By Rachel Hergett EBS COLUMNIST
I spent a morning watching each of Bozeman chef Emma Woods’ three Food Network appearances this week. Woods, I learn from her various show introductions, was born in South Korea. She was adopted into a white family as a toddler and grew up in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, attending Korean culture camp to connect with her ancestral roots. Now, she is chef and co-owner of Whistle Pig Korean at 25 N Willson Ave in Bozeman.
Woods was the runner-up on an international version of “Guy’s Grocery Games” in 2018 (Season 18, Episode 18). She won an all-Korean version of “Chopped” in 2025. Season 63, Episode 10 featured mystery baskets filled with Korean ingredients, a judging panel of Korean chefs and four Korean contestants. Most recently, she (spoiler!) beat Chef Bobby Flay at his own game, a cooking show appropriately titled “Beat Bobby Flay.”
“Each week, one great chef will try to take me down in my house,” Flay says in the show’s introductory segment.
First, two chefs are tasked with creating a dish featuring an ingredient of Flay’s choice. They are judged by a pair of Flay’s friends who attempt to determine who has the right stuff to take on Flay.
In Woods’ appearance, Season 44, Episode 10 of “Beat Bobby Flay,” Hoda Kotb of “Today Show” fame and Food Network personality Katie Lee Biegel determined Woods had what it takes to beat Flay. Her first round dish balanced flavors while showcasing the featured ingredient—cabbage—in multiple ways. Kotb and Biegel also noted Woods’ high kick entrance move was better than Flay’s attempt. Maybe they thought she already had a leg up on the competition.
The show’s namesake then jumps into the fray, pitted against the advancing chef. This may be Flay’s house, but there is one large disadvantage: He must cook the challenger’s signature dish. For Woods, that is a Korean mixed rice bowl known as bibimbap with bulgogi—thinly sliced barbecued beef marinated in a sweet soy garlic mix.
Why bibimbap?
“I own a Korean restaurant and this is our main dish that we serve,” Woods told Kotb and Biegel, who heckled Flay about being “terrified.”
A separate judging panel later noted how the dish felt like a bibimbap they would expect in a Korean restaurant. They complimented Woods’ gochujang sauce, flavorful beef and crispy purple rice, but questioned if the plethora of vegetable “garnishes” made it hard to eat.
“…going up against Bobby—and you know he goes all out—so I didn’t want to just kinda like half-ass it,” Woods said with a giggle on an interview segment before the winner was announced.
The idea of too many toppings seemed like a positive to me, perhaps spun into a slight negative to make for a more compelling narrative on the show. I needed to see for myself, so I took myself to dinner at Whistle Pig.
Woods was the first to greet me, standing behind a counter laden with brown butter miso chocolate chip cookies that separates the entrance from the open kitchen. Waits are common at the popular downtown spot, but the food is worth it. In addition to bibimbap, Woods said the restaurant serves Korean family staples—things a mother or grandmother would make for their family. Some, like mandu (fried dumplings) and japchae (sweet potato noodles), she learned to make at culture camp. Other dishes were staples she ate while living in South Korea after college. At Whistle Pig, Woods uses local ingredients to highlight these classic Korean flavors and dishes, like in the lion’s mane mushroom scallion pancakes.
This visit was all about the bibimbap, although I did order the banchan to go with it. Banchan are small Korean side dishes. They make any meal feel like a feast and create new flavor possibilities when pairing the often marinated or pickled ingredients with the bibimbap. Lots of options, lots of dare I say “garnishes” seems endemic to Asian cuisine. I keep picturing my Japanese grandma eating plain rice accompanied by a smorgasbord of vegetables, pickles and crunchy chewy things like dried fish.
Ordering banchan with my bibimbap felt right, because I know no self-respecting Korean would eat a meal without the spicy garlicky smelly fermented goodness known as kimchi. I checked this information with Bozeman musician friend Angella Ahn, who I recalled having a separate fridge for kimchi to keep the smell from permeating anything else inside.
”Yes, I still have a kimchi fridge,” she told me. “I think most Koreans do.”
Woods’ seasonal selection of banchan had regular and cucumber kimchi, soy-marinated garlic cloves and stir-fried dried anchovies with pine nuts. The latter were an unexpected star, though I may have felt slightly judged by the hundreds of tiny fish eyes that reflected light. Once I dove in, the fish were slightly sweet, crunchy and salty with an umami punch.
Now to the bibimbap. I usually go to Whistle Pig specifically for this dish. I know how good Woods makes it, and somehow the dish looks even better coming out of that kitchen than it does on TV. No magic needed.
For competition, Woods chose beef tenderloin to make sure that the meat would remain tender. In the restaurant, the bulgogi is made with a local wagyu chuck, with rich marbling adding extra flavor. Otherwise, it is pretty much how they make it at Whistle Pig. Woods’ purple rice mixes heartier, slightly chewier black rice with the expected white rice, and adds a third textural component to the rice that is crisped in a hot stone bowl. Also like the small screen version, the dish in front of me was topped with carrots, bean sprouts, mushrooms, zucchini and a fried egg, with a side of spicy red pepper gochujang sauce.
I try the components separately, but I know the best way to eat bibimbap is to mix it all together. And then add bits of the banchan as more garnishes on top!
Woods’ episode of “Beat Bobby Flay” was filmed around six months ago, so there has been a bit of a wait before she could announce her victory. She assured me that no additional Food Network competition appearances occurred in the meantime, but I doubt this will be that last.
“I’d definitely be up for it,” Woods said, noting that she would especially love to test her skills in other types of cuisine, perhaps leaning into her background in French and new American cooking. “I like the challenge.”
Rachel Hergett is a foodie and cook from Montana. She is arts editor emeritus at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and has written for publications such as Food Network Magazine and Montana Quarterly. Rachel is also the host of the Magic Monday Show on KGLT-FM and teaches at Montana State University.
