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The Best Episodes of A Chef's Life Season 1

Every episode of A Chef's Life Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of A Chef's Life Season 1!

Binge this in 6h 30m•Peaking at 8.7/10

A character-driven documentary and cooking series that takes viewers inside the life of Chef Vivian Howard, who, with her husband Ben Knight, left the big city to open a fine dining restaurant in small-town Eastern

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 1 - Sweet Corn & Expensive Tea
    8.7/10(8 votes)

    #1 - Sweet Corn & Expensive Tea

    S1:E1

    Chef Vivian Howard and her husband Ben leave New York to open a restaurant in her small North Carolina hometown. Vivian revisits the Southern tradition of “putting up” corn and shares her method for making smoked corn relish. As the episode concludes, a devastating setback threatens their new life.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 2 - Strawberry Stay at Home
    8.3/10(7 votes)

    #2 - Strawberry Stay at Home

    S1:E2

    Vivian and Ben rebuild their restaurant against the backdrop of the Southern harbinger of spring, the strawberry. Their twins go on their first strawberry-picking excursion, and Vivian and a friend develop a recipe for coconut cornbread strawberry shortcake with basil whipped cream.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 3 - Pimp My Grits
    8.0/10(8 votes)

    #3 - Pimp My Grits

    S1:E3

    The restaurant gears up for a practice service when the new equipment and new menu will be tested in real time - but nothing is going as planned. One of the big changes to the restaurant's menus is the addition of a section called "Pimp My Grits," where Vivian exalts the lowly, quintessentially Southern ingredient in four distinct ways.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 4 - Cracklin' Kitchen
    7.8/10(9 votes)

    #4 - Cracklin' Kitchen

    S1:E4

    Vivian goes about christening the restaurant's new "whole animal, no waste" program with two little pigs from Warren Brothers' farm. She uses everything - including the skin - and, on her father's recommendation, demonstrates how to make sweet potatoes with cracklins.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 5 - Tomatoes: You Say Heirloom, I Say Old Timey
    8.3/10(7 votes)

    #5 - Tomatoes: You Say Heirloom, I Say Old Timey

    S1:E5

    Vivian preps for a Southern Foodways Alliance luncheon. Food enthusiasts from around the country are coming to study BBQ & Vivian plans to serve them the ultimate tomato sandwich. She weighs the risk of serving something so simple to this discerning crowd, but in her gut she believes it will be the highlight of their trip.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 6 - The World is Your Oyster
    7.5/10(9 votes)

    #6 - The World is Your Oyster

    S1:E6

    Vivian goes to Cedar Island to explore the new culture of farm-raised oysters in the Southeast. She and Ben share plans of opening an oyster bar across the street from Chef & the Farmer in hopes it will be a place that adds character and variety to the tiny town's "dining scene." Vivian and her dad orchestrate their family's first-ever oyster roast and are blown away by how much everyone enjoys it.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 7 - Muscadine Time
    7.1/10(10 votes)

    #7 - Muscadine Time

    S1:E7

    Ben, Vivian and the twins pick muscadine grapes at a small local vineyard while learning the history of this native grape. Vivian visits Mike and Gator, her grape suppliers, and makes homemade wine. Back at the restaurant, Vivian makes a pizza with mulled muscadines, and Ben tests this new creation during their first stressful pizza night in the wine shop.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 8 - Amber Waves of Grain
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Amber Waves of Grain

    S1:E8

    Vivian travels to Columbia, South Carolina, to meet with Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills and learns about Carolina heirloom rice growing in fields on the Savannah River. Glenn explains Anson Mills' efforts to save heirloom grains and discusses the importance of ingredient biodiversity. Glenn's passion inspires Vivian to host a "rice dinner" at Chef & the Farmer, where each course centers around this grain. Scarlett, Vivian's mom, schools her daughter on how to make the chicken and rice she grew up eating.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 9 - A Peanut Pastime
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - A Peanut Pastime

    S1:E9

    Vivian visits neighbor Marty Harper's peanut farm just before and during harvest. Vivian's dad introduces Ben and Vivian to the old school break snack, a pack of salted peanuts dumped into a Pepsi in a glass bottle. At the restaurant, Vivian translates the snack into Pepsi glazed pork belly with country ham braised peanuts. Vivian reinvents the popular Southern snack, boiled peanuts, for the local farmers' market.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 10 - Love Me Some Candied Yams!
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Love Me Some Candied Yams!

    S1:E10

    Vivian introduces us to Rob and Amy Hill, proprietors of one of the largest sweet potato farms in the country and two of the restaurant’s best customers. Vivian and her mom, Scarlett, make her grandmother’s candied yams and Vivian later re-imagines these for the restaurant with texture, sorghum and pecans.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 11 - Collard Green Queen
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Collard Green Queen

    S1:E11

    Vivian spends the morning with her neighbors, the Mills brothers, participating in their 100-year-old, all-male family tradition of making collard kraut. Vivian visits Warren at Brother’s farm to talk about the Eastern Carolina ingredient with a cult following, the Cabbage Collard.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 12 - The Buttermilk Belt
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - The Buttermilk Belt

    S1:E12

    Vivian and Ben go to Maple View Dairy to pick up product for the restaurant. They talk buttermilk with the dairy’s manager, and the noise Ben makes while savoring his cup of the thick liquid annoys his wife.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. A Chef's Life Season 1 Episode 13 - Have Yourself Some Moonshine
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Have Yourself Some Moonshine

    S1:E13

    Vivian visits Broad Slab Distillery, where they talk about the art and soul of white lightning. The restaurant’s mixologist works moonshine into several new drinks, while the restaurant staff struggles through the holiday party season. They end the season with a party of their own at Ben and Vivian’s new house, with AppleJack Moonshine cocktails making a guest appearance.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Sweet Corn & Expensive Tea" is the best rated episode of "A Chef's Life" season 1. It scored 8.7/10 based on 8 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/7/2013. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Strawberry Stay at Home".