It’s time for another pre-Food Network episode for your viewing pleasure.
The challenger, Kenjiro Kuroki, lives near the seaport that produces the largest fish yield in all of Japan. He is called “Ushiwakamaru.” (The best explanation I can find for this nickname is here. It appears that Ushiwakamaru can be used to refer to someone who is an extremely skilled swordsman. Or in this case, “knifesman.”) He began his training at the age of 15, with the goal to become a Japanese chef. He learned early on that his greatest asset in the kitchen is his speed. As the head of the restaurants at several hotels, he travels frequently, using the time to think about his cuisine. At only 5′2″ and less than 100lbs, can this small challenger pull off a big victory in Kitchen Stadium?
What makes this episode a rare and special treat for current Iron Chef fans is that it comes from the time before Iron Chef was aired on Food Network. It was recorded from one of the local stations broadcasting the show. (In fact, it still has the local commercials intact.) It is in Japanese WITH English subtitles. I know you will enjoy being able to experience this rare episode not shown in North America in over 10 years.
There are two options for viewing this episode. The pop-up player will use the usual divx encoded file. This smaller, lower quality file can also be downloaded directly using the “Download File” option. Also in the download menu this time is an option to download a higher quality VOB file (approx. 1.1GB). (You can play the vob file in VLC Player.)
New in the video database this week: 447s – Angler Battle – Nakamura vs. Kuroki (subbed)
November 11th, 2009 at 12:11 am
The link takes me to the 435s episode at the download file screen…the corn battle…can you fix this?
November 11th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Hey, the Direct Link for the non VOB version of the episode isn’t correct. You got the Corn battle link up. Just a FYI.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Fixed it. Sorry about the mistake.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Anglerfish! Always fun to watch and it’ll be interesting to see their knife skills when skinning the things.
November 12th, 2009 at 1:18 am
thanks tut. anglerfish…..looks like Roseanne after a few martini’s….nice find!
November 18th, 2009 at 12:37 am
This is an awesome find! Thanks a bunch!