The term “binge watching” is the newly minted Collins’ dictionary word of the year, which comes as no surprise since streaming went from something related to camping to current Netflix form of all you can watch buffet of super cool TV shows.

And yet, we’ve been telly binging in another way for years without even realizing it. We’re talking about salivating over the creations and lives of TV chefs living the cooking dream life… In no particular order here’s our edit of the best fictional chefs we would sub out of the box and into our kitchen.

1. Red, Orange Is the New Black

Completely owning the orange jumpsuit and meat cleaver scene, Red (Kate Mulgrew) runs the fictional prison kitchen on Orange Is the New Black like the bad-ass boss we’d expect of a culinary big house. Kate has won a ton of awards for playing this menacing maven, giving a whole new meaning to “cut myself cooking”.

2. Sookie St James, Gilmore Girls

Played by comedy genius Melissa McCarthy, Stars Hollow’s resident chef Sookie, fell in love, maintained quick fire banter, and plated up a bunch of outstanding looking dishes in her kitchen at the Dragonfly Inn. Hands up who didn’t dream of a spot in her make-believe sous chef crew?

3. Monica Geller, Friends

One of the most popular sitcoms of all time, Friends 10 season run gave Courtney Cox’s high-hatted chef character Monica, plenty of time for in-kitchen culinary high-jinks. We all wanted to be in their group and if being a chef was an in, sign us up.

4. Chef, South Park

Did Chef (voiced by soul singer Isaac Hayes) actually do any cooking on subversive animated comedy South Park? Does it matter? He killed it on the advice and personal theme song fronts while also putting the soul into the Park.

5. Freddy Hayes, House of Cards

Freddy (Reg E. Cathey) is Frank’s rib go-to guy on politico intrigue show House of Cards. On speed dial and available 24/7 for Frank; we’ll have what he’s having.

6. Nat Bussichio, Beverly Hills 90210

Nat (Joe E. Tat) ruled the Beverly Hills hangout of the Peach Pit with charm, wit and a stainless steel spatula. More short order than Michelin, Nat was the frying pan man the kids turned to when they needed some homestyle advice with a side of fries.

7. Soup Nazi, Seinfeld

The Soup Nazi (Larry Thomas) was one of the most iconic characters to emerge from ultimate quotable sitcom, Seinfeld. He loathed customers and only ladled soup to an exclusive few toeing his strict serving lines. His legacy “No more soup for you” lives large in the cool kid vernacular today.

8. The Swedish Chef, The Muppets

The Muppets Swedish Chef was completely incomprehensible and also only served spaghetti. No matter, he was and still is a beloved character who we would be happy to have a home visit from.

9. Artie Bucco, The Sopranos

What mob show would be legit without a heavy Italian restaurant in which to do “business”? Artie Bucco (played by John Ventimiglia) pulled the apron strings as head chef at The Sopranos local upscale continental eatery, Nuovo Vesuvio. As a childhood friend of Tony Soprano he was in “it” from the beginning.