Original subtitles

Okay, time to step things up.

Over the last three years...

[exclaims]

[people exclaiming]

Oh, my goodness.

[Selena] ...I've made over 80 dishes

with over 40 amazing chefs in my home kitchen.

Whoo!

-[girl screams] -What happened?

-Roll it! You don't roll it now. -I'm trying!

[exclaims]

[Selena] This culinary crash course hasn't been easy...

-We did it. -There it is!

[Selena] ...but it has been so rewarding.

Now I think I'm ready to take it to the next level.

Raquelle, hurry up!

So I'm heading out

to some of the hottest restaurants in Los Angeles...

Mm, this is really good.

...to cook with the chefs on their home turf...

[Raquelle] How the real chefs do it.

[Selena] ...and on their terms.

Because I said so.

[Selena] The goal is to create my own dish...

[woman] Amazing.

[Selena] ...and I'm aiming high.

Would this be able to make the menu?

Seriously, I wanna make something good enough to actually go on their menu.

No pressure.

♪ Watch her go

♪ Mm-mm-mm, mm-mm-mm, mm-mm

♪ Look at her now Watch her go ♪

♪ Mm-mm-mm, mm-mm-mm, mm-mm

♪ Wow, look at her now

Okay, so today is soul food.

Chef Keith Corbin, here we come.

[Selena] Today, Raquelle and I are heading to Alta,

located in LA's West Adams neighborhood,

where Chef Keith Corbin cooks up his famous California soul food.

[Raquelle] Oh, this is so cute. I love the font on "Alta."

[Selena] Chef Corbin's path to owning his own restaurant

and earning a James Beard nomination wasn't easy.

He overcame drug addiction and incarceration, and is now a local hero,

always focused on giving back

to his hometown, Watts, California.

Hi, Chef!

Hey! How you doing?

Hi! How are you?

I'm excited to see what we're going to create together.

Oh, boy, this is my favorite part.

-No, way. -[Selena] Oh, boy.

-[Keith] What's your favorite part? -[Selena] Yes, eating.

-[Keith] Oh, okay. -[Selena] Oh, this looks crazy good.

[Keith] Selena, today we're having grilled pork chops

with Southern chow chow.

-[Raquelle] Incredible. -This is really good.

[Raquelle] Mm-hmm.

[Keith] So we have a bone-in pork chop

that's brined in brown sugar, thyme, salt, coriander, cumin,

mustard seed, black pepper for 24 hours.

It's grilled over a open flame,

we use oak and almond wood.

This is a chow chow.

This is something

my grandmother used to have in her house all the time in the refrigerator.

A lot of the menu was inspired by food

that I grew up eating in my home with my grandmother, as a kid.

It's just pickled peppers and cabbage with vinegar and mustard seed and turmeric.

-Oh. -[Raquelle] Oh, my God, it's so good.

So from what I heard, you put a healthy twist on soul food.

If you say that, people are just not gonna come.

-I understand. -[Raquelle] No, they're gonna come

because this is so unbelievably delicious.

It's the clean version, you know...

That's why we do California soul food.

You know, we have Alta fried chicken with Alta hot sauce.

It's, like, a baked fried chicken.

And what I realized that did was allow the fat to come to the top of the chicken

and party with all the flavors.

-That's so good. -[Raquelle] Oh, my gosh.

And then the hot sauce is just a Fresno hot sauce that we make in-house.

-Incredible. -Oh, my God.

-You a hot sauce person? -Mm-hmm. I love hot sauce.

Have you ever made hot sauce?

-Have I ever made? No. -Yeah.

-I would love to try, though. -Would you?

Yes, I would love to come up with my own.

Okay. Let's try it.

So, what do you like to pair your hot sauce with?

Is it chicken? Is it fish?

Huh...

-I'm, like... My nose is running. [laughing] -Mine, too.

Like, a little hot sauce, the sinuses are getting cleared out.

All right. How about we do a fish?

Great. Let's do a fish. Have you ever had succotash?

No. What's that?

Literally, you just take what you want

and put it with corn.

-Should we try something? -Sounds great. Yeah.

You wanna try your version of a succotash?

I would love to.

-What is it? A succotash? -A succotash.

A succotash.

[Selena] I want to add something else.

[Keith] One of my favorite is fish with rice.

I grew up on fish and rice.

You have, like, jambalaya, you have dirty rice,

you have straight, plain rice.

Okay, dirty rice.

What about we make filthy rice?

-Oh, my God. -Ooh, filthy rice.

But before we get started, I have a challenge for you.

Oh, boy.

Okay. In the kitchen?

In the kitchen.

-Okay, let's go. -Let's go.

-All righty. -Please, do be careful.

Okay. I'm ready for my challenge.

All right.

So, typically, before we bring someone into the kitchen,

we usually have this thing we do, like a stage.

-Okay. -And so they come in,

they spend about three or four hours, we have 'em do some recipes,

or they show us what they're capable of, right?

And so, today, I would love to give you a challenge

to cook three eggs, three different ways.

Okay.

One, soft scramble.

-Soft, Not hard. -Okay.

-One sunny-side up. -Okay.

And one poached egg.

-Okay. -I'm out.

Okay, I might have to get a hair tie today.

This is a hot kitchen. The hair might have to go up.

Wait, we're gonna focus on your hair right now?

Okay. Ready? I'm gonna start with scramble.

-Doing the scramble? -Yeah.

[Raquelle] Anything you need, Chef, let me know.

I'm really, really nervous about how hot the pans are.

[Raquelle] It says "off" on the thing. Hold on.

Ow! But it's hot!

That's so weird. It says "off," but it's, like, 5,000 degrees.

I know.

[Raquelle] So when he said a soft scramble, not a hard scramble,

how do we make it so that it's not hard?

-I don't know. -You take it out sooner?

I have no idea, Raquelle.

Well, it's definitely giving a soft vibe.

I'm very nervous about these being ready.

Here, put it closer.

-Okay. -[Raquelle] Nice!

[Selena] Okay, now I need to fry an egg.

-So, my grandma used to make them like this. -[Raquelle] Aww.

Wait. I can't flip it.

-Oh, no. -[Raquelle laughs]

[Selena] Whoo!

Oh, my God, I can't believe it didn't break.

-All right, give me a plate. -[Raquelle] Here.

[exclaims] Beautiful.

Okay, you want to drop the egg in now?

I forgot how to poach an egg, but I think...

I think you boil the water and then you put it in.

No, no, no.

No, 'cause you put it in just whole.

Like, you don't have to do anything.

What?

[Raquelle] I know it sounds crazy. I swear to God.

I've watched my mom do it, and I'm reading it online.

You could just put it in, and we take it out in, like, two-and-a-half minutes

and then we have to peel the thing off.

Like, this into the...

-No, it doesn't work like that. -It does!

All we have to do... It's so simple.

You're just dropping it in the thing.

You have to place it in and then turn it.

I promise you. I'm online.

Put it in. Just put it in for two-and-a-half minutes.

All you're doing is... All right, you know what? You do it.

I don't wanna get injured. Let's see.

So then it just stays in here for two-and-a-half to three minutes.

What did I do that was so specific?

What's throwing you off is we did a whole thing

-on one of the holiday episodes. -That's not poaching an egg?

All I remember was going like this...

Getting it... Like, turning the water.

Then lifting it back up and it was white.

[man] There is your beautifully poached egg, Selena.

-Nice job. Yeah! -[exclaims] I did it!

Oh! I am so wrong.

-I'm totally wrong. -I knew it! What the hell?

He didn't ask for a boiled egg

like we're making Easter eggs or something.

I am so mad at myself because you know how right I thought I was?

[Selena] We are a hot mess today.

Okay, now I have to spin the water.

As that's happening, pour it in.

[Raquelle] Let's take it out.

So nice.

[Selena laughing]

Oh, my God.

Uh, Chef?

I don't think I did a good job.

-[Raquelle] Here we are. -[Selena] We kind of made a mess.

-Moment of truth. -[Selena laughing]

Okay. What's this?

[Selena] That's supposed to be sunny side up,

but that's medium-well, isn't it?

-It's over-easy. -Oh, just kidding.

[Raquelle] Oh!

Sunny-side up is the yolk facing up.

-Yeah. -And I had that, too.

And then I don't know how to do this.

It's not the prettiest, but you did a good job.

Yeah?

Yeah, based on this, we're gonna keep it real simple.

Okay.

[Keith and Raquelle laugh]

So, now we're talking about a dirty rice.

What makes the rice dirty?

Depends on where they went that night.

Oh!

No, just all the things

-that's added to it, right? -Yeah.

Browning the beef

and using, like, a beef stock

or a beef broth

to turn it dirty.

-Okay. -Love it.

[Keith] What else would you like in your dirty rice?

What else can we have with the rice?

-Well, we can add some celery. -Oh, okay.

-We can add some peppers. -Yum.

Definitely garlic.

-[Selena] Always the garlic. -[Raquelle] I love garlic.

[Keith] Hot sauce.

I have jalapeno, serrano, Fresno, and I have Thai chilis.

-I would like to do a little bit of a combination. -[Keith] Okay.

Okay, and then we have succotash.

-Corn. -Yes.

[Keith] What else you were thinking?

-Squash? -Yeah.

-[Raquelle] Tomatoes! -[Keith] Yes.

-Green beans? -Yep.

[Raquelle] Okay. Lots of ingredients today.

[Selena] Yes, mm-hmm.

[Keith] How do you wanna make the hot sauce?

If you wanna char some peppers you can just put them right on top of there.

-I'll get us a blender. -All right.

[Keith] So you can let it char as much as you want.

It's literally your creation.

You're gonna give us flavor today.

-Okay, yeah. -[Raquelle] Yeah.

Anything I can help with?

-Start chopping or anything you need? -Let's do it.

-[Selena] Wow. -[Keith] You know, we can start...

-[Raquelle] Peeling the corn? -Yes.

All right. Thanks, Chef.

-[Keith] How do you feel about that? -[Selena] I feel good.

[Keith] Okay. You wanna put them here?

Yep.

What do you wanna taste?

Like, what do you want in it?

I want it to be like a kick, and then a sweet.

I don't know what flavor that is.

[Keith] Okay.

-I'll help you. -[Selena] Okay.

So this is what I'm thinking, then.

You have your champagne vinegar. Let's just pour some in.

Okay.

[Keith] Add a little water to balance it.

Add a little sugar, a little salt.

No, more than that.

-[Selena] A little more? -[Keith] Yeah.

Is the sugar on drought? Is it a drought of sugar?

A little salt.

The corn is off the cob.

-No, it's not off the cob. -It's not off the cob.

Sorry, I meant to say the end is off.

[Keith] All right, let me show you.

-And let's put the peppers in here. -[Selena] Okay.

[Keith] There you go.

That's a nice slice.

[Selena] Should I add the vinegar?

-[Keith] Add the vinegar. -[Raquelle] Yummy.

Put the top on it.

[coughing]

[Raquelle] What's happening?

It's actually good, though.

-That is good. -It is good.

I'm not mad at it.

There you go.

-Sweet. -[Keith] Your first hot sauce.

-All right. So then let's keep going. -[Selena] Okay.

-Let's start with your dirty rice, okay? -Okay.

Dirty rice has red, green, yellow bell pepper,

onions, celery, garlic.

What we're gonna do is take these peppers

-and get some small dice. -[Selena] Okay. Thank you.

[Keith] You got dirty rice.

I'm gonna help you get prep out the way.

All right.

Chef, what are you cutting over there?

So I'm cutting the squash up for the succotash.

The succotash is fresh corn off the cob, green beans, squash,

cherry tomatoes.

Why? You want to help?

-[Raquelle] Yeah, I would love to help. -Okay.

Do you want me to just cut the green beans?

[Keith] Yep. Try to keep them as uniform as possible.

Chef, How often would you cook with your nana?

I didn't get to cook with her.

I witnessed her and her excitement and joy for feeding the community.

And I think that's what my passion...

Like, what I love about cooking is feeding people.

Yeah.

Like I'm that creepy chef that will bring the plate to the table

and stand there and watch you take the first bite.

But it's not that she taught me any techniques or any of that,

or left a recipe book for me to follow.

You just were inspired by her.

Yeah. There you go.

-You almost finished, Selena? -[Selena] Yes.

[Keith] Okay.

-Is that enough? -That's enough.

Yeah.

Let's bring that onion over here and cut that up.

And you're just gonna dice it just like this.

Okay.

Chef Keith, do you mind telling us a little bit

about the charity we're gonna be donating to?

Our charity is Alta Community.

We just focus on going into communities and teaching kids how to cook.

I think one of the most empowering things

is being able to feed yourself.

I love that.

Today we're donating $10,000 to Alta Community,

a nonprofit based in Los Angeles

that is dedicated to addressing food insecurity

and creating opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Okay.

-Can you also do those? -Yeah.

[Selena] Okay.

Chef, when you have new people in the kitchen,

would you say--

Wait, let's talk about this.

What is that?

[Raquelle] They're not uniform.

I was hoping you wouldn't notice.

It's impossible not to notice.

I was trying to protect the fingers.

See, this is why it's called Selena and Chef.

Yeah, it is.

[Keith] So we're gonna get our dirty rice going.

[Selena] Yes.

-[Keith] A pot on the stove. -[Selena] Okay.

[Keith] And then we're gonna get some oil in it.

And we're going to start to sweat these vegetables

and this garlic and those onions.

[Selena] Okay.

-[Keith] You wanna add salt. -[Selena] Yep.

[Keith] Then you'll add your beef.

[Selena] Great.

Brown that, and I would do

about one-and-a-half cup of rice to three-and-a-half cup of liquid.

[Selena] All righty.

[Keith] Your succotash is cut up,

so we'll pick that up at the end.

So the only thing left right now...

Is the fish?

-...is the fish. -Oh, God.

-Oh, my God. -Oh!

When you said fish, he said "fish."

Some beautiful New Zealand red snapper.

-You see it? -Yes.

Okay, great. Then you have to fillet that.

Wow.

[Raquelle] It's fish time, baby.

You don't even know where to start, huh?

No, I don't know what I'm doing.

All right, let's learn together.

Okay.

-You feel the bone? -Yeah.

[Keith] Just ride the bone.

-Like that? -Come all the way out.

Now come in here.

Oh, my gosh. This is scaring me.

But you got it.

-[Selena] Like, right there. -[Keith] Yep. See?

[Selena] All right.

[Keith] We're just gonna get four portions out of it.

-[Selena] Let's do it. -All right, let's do it.

-You wanna season up your fish? -Yes, I do.

-[Keith] There's your salt. -[Selena] Okay.

I love pepper.

[Keith] Yeah, pepper's one of my favorite things.

[Selena] Would garlic be gross on this?

-No. -[Selena] Okay.

I have to say there's nothing like New Zealand fresh.

Get out of here.

That's... Thank you for saying that.

-Like... Like... -[all laughing]

I'm couldn't help myself.

-He just called you out. -Oh, my God!

[Selena] Okay, now what?

We're gonna cornmeal this thing.

-Some garlic. -Garlic, okay.

-[Keith] And some cayenne, right? -[Selena] Yeah.

-You like spice. -Yeah.

-Okay. -[Keith] Okay.

So I can just dump that right in and just cover it?

Yes.

-[Raquelle] Look at that -[Keith] Right?

-Okay? -Right here.

[Selena] I'm excited.

Not in New Zealand anymore.

-[Selena] All right, I'm done. -[Keith] All right.

Oh, that looks so good.

That's it. We can fry the fish

and the succotash is real easy.

Cook this succotash with some butter and salt,

-some pepper like you like. -[Selena] Okay.

-Right. And Raquelle? -[Raquelle] Yeah?

[Keith] You wanna fry some fish?

I would love to fry some fish!

-[Keith] You wanna set that there? -[Raquelle] Yeah.

[Keith] All right, just do four pieces.

[Keith exclaims]

[Raquelle] Whoo!

It's not gonna fry sitting up there.

-What? -It's not gonna fry sitting up there.

[Raquelle] Oh. Oh!

Well, that makes sense.

Oh, this is awesome.

You're such a dork.

Where... [laughing] Where did you come from?

"Where did you come from?"

Oh, my God.

How long do you leave it in the fryer?

[Keith] Till it's done.

[Keith and Raquelle laugh]

[Keith] Typically, things, when they fry, when it floats, it's done.

-[Selena] Okay. -[Keith] Right?

-I'm gonna take 'em out. -[Selena] Yeah.

-[Keith] Okay. -Wow.

That looks so beautiful.

[Keith] Okay. Now you wanna add the tomato.

[Selena] So we add the tomato last

-so that they don't overcook? -[Keith] Yeah.

-How does this look? -[Selena] It looks incredible.

[Keith] How it taste?

She's a happy girl.

[Keith] You want more butter?

-You promise? -I promise. I love it.

So, put a scoop?

-[Keith] Plate it how you want. -Okay.

Oh, I'm so excited.

[Raquelle] I'm pumped about this rice.

[Keith] Uh-oh. What did we do with her hot sauce?

[Raquelle] What did we do with the hot sauce?

What?

[Raquelle] We lost your sauce, babe.

[Keith] Uh-oh. What did we do with her hot sauce?

[Raquelle] What did we do with the hot sauce?

We lost your sauce, babe.

What did we do with it?

[Keith] You didn't throw it away, did you?

-No, I didn't throw it away. -And what's this called again?

This "soscatan"?

-[Keith] Succotash. -Succotash.

-[Keith] It's ready. -[Raquelle] Succotash.

What did we do with that hot sauce?

-Right here. -[Raquelle] Oh, she has the sauce!

-Chef and I were over here, like, "Where's the sauce?" -Like stressing the hell out.

[Raquelle] We were so stressed.

Okay.

-[Selena] Okay, now what? -Some succotash.

-[Raquelle] What a meal. -[Selena] This looks so good.

[Selena] Thank you.

You want the hot sauce on the side or over your fish?

[Selena] I'll do mine over the fish.

Okay. I love it all.

I'm so hungry.

-[Keith] Let's go. -Okay, I'm excited.

Me, too.

-[Selena] Hey! -[Renee] Hi.

Hello!

-Hi. -I can't wait.

-I'm Raquelle. -Hi, Raquelle.

-Selena. Nice to meet you. -Hello.

-[Renee] Hi. -[high-pitched] Hi. I'm Keith.

[all laugh]

[Raquelle] We loved cooking with your husband.

Yeah, we had the best time.

[Renee] I'm excited.

-Hopefully, it's good. -We're curious about your thoughts.

-All right. Can we dig in? -[Selena] Here we go.

-Yes, please do. -Dig in.

This rice is so good.

-[Raquelle] Yeah. -[Selena] Right.

-Mm-hmm. -[Renee] The rice is good.

-You guys did good there. -Thank you.

The succotash is really good too.

-[Selena] Yeah. -The succotash really came out good.

The succotash? Mmm. The taste is amazing.

I really like the hot sauce.

[Keith] I don't know how we nailed it, like, it's really good.

-I don't either. -You said you want it sweet and hot,

and it's literally sweet and hot.

How did you guys meet?

We actually met here.

I took her by the hand to help her up on the curve,

and I've never let her hand go since.

-Oh, please! -Oh, my God!

-That is beautiful. -I'm so...

We've had two couples meet here and get married.

-No way. -Really?

I know where my next date is.

Exactly.

-It's coming here. -Yep.

Oh, my God.

Was any of this good enough to be on the menu?

What do you think, Chef?

I definitely think the dish has good bones to build on.

Definitely cut Raquelle green beans a little more uniform.

-[all laughing] -Yeah, exactly.

-They are a little long. -No, just...

Just add some different elements

and depths of texture and flavor, that's all.

-What is your favorite? -There's nothing left, so...

[all laughing]

That's success right there.

And when you come back,

I'll have a version of it for you to try

when you come back.

[both cheering]

-[Keith] How about that? -We will be back.

-Yeah. -I'll be back Friday night.

I'm gonna find my man

on the line.

It went flat. That's okay. It's time for me to go home.

[all laughing]