The Mind of a Chef - 2 ª Season

It is Sean Brock's mission in life to expose the world the regional varieties of Southern cuisine and to erase the misconception that southern cuisine is all the same. In this episode, Sean explores a few of the unique regional cuisines in the South. Sean explores the ever so painful ways of Prince's Hot Chicken. Chef John Currence makes tamales-you read it right...tamales. Tennessee Pastry Chef Lisa Donavan makes a buttermilk pie. Sean and fellow South Carolinians, the Lee Brothers, make deviled crab, before visiting Fishnet's Seafood outside of Charleston to enjoy their more wholesome version "Jesus crabs".

It all began here when Sean Brock went looking for Jimmy Red Corn. That simple journey turned into a lifetime of searching, archiving and reviving lost crops of the South. His partners in crime are the legendary owner and operator of Anson Mills, Glen Roberts, and University of South Carolina professor, David Shields; a trifecta of seed nerds hell-bent on preserving Southern food heritage. In this episode, Sean makes Jimmy Red Corn Grits and a Chestnut Bread and Red Sive bean salad. David Shields visits Sean's R&D lab to experiment with seeds, and to tell the story of the Bradford Watermelon, a near extinct fruit with a delicious and deadly history.

This episode is all about rice and its essential role in Southern cuisine. Sean Brock visits Anson Mills, where Glenn Roberts is blazing a trail to reintroduce the world to the Carolina Rice Kitchen. Carolina Gold rice was once the primary crop in South Carolina and sought after worldwide. Using animation and archival images, a timeline will highlight how the Civil War as well as changes in the agricultural economy caused Carolina Gold to all but disappear. Glenn is the reason for its resurrection and Sean is its biggest champion. In the fields at Anson Mills, Sean and Glen prepare an Appalachian classic, perlou. And in Nashville, Sean makes Hoppin' John and Chef Ed Lee shows Sean how to make Korean BBQ.

This episode focuses on the heavy influence Louisianan cuisine has on Sean Brock. Historian and food-writer John T Edge of the Southern Food Alliance takes Sean to his "favorite place on Earth", Middendorf's Restaurant, where they shave thin slices of catfish into the fryer to create a catfish chip. In the kitchen, Sean makes a gumbo and his version of the catfish chip. Chef Donald Link takes Sean frogging then cooks up a frog dish.

Sean Brock often describes how his family ate growing up this way: "If we were eating, we were eating food from the garden or the basement-it's a way of life." In this episode, Sean shows us what it means to be eating from the basement by exploring and utilizing the preservation techniques that are critical components to southern culture: drying, salt curing, canning, and fermentation.