Name: Yehuda Sichel's Winning Matzo Ball Soup
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Cuisine: Jewish
Ingredients: 2 lb chicken bones and thighs, skin removed; 1 medium yellow onion, halved; 3 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces; 2 celery stalks, cut into 2-inch pieces; 1 tbsp fresh dill, plus more for garnish; 1 tsp kosher salt, divided; ½ tsp black pepper; 4 large eggs; ½ cup matzo meal; 3 tbsp schmaltz (rendered chicken fat), melted; 2 tbsp seltzer water, chilled; ¼ tsp white pepper; 6 cups water

There are two matzo ball soups that have beaten Bobby Flay on this show, which means either the dish is his kryptonite or Jewish grandmothers have been right about soup all along. Yehuda Sichel, who runs Huda in Philadelphia, is the second entry in this record, and he approaches the bowl with the studied seriousness of someone who has thought about what this dish actually requires.

Sichel's broth is a six-hour chicken stock with a high roasted-vegetable ratio — onion, carrot, and parsnip, all roasted at 400°F before they hit the water — which creates a Maillard depth in a clear broth that would otherwise read as thin. His matzo balls run schmaltz and separate eggs with the whites whipped to medium peaks, and the formed balls go into the pot in simmering broth, never boiling. A boiling pot agitates the exterior of the ball before the center sets and produces a tough shell around a mushy interior.

Huda in Philadelphia is the destination for this dish if you want to understand what it's supposed to be. Bobby's version of 'supposed to be' was educated by different influences.