This is another one of those episodes where you will instantly recognize the challenger, despite the fact that you probably have not seen the episode yet. Why? Food Network (or Fuji) chose to include many chefs from 1996/1997 episodes they chose not to air in the added Food Network opening to the show. This is one of them.
Philippe Batton saw his mentor and two of his friends go down in defeat at the hands of Iron Chef Sakai. He began his culinary training at the age of 15. He became a head chef at the young age of 32. (He still lives in Japan. Here is a website for his restaurants.) Will the young French chef have what it takes to defeat an Iron Chef?
(Edit 3/22) – Only four days after posting this episode, I saw this story on one of the sites I read everyday. What are the odds?
(Edit 3/25) – Be sure to check out the comments to this post. You’ll see that we had a VERY SPECIAL visitor to the site. 
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 some 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. (And it has BACON!!)
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. 1.0GB). (You can play the vob file in VLC Player.)
New in the video database this week: 426s – Bacon – Sakai vs. Baton (subbed)
Please make sure to thank our anonymous benefactor for continuing to provide us with these great episodes.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:48 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Reddit by mollierosev: Tell me, what isn’t made better with bacon as an ingredient? …
March 19th, 2010 at 5:23 am
Mmm… bacon. Nice way to kick off the new episodes.
March 19th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Download’s finished and now enjoying Battle Bacon with Phillipe Baton (and maybe picking up some additional ideas for this porky deliciousness). Thank you Anonymous Benefactor, and thanks to Tuthead for helping making the episode available.
March 19th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
I’ve been searching for this one for years. You are a world of wonderful!
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:12 pm
What is the episode that starts and gets cut off at the very end of this video?
March 24th, 2010 at 3:49 am
Very happy to see this episode with myself. Iron chef was a great program here in Japan and everybody loved it.
I couldn’t find it anywhere else and I lost my video tape of this show.
Thanks to this anonymous benefactor.
Aller cuisine!!!!
March 24th, 2010 at 8:18 am
That is episode 427 – Hamaguri (Clam) battle. That one will be added soon.
March 25th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Surprised to see Monsieur Batton commenting here. Just wondering how he found out about this site…
March 25th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Since there is a link to his restaurant’s site, they may have seen some traffic from here and came by to see why. I should ask, but I don’t want to be a pest.
I also put a link to the site in the comments on the article on Japan Probe about his recent commercial. He may have seen it there.
March 25th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Thank you, benefactor! My cooking has improved hugely from watching this show. Baton’s bacon and cabbage dish is one of the dishes I have most wanted to copy – just as soon as I find out what “hodobo” is!
Chef Baton, what a pleasure to see you here. Thank you for doing this show.
March 25th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
how wonderful–Chef Batton himself has spoken, and the battle itself is simply sumptuous. Cannot thank anonymous benefactor enough.
March 25th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Stop press! I finally figured out that “hondobo” is Japanese for “fond du veau” or veal stock. Thank goodness. This dish made Chairman Kaga’s top ten list and it sure looks like it deserved it – the expressions on the judges are priceless!
March 26th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
RE: tuthead comment 9
Oftentimes, it has been my experience that when someone posts something on a site such as this, they were not who they were claiming to be.
After I wrote comment 8, I clicked the link and realized that that truly was Chef Batton. I was just being cautious.
March 27th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
just wanted to add that what they are calling “chinese cabbage” in the battle actually appears to be savoy cabbage. it is a round head of cabbage with green, curled leaves–looks nothing like any chinese cabbage (napa, bok choy, gai lan) I have ever seen.
Did anyone else notice this?
April 11th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Success! I have just completed a close approximation of Baton’s dish, and all I can say is…. holy cats, you have GOT to try this. The technique is just brilliant – as the judges said, it’s not greasy at all and the vegetables soak up the fat and flavorings.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:05 am
顶~~~~好文章知识分享 我会经常来的206