We will now announce the outcome of the jang trio duel.
The score is one to one.
Contestants, please exit the room briefly.
I'd love to know Chef's intentions.
I was completely stumped by what they were going for.
I loved it while I was tasting it. How could they do this with ganjang?
-You barely taste the ganjang. -That's what I loved.
-But if it doesn't taste of ganjang-- -You can taste it.
He just managed to prevent it from stealing the spotlight.
Please let the person arguing in my favor have the louder voice.
The survivor
of the jang trio duel is…
…Chef Choi Hyun-seok.
Thank you for your hard work. Congratulations.
The White Spoon Choi Hyun-seok has survived.
Oh!
He did it.
Very nice.
Wow, the White Spoons have a high win rate.
There's a reason they're the White Spoons.
They are up there for a reason.
I believe that this is my purpose.
Inventing unique dishes that others wouldn't.
I'll be sure to put on a good show for the next round, too,
with another one-of-a-kind dish… that only I can make.
Setting preferences aside, one thing we need to judge the dishes on
is whether the dish is complete.
-I had to spit out number two. -Number two.
I'll be seeing this later.
-Something was off. Yeah. -Was it too tough?
-It was the fascia. -The fascia? There wasn't any on mine.
If I have to spit it out, they messed up.
I believe we should go with this one if you had to spit it out.
There was a little bit of fascia left.
It's a tiny detail, but it matters.
If I went to a restaurant with someone and they had to spit out food,
I feel like I would file a complaint as well, and go, "Excuse me."
If the contestant prepared a fine dining dish,
but failed to meet the standards expected of a fine dining dish,
then it should be considered a failure.
So I just leave it here?
Sure, I'm disappointed, but I got a chance to go up against an amazing chef,
and both judges seemed to enjoy my dish, so I'm satisfied.
I just lacked experience compared to Chef Choi Hyun-seok.
We will be proceeding with the next selection.
I went with a honey badger theme for my haircut.
And the thing about honey badgers is that they're not afraid of anything.
Not lions, tigers, nothing.
There may be a lot of skilled chefs here, but I'm not gonna let it get to me.
The second it's Chef Oh's turn, I'm walking up there.
Black Spoons who wish to go up against White Spoon Oh Se-deuk,
please step forward.
Hidden Genius.
Black Spoons who wish to go up against White Spoon Park Joon-woo,
please step forward.
Ooh! Oh!
I'll be going with Chef Spark.
-Poor Cooking Maniac… -His second fail.
Please step forward.
-Was he third on your list? -Again?
Celebrities' Chef, let's do a veggie dish showdown.
Poor guy. That sucks.
I feel so bad for Maniac.
I'm starting to think they might not like me.
It's not like that. They're avoiding you.
It felt like I was a kid again.
Wanting to play in the game, but never getting picked.
You know?
I'll go up again once it's Chef Joseph.
White Spoon Joseph, please step up to the center.
-Finally! -It's Evett's chef.
Michelin star Joseph.
Black Spoons who wish to go up against White Spoon Joseph,
please step forward.
Ah!
Oh look, he's stepped forward again, Nam-no.
I've got a very good reason. For sure this time.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity
to have a culinary showdown with a one-Michelin-star chef.
I own a fine dining restaurant named Evett in Apgujeong.
2020-2024 MICHELIN ONE-STAR RESTAURANT 2021 MICHELIN SEOUL YOUNG CHEF AWARD
I only use Korean ingredients,
and have been showing off some creative dishes.
SPRING GREENS RAW FISH SOUP
I've won a number of cooking awards and I run a Michelin star restaurant,
so my top priority will be coming up with a creative dish.
I'll be taking that Michelin star from you today.
I'm the head chef at a restaurant…
DEEPIN 10 YEARS' EXPERIENCE
…but I have less to lose, so I won't back away from a challenge.
Please open the fridge.
Oo-ooh!
The two of you will be facing off using conger eels.
-Eh! -I was really relieved.
It was a familiar ingredient for me.
I started out as a Japanese cuisine chef,
so I liked my chances.
Whoo! White Spoons!
White Spoons!
I've got this.
I do have seniority.
Oh, he's steaming the eel whole.
By steaming then putting it in ice,
you can remove the layer of slime on the surface.
It's time he showed us all how it's done. How to properly cook an eel.
The eel….
…is a very fickle fish to work with when you cook it.
There's this technique,
Honekiri.
You've got to sever all the bones, so that not a single sharp bone is left.
You have to make at least 25 individual cuts
on each piece of the eel.
It's a technique I picked up
when I was learning about Japanese cuisine,
and it's a very time-consuming process.
What's Chef Joseph up to?
He's removing the bones.
From the eel?
Yeah, it looks like he's deboning the eel.
It'll take forever to remove every single bone.
He's a fine dining Michelin-one-star chef. I wonder how he'll handle this.
Nam-no's got a big match on his hands.
A chance to beat a star.
He's gotta take down that star for himself.
Chef Kim Do-yun and Joseph are the only Michelin ones left.
-You're right. -Right?
Chef Do-yun's got so much swag. Just wow.
Chef Kim Do-yun's just so cool.
CHEF-OWNER, YUN SEOUL MICHELIN 1-STAR RESTAURANT
I wore headphones.
I wanted to imagine I was cooking for someone I love.
I wanted…
…to add a splash of love into my dish.
I've got some songs by Zia, some by Yangpa.
I was listening to a lot of music.
I'll bet Kim Do-yun's restaurant's got similar vibes.
-Calm and composed, just like him. -Yeah.
2022-2024 MICHELIN ONE-STAR RESTAURANT
Among all the chefs here,
I probably have the most dried and preserved ingredients
that I prepared by hand.
I've got dried everything, from the sky, the ocean, and land.
There's duck esophagi,
fish heads, lips, etcetera,
all categorized and dried separately, to be used for stock or broth.
I can make excellent dishes with no spices.
SIDE DISH CHEF VS KIM DO-YUN
The two of you will be facing off
using semi-dried rockfish.
Whoa, jackpot.
Mm.
It's fate.
I'm going to cook it to perfection.
I wanted to face off against chef Kim Do-yun,
who earned a Michelin star for Korean cuisine.
I feel like Chef Kim Do-yun is just gonna breeze through this match.
Please fucking work. Come on!
For fuck's sake.
I was really feeling the pressure in that kitchen.
You good?
I really wanted to beat a one-Michelin-star chef.
I prayed that the heavens might give me this one.
Let me win, just once.
The dish is one of my specialties.
I'm making a Japanese-French dish.
What I mean is, it's a French dish with Japanese influence.
A fusion dish. French-style steamed eggs with eel.
I basted the main ingredient, the eel, in a delicious sauce called tsume,
which is made using soy sauce.
I then grilled the eel to perfection.
As for the steamed eggs, I used a sauce called sabayon to shape them.
Sabayon is commonly used to accompany vegetables in brunch menus.
After that, I'll add the eggs to a white wine base,
and then heat it all up by double-boiling.
COOKING WITH A HEAT-ADJUSTABLE BLENDER
CONGER EEL
Then I'll be adding nitrogen gas,
topping off the dish with a soft layer of foam,
resulting in a foamy sauce that really spreads all over your mouth.
-Ooh! -Oh.
The air over here stings! Is he burning wood?
He's fanning the flames!
Sorry about that.
The name of my dish is mild conger eel.
First I'll boil the eel in medicinal rice wine
at 45 degrees Celsius…
KOREAN BLACKBERRY WINE
…brushing a Korean blackberry glaze on it,
then roasting it on some apple tree charcoal.
Oh, he's smoking it.
-Clever. -Looks delicious.
I've been exclusively using Korean ingredients
for five years to come up with dishes
that have a creative twist from a foreigner's perspective.
What Joseph's doing is cool. Guess that's fine dining for you.
I'm expecting them to say that it's got a clean and mild taste.
Let us proceed with the tasting of dish number one.
I've prepared some conger eel
with Korean blackberry and perilla leaf sauce.
I could tell that Chef Joseph wasn't pulling any punches.
That's cohesive.
Mm. Mm.
Is there any more?
-No. -Never mind, then
Next, you will be tasting dish number two.
I felt like I was suffocating in there.
It got so bad that even my breathing sounded too loud.
It may look like a simple steamed egg dish,
but I wanted them to realize
that amazing things lay in store for them inside
once they dug in.
What's that nutty smell?
Smells like cookies.
Hmm.
-Ready? -Yeah.
Hmm?
I was desperate.
I really wanted them to think it was delicious.
I wanted them to enjoy it.
It's got a soft, creamy texture to it.
This sauce tastes familiar.
It's a western sauce.
The one that goes with eggs. The one you use to make mousse.
Right.
-Sabayon? -Sabayon.
It's like sabayon.
I got chills in that moment.
I wasn't sure whether my strategy had paid off as intended,
or if they just knew because they'd tasted it too many times.
The voting has concluded.
Ah!
Hmm…
When people think of Korean food,
they usually think of how spicy
and red it is, and so on.
With that in mind, for this dish,
I wanted to show off something a bit more mild, clean, and delicate.
As a chef with your background
who really pushes the boundaries of Korean ingredients,
you've offered us a fresh new take on Korean cuisine
that Korean chefs can't conceive of or create.
-Thank you for the delicious meal. -Thank you.
This is a dish I've never seen before,
but it tasted so familiar.
You were right about the sabayon earlier.
-I was? -Yes, that's the sauce.
I was going for steamed eggs with conger eel for this.
So that's why! That's why it felt so familiar.
You've got your own distinct style, which is great,
and you don't ever stray away from your signature path.
I could taste that in your cooking.
Now then, we will be announcing the outcome of the match.
-Nice one, brother. -Thank you, bro.
The survivor of this one-on-one duel,
receiving both votes…
The Black Spoon Cooking Maniac has survived.
-Thank you. -I'm sorry, man.
-Thank you. -Don't feel bad. No need to apologize
-Thank you. -Nice one, brother.
The Black Spoon Cooking Maniac has survived.
That's insane. He's a natural.
I think Cooking Maniac
just had a much better grasp of how to use the eel properly.
The moment I tasted it,
I knew it was him.
They appreciated my dish for what it was.
And that…
felt amazing.
I'm getting choked up right now, but that felt great.
I'm so glad that they were pleased with my dish.
-You gotta win this, man. -Okay.
I'll treat you to a nice meal.
When it comes to cooking Korean cuisine,
I still have a lot to learn,
which is why I'll need to keep striving for perfection going forward.
-He's a maniac, all right. -Maniac brought down a one-star.
I knew a maniac could do it!
I did not expect Joseph to get eliminated. Man, this show is just full of surprises.
I wanna know what Chef Kim Do-yun's up to.
I found that rockfish doesn't taste all that great
when you boil it or deep-fry it.
So I steamed it.
I steamed it just the right amount so that it was just barely cooked.
It may be the simplest solution,
but this way,
I didn't end up with dry, fishy-smelling pieces.
I decided to pan-sear the semi-dried rockfish.
And along with that, I decided to prepare a
semi-dried rockfish soup with rice.
They may think that the meat is too hard or too tough,
but that's just the signature charm of a semi-dried fish ingredient.
The key is making the dry rockfish meat
as moist as possible.
The survivor of this one-on-one duel…
…has won two to zero.
-C'mon, please! -Black Spoon.
The Black Spoon Side Dish Chef has survived.
All right!
Oh no! Chef Do-yun, the quiet one.
No way.
Wow, that's just… My goodness.
I really wasn't expecting that at all.
You put the semi-dried rockfish to better use
by going with a soup and rice dish.
I'm sure it helped with the stock as well.
I think you did a better job of showing me
what you wanted me to feel about this ingredient.
Thank you very much.
Wow, I'm shocked! I can't believe this. This is insane.
I feel like this might have come as a shock to Chef Kim Do-yun.
-Right? -He lost two-zero.
KIM DO-YUN
That other fellow…
he managed to come up with just the right dish for the occasion.
It is what it is, you know?
All of the Michelin chefs are dropping like flies.
That's a mighty haul right there. A big catch indeed.
Yeah, big catch.
-Wow, he beat a one-star. -He's taken a star out of the equation.
With that, all the stars are gone.
No, Chef Fabri's been a Michelin-star chef for 15 years.
Italy, I forgot. He's got a one-star restaurant in Italy.
But now that I think of it, he's a local legend.
He's an authentic Italian chef.
♪ Oh, cha-cha-cha ♪
♪ Cha, cha-cha, cha-cha-cha ♪
A game. A game.
I'm tense, so tense.
Oof, ey.
Wow.
Buongiorno, everyone!
My name is Fabrizio Ferrari. I'm a chef.
I specialize in Italian cuisine.
I own a restaurant called Al Porticciolo 84 in Italy,
and I've won a Michelin star for 15 years straight.
FROM 2005-2020
Korean cuisine is somewhat of a challenge I'm undertaking.
I want to study it as much as possible, and I'm willing to learn.
If we win this, that means we've beaten all the stars.
Hmm.
Focus, focus!
-Just take it slow. -Focus.
I set my sights on taking down Fabri
the moment I laid eyes on him.
ITALIAN CUISINE EXPERT
Just you wait.
Is that Chef Fabrizio?
I was gonna pick him if we ever got the chance to do a one-on-one.
White Spoon Fabri, please step up to the center.
-Bring it. -Oh! Ooh!
FABRI VS NAPOLI MATFIA
Uh, Chef Fabrizio, everyone here knows you're a phenomenal chef.
But you do realize
that Napoli beat you guys in a 2023 Serie A match.
-Oh! -Ooh!
Besides, not to mention,
Neapolitan cuisine… is the poster child of Italian cuisine.
FROM MILAN, ITALY
Oh, really? You're going there?
Trash talk! Talking some serious smack.
Not sure I agree with that.
In that case, very well, I accept your challenge, okay?
-Okay, you're on. -You're on.
Now then, let us greet each other as the Italians do. Matfia.
I didn't understand any of that.
Sportsmanship!
-All right, give us some chicken. -We will reveal the ingredient.
Please open the fridge.
One, two…
-What is it? No! -Whoa!
And your ingredient is
**** fish.
Oh my!
Oh!
And your ingredient is
skate fish!
Skate fish.
Oh!
That's the worst! The absolute worst.
Wow, no way.
-Man, that fish smells terrible. -That smells terrible.
You're kidding?
-Let's close it for now. -Sounds good.
Yeah, it just smells too much.
My, oh my, oh my, oh my.
Mamma mia!
Ugh!
I've never tried it before. I've never even touched it.
So I was in trouble.
Shock.
It was just pure shock like this, "Eh?!"
And it wasn't even just that.
The smell!
There was this stench immediately.
-This one's gonna be a shocker. -Oof!
This… is gonna be a tough one.
Any chef who's never used it before will see this and
be at a complete loss as to how to proceed with it.
Skate fish might be the hardest ingredient to work with
if you don't know how to handle it.
Korea might be the only nation in the world that ferments it.
How they express and understand the ingredient
is gonna be the deciding factor as to who wins.
I feel I like can smell it from all the way up here.
There.
-Whoa! -That skate fish is huge!
Skate fish!That's crazy!
-Wow, that's heavy. -Oh my God.
Goodness!
Wow, that reeks.
-The smell. -That smells terrible.
Oy! Ah!
It's heavy too.
Okay, it's time to cut the fish.
How do I even do this?
Oh! Like this!
All right.
It's not so bad.
Like this,
and like this might work out.
Okay, I just do this.
Wow, Fabri's already finished preparing one skate fish fin.
Looks like he's had training.
-I thought Fabri'd struggle. -He's peeling it really well.
-He looks pretty experienced. -Yes!
Oh yes.
Prior to coming on this show, I practiced really hard and studied a lot.
The studying portion was crucial.
I'm glad I studied
since this was my first time ever dealing with skate fish.
Ah!
I have one hidden ace up my sleeve which I've been saving.
My risotto dish.
I've been saving it up so I could use it in a pinch,
and so I decided to make a risotto utilizing every portion of the skate fish.
The main goal of my dish
was to make the main ingredient, the skate fish, shine.
So I'll be using the invaluable special bits,
that would be the nose…
the cheek, and also the fins,
to make a tartare which will eventually go on the top of the dish.
TARTARE: A DISH MADE BY MINCING RAW MEAT OR FISH
SKATE FISH LIVER
He's using the liver.
The one thing I focused on the most was the sauce,
which utilized the skate fish's liver.
Skate fish livers are even creamier than foie gras.
-It's super delicious. -They're soft too.
He's a western chef. There's no way he's skipping the liver.
I'm guessing that it's more than likely
that chef Fabri is going to prepare an Italian dish as well.
A pasta or risotto.
Ah yes.
Yes, squeeze.
Squeeze!
Squeeze.
-What's that red thing? Kimchi? -It's aged kimchi.
Oh, I'm guessing he's going to borrow from the fermented fish idea.
That must be it!
It's always been one of my main goals
to spread awareness about Korean cuisine as much as possible.
Especially to foreigners.
What's the most famous skate fish dish in Korean cuisine?
Samhap. It's fermented skate fish.
But the thing with samhap is, if we're being totally honest,
it's likely to turn off almost 95% of foreigners.
-Do you like the… -Skate fish?
-Huh? -Man, that sucks!
It's terrible.
Do you like skate fish, Chef Edward?
I'm going to use
the traditional ingredients that go into a samhap
to come up with a fine dining dish.
That would be skate fish,
aged kimchi,
and some pancetta,
to add a dash of an Italian flare.
Pancetta is salted and cured Italian samgyeopsal,
and it is the poster child of Italian cured meats.
Then I deep-fry the skate fish…
Deep-fried.
-He's deep-frying it. -He is?
And stir-fry the chopped aged kimchi.
I then make a rice wine sauce.
This could get really interesting.
An Italian dish made by a Korean chef…
and a Korean dish made by an Italian chef.
Oh! This ought to be fun.
Let us proceed with the tasting of dish number one.
GREEN RISOTTO WITH SKATE
A sauce utilizing the liver,
and a tartare made using the nose and cheek cuts.
To go along with the rice,
I've prepared raw skate fish,
vegetable chips with a spicy kick, just like kimchi,
and some juicy tomatoes, for a saucier meal.
It felt as though I was eating an entire skate fish
since everything was mixed up.
Yeah. It's got a very… nutty flavor to it.
I can taste a lot of different textures.
-An unfamiliar dish with a familiar taste. -Hmm.
It's like a spoonful of rice with some aged kimchi
and fermented skate fish.
That is actually kind of what I was going for.
Rice with raw fish.
I pictured them having it with some kimchi,
which is why I prepared the cavolo nero chips.
I made them spicy to give them a kimchi feel.
I think my plans really hit the mark at the end of the day.
Next, you will be tasting dish number two.
Deep-fried skate fish,
with pancetta, stir-fried aged kimchi,
rice wine sauce, and water celery oil.
Various tastes and various flavors, but all in harmony.
You can taste it all in this dish.
He really went all out on this. A lot more than I expected.
I took one look at his dish and went…
"Whoa, this might be tough."
This is like…
…having samhap at a fine dining restaurant.
They deep-fried the skate fish for a nice texture.
They must've intended
on essentially harmonizing the ingredients that go into a samhap,
although the dish itself is prepared very differently.
It's like a fine dining samhap. A little jarring, but it works well.
Hmm.
Wah.
Tough decision.
-You're right. It's a tough call. -Both delicious.
The voting has concluded.
The score is tied one to one.
PAIK JONG-WON: FABRI ANH SUNG-JAE: NAPOLI MATFIA
Please exit the room briefly.
I initially considered
which dish made the skate fish stand out more,
and I reached the conclusion that this one had done it better.
In terms of taste, it was delicious as well.
I fell in love with this samhap. Every component was excellent.
It's deep-fried,
and that makes everything taste good, but--
I actually chose this because it was deep-fried.
Really? I actually docked some points for deep-frying it.
I think their thought process was,
"How can I offer a fresh new take on samhap?"
"A deep-fried samhap dish might work nicely."
I totally get what you mean by that,
but I feel like you could've gotten this flavor
had you fried any fish.
-I don't wanna be on that wall. -These are the chefs who went home?
So this is a graveyard.
Great, a graveyard.
It's pretty rough.
We have our winner.
Contestants, please reenter.
Hello.
-Hello. -Hello.
Both of your dishes were incredible.
There's one thing I'm very curious about. Did you add skate fish liver to this?
Yes, the liver's in the sauce.
And did you fold in the ingredient at the very end? As a final flourish?
I did.
Mm.
When you decided to go with this deep-fried skate fish combination,
did you have a samhap in mind?
My intention for this dish was to come up with a modern take on samhap.
One that I felt that maybe even foreigners would be inclined to enjoy.
-I see. -This match was a close one.
We had a really… heated debate.
-It really was neck-and-neck. -I see.
Now then, our results.
The conclusion we've reached…
If we're judging based on culinary technique, it's this one.
I get that you think they took the easy way out by deep-frying,
but I was judging based on the components together.
-Yeah, right. -They used the liver in this dish.
The skate fish liver is a crucial component.
If even the liver was used, then it's game, set, and match.
…the chef who made the first dish has survived.
Thank you.
The Black Spoon Napoli Matfia has survived.
Sure, I feel good about it,
but I knew it was too soon for me to celebrate,
so I reminded myself
to take the next round even more seriously.
-No way! -What?!
-Another upset. -The Black Spoon won.
There goes all of the Michelin-star chefs.
Yeah, another one-Michelin-star gone.
♪ Another star is falling today! ♪
My, you're a good singer.
I'm Italian, and I'm an Italian chef,
and yet here, I let a Korean chef beat me, Fabri, in Italian cuisine.
It's so embarrassing.
Ah!
FABRI ELIMINATED
FABRI
Last one. One last heart.
Fabri always stays positive.
Yeah.
So, here's a heart.
I've never had any sort of formal training.
Comic Book Chef.
Oh, Oishinbo?
Iron Wok Jan?
You're using a recipe from these books?
It's called "Dongpo rou from Oishinbo Volume 2, Page 25."
That's the name?
I wanted to see for myself whether my cooking was actually any good.
I didn't go to any famous culinary schools,
Koutake mushroom.
I never studied under any famous chefs either.
SELF-MADE CHEF
Self-Made Chef, you have survived.
It's so delicious. It was so delicious.
Honestly, I just blacked out.
I hadn't felt so happy in a very long time.
The chef I'd like to face off against is…
I'd like to learn a thing or two from him since I look up to him so much.
-Gotta go see this. I've gotta see this. -It's Chef Lu Chinglai!
I've got to go see Lu Chinglai.
I'm such a fan.
Wow!
50-YEAR MASTER OF CHINESE CUISINE
I wanted to see him in action. Anyone'd agree he's a master of his craft.
I have the utmost respect for him, as a junior chef.
I think he's most likely to win it all.
This is another battle between old and new.
He's a master of Chinese cuisine.
I have nothing but the utmost respect for him,
yet here I was challenging him.
"Me and my knife's still got it," that's what I thought.
I knew I had to show these people something.
Jin Jin's one of my favorite restaurants,
so I'd like to get a close look at what it takes to win a star.
-Best of luck to both of us. -Good luck.
My name is Hwang Jin-seon, and I'm the chef-owner of Jin Jin.
My restaurant's won a Michelin one star for three consecutive years…
FROM 2017 TO 2019
…and it was also awarded a Best Asian Restaurant Award
by 100 Taste of Seoul.
This is a place for us to show off our skills,
so I couldn't have asked for a nicer opportunity.
-It's Chinese food showdowns today! -Look how red that pressure cooker is.
Please start cooking now.
-Must be fish. -What's he using?
What? It's oxtail.
-Huh? Oh, oxtail? -Oh, he's using oxtail.
The ingredient Self-Made Chef and I picked together is oxtail.
To be honest, I had never worked with oxtail before, so…
Oxtails are usually really tough.
I wonder what he's gonna do with it.
You know, thinking about it now,
I think the oxtail may have been more challenging to do than the skate fish
since they only had 70 minutes to prepare it.
What's he doing with the tail?
-Black bean paste. -Black bean paste?
Yeah.
I've decided to prepare a dish using oxtail
that I'm naming dongpo oxtail.
First, I boil the oxtail after removing the blood.
-He's coating it with the paste. -He's using black bean paste?
He must be doing it to get the right fragrance.
He's getting the sauce on it to get the right color and fragrance.
After seasoning, I'll deep-fry it.
Then I'll take the other ingredients and put them inside a steamer,
letting them steam for about 25 minutes.
-Tae-hun's made a smart decision. -Who?
He's boiled it, deep-fried it, then reduced it.
-Deep-fried? -Boiled, deep-fried, then steamed?
Considering the fact that oxtail's our main ingredient,
I'm pretty sure Chef Lu Chinglai will be doing a steamed dish.
-He's using a rice cooker. -He's steaming it?
I think he's also doing a steamed dish.
I started using soy sauce, but Chef Lu…
Whoa, wait, is that chili oil?
I think he used chili oil to make the soup.
It'll have a nice kick.
Since I had cooked using traditional methods a lot of times,
I was going to use some doubangjiang sauce,
which better suits Korean people's tastes.
It looks like he's making a spicy jjamppong soup,
which he's heating slowly in a pressure cooker.
He's using a spicy sauce. It's gonna be a very unique dish.
Over here, he's reducing his dish using a ganjang base,
then deep-frying it.
I worked extremely hard.
I did many rounds of testing.
And every test ran for around three to four hours.
That's delicious!
-Leave some for us. -Nope!
He really seems to be pulling out all the stops,
but it seems Chef Lu already thinks he has this in the bag.
Lu's method of cooking may seem simple, but it's gonna pack a serious punch.
That looks so cool.
He's going with a very old-fashioned plating style
from traditional Chinese cuisine.
Very impressive.
That looks like the kind of dish you serve on a lazy Susan
in a room meant for eight servings.
I wish I could pay for a taste right now.
With two steamed dishes,
I'm sure the judges' primary focus will be the nuances of flavor.
I know this will be
a delicious, well-cooked steamed oxtail dish.
Oxtail duel contestants,
please proceed to the blind tasting evaluation area.
-Go, go! -Go, go, go!
Whoo!
-Man, this should be fun. -This is gonna be huge, huh?
Another big match.
PUMPKIN
Damn it, that's another dud.
For the love of God…
Our ingredient really pissed me off.
All I could think of was pumpkin porridge.
What should I make? Something sweet? A dessert?
I was happy with it.
I had been hoping that we would get something that he's not good at.
Since we both suck at this, let's throw down fair and square.
I must have prepared at least 20 dishes in the given time.
I kept chopping the pumpkin and eating it like an apple,
but it just tasted so bad.
Like a really spoiled apple.
I couldn't think of what to do.
Having to use an ingredient I'd never considered to be an entrée
at the forefront of my dish was just…
So in the process of adding this and that
to make its flavor work at all…
Chef Jin-seon's working on the sauce now.
I found out that you needed some sugar
to bring out the pumpkin's best flavor, which is why
tangsu was my solution.
TANGSU: SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE
That'll be my sauce for the pumpkin.
My dish is called tangsu pumpkin.
I'll be taking some diced pork shoulder
with some diced shrimp,
and using them as a filling
by rolling them up with the pumpkin,
skewering them with a toothpick, and deep-frying them.
It's going to be soft, crispy,
but also… moist.
Comic Book Chef,
he seemed very calm
and also really passionate
about cooking.
One manga series that's had the most influence on me
is Iron Wok Jan.
There's an arc about the fusion of Chinese and French cuisine.
So I thought to myself, "Well, that looks fun,"
and realized that I could probably come up with a similar dish
by switching out the carrots for pumpkins in a carottes râpées,
which is basically French kimchi.
Which is why I'm making a tart.
I'll be using spring roll skins to make the tart,
then chopping up the pumpkin and boiling it in water.
Fifteen to 20 minutes.
After I set the tart…
then I'll make some chili oil with some Szechuan peppercorns,
and squeeze out about 12 drops or so.
It's a Chinese tart, if you will.
Comic Book Chef is always really calm when he's in the kitchen.
This person's won a match to get here,
so it would really cramp my style
if I ended up losing to him after a staring contest.
We're competing under the same conditions,
so I'm confident I'll win.
I just want to win right now. I have to win this.
Let me win just one match.
The theme of this duel is pumpkin.
Pumpkin, huh?
Pumpkin, that's a tough one.
Let us proceed with the tasting of dish number one.
TANGSU PUMPKIN
Based on the visuals alone,
I thought, "Hey, I just might end up winning."
Here it is.
That smells sweet.
Ah.
Hmm.
Pumpkins are already sweet,
but it tastes like
they added more sugar.
But in this case, the additional sweetness actually works.
The dish I've prepared for today is named pumpkin tarts.
Here. Let me help you grab it.
What the heck is this?
-Where is it? -On the plate.
I just grab it?
-In one bite? -Whatever you're comfortable with.
Hmm?
A tartlet?
He used sliced pumpkin to make a tart,
which was actually very similar to a dish I practiced
before I decided to go with the tangsu pumpkin.
I liked the flavor a lot,
so I was surprised when I found out that he had prepared the exact dish.
I was so nervous!
It's pumpkin
and mala.
Yeah, I think they used mala oil.
Yeah, mala oil. It's a good one too.
Hmm.
-It's tough. -These two are really different as well.
Mm!
This one's tough.
I agree. It really is.
The voting has concluded.
The score is two to zero.
Judges, please remove your blindfolds.
Hi. Ah.
-Hello. -Ah!
Pumpkins are already sweet.
Why did you decide to add more sugar?
I didn't exactly drown it in sugar or anything.
I tested various amounts of sugar
and came up with the optimal amount of sweetness
to bring out the pumpkin's natural flavor.
It was so sweet that when I first tasted it,
I thought you were crazy.
I couldn't believe you'd added sugar to an already sweet pumpkin.
But the more I tried it, the more the sweetness kind of worked.
It was a really bizarre experience.
When I tried it for the first time,
I also thought that you must've used a perfect pumpkin.
You didn't just bring out the sweetness though.
You made various tweaks to really bring out the pumpkin's flavor,
resulting in a delicious dish for us.
-It was really sweet though. -Yeah.
Super sweet.
-I see. -Yes.
Is this from a comic too?
Yes. Book three of Iron Wok Jan.
It's an arc that's dear to my heart.
I used spring roll skins to make the tart mold,
then boiled some pumpkin funiculus and pulp,
then I used some Visco, which is a starch thickener,
to get the right consistency,
and turned it into puree, which I added to the top.
Isn't Visco used in molecular gastronomy?
-That's right. -Wow. That stuff is in comic books?
If you keep digging around, yes.
That's awesome. I respect that.
-You flatter me. -Really creative.
To think that someone could prepare
a dish like this based on comic books is just…
-Ingenious? -…nothing short of amazing.
-I wish you all the best. -Thank you.
But our judging process still has to be fair.
Yes.
Now then, we will be announcing the outcome of the pumpkin match.
The survivor of this one-on-one duel is…
…the White Spoon Hwang Jin-seon has survived.
-Thank you! -Congratulations.
-It was so delicious. -Great match. Congratulations.
Right, thank you.
-Thank you so much -Thank you.
You really are awesome.
-Thank you. -Thank you very much.
They said that it was sweet, but it didn't feel too sweet,
and that's exactly what I wanted to hear them say.
Adding the perfect amount of sugar takes skill. That's technique.
He added just the right amount.
I'm sure a lot of careful consideration went into this dish.
Comic Book Chef, though, he really was something.
All that skill from a comic?
-That's impressive. -He's a genius. Wow.
How do you even learn that from comics?
COMIC BOOK CHEF
The theme of this duel is oxtail.
Let us proceed with the tasting of dish number one.
DONGPO OXTAIL
I can smell it from here.
Oxtails really do
have a strong aroma.
My mouth is already watering.
Hmm? It's Chinese cuisine.
The star anise isn't overwhelming.
It's good.
They've used the star anise in careful moderation.
I did a lot of testing.
I'm grateful that the judges acknowledged my efforts.
His dish received a very positive response,
so I didn't like where things were going.
Since oxtail dishes are meant to invigorate and rejuvenate,
I thought it might be nice to add some Pyogo mushrooms and chestnuts.
I added some doubanjiang to give it a good, spicy kick.
His plating was incredible,
and it was the perfect level of spiciness for the Korean palate.
I was sure they hadn't tasted many dishes with doubanjiang in them,
so I had reason to believe that things would go well.
-Hmm? -Hmm?
This is Chinese too!
What the heck?
They've used the same oxtail ingredient,
and have both come up with a different Chinese dish.
And these dishes are completely different.
I'm thinking these two must have two entirely different styles.
The ingredients they used are a bit different.
Mm.
This one's tough.
Now then, let us begin the voting.
It's really hard to pick one.
The voting has concluded.
The score is two to zero.
Judges, please remove your blindfolds.
-Hello. -Oh!
Hello.
Number one…
…and number two.
Dongpo rou tends to have a very strong star anise scent,
which can be off-putting, but it wasn't too strong here.
-I agree. The scent was really lovely. -Thank you.
It had this lingering scent of umami after I was done eating,
which went along nicely with the texture of the meat and everything else.
Thank you.
When I tried chef Lu's steamed oxtail,
it tasted familiar because of the Pyogo and chestnuts,
which also go into a galbi-jjim.
I thought those two might go well together,
so I added them in as well.
It wasn't greasy at all.
Everything worked nicely in tandem, the textures… really every element here.
They both cooked the same Chinese dish,
but they were cooked differently with different sub-ingredients.
Now then, we will be announcing the outcome of the oxtail match.
The survivor of this one-on-one duel is…
Please, please, please…
The survivor of this one-on-one duel is…
…the Black Spoon Self-Made Chef has survived.
-Thank you. -Congratulations.
The Black Spoon Self-Made Chef has survived.
All right.
-Holy shit. -Oh no.
-Lu Chinglai got eliminated? -Oh wow…
-Chef Lu Chinglai got eliminated. -That's impossible. Unexpected.
No way!
The master got eliminated.
-Oh, no need! -Thank you.
-Congratulations.
-Goodness me. -These young chefs are taking over.
-Thanks for your hard work. -Yes, thank you, Chef.
Thank you. Allow me to shake your hand.
-Of course. -Right, thank you.
I didn't know what to say. I was really caught off guard.
-You're kidding. That's crazy. -Just crazy!
I think he might actually break out in tears. He's gonna cry.
-I mean, this is… -He did great.
-He really did great, for real. -The dish smelled so good.
-Thank you. Thank you so much. -Thank you. Congratulations.
He simply performed better than me.
That's why he ended up with better results.
LU CHINGLAI
There's no denying that one can only improve
by failing repeatedly and working hard to better themselves,
so this was a nice experience for me.
Are there gonna be more Black or White Spoons left?
The Black Spoons are doing great.
-They're really competitive. -They're ready for battle.
You can tell that the White Spoons are nervous.
-I'm sorry, I have to win this. -Good luck.
Apologies in advance, Chef.
I worked briefly for Chef Oh Se-deuk.
I was the newest hire, and he was the chef-owner.
Now that I'm taking him on one-on-one,
I need to beat him.
Bao buns with mala beef gopchang.
The dish I've prepared is a Middle Eastern-style beef gopchang.
The dish we have deemed to be more delicious for this round
is dish number one.
The Black Spoon Hidden Genius has survived.
He really is a hidden genius.
Bone-in sirloin contestants, please enter.
GOD OF SEASONING VS SEONKYOUNG LONGEST
My opponent may be the Sea-gwi, but I'm the Taste-gwi,
and I'm guessing I have the upper hand in this match.
This is gochujang paella with bone-in sirloin.
When it comes to cooking, I've got a leg up on him.
The name of my dish is spicy, sweet, and sour bone-in sirloin.
I think it's ultimately gonna come down to how well it's been cooked.
You've survived.
Thank you for your hard work.
It's all over. I'm the best.
-Whoo! White Spoons! -Wow, amazing!
-White Spoons! -All right, all right!
-I think Auntie's gonna win this. -Of course.
I think we've got this one.
Pretty sure the flavor'll be perfect for Judge Paik.
We can't underestimate him.
It's mackerel tomato soup.
Very refreshing. It's well cooked.
It doesn't smell fishy.
The Black Spoon Auntie Omakase #1 has survived.
-Congratulations. -Thank you so much.
The Black Spoon Auntie Omakase #1 has survived.
This dish is a culmination
of all of my pasta-making knowledge and experience.
The acidity and sweetness of tomatoes go really well with shrimp.
The White Spoon Nam Jeong-seok survives.
Thank you.
The battle of the Pyogo mushrooms.
CHEF SPARK: PYOGO GNOCCHI
PARK JOON-WOO: DRIED PYOGO RISOTTO, SABLÉ AND CREAM
The Black Spoon Chef Spark has survived.
-Thanks. -…survives.
The theme of this duel is ogolgye chicken.
BANG KI-SU: STEAMED OGOLGYE CHICKEN SOUP
MASTER OF SCHOOL MEALS: SPICY BRAISED OGOLGYE CHICKEN
The Black Spoon Master of School Meals has survived.
Great work.
The Black Spoon Master of School Meals has survived.
-The school food chef won? -That's insane!
-Unbelievable. -The score's 11 to 9.
The final score is 11-9.
1:1 BLACK AND WHITE SHOWDOWN
GODDESS OF CHINESE CUISINE FABRI - SEUNG-WOO'S DAD
ONE TWO THREE - LU CHINGLAI
It's a shame we had to let these chefs go.
Some great talent here.
But now we have to make a decision.
-You and I have a super pass. -"A super pass"?
SUPER PASS: THE JUDGES MAY EACH SAVE A CONTESTANT ELIMINATED IN ROUND 2
Everyone here had a lot of talent, but since I can only pick one person,
this one was particularly close.
-Yeah. -So I choose….
In that case,
there was one person who really surprised me.
And that's this one.
Oh, right! That contestant was amazing.
Final decision, then?
Two contestants will be allowed to rejoin as additional survivors.
ADDITIONAL SURVIVORS ANNOUNCEMENT
The first survivor is…
the Black Spoon…
-What? -Black Spoon!
Black Spoons?
…Goddess of Chinese Cuisine.
I'm going with the Goddess of Chinese Cuisine!
-She was so close. -I knew it.
I wanna see her duke it out with chef Jung Ji-sun again
since they were so evenly matched.
Yeah.
Congratulations!
-Thank you! -I'm really happy for you.
Good for you. Nice.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
I'll be working myself to the bone to give this everything I've got.
I got lucky today.
I'm so jealous right now.
Now then,
we will be announcing
the final survivor.
And the final…
…survivor is…
…the Black Spoon Comic Book Chef.
Oh!
I have to go up against him again?
Whoa!
Some people might just write him off
for having learned his craft through reading comic books,
but I took the level of mastery he displayed in the kitchen
very seriously.
I was dying to find out what else he was capable of.
This is the biggest surprise I've had to date.
I'm not going to lose again.
Wow! What's this?
What's with the shipping containers?
Oh.
Cooking stations.
Why are they bunched together?
What's going on? They pulled the cooking stations together.
The one-on-one duels have concluded.
There are 11 contestants from the Black Spoons
and another 11 from the White Spoons.
Contestants, welcome to the third round of Culinary Class Wars.
For this round, you and your fellow chefs will be facing off
in a Black Spoon versus White Spoon team battle.
I've been wanting a team match. Works for me.
Seriously?
All right, we can do this. We can do this.
Do we have to?
I was mortified. This team is full
of well-known chefs who are used to running their own kitchens.
I really don't want to cook with other people.
This is a good thing.
We can do this.
I'm a very individual person.
I like cooking by myself, for myself.
A team challenge is very difficult.
Oh gosh!
Hey; now that we will be working as a unit, let's lose the formalities.
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
-Yes, sir. -We're all friends now.
CHEF SPARK: OLDEST BLACK SPOON
I feel like we'll have great teamwork.
Our opponents are the ones with egos.
I have a hunch that they will probably all get in their own way.
I think the Black Spoons are gonna win.
Contestants, there are two chambers in front of you.
What is it this time?
Over there?
This is where the Black Spoon versus White Spoon team match
will be taking place.
We will now reveal the Chamber of Ingredients.
-No way. -Whoa!
Wow!