After a visit from "The Honey Man," Vivian turns up the heat on a dish of chicken livers drizzled with hot honey. While Ben preps for his art show in Durham, Vivian descends on the "Bull City's" restaurant row to sample sweet, honey-themed dishes.
Vivian finally makes good on a promise to cook for a friend's supper club, and she seizes the moment to experiment with an egg dish that she hopes will wow New York City's James Beard House crowd. She visits with her egg producer and learns the ins and outs of egg varieties, from chickens to ducks to guineas to partridges. She takes us through how to boil an egg and shares Miss Scarlett's secrets for a southern party staple: the perfect deviled egg. In the restaurant, Vivian anxiously prepares for her gala James Beard Foundation dinner, a new kind of debut in the food world.
Lillie shows Vivian three ways to bring out the bitter and the sweet in rutabagas. Vivian showers her team with gifts as they prepare a holiday menu. A hectic New Year's Eve at the restaurant ends in a toast and a smile, despite brewing tension.
Travel with Vivian to Charleston's Wine and Food Festival, the South's premiere gathering of world-class chefs and food folk. A clamming trip with low-country legend "Clammer Dave" adds a bit of adventure.
Continue the visit to Charleston, especially the popular Waffle House Smackdown. Frank Lee, "Mayor of Charleston," invites Vivian to his home and schools her in the proper way to open a clam and reveals the secret to his aunt's decadent clam hash.
Find out how Vivian's whole-cow program, after some initial hiccups, finds its groove. Mrs. Scarlett makes a classic cubed steak, inciting an epic tantrum from Flo. Vivian heads to New York to meet her new editor as work on her cookbook continues.
Join Vivian to judge the Southern Sides competition at the BBQ Festival, and see her version of the BBQ plate, featuring a crispy potato salad. When the Avett Brothers stop by the restaurant, the entire staff serves up a side of girly giddiness.
A month of planning and preparation peaks as Vivian's invitation to cook at the prestigious James Beard House becomes a reality. Warren Brothers, his wife, Jane, and other friends from Kinston bring their particular brand of Eastern North Carolina charm, making everyone feel at right at home. As Warren and company charm the pants off the fancy food writers and television critics, Vivian frets about perfectly cracking 85 eggs for each plate. But before she can get there, the deep fryer breaks, bringing the Beard House a lot closer to hell's kitchen.
Spring onions kick off the season as Vivian takes a break from penning her first cookbook to prepare dinner for beginner farmers. Though the Avett Brothers make an appearance, the underdog spring onion steals the show, playing both star and support.
The heat is high and watermelons are ripe. After a summer away from the restaurant, Vivian returns to a staff of unfamiliar faces and works to build camaraderie. She employs an avid home cook to put recipes from her forthcoming cookbook to the test.
As a visit from her editor accelerates book preparations, Vivian reckons with handing over the restaurant reins to John and Justise. A tutorial in "beatin' peas," delivered by a 92-year-old expert, is an entertaining and therapeutic history lesson.
Vivian's summer itinerary picks up with a 14-day photoshoot as she preps for a first-time trip to Feast Portland. Before heading out west, Sam Jones and Miss Lillie share old school cabbage recipes that influence the dish she prepares for festival goers. While on the road, Vivian trusts John and Justise to hold down the fort back home.
Vivian can't resist the opportunity to romp around the city before firing up the BBQ cabbage at Feast Portland. The crisp Oregon air and thousands of patient festival patrons make hiccups with her cooking equipment easier to overcome.
With squash season in full effect, trouble with the twins, staffing issues at the Boiler Room and a new cookbook overloading her plate, Vivian seeks motherly advice from Mrs. Scarlett and her sister Johnna over a Southern classic: squash and onions.
An up-close-and-personal experience with farm-raised catfish offers Vivian an enlightened perspective on the industry. When a staff member's last day at the restaurant finally arrives, heavy emotions, and fond memories create a bonding moment for the entire crew. It's the holidays and Vivian is crowned Grand Marshall of the Pink Hill Christmas Parade.
Flo and Theo's pre-school class visit the restaurant for a meal where table manners are the focus, but exceptionally slow service makes everyone antsy, especially Ben. When her sunchoke recipe doesn't make the grade, Vivian enlists guidance from an old friend.
A view behind-the-scenes reveals the hot and cold of curing ham. At a New York dinner party hosted in her honor, Vivian serves up a gift of NC seasoning meats - the pig tails, ham hocks, and fatback that give Carolina cuisine its quintessential kick. While in the Big Apple, a visit with her publisher reveals an itinerary certain to make for an ambitious autumn.
Vivian holds a mayo blind taste test and a surprise brand takes top prize. After a new chef takes the reins, her diminishing role at the restaurant becomes clearer. Vivian's long-held vacation plans are stifled by a series of strange events.
As Chef & the Farmer turns 10, Vivian searches for ripe tomatoes to serve at the restaurant's birthday party. She seeks the wisdom of Ms. Mary and Ms. Lillie to prepare an old-school tomato dish that "kills hungry."
Mrs. Scarlett teaches Vivian the secrets of Gramma Hill's canned peaches and shares memories from her own childhood. Vivian sweats through a Thanksgiving-in-July photo shoot while a major mix-up leaves the restaurant team scrambling.
Vivian struggles to scrounge up enough green beans to add to the menu at Chef & the Farmer, where a new chef is firmly in place. Mrs. Tessie Mae gives her a golf cart tour of her garden, an intro to pickled pork and a lesson in snapping pole beans.
Vivian preps peppers for a trip to Lambstock, where chefs, food and music converge. Even with Warren at the wheel, the road provides unexpected woes. Holley's grandmother offers a lesson in stuffing peppers and delegating authority.
Vivian's cookbook delivery sparks emotions as the reality of wheeling a food truck around the country sets in. The crew does a practice run at the farmer's market, serving up a dish with pear relish that pleases most--but not Ms. Lillie.
Follow Vivian as she heads to NYC, where her book launch means a full itinerary. Back at the shop, Ben and crew ready the food truck for its first stop in Nashville. While there, a lack of rain leads Vivian on a challenging hunt for broccoli.
A dinner in Vivian's honor ends as an American history lesson. A tour of Maker's Mark and Jefferson's distilleries clarifies the whiskey, scotch and bourbon differences. Vivian learns how Frank and Jesse James fit into Kentucky's boozy biography.
Vivian is under the gun to pen an entire book chapter on figs in three days. The stress inspires a fig and honey bourbon slushie tasting and a fig preserves session. After much debate, Vivian and Ben decide to charge for bread at the restaurant.
Vivian takes the twins to pick persimmons and learns about the different varieties of the fruit. She then takes that knowledge to Atlanta. Back in Kinston, she gets a pudding lesson from chef Bill Smith of Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill.
Vivian plans a respite from the road during the holidays, but is busy at home. She volunteers at a soup kitchen and does one last book signing in Kinston. She prepares a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner where trout - from roe to filet - shines.
Vivian visits a restaurant known for fried liver and learns that not all livers are created equal, but all are equally good for you. Mrs. Scarlett's humble beef liver and onions inspires Vivian to add a fancy, controversial liver dish to the menu.
Vivian visits a Kinston institution that merges cornbread with another Southern signature to make "pig and a puppy," then crafts a version for a charity dinner. Mrs. Scarlett and Ms. Lillie's cornbread cook-off showcases their different traditions.
Chef Vivian 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.
Vivian visits her friend Nancy for a surprisingly comforting combination of homemade pickles, chicken salad and chocolate cake. Ben and Vivian audition a new chef to offer Ben some relief and much-needed time to focus on his art.
Vivian's mentor, Scott Barton, stops by the restaurant and shares the African roots of okra. Vivian learns that picking okra is a prickly business and gets a crash course in food styling during a photo session for her upcoming cookbook.
Matt from Crooked Fence Produce shows Vivian how to make "the best pickled beets she ever ate." Vivian incorporates beets into an unconventional chocolate cake in honor of Ms. Mary's 89th birthday. There's no telling how Ms. Lillie will respond.
The Boiler Room welcomes a new manager, much to Ben's delight. A family reunion brings out long-lost relatives, the warmth of fellowship and an impressive spread of home-cooked casseroles.
Join Vivian to judge the Southern Sides competition at the BBQ Festival, and see her version of the BBQ plate, featuring a crispy potato salad. When the Avett Brothers stop by the restaurant, the entire staff serves up a side of girly giddiness.
Join Vivian to judge the Southern Sides competition at the BBQ Festival, and see her version of the BBQ plate, featuring a crispy potato salad. When the Avett Brothers stop by the restaurant, the entire staff serves up a side of girly giddiness.
Join Vivian to judge the Southern Sides competition at the BBQ Festival, and see her version of the BBQ plate, featuring a crispy potato salad. When the Avett Brothers stop by the restaurant, the entire staff serves up a side of girly giddiness.
After a visit from "The Honey Man," Vivian turns up the heat on a dish of chicken livers drizzled with hot honey. While Ben preps for his art show in Durham, Vivian descends on the "Bull City's" restaurant row to sample sweet, honey-themed dishes.
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