Iron Chef Collection

A recently aired episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel had Mr. Bourdain traveling to Japan. Several segments of the show featured Bourdain with Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto as his guide.

• First up is a visit to a Soba restaurant. When asked how long it takes to be able to make perfect Soba, Morimoto replies, “Your entire life.”
• Next, we visit Morimoto’s restaurant XEX in Tokyo. Morimoto prepares a meal for Anthony Bourdain using a “theme ingredient” of Monkfish.
• Ever wonder where Morimoto gets his wonderful knives? We get to see where his knives are made by skilled craftsmen.
• The final segment finds Morimoto and Bourdain in a Ryokan in Kyoto. They enjoy a traditional Kaiseki.

I believe the entire episode is available for purchase in the iTunes music store, but I’m not positive.

The newest ICC Exclusives post will be up before the end of the weekend.

Chen vs. Ikegawa

Originally aired 11/10/95

Iron Chef, the Official Book episode# 106

Iron Chef Collection episode# 343

Challenger Kiyotaka Ikegawa, Head Chef of Ononishiki in Osaka, was formerly a Sumo wrestler. His restaurant is named after his father, who was also a Sumo wrestler, and who had previously owned the restaurant.

“Master Chen,” he shouts politely, pointing, “please accept my challenge!” Chen does accept, and the ingredient is revealed as horsehair crab.

On the commentators’ panel are Sumo Stable Master Wakamatsu, actress Mayuko (“pint-size by comparison”) Takata, Dr. Yukio Hattori, and Kenji Fukui.

While Challenger Ikegawa has trimmed down since his Sumo days (offering encouragement to any viewers wishing to lose weight), Wakamatsu is built like a Sumo wrestler. When asked if he’ll be OK with regular-sized portions, he assures Fukui-san, “No problem.” He’s on the lookout for a special stew eaten by Sumo wrestlers, called Chanko, but he and the rest of the commentators agree with anticipation, that much more than just stew will be set before them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Captain Nemo and the crew of the Nautilis saw many new and exciting places in their travels. The Iron Chefs showed us many new and exciting dishes while doing battle in Kitchen Stadium. This week’s theme is seafood battles.

• Scallop (412) - Sakai vs. Osada - The challenger is known for his vacuum cooking. (I think the video problem has been fixed. If not, let us know.)
• Abalone (626) Morimoto vs. Kajimoto
• Pike Conger (726) - Morimoto vs. Tanigawa - The challenger is from Kyoto.
• Ray (732) - Sakai vs. Koga

New in the database this week: 412, 626, 726, 732

Next week’s post will be the ICC Exclusives for August. Don’t forget to vote in the poll in the sidebar to your left.

I know what you’re thinking, but don’t worry. Frog was never used as a theme ingredient in Kitchen Stadium. Kermit is safe. I just wanted to use his song title. Vegetables were used many times during the 300 episode run of the show. There is no way we could list them all, but we can narrow it down a little bit. This week’s Episodes of the Week theme is vegetables that are green.

• Asparagus (309) - Sakai vs. Komine - The challenger is a “maniac of vegetables.”
• Leek (408) - Sakai vs. Tateyama - The challenger was selected by Kandagawa.
• Asparagus (616) - Morimoto vs. Habuchi

The Olympic Motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger). The Summer Olympics start this weekend in Beijing, China. While some of the world’s greatest athletes will be gathering in the Beijing Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremonies, we will welcome some of the world’s greatest chefs into Kitchen Stadium. The theme this week is China. Of course, all of the battles this week feature a Chinese ingredient, a Chinese challenger, and/or Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi.

• Tofu (314) - Chen vs. Cho - the challenger is the owner of a Chinese restaurant that was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1995.
• Bok Choy (641) - Chen vs. Yaginuma - Instructor for famed Chinese restaurant Hei Chin Rou.
• Chinese Cabbage (712) - Chen vs. Cui - This challenger is a certified Culinary Craftsman in China.

We also would like to add two Iron Chef Chen videos to Beyond Kitchen Stadium.

• Chen Kenichi shows you how to make his signature dish Mapo Tofu.
• Chen Kenichi from a Japanese television show watching an actress attempt to create his signature dish.

Both of the BKS videos are in Japanese with no subtitles.

The following episodes may be found by searching our video database: 314, 641, 712

New in the database this week: 314, 641, 712

This is the first edition of our Iron Chef Collection Exclusives Episodes of the Month. Of course, this is where we present to you Iron Chef episodes that did not air on Food Network. Today, we present our Episodes of the Month for July. (Yeah. I know it’s already August. Sue me. ) Thank you to everyone who voted in our poll this month. A new poll will go up near the middle of the month. And without further ado, we present the winners.

• Iron Chef Tag Match (530) - Watermelon Battle - Chairman Kaga divides the Iron Chefs into two teams for this special battle: Team Asia (Chen and Nakamura) and Team Europe (Sakai and Kobe). (Make sure you watch the commercial right after the tasting. There is rather entertaining Iron Chef themed Nissan commercial.)
• Ostrich Battle (518) - Iron Chef Nakamura vs. Gillian Hirst - Even though it comes from 1997, this episode is well known by most non-Japanese fans for a variety of reasons. The distinctly non-Japanese name sticks out in a challenger list, and let’s face it, most of us English speaking fans are interested in seeing the few English speaking challengers. This episode was mentioned by name as a desired episode on Nylon.net’s Iron Chef Episode Exchange page.  And probably most importantly, the challenger’s entrance to Kitchen Stadium from this battle was a part of Food Network’s Iron Chef introduction. (A special note about this battle: Mark at Nylon contacted Chef Hirst about her appearance on the show. It turns out that she hadn’t even seen it. We are glad to have contributed to her finally being able to see her appearance on Iron Chef.)