Complete the excerpt from a highly dramatic celebrity chef's memoir by choosing the correct phrase for each blank. Pay attention to the hidden conditions!

"Without my grandmother's secret recipe, my culinary empire would have crumbled before it even began. Indeed, a less experienced chef would have panicked at the terrifying sight of the six-foot flambé, but I simply grabbed a marshmallow."

"Without my grandmother's secret recipe, my culinary empire would have crumbled before it even began."

The preposition "Without" implies the unreal past condition "If I hadn't had...". Therefore, the main clause must use the third conditional form (would have + past participle) to describe the hypothetical past consequence.

"Indeed, a less experienced chef would have panicked at the terrifying sight of the six-foot flambé..."

In C2-level English, a noun phrase ("a less experienced chef") can act as an entire implied conditional clause ("If it had been a less experienced chef..."). This requires the past hypothetical result (would have + past participle).