The initial premise of the show consisted of Ming presenting a master recipe, which he would use in all of the dishes prepared during the episode.
Occasionally, Ming would go on location to spotlight a particular component used in or related to that episode's recipes.
Another season followed the same format, except that the master recipe gave way to what Ming had called a master pair: two ingredients, one typically regarded as Western (i.e. black pepper, truffle oil, avocado, cranberries) and one typically regarded as Eastern (i.e. soybeans, sake, ponzu, Thai basil), are used in all the dishes prepared in each episode.
Ming would travel around the world and sometimes would be in his studio, where he would cook improvised recipes with renowned chefs from ingredients that would be kept secret beforehand.
In 2005, WGBH Boston Video released a DVD set called "Simply Ming - The Complete Collection", it contains 3 discs containing several episodes of the series, It is based on Season 2, which was broadcast in 2004.