(Image courtesy of Netflix)
We begin this episode introduced to some of the food that chef Chang makes at home, and a philosophy for chefs that I can confirm is true. When cooking at home, a chef tends to make simpler food. In fact, when making breakfast, he vocalizes a thought that I’ve had on several occasions, “I don’t want to use another utensil, because I don’t want to do more f**king dishes!” He goes on to say that the food that he cooks at home is what he wants to start serving in his restaurant…food that’s ugly and delicious.
The episode winds around a few curves, and then e are then on the train to Thanksgiving with Chef Chang’s family. He talks about how Thanksgiving was always a highlight or him, since there was this huge spread of American and Korean food. A point is brought up by Chef Chang that I can confirm is true, about how as a burgeoning chef; you don’t have any freedom of expression. The only place you can really express yourself is in cooking for yourself and family.
Next, we’re at his restaurant in Las Vegas, where Chef Chang reminisces on his growth as a chef. A quote from Chef Chang, “Home cooking, or what I now call ‘Ugly Delicious’ food has now become the food that I also want to make in the restaurant. There’s a way to coax more out of a dish. I just reached a point where I’m okay making ugly food”. It’s quite apparent that his epiphany of the acceptability of “ugly delicious” food has completely changed how he foods the culinary world.
He then talks about a dish he’s created in his Vegas restaurant, that’s got Portuguese elements, Korean elements, and is obviously a fusion dish he’s playing with. ”If you try to respect these cultures, you can figure out how to merge them together, without bastardizing any of it.” He mentions how much it resembles a ‘peasant dish’. “It’s a constructed dish where you can’t see the seams. The dishes that we’re making that have been successful, they somehow made sense, that weren’t supposed to make sense.” The close ties between memory and food are discussed, which really hits home for me. He talks about that “Ratatouille moment”, when you eat a dish, which triggers something in your mind…that’s where you want to be in cooking.” He talks about the “Ratatouille” moment, from the movie. The scene where the crusty French food critic takes the bite of the ratatouille, and is instantly transported back to his childhood.
Rene Redzepi is introduced, as Chef Chang says, “one of the world’s great chefs.” He is most well known for being the chef at Nomo in Copenhagen. As Chef Chang says, “He’s the reason why people eat Nordic food around the world.” Rene talks about how more and more, when people go out, they want something that’s more “home cooking”. At his restaurant, he feels that most people there really wish deep down that they’re eating a home-cooked meal. Chef Chang: “So many things that we do in restaurants can be replicated by other restaurants. The difference is literally in how much somebody cares about making that food.” The idea that home cooking is more about making somebody happy than it does with perfection is brought up. As Chef Chang says, “The intent is more perfect.” YES! YES! A thousand times YES!!!! This statement right here is why I think Chef Chang might be my favorite chef out there today.
After a discussion with a food author about what people are looking for in food, we’re back with Chef Chang. He mentions how when he started cooking, he felt the only food worth studying was high-end French dining, and how everything had to be this super-glossy affair. He eventually learned that good food is everywhere, it doesn’t have to be just this one person’s perspective. To Chef Chang, the idea that somebody leaves his restaurant if they feel that they got value, and that they loved it there, that’s what’s truly important to him, that’s home cooking.
We end with Chef Chang talking about how his mom has beaten cancer 4 times, and how the last time, she had brain cancer, and the day she comes home from the hospital with this giant bandage on her head, she’s at the stove cooking a meal from Chef Chang…that’s love right there. The women in his life expressed love through food. His grandmother did it, his mother does it, and they were both amazing cooks. Their first question when they saw him was always “have you had enough to eat?” Because of his experience in restaurants, he stays away from the euro-centric foods, since he mentally associates that with bad memories, of getting his butt kicked in restaurants. However, the love that he experienced through his mother’s cooking has led him to a more Korean-centric peasant style of cooking.
We finish the episode with Rene and Chef Chang discussing the widespread information about food that’s out there. Chef Chang says that because information is so easy to receive, it’s led to a lot of bad food. Without the struggle to create good food, people are making bad food. Rene disagrees, but Chang says that the romantic in him says that the peaks are too low now, you don’t have the peaks and valleys. The Chang family Thanksgiving is shown, and Chef Chang talks about how for him, the importance of food being made with love is still a central idea for him, that he doesn’t want to lose
So ends the third episode of Ugly Delicious. This episode REALLY spoke to me, for a lot of reasons, which I feel like I need to vocalize here. First, the elevation of ‘peasant food’ is something that I saw extremely early in culinary school. The best foods come from people who had to struggle to make delicious food, using what they had available to them…and the results have shaped the culinary world. A great experience with food isn’t about eating an expensive meal on fine china. It’s about having a connection with the food, and coming away feeling like you were served…this is my philosophy on food, and I’m starting to think it’s Chef Chang’s as well.
