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Sgt. Pepper taught his band to play. No, that’s not it. Let me try again.
It was 20 years ago today, October 10, 1993, that Chairman Kaga opened Kitchen Stadium and the world was first introduced to Ryouri no Tetsujin. We were lucky enough to have been able to get our hands on that first episode (and the next 20 or so that followed it) earlier this year.
Thank you Iron Chef for 20 great years.
(I’ll have a few more non-FN episodes posted in the next day or so, including a couple of 85 minute versions.)
When the revived Iron Chef ended its brief run, we were told to expect special episodes from time to time. This is the first of those specials.
American food isn’t just hamburgers and hot dogs. American chefs are becoming more of a force on the world stage. In April 2013, there were 6 American restaurants in the World Best Restaurant 50.
The three American challengers for this special are:
–Frank Ruta, owner/chef of Palena in Washington, DC.
–Tony Maws, owner/chef of Craigie on Main in Boston. (Follow him on Twitter)
–Eric Ziebold, head chef of CityZen at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, DC. (Follow him on Twitter)
The theme will be Beef for the all four quarters of the battle. The first three quarters will feature one-on-one matchups between the chefs: (Ruta vs. Suga, Maws vs. Kurogi, Ziebold vs. Wakiya). The fourth quarter will be a team match featuring all six chefs. Who will come out on top?
Iron Chef Yomigaeru – Ryouri World Cup – Japan vs. USA – 07/03/2013
(Sorry it took me so long to get this posted. I was not able to find the episode until a good friend of the site sent me a download link.)
There is a special episode of Iron Chef airing July 4th in Japan. I will do my best to get a copy of it up here as soon as possible for you. Thank you to all the people who sent me the link for it.
(Thanks for the corrections. I knew it wasn’t anyone from Iron Chef America, I just worded it wrong.)
I am still on the lookout for the episode. I will put it up as soon as I can find it.
UPDATE July 21: I am in the process of uploading this episode right now. I don’t have time to watch it at the moment, so I can’t provide any comments, but I will try to do so sometime this week. In the meantime, feel free to post any insights in the comments section.
We have finally reached the end of the original episodes that were rebroadcast in Japan the last few months.
Iron Chef 209 – It’s an all Chinese cuisine battle between two second generation Chinese chefs: Iron Chef Chen Kenichi vs. Shinji Kondo. At first glance, the theme might seem a little difficult, but as Chairman Kaga mentioned, FLOUR can be used in things like Gyoza and Ramen. How will these two chefs use the “Magic White Powder” (Mahou Shiroi Kona)? (Left = Strong Flour (Kyorikiko), Right = Weak Flour (Hakurikiko). (Click HERE to read about the types of Flour typically available in Japan.)
Iron Chef 210 – The challenger is a chef at a popular restaurant among the celebrities in Tokyo, Basta Pasta. (Sorry I don’t have more information about it. Almost every search for this restaurant lead to results for the New York City location.) It has been a while since they had an Italian cuisine challenger and The Chairman expects a “high-tension” battle.
And did The Chairman make a “Tomato, Tomahto” joke in the theme announcement? I thought he said “Ue kara yonde. Shita kara yonde. Onaji.” I think that means “Read from the top. Read from the Bottom. Same.” (And now that I think about it, Japanese would be read top-to-bottom as opposed to left-to-right, so that would make sense. I’m sure Miwa will set me straight. 
)
Iron Chef 211 – We all know the history of Iron Chef Chen Kenichi and female challengers. This is the episode that started it all. She was the first female challenger to do battle in Kitchen Stadium. You may remember the challenger from her second appearance on the show, episode 637. She is now running Bistro Aoi Shokudou (Bistroあおい食堂). (Click HERE, HERE, HERE for more info. All pages in Japanese, but you can still look at the pictures.) She is “The Princess of Cooking,” Kyoko Kagata. (A rose for the challenger. Kaga is quite the charmer.)
Iron Chef 212 – Chairman Kaga speaks of two distinct “themes” used in Italian cooking depending on geography: Tomato in the South, Cheese/Butter in the North. The challenger follows the style of the North. (HERE is a tabelog page about La Colomba. I can’t find anywhere that says where the challenger is currently working.) Michiba will have to deal with another theme ingredient that is not used very often in Japanese cuisine, but he is comfortable working with anything.
One of the really unfortunate consequences of the cancellation of the new Iron Chef is that the rebroadcasts of the original episodes was also cancelled. I think we are fortunate to have the 22 original episodes from that first and second season now available to us. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed bringing them to you.
Thanks to the recent rebroadcasts of the original series, we have been able to enjoy some milestone episodes. Today, we have another one. This is the debut episode of Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai. He is taking on French Chef Guy Shokr in an all-French battle. Enjoy.
Ryouri no Tetsujin – Episode 18 – Oyster Battle – Sakai (Debut Battle) vs. Shokr
I’m headed out to the Spring Festival at the Japanese Garden (春祭り）at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens today. I’ll try to get some good pictures to post. And I promise it won’t take too long for episodes 19-22 to get posted.
Sorry for the delay getting these posted for you. Today, we see three more episodes from the early part of the second season of original series.
Iron Chef 205 – We see an all-too familiar face for the first time in the intro to this battle. And as usual, Chairman Kaga is not happy with what he hears. Toshiro Kandagawa wants to take down the Iron Chefs, and he thinks he has the men to do it. The first challenger, Kouichi Taniguchi, began working for Kandagawa at the age of 18. You will enjoy his impressive knife work. He’s ready to be the lead-off man in the batting order and get the Kanto vs. Kansai challenge started.(I’m sure long-lime baseball announcer Kenji Fukui enjoyed being able to work in a Hanshin Tigers reference.)
Iron Chef 206 – Second up is Kandagawa’s other hand-picked challenger, Kazuyoshi Masaki. Michiba says he won’t lose to such a young challenger. The second round of this Kanto vs. Kansai challenge is ready to begin with a theme that is handled differently by the regions. (When you hear the chairman say “Nishi” and “Higashi“, he is referring to West and East.) Also listen during the theme introduction for Chairman Kaga to say “Nishi wa hara kara. Higashi wa se kara.” meaning (I think) “West from the stomach. East from the back.” referring to the common preparation methods. (Click HERE for a brief introduction to the differences between Kansai and Kanto cuisines.)
Iron Chef 207 – Finally, it’s time for the heavy hitter in the lineup to step up to the plate. This battle features the first competitive appearance from Toshiro Kandagawa. (And again, Fukui had to enjoy having Japanese Hall of Fame player and (at the time) the manager of the Yakult Swallows, Katsuya Nomura, in the broadcast booth.) Despite the baseball theme, Kandagawa brings in 11 chefs with him, which The Chairman points out is enough to field a team in the J-League. The theme is Hirame.
Next time, I will present another special milestone episode in the history of Iron Chef with the debut battle of Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai.