself the question,
"What's a dish where the kimchi plays a crucial role,
without taking center stage?"
And that's when it came to me. I could do a samhap.
In a samhap, all three ingredients share the lead role.
However, the kimchi is crucial.
So yes, the name of my dish is the Skate, Mukeunji, Bacon Samhap.
I'm using fresh skate, not fermented.
Skinning skate fish properly is really tricky.
It's no easy task.
And then, in place of boiled pork,
I'll be using bacon.
And then stir-frying the mukeunji.
I think that is stir-fried kimchi, right?
-Looks delicious. I'm sure it's amazing. -Very American.
American style. American fusion style.
I fillet the skate's fins, added some grilled bacon and kimchi,
and then I've rolled it all up.
This dish is sure to surprise a lot of people.
It looks like he's planning on rolling it up,
then cooking it again for his dish.
I live pretty close to Incheon International Airport.
I don't mind giving him a ride after this.
I wonder what Chef Edward Lee is up to right now.
-Are those… -Are those sweet persimmons?
-They're persimmons! Sweet persimmons! -Right? Sweet persimmons.
I can't imagine what he'll do with persimmons and mukeunji.
Western cuisine's well-known for working fruits into their desserts,
but choosing to use persimmons with mukeunji is intriguing.
So, uh, my dish is mukeunji salad,
uh, with hanjeongsal.
The hardest thing about this dish is salad is very simple.
I have Korean pear that I'm going to slice.
I have radish sprouts. Arugula.
No words.
So I want to make a salad, but also make it very complex.
Is he juicing the kimchi?
He's just squeezing it.
He's still juicing the kimchi?
He just won't stop. Man, I wonder what he's going to end up with.
To me, the mukeunji juice is like liquid gold.
It is so good.
So I reduced it and made a sauce with it.
And so that became the base for my dish.
He's reduced the kimchi juice, he's boiling it.
-Oh yeah? -He spent a lot of time getting the juice.
I'll make a salad using persimmon,
Korean pear,
pine nut, and arugula.
Even though it looks like a very simple salad,
there's many layers and flavors to it.
So that to me is, building that flavor, um, is very difficult to do.
I feel like kimchi is pretty predictable,
but I still want to see what dish he'll end up with.
Yeah, same.
Man, that smells amazing!
And then I'll add just a little bit of mukeunji juice,
just at the end.
-It's burning! -Whoa!
Chef Edward Lee, careful.
No one will see this coming.
It looks like Meat Master is almost done.
Huh? Who is that? Whoa! Wow.
With five minutes to go, wow.
I'm dying to know what Chef Edward came up with.
I don't worry about competitor.
My competitor really is myself.
I'm only competing against my own abilities.
Wow!
He used up all his time.
I wonder who's gonna make it past this round,
Meat Master or Chef Edward Lee.
Mukeunji duel contestants,
please proceed to the blind taste evaluation area.
Ah! I'm so curious!
-It's gonna melt in their mouth. -Go, Meat Master!
Go, go, go.
-Let's go Meat Master! -Yeah!
Is that where the judges will be tasting their food?
-Moment of truth. They gotta be nervous. -I know!
And they'll be eating blindfolded?
This is groundbreaking. There's never been a cooking show
where the judges rate the dishes while blindfolded.
Mukeunji duel contestants, please enter.
I've never been in this situation before.
Very, very scary to me. I don't know why.
I don't know why, my heart started beating.
I thought to myself,
"They're trying to make this as fair as possible."
This duel's theme is mukeunji, aged kimchi.
Mukeunji?
I guess it depends on who tastes your dish.
Now then, let us proceed with the tasting of dish number one.
For my dish,
I decided to dip my fresh skate fish in pastrami seasoning,
then put some bacon and stir-fried kimchi on top of it,
rolled it up,
and pan-fried it to end up with a fried skate roll.
Looks delicious.
I think he made fish,
which I thought was kind of weird since his name is…
I expected him to come up with some really intense, uh, meat dish.
I'm actually pretty good with other ingredients as well.
Not just meat.
We were starting
without even knowing which ingredients were going in the dish,
so it was pretty nerve-wracking.
I hoped I would be able to pull this off
if I focused all of my senses.
That distinct kimchi smell was what hit me first.
That's mukeunji all right.
It's in front of you.
-Open up? -Yes. Here it comes.
I focused on three things First, the sense of smell.
Then, the taste. And finally, the texture of the dish.
Judging dishes based solely on taste,
that's about as fair as it gets.
It must be the mukeunji,
but it feels like I just had a spoonful of rice with a delicious side dish.
It's like I'm being treated to a hearty, delicious meal.
The smokiness
and the mukeunji go great together.
Next, you will be tasting dish number two.
I wanted to focus on mukeunji,
and I wanted to make sure
that every bite of food, uh, screams mukeunji.
MUKEUNJI AND HANJEONGSAL (PORK JOWL) SALAD
Mm.
-I'll give it to you. -Okay.
Mm?
It looked just like a simple salad, you know?
It looked deceptively simple.
But, knowing his work, I was sure that he had a hidden ace up his sleeve.
They've added some kind of fruit into it
to add a sweet flavor,
but the scent is so subtle that I can't tell what it is.
The way they've used the fruit, though, that's the key for this dish, for me,
that sweetness at the top.
Yeah, I was very happy to hear that
because, you know, that was also my intention.
The voting will commence now.
Of the two dishes presented,
please select the one that better utilized the main ingredient,
resulting in a better-tasting dish.
The voting has concluded.
The score is two to zero.
Judges, remove your blindfolds.
I'm just dying to know.
Whoa!
-Ah. -Whoa!
I wasn't expecting that.
Hmm.
Chef Edward Lee, don't you live in the United States?
So, um…
I live in the States, and I'm a chef who cooks in the States,
but… deep down in my heart,
I'm a Korean.
That is why I wanted to come here and participate in this competition,
and show people my unique take on Korean cuisine.
While eating this dish, I never imagined that you might have been the chef.
I did not expect to see this kind of execution with a mukeunji dish.
Man, you really caught me off guard.
I did not see this coming.
Did you put, uh, is there fruit in there?
Yeah, persimmon.
Okay, persimmon.
I loved the sweetness from it,
and I think that's one of the…
the component that… that kind of binds together.
As for your dish, Meat Master,
this was an alien dish you made, but it tasted so familiar.
Must be because you stir-fried the mukeunji.
It really tasted as though I was having a spoonful of rice
with a delicious side dish on top.
-Yes. -You really surprised me.
-All right. -Thank you for that meal.
Now then, we will be announcing the outcome of the mukeunji duel.
The survivor of this one-on-one duel is…
the White Spoon, Edward Lee.
-Me? I won? Oh, right. -Congratulations.
-You won. -Thank you.
Congratulations.
The White Spoon, Edward Lee.
White spoon!
That's Chef Edward for you.
-What a relief! -Chef Edward Lee!
-What a great relief. -Did he really get a two-zero?
-Thank you. -Congratulations.
Meat Master, your dish was great, but your opponent was just too good.
I'm sorry. We have to let you go.
That was so delicious.
Actually "delicious" doesn't really do it justice. That was amazing.
When foreigners see something like mukeunji,
their minds tend to go to salads and stuff.
They find it refreshing and all,
but I find that Koreans tend to consider it
as more of a side dish instead.
And we also tend to think that salads have to be served cold,
but man, the way he managed to work the meat into the cold dish was just…
I want another bite.
-He nailed this dish. -Incredible.
Hey.
Connect with me on Instagram or something. We'll connect, okay?
Okay, I will. Thank you very much, Chef.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed,
but it's not like I fumbled the dish or anything.
The only mistake I made was picking an opponent who outclassed me.
When I come to Korea
I want to show everybody here
how much I love Korean food,
even though I live in America.
So, it makes me very happy.
I'm just so happy.
Waiting for your turn has to be nerve-wracking.
Right?
So it's gonna rotate between finish here, taste,
then finish there, taste, and so on.
There's a ten-minute interval before the next one begins.
I gotta see the Goddess of Chinese Cuisine at work.
-Same. We can't miss that. -Definitely the big match of the day.
Got to go see number five.
Everyone will wanna see. We need a good spot.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the match of the century.
Looks like he Chinese cuisine girls are facing off.
This is the first time ever that two women making Chinese cuisine
are facing off like this.
-This has never happened before? -Nope, the first time.
DUEL MATCHUPS
It's gonna be the match of the century.
-Ah! -There will be blood.
The queen of dim sum…
An epic fight for the throne.
"May the best woman win."
JUNG JI-SUN VS GODDESS OF CHINESE CUISINE
Everyone kinda set this up, so I think they were expecting it.
-All wanna see how this plays out. -Yeah.
I'm so excited!
A showdown between the Queen and Goddess of Chinese cuisine.
We all wanna know. Can she… dethrone the queen?
We will now reveal the ingredient.
Please open the fridge.
What are those? Dried radish greens?
Your ingredient is dried radish greens.
Oh, I see!
I feel very confident.
I thought of a dish the moment we were given the ingredient,
and since I've picked a dish already,
I'm sure the odds will be stacked in my favor
once I just work out a solid recipe.
I know I've got the upper hand.
I'm not as nervous as I thought I'd be I'm just gonna do what I've always done.
People are hyping this up as a showdown between two female Chinese cuisine chefs,
but it's just so predictable.
Where's the fun in this when I know I'm going to win?
I'm here to win this whole thing.
Ji-sun's fantastic. She'll be the top Chinese cuisine chef in Korea.
-She's that good, huh? -There's no one better.
She used to be the undisputed champion,
but Chinese Cuisine Goddess is also catching up.
Dried radish greens duel contestants,
please start cooking.
Big match!
Let's go, let's go.
So we started cooking, and she had this giant fish,
so I went, "Huh, what's she up to?"
There's nothing sexier than someone chopping up fish
using a Chinese kitchen knife.
Wow. Look at her.She's so cool.
Is she filleting the fish?
That's freaking sick, seriously!
How on earth is she deboning it using such a rectangular knife?
I've prepared a dried radish green sea bream stew for this round.
Since I'll actually be using fish bones to get a really rich broth,
and since the bone is going to matter more than the fillet itself for this dish
once the fish has been deboned,
I'll be quickly deep-frying the bone and head portion first,
before I get a broth out of them…
…so that when the dried radish greens come together with the fish broth,
I end up with a very rich soup.
I believe it's gonna be amazing.
Wow, that's crazy!
The heck? What is she doing?
-Sugar craft? -Holy smokes!
-Look at her showboating. -That's seriously insane.
I'd expect no less from her.
That's a master at work right there.
What even is all of that? Seriously!
How does she plan on cooking with that?
That's crazy!
Wow.
Wow!
What exactly is she doing?
Basi, basi.
That's unbelievable.
She's making strands. Sugar strands.
I think presentation matters just as much.
This is Chinese cuisine.
I'll show everyone the extravagance of Chinese cuisine.
-Wow. Never seen that before. For real. -Neither have I.
Yeah.
I'll be making deep-fried dried radish greens basi
in black vinegar sauce.
When people think of basi,
they usually think of candied sweet potatoes
or something along those lines.
But the term basi actually means "to extract thin strands,"
so I'll be doing some sugar crafting to make a basi for the top of my dish.
It's all gonna come down to how much the basi will impact the flavor.
But I personally think
that the dish over there is gonna have a punchier flavor than this one.
Basi?
Basi with dried radish greens?
I'm not sure that's gonna work out for her.
I had my doubts as to whether her dish would taste that great,
so I wasn't really worried about her.
I knew right away that I had picked the right dish
to go along with the ingredient we were randomly given,
so I really liked my odds.
I did a lot of preparation,
and I practiced so hard for this.
So as long as I can replicate my trial runs,
I'm confident I have a good chance of winning.
Her dish just looks like it has better chances.
She's taking the sea bream and cooking it, frying it, then steaming it.
I think it's gonna pack more of a punch.
It's a veteran versus a rookie.
Her dishes may look great,
but that won't help in the blind taste test.
The judges won't see the food this round. So she can't use that to her advantage.
It's all gonna come down to the dried radish greens.
They turned out to be tougher than I anticipated.
But I tried several different methods
to make the dried radish greens softer.
I discovered that boiling them with some baking soda helped.
So I'm going to boil them in baking soda for about five minutes,
then take them out and dice 'em.
Then I'm going to dice up some Iberico pork ribs,
get some oil dough on them,
roll them up in dried radish greens, and deep fry them.
Nineteen minutes.
They kinda look like meatballs.
How did she mold the dried radish greens?
Did she make a dough with them?
That would leave me with these solid, round balls, right?
Next, I'll be using the black vinegar sauce, reducing it,
and coating the deep-fried balls…
This one's gonna be a real toss-up.
-With basi like that… -Exactly.
There's really no telling.
They're both so good. Seriously. It's gonna be close.
I'd kill to get a bite of that.
Looks freaking delicious.
Plenty of time left, nice.
And I'm all set.
She's done!
Whoo! Woo-hoo!
They're smiling, both of them. Look how confident they are.
They're scaring me.
Jung Ji-sun must be feeling the heat.
Yeah, she seems nervous.
The Queen and the Goddess of Chinese Cuisine.
The ultimate showdown.
Please proceed to the blind tasting evaluation area.
Whoo! Let's go!
Whoo!
-Whoo! -Whoo!
-Queen of Chinese cuisine! -Yeah!
Go White Spoons!
How will this play out?
Dried radish greens contestants, please enter.
It was rather entertaining.
I mean, I knew this probably wasn't easy for the two of them,
but seeing them both just sitting there like that
did somewhat help take the edge off.
There was no way to read their expressions,
aside from the shape of their lips, which put my mind at ease a little.
Black Spoon versus White Spoon.
The theme of this duel is dried radish greens.
Let us proceed with the tasting of dish number one.
DEEP-FRIED DRIED RADISH GREENS BASI IN BLACK VINEGAR SAUCE
Conventionally, you're supposed to coat the ingredient itself in sugar,
so that the sugar coating stretches out into strands
when you're eating a basi dish.
I took a different approach.
I deep-fried the dried radish greens instead,
and used black vinegar to coat it separately,
then put the two together.
A COOKING METHOD TO MAKE CANDIED RADISH BALLS IN THE FASHION OF BASI
Since they're blindfolded,
and judge based on mouth-feel, taste and nothing else,
I liked my odds.
Is that tanghulu?
-Is it there? -Yes, right here, Chef.
-Here it comes. -What the heck is this?
-Please open wide. -Ah.
What is this?
What the…?
Huh? What is this?
What the…?
Oh?
Hmm?!
Hmm?
Is this basi?
It's a candied dish.
My goodness.
I definitely didn't see this coming at all.
Yeah, that one came out of left field.
They guessed and went, "Oh, it's basi,"
so I thought to myself, "Oh, it worked, I totally tricked them."
Must be a Chinese cuisine chef.
This is well-made basi.
They somehow managed to nail the timing.
Anyone who's had basi would know
how hard the timing is to get right.
Basi tends to stick to itself.
It couldn't have been easy to pull off.
Points for execution.
The skills involved are one thing, but uh,
the dried radish greens are still very fragrant,
thanks to the way you prepared them.
Mm!
And it's got a lot of umami as well.
Next, you will be tasting dish number two.
For my dish,
I've taken some pointers from a Chinese dish.
It's got an earthy flavor to it thanks to the dried radish greens,
and I've given it some acidity using white kimchi.
And thanks to that extra earthy broth, which has a lot of umami on its own,
I've ended up with a dried radish greens fish soup dish.
with a refreshing taste that you just can't find in Korea.
I was thinking, "Oh, she's just making a run-of-the-mill dish."
"I'm sure mine's going to stand out more."
-Let me smell? -Okay. Very well.
Here you go.
It's got a tangy scent.
Okay.
Mm.
Very tangy.
Refreshing.
That's surprising.
It kinda tastes like they washed kimchi clean to make a stew.
Either that, or they made the stew using white kimchi.
No, wait. This tastes really familiar.
I'd like some more.
Let's try the ingredients in the soup first.
I believe they used a white fish.
-A white fish. -Yeah, it's fish.
I believe it's white fish that they used for the broth here.
They responded very ambiguously to the Goddess of Chinese Cuisine's dish,
so I wasn't sure whether they liked it or not.
Another Chinese cuisine chef.
This is…
The… pickled…
-It's suan cai. -Right, suan cai, the pickled cabbage.
Chinese pickled cabbage. It's used a lot in the Northeast Chinese provinces.
I'm impressed if they made suan cai out of dried radish greens.
That's brilliant.
Hmm.
-Wow, this is tough. -Oh man.
You both used your ingredients so well…
-Hmm. -This is difficult.
Both delicious.
The voting will commence now.
Of the two dishes presented,
please select the one that better utilized the main ingredient,
resulting in a better-tasting dish.
Dish number one versus dish number two.
Please, make your decision.
The voting has concluded.
The survivor of this Black Spoon versus White Spoon duel is…