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Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 77 - Milk Battle

2008-07-05T10:08:14Z

SirFozzie:

#77 Milk Battle

Originally Aired: 6/24/1994

[[Directory:Iron Chef|Iron Chef]] [[Chen Kenichi]] vs Challenger Miyamoto Mashiko

I feel sorry for Iron Chef [[Chen Kenichi]] sometimes. He was probably the 2nd most talented Iron Chef on the show. But it seemed sometimes like Chen got all the weirdo ingredients. There's a classic battle out there, where he gets assigned yogurt as a theme. YOGURT and Chinese cooking. Yeah. That's like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.. only if Reese's weren't made with delicious chocolate and peanut butter, but more like motor oil and peanut butter.

I can just see the production meetings where they really have a hate on for Chen..

'''Production Assistant #1''': Ok, so we need a theme ingredient for Chen-san's battle against Miyamoto Masahiko.

'''Production Assistant #2''': Well, we need something cheap. Kaga's outfits have gone up 20% in price over the last three months.

'''Production Assistant #1''': That much?

'''Production Assistant #2''': Trust me, you don't want to know how much it costs for those sequins and extra ruffles.

'''Production Assistant #3''': Damn. There goes my idea for a veal battle.

'''Production Assistant #1''': Nah. Too easy for him any way.. We really need to stretch him out. I have 10 bucks on the fact that I can make him faint with a secret ingredient some time this year.

(Production Assistant #3's cell phone rings)

('''Production Asstitant #3 starts talking on his phone'')

'''Production Assistant #2''': What about mushrooms? Chinese cooking doesn't use mushrooms, does it?

'''Production Assistant #1''': Nah.. we did that a couple months ago.

'''Production Assitant #3 (on cell phone)''' no, I won't forget the milk this time. Good bye.

(hangs up to see the other two PA's look at him)

'''Production Assistant #3''': What? Why are you looking at me like that!

'''Production Assistant #2''': You are a genius!

'''Production Assistant #1''': Oh man, I can't wait to see Chen's face. Milk as a theme ingredient!

'''Production Assistant #3''': Um.. glad to have helped?

But that's yet to come. Apparently , out of the 200,000 resturaunts in France, there's only 5 3-star (the highest rating) chefs in all of France, and today's challenger. Today's challenger has studied under two of them. His name is Masahiko Miyamoto, the head chef of Club NYX in Tokyo.

He got the bug for French cooking early, and traveled to France to try to apprentice himself without any references or connections in the French restaurant business. Needless to say, the going was hard, and only after a year's fruitless search was he able to find employment at Ferme de Mougins, a one star resturaunt, where he began to learn his trade. He continued to search, and moved up the lines, first to a two star restaurant, and then finally, was accepted as an apprentice under three star chef Michel Guerard, and then with the recommendation of Guerard, trained for several months under ANOTHER 3-star chef, Georges Blanc. He became the head sauce chef, where he flourished.

He has since returned to Japan, and became head chef of Club NYX, a high class restaurant on Tokyo's waterfront. How high class? Miyamoto imports all his meat from France, and only purchases fish from Tsukiji market, one of the highest quality fish markets in Japan. With his high class pedigree, will he live up to the reputation he's earned?

The eloquent Chairman Kaga comes out, and chomps into his pepper, and all the sous chefs appear, it must be time to battle!

Well, before the challenger comes out, they introduce the one and only guest commentator, actress Mayuko Takata, who nearly rivals Kaga in the excessive ruffles department, as she has three levels of ruffles on her dress. It's time to bring out the challenger!

The challenger's fiancee is here, and Chairman Kaga introduces her before asking who Miyamoto will challenge.. and it's Chen Kenichi! The fiery Chinese chef steps down, ready for battle, ready to bring new levels to his fiery Schezuan cuisine.. If he only knew what's waiting for him..

Chairman Kaga says he tried to squeeze his brain for a suitable ingredient.. and he kept squeezing, and squeezing, but the thought of Squeezing got him the idea for today's ingredient, and he unveils the secret ingredient... Milk! (this is the first ever liquid theme ingredient in the history of Iron Chef)

Chen's face when he views the secret ingredient, is indeed priceless.. as he turns away, muttering what seems to be the Japanese version of "You HAVE to be kidding me".

But there's no time to be spent bemoaning fate, (or in this case a production team with a sense of humor), in fact there's one hour of time to....

ALLEZ CUISINE!

The hour time limit works against both chefs, but Chen epsecially, as he has to ditch one dish at the last moment when the milk does not come together with the lobster he had mixed in, but both sides come up with some innovative dishes, including a homemade cheese by Chen (created from milk and vinegar during the one hour battle.

The dishes:

Challenger Miyamoto has four dishes:

Sauteed Lobster in Potato Crust, Orange Flavor: The milk is combined with orange juice to help form the sauce for this battle. It comes with bacon wrapped asparagus.

Soup Royale with Sea Urchin and Truffles. Started with a puree of Sea Urchin and Milk, and finished with a konsume with seafood and mushrooms

Cresson Chowder: Another dish with seafood and milk, along with rice, stewed in milk

The final dish is a Vanilla Flavored Kudzu Jelly, topped with an almond powder and brown sugar mixture. Inspired by a Japanese confection.

The Iron Chef also has four dishes (Not including the one ditched at the last moment)

Stir-Fried Lobster & Scallops, Milk Flavor: The white sauce and green shanghai cabbage give this dish color and texture.

Fried Milk Cheese with Fruit Sauce: Completely made during this battle, this cheese was then fried to give texture and served with a fruit sauce with a hint of a kick from Tobasco sauce.

Milk Stew With Five Vegetables: The milk based soup has absorbed the flavor of the various vegetables, and has a good body from the stewing.

Coconut Milk Dessert: Combineing coconut milk with reguar milk, adding pieces of watermelon and chilled, this dish is very high class.

And now, it's time for judging.

At this time in Iron Chef's history, there was only three judges. They are:

Director Kazuyoshi Okuyama, Actress Mayuko Takata, and Rosanjin Scholar Masaaki Hirano.

You ask what a Rosanjin Scholar is? Well, Rosanjin refers to [[Kitaoji Rosanjin]], who was one of Japan's most unique figures. Not only was he a top chef who set the grounds for Japanese cuisine throughout his life (he was known to emphasize the flavor of the food over presenation, saying, '''"Cookery is a splendid art because people can be greatly moved by the flavors of food. therefore, it is most important for a chef to understand flavors well. Anyone can become good at preparing sashimi or cooking tempura if they practice for many years, but understanding flavors is a talent one must be born with, it cannot be learned with time."'''. He was not famous solely as a chef, he was also one of Japan's most beloved ceramists. He even had his own exhibition of his pottery shown in New York in 1954!) Enough of the history lesson, time to get to eating.

Judged first as always, are the dishes of the challenger.

Up first, is Sauteed Lobster in Potato Crust, Orange Flavor. Hirano loves the food, and the other judges seem to enjoy the mixture.

Up next is the Soup Royale with Sea Urchin and Truffles. The dish also gets praised, esepcially for its mixture of textures, from the mushrooms, to the konsume.

The Chowder is next. The milk is judged to be powerful, two judges say it reminds them of their childhood (I have NO idea what they mean by that, but let's leave it where it lies there!)

Finally is the Vanilla Flavored Kudzu Jelly, and the almond/ginger powder is judged to interfere with the dish, and is the only dish not universally liked.

Up next is the Iron Chef's dishes.

The judges like the Stir-fried Lobster & Scallops, and Hirano humorously complains that Takata keeps saying what he wants to say before he can say it. The milk brings the dish all together.

The judges are mixed on the hand made cheese. there's thoughts that it could have used a bit more firmness, and it was too subtle.

The judges love the Milk Stew with the vegetables. Well put together.

Hirano says that the desert should be a regular dish, due to the regular ingredients, combined into a new level.

Enough with the dinner chat, it's time to reveal who wins.

Kaga admits that the theme ingredient was designed to make the lives difficult. He says this was the toughest decision in the history of the panel so far. But a decision has been reached. So, who takes it? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

IRON CHEF CHEN KINICHI wins.

But from all indications this was a great battle for both sides. The look of disappointment on the face of Miyamoto's fiancee is palpable. But Chen seems relieved at having won over such a difficult ingredient. Little does he know what awaits him in the future.

(No scores, the results of the voting was not publicly announced during the three judge era)

Directory:Iron Chef

2008-07-05T09:31:38Z

SirFozzie: Added description.

'''Iron Chef''' was one of the greatest cooking shows on television, of all time.

The rules were somewhat simple. Challengers from all over Japan (and in later episodes, challengers from the USA and France), would come to face an Iron Chef, who was a top chef in one of four styles of cooking:

:French Cuisine was originally represented by [[Yutaka Ishinabe]], who left after one year, and was replaced by [[Hiroyuki Sakai]]
:Chinese Cuisine was represented by [[Chen Kenmin]]
:Italian Cuisine was represented by [[Masahiko Kobe]]
:Japanese Cuisine was represented by three chefs. The first Iron Chef Japanese was [[Rokusaburo Michiba]], who retired after several seasons due to health problems. The second Iron Chef Japanese was [[Komei Nakamura]], and the third and final Iron Chef Japanese was [[Masaharu Morimoto]] (who has since moved to the American version of the show, Iron Chef America).

The show's focus, [[Takeshi Kaga|Chairman Kaga]], a supposed millionaire who had spent his vast fortune to create "Kitchen Stadium", a giant cooking arena, would invite the challenger to pick which Iron Chef he wished to battle. Then, right before the battle, he would unveil the episode's theme ingredient, which the two chefs would have to use in all their dishes.

The challenger and Iron Chef would each have one hour to make as many dishes as they could, using the theme ingredient. They were judged on taste, innovativeness, and presentation.

Usually, the Iron Chef would defeat the challenger (the Iron Chefs had a final record of 221 wins, 68 defeats, and 8 draws), but due to Iron Chef's popularity, a winning challenger would normally see it's clientele greatly expanded. There was great pressure on the Iron Chefs to constantly win. How much pressure? Well, Iron Chef [[Komei Nakamura]] complained that his family ostracized him after each defeat (one of the factors that led to him eventually resigning as an Iron Chef).

The combination of campiness (the flamboyantly dressed Chairman Kaga, the exotic theme ingredients, the storylines (one time when his Iron Chefs had lost several battles in a row, Chairman Kaga boycotted his role in disgust, which forced the show's color commentator, Yukio "Doc" Hattori to run the show until one of his Iron Chefs had won), and the competitiveness of the actual battles was a mixture popular in both Japan and America.

I have acquired 157 of these episodes, and will be doing reviews of as many of them as I can.

==Episode Guide==
[[Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 25 - Giant Lobster|25 - Giant Lobster]]
[[Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 32 - Cod Roe (2nd Battle)|32 - Cod Roe (2nd Battle)]]
[[Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 77 - Milk Battle|77 - Milk Battle]]
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Directory:Iron Chef

2008-07-05T09:12:44Z

SirFozzie:

'''Iron Chef''' was one of the greatest cooking shows on television, of all time.

==Episode Guide==
[[Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 25 - Giant Lobster|25 - Giant Lobster]]
[[Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 32 - Cod Roe (2nd Battle)|32 - Cod Roe (2nd Battle)]]
[[Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 77 - Milk Battle|77 - Milk Battle]]
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google_color_border = '6699CC';
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Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 77 - Milk Battle

2008-07-05T09:11:45Z

SirFozzie: New page: #77 Milk Battle Originally Aired: 6/24/1994 Iron Chef Chen Kenichi vs Challenger Miyamoto Mashiko I feel sorry for Iron Chef Chen Kenichi sometimes. He w...

#77 Milk Battle

Originally Aired: 6/24/1994

[[Directory:Iron Chef|Iron Chef]] [[Chen Kenichi]] vs Challenger Miyamoto Mashiko

I feel sorry for Iron Chef [[Chen Kenichi]] sometimes. He was probably the 2nd most talented Iron Chef on the show. But it seemed sometimes like Chen got all the weirdo ingredients. There's a classic battle out there, where he gets assigned yogurt as a theme. YOGURT and Chinese cooking. Yeah. That's like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.. only if Reese's weren't made with delicious chocolate and peanut butter, but more like motor oil and peanut butter.

I can just see the production meetings where they really have a hate on for Chen..

'''Production Assistant #1''': Ok, so we need a theme ingredient for Chen-san's battle against Miyamoto Masahiko.

'''Production Assistant #2''': Well, we need something cheap. Kaga's outfits have gone up 20% in price over the last three months.

'''Production Assistant #1''': That much?

'''Production Assistant #2''': Trust me, you don't want to know how much it costs for those sequins and extra ruffles.

'''Production Assistant #3''': Damn. There goes my idea for a veal battle.

'''Production Assistant #1''': Nah. Too easy for him any way.. We really need to stretch him out. I have 10 bucks on the fact that I can make him faint with a secret ingredient some time this year.

(Production Assistant #3's cell phone rings)

('''Production Asstitant #3 starts talking on his phone'')

'''Production Assistant #2''': What about mushrooms? Chinese cooking doesn't use mushrooms, does it?

'''Production Assistant #1''': Nah.. we did that a couple months ago.

'''Production Assitant #3 (on cell phone)''' no, I won't forget the milk this time. Good bye.

(hangs up to see the other two PA's look at him)

'''Production Assistant #3''': What? Why are you looking at me like that!

'''Production Assistant #2''': You are a genius!

'''Production Assistant #1''': Oh man, I can't wait to see Chen's face. Milk as a theme ingredient!

'''Production Assistant #3''': Um.. glad to have helped?

But that's yet to come. Apparently , out of the 200,000 resturaunts in France, there's only 5 3-star (the highest rating) chefs in all of France, and today's challenger. Today's challenger has studied under two of them. His name is Masahiko Miyamoto, the head chef of Club NYX in Tokyo.

He got the bug for French cooking early, and traveled to France to try to apprentice himself without any references or connections in the French restaurant business. Needless to say, the going was hard, and only after a year's fruitless search was he able to find employment at Ferme de Mougins, a one star resturaunt, where he began to learn his trade. He continued to search, and moved up the lines, first to a two star restaurant, and then finally, was accepted as an apprentice under three star chef Michel Guerard, and then with the recommendation of Guerard, trained for several months under ANOTHER 3-star chef, Georges Blanc. He became the head sauce chef, where he flourished.

He has since returned to Japan, and became head chef of Club NYX, a high class restaurant on Tokyo's waterfront. How high class? Miyamoto imports all his meat from France, and only purchases fish from Tsukiji market, one of the highest quality fish markets in Japan. With his high class pedigree, will he live up to the reputation he's earned?

The eloquent Chairman Kaga comes out, and chomps into his pepper, and all the sous chefs appear, it must be time to battle!

Well, before the challenger comes out, they introduce the one and only guest commentator, actress Mayuko Takata, who nearly rivals Kaga in the excessive ruffles department, as she has three levels of ruffles on her dress. It's time to bring out the challenger!

The challenger's fiancee is here, and Chairman Kaga introduces her before asking who Miyamoto will challenge.. and it's Chen Kenichi! The fiery Chinese chef steps down, ready for battle, ready to bring new levels to his fiery Schezuan cuisine.. If he only knew what's waiting for him..

Chairman Kaga says he tried to squeeze his brain for a suitable ingredient.. and he kept squeezing, and squeezing, but the thought of Squeezing got him the idea for today's ingredient, and he unveils the secret ingredient... Milk! (this is the first ever liquid theme ingredient in the history of Iron Chef)

Chen's face when he views the secret ingredient, is indeed priceless.. as he turns away, muttering what seems to be the Japanese version of "You HAVE to be kidding me".

But there's no time to be spent bemoaning fate, (or in this case a production team with a sense of humor), in fact there's one hour of time to....

ALLEZ CUISINE!

The hour time limit works against both chefs, but Chen epsecially, as he has to ditch one dish at the last moment when the milk does not come together with the lobster he had mixed in, but both sides come up with some innovative dishes, including a homemade cheese by Chen (created from milk and vinegar during the one hour battle.

The dishes:

Challenger Miyamoto has four dishes:

Sauteed Lobster in Potato Crust, Orange Flavor: The milk is combined with orange juice to help form the sauce for this battle. It comes with bacon wrapped asparagus.

Soup Royale with Sea Urchin and Truffles. Started with a puree of Sea Urchin and Milk, and finished with a konsume with seafood and mushrooms

Cresson Chowder: Another dish with seafood and milk, along with rice, stewed in milk

The final dish is a Vanilla Flavored Kudzu Jelly, topped with an almond powder and brown sugar mixture. Inspired by a Japanese confection.

The Iron Chef also has four dishes (Not including the one ditched at the last moment)

Stir-Fried Lobster & Scallops, Milk Flavor: The white sauce and green shanghai cabbage give this dish color and texture.

Fried Milk Cheese with Fruit Sauce: Completely made during this battle, this cheese was then fried to give texture and served with a fruit sauce with a hint of a kick from Tobasco sauce.

Milk Stew With Five Vegetables: The milk based soup has absorbed the flavor of the various vegetables, and has a good body from the stewing.

Coconut Milk Dessert: Combineing coconut milk with reguar milk, adding pieces of watermelon and chilled, this dish is very high class.

And now, it's time for judging.

At this time in Iron Chef's history, there was only three judges. They are:

Director Kazuyoshi Okuyama, Actress Mayuko Takata, and Rosanjin Scholar Masaaki Hirano.

You ask what a Rosanjin Scholar is? Well, Rosanjin refers to [[Kitaoji Rosanjin]], who was one of Japan's most unique figures. Not only was he a top chef who set the grounds for Japanese cuisine throughout his life (he was known to emphasize the flavor of the food over preperation, saying, '''"Cookery is a splendid art because people can be greatly moved by the flavors of food. therefore, it is most important for a chef to understand flavors well. Anyone can become good at preparing sashimi or cooking tempura if they practice for many years, but understanding flavors is a talent one must be born with, it cannot be learned with time."'''. He was not famous solely as a chef, he was also one of Japan's most beloved ceramists. He even had his own exhibition of his pottery shown in New York in 1954!) Enough of the history lesson, time to get to eating.

Judged first as always, are the dishes of the challenger.

Up first, is Sauteed Lobster in Potato Crust, Orange Flavor. Hirano loves the food, and the other judges seem to enjoy the mixture.

Up next is the Soup Royale with Sea Urchin and Truffles. The dish also gets praised, esepcially for its mixture of textures, from the mushrooms, to the konsume.

The Chowder is next. The milk is judged to be powerful, two judges say it reminds them of their childhood (I have NO idea what they mean by that, but let's leave it where it lies there!)

Finally is the Vanilla Flavored Kudzu Jelly, and the almond/ginger powder is judged to interfere with the dish, and is the only dish not universally liked.

Up next is the Iron Chef's dishes.

The judges like the Stir-fried Lobster & Scallops, and Hirano humorously complains that Takata keeps saying what he wants to say before he can say it. The milk brings the dish all together.

The judges are mixed on the hand made cheese. there's thoughts that it could have used a bit more firmness, and it was too subtle.

The judges love the Milk Stew with the vegetables. Well put together.

Hirano says that the desert should be a regular dish, due to the regular ingredients, combined into a new level.

Enough with the dinner chat, it's time to reveal who wins.

Kaga admits that the theme ingredient was designed to make the lives difficult. He says this was the toughest decision in the history of the panel so far. But a decision has been reached. So, who takes it? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

IRON CHEF CHEN KINICHI wins.

But from all indications this was a great battle for both sides. The look of disappointment on the face of Miyamoto's fiancee is palpable. But Chen seems relieved at having won over such a difficult ingredient. Little does he know what awaits him in the future.

(No scores, the results of the voting was not publicly announced during the three judge era)

Directory:Iron Chef

2008-07-05T00:37:24Z

SirFozzie: /* Episode Guide */

'''Iron Chef''' was one of the greatest cooking shows on television, of all time.

==Episode Guide==
[[Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 25 - Giant Lobster|25 - Giant Lobster]]
[[Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 32 - Cod Roe (2nd Battle)|32 - Cod Roe (2nd Battle)]]
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Directory:Iron Chef

2008-07-05T00:36:58Z

SirFozzie: added link to 2nd episode

'''Iron Chef''' was one of the greatest cooking shows on television, of all time.

==Episode Guide==
[[Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 25 - Giant Lobster|25 - Giant Lobster]]
[[Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 32 - Cod Roe (2nd Battle)|32 - Cod Roe (2nd Battle)]]
<center>
<adsense>
google_ad_client = 'pub-4781341637005814';
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google_ad_height = 60;
google_ad_format = '468x60_as';
google_ad_type = 'text_image';//2006-12-28: Centiare Directory space
google_ad_channel = '2388332058';
google_color_border = '6699CC';
google_color_bg = '003366';
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Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 32 - Cod Roe (2nd Battle)

2008-07-05T00:35:58Z

SirFozzie: small edits

((Roe is the fully ripe egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as sea urchin, shrimp and scallop. As a seafood it is used both as a cooked ingredient in many dishes and as a raw ingredient.))

"Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you what you are" Brillat-Savarin"

Battle Between:

Iron Chef Japanese (2nd) [[Komei Nakamura]] versus Katsuko Nanao

Ah, one of the rare female challengers to enter Kitchen Stadium here, a housewife who also is the owner of a resturaunt in Azabu-juban, Tokyo, called Nanao.

Highlights:

:Married at age 21, became a full time homemaker
:12 years later, became frustrated with being a homemaker and left, with one suitcase and some cash.
:She became a stylist for a Japanese Pop group in the mid-1970's called "The Candies"
:1980-85, ran a coffee shop with a friend
:1985 - Opened Her own resturaunt (because you know, every moment in her career led up to this)

The voice over says that "Nanao shows no pride in technique or excellence, but instead one finds quality, modesty and affection in her home style dishes."

(I'm beginning to believe this means "We had need of a last minute replacement, and we really wanted to give the Iron Chef an easy victory")

So, I'm not quite sure how this turns out. I expect a rout, but who knows?

Here we go with the opening, Don't bite the pepper, Chairman.. don't do it.. Aw he did it, and all of a sudden there's 120 sous-chefs in kitchen stadium. (Insert triumphal music here.)

Damn. Chairman Kaga is almost looking completely non-flamboyant today.

He brings out the challenger, and it's time to summon the Iron Chefs

(please note: They go through the motion of the challenger selecting an Iron Chef for the battle, and show all three Iron Chefs, but only the Iron Chef who will be battling is actually in Kitchen Stadium (it's pre-determined).

Time to unveil the secret ingredient:

Today's theme ingredient: 250 Cod Roe from Hokkaido, Japan. They normally go for about $8 per, so they spent $2,000 on the main ingredient alone (and the chefs can request certain items be stocked in their pantry before the battle)

Allez Cuisine!

Today's commentators, joining "Doc" Yukio Hattori and Fuyuki-san in the commentators booth, baseball commentator, Takehiko Bessho, and an actress, Kazuko Katoh (yes, her voice doesn't give me much hope for any meaningful commentary in this battle, I think we have our first BDJ Judge )

The Iron Chef is not too impressed with the theme ingredient, he gets asked whether he uses it at his restaurant. He basically raises his nose and says "No way".. but he does like it at home cured with red chilli.

I'll not post much of the battle, there's so much going on, besides, the end result is available

Dishes:

Challenger offers five dishes:

Grilled Cod Roe Salad: (made with a dressing made with chinese rice wine and horse radish). Looks kinda like the typical salad you'd find in a fancy resturaunt. High on different iteams, but very small, maybe two-three bites tops.

Cod Roe & Vegetable Soup: Made with, believe it or not, milk (to mask the overwhelming aroma of the salt-cured Cod Roe). Comes with chopped Mint leaves on the side to provide a finishing refreshing touch.

Fried Cod Roe: cheese and code roe wrapped in chiso leaves before being fried, a very simple dish.

Cod and Cod Roe Grilled in Mayonnaise: I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's the cod roe mixed with a diced cod fillet, with sesame seeds as well as honeywart on the side.

Finally, Steamed Cod Rice: bamboo shoots and benito shavings with the Cod Rice on top of glutineous rice.

My judgement: Well, to say the least, I'm not familiar with the theme ingredient, but I'm not sure the dishes are anything spectacular. They all seem very plain, and not sophisticated. Well, again, this is a home-style chef, who's probably more used to making plain, straight forward dishes then the high risk/high reward style of dishes in Iron Chef.

Iron Chef Nakamura also has five dishes:

"Californian Ruby" a chilled appetizer, combining avocado and cod roe

Smoked Cod Roe in a Bamboo Leaf. He fashioned his own smoker out of a metal container and apple wood chips inside. Very interesting to watch this move (he apparently didn't bring his own smoker, and had to improvise.

Cod Roe Dumpling in Soup. Adds Grated Yam and Abalone. I think that's a rather interesting combinations of flavors, from the Yam, to the seafood, to the salt cured Cod Roe in the soup.

Baby Sweetfish stuffed with cod roe: Yes, these are EXTREMELY tiny fish, grilled, and filled with a cod roe mixture. Very haute cuisine (which also means very very small)

Cod Roe and Yam on Rice. Kinda like the challenger's dish. Adds lobster meat as a base.

Off we go to judging:

Judges: Shinichiro Kurimoto (former House of Representatives member in Japan), actress Kazuko Katoh, baseball commentator Takehiko Bessho, and Culinary critic Asako Kishi.

(Just as an aside before I get going with the judging, Asako Kishi is generally known as the "East German" judge when it comes to Iron Chef, because she is not only the Simon Cowell of judges, not hesitating to penalize chefs for substandard dishes, but because in general, the feeling is that the Iron Chef would have to serve fried poop on a plate for her to not favor the Iron Chef. If Kishi ever votes for a challenger, you know the challenger won clearly)

First up in the judging, is the challenger Katsuko Nanao

First dish (the cod roe salad) is met lukewarm by the judges, who generally think its a bit too salty.

Ooof! The 2nd dish (the milk soup) gets savaged by the two judges who reviewed it, and neither of them were Kishi. (if this was an airplane, I'd be shouting Mayday, Mayday at this point)

Third dish: (the cod and code roe grilled in Mayonnaise) they like the fish part of it, but not the cod roe. Since the cod roe is the theme ingredient... The good thing is Kishi likes the dish, so it's not a complete disaster.

Fourth Dish: The Steamed Cod Rice. Again, they try to lessen the blow by saying "I know this is not a common item, but.." ooof. This is painful to watch. Way too salty.

They didn't even show the Fried Cod Roe. That must really say something when they basically dimissed the other four. Can we declare this one a forfeit already?

Iron Chef's turn.

First dish shown is the Cod Roe smoked in the bamboo leaf. They praise the Iron Chef for harmonizing and lessening the saltiness of the cod roe by smoking and mixing eggs in with it.

Next up is the soup. Gets judged a bit too mild and a little too watery. Gets judged too elegant

the Baby sweetfish is next. Gets the best reaction from the judges. Gets full praises.

The Rice is praised as well, for harmonizing many different ingredients

They skip the fifth dish as well.

The BDJ judge says "Can you please come and cook for us every day". If this was wrestling, I'd fully expect the swerve at this point and for the female chef to win.. but it's time to go for judgement..

So who takes it, whose cuisine reigns supreme?

Well, if you made it all the way to the end, the result should be obvious...

The winner is... Iron Chef Komei Nakamura!

Let's go to the scoring (20 point system)

Kurimoto 18-14 Iron Chef
Katoh 19-17 Iron Chef
Bessho 18-14 Iron Chef
Kishi 19-17 Iron Chef

(4-0 Judges 74-62, Score)

The challenger scored VERY poorly, to not even get 15-16 from two judges, is not usual. This was the Iron Chef version of a squash match, basically.

Directory:Iron Chef/Episode 32 - Cod Roe (2nd Battle)

2008-07-05T00:33:55Z

SirFozzie: Added episode 32 of 157

Roe is the fully ripe egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as sea urchin, shrimp and scallop. As a seafood it is used both as a cooked ingredient in many dishes and as a raw ingredient.

"Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you what you are" Brillat-Savarin"

Battle Between:

Iron Chef Japanese (2nd) Komei Nakamura versus Katsuko Nanao

Ah, one of the rare female challengers to enter Kitchen Stadium here, a housewife who also is the owner of a resturaunt in Azabu-juban, Tokyo, called Nanao.

Highlights:

Married at age 21, became a full time homemaker
12 years later, became frustrated with being a homemaker and left, with one suitcase and some cash.
She became a stylist for a Japanese Pop group in the mid-1970's called "The Candies"
1980-85, ran a coffee shop with a friend
1985 - Opened Her own resturaunt (because you know, every moment in her career led up to this)

The voice over says that "Nanao shows no pride in technique or excellence, but instead one finds quality, modesty and affection in her home style dishes."

(I'm beginning to believe this means "We had need of a last minute replacement, and we really wanted to give the Iron Chef an easy victory")

So, I'm not quite sure how this turns out. I expect a rout, but who knows?

Here we go with the opening, Don't bite the pepper, Chairman.. don't do it.. Aw he did it, and all of a sudden there's 120 sous-chefs in kitchen stadium. (Insert triumphal music here.)

Damn. Chairman Kaga is almost looking completely non-flamboyant today.

He brings out the challenger, and it's time to summon the Iron Chefs

(please note: They go through the motion of the challenger selecting an Iron Chef for the battle, and show all three Iron Chefs, but only the Iron Chef who will be battling is actually in Kitchen Stadium (it's pre-determined).

Time to unveil the secret ingredient:

Today's theme ingredient: 250 Cod Roe from Hokkaido, Japan. They normally go for about $8 per, so they spent $2,000 on the main ingredient alone (and the chefs can request certain items be stocked in their pantry before the battle)

Allez Cuisine!

Today's commentators, joining "Doc" Yukio Hattori and Fuyuki-san in the commentators booth, baseball commentator, Takehiko Bessho, and an actress, Kazuko Katoh (yes, her voice doesn't give me much hope for any meaningful commentary in this battle, I think we have our first BDJ Judge )

The Iron Chef is not too impressed with the theme ingredient, he gets asked whether he uses it at his restaurant. He basically raises his nose and says "No way".. but he does like it at home cured with red chilli.

I'll not post much of the battle, there's so much going on, besides, the end result is available

Dishes:

Challenger offers five dishes:

Grilled Cod Roe Salad: (made with a dressing made with chinese rice wine and horse radish). Looks kinda like the typical salad you'd find in a fancy resturaunt. High on different iteams, but very small, maybe two-three bites tops.

Cod Roe & Vegetable Soup: Made with, believe it or not, milk (to mask the overwhelming aroma of the salt-cured Cod Roe). Comes with chopped Mint leaves on the side to provide a finishing refreshing touch.

Fried Cod Roe: cheese and code roe wrapped in chiso leaves before being fried, a very simple dish.

Cod and Cod Roe Grilled in Mayonnaise: I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's the cod roe mixed with a diced cod fillet, with sesame seeds as well as honeywart on the side.

Finally, Steamed Cod Rice: bamboo shoots and benito shavings with the Cod Rice on top of glutineous rice.

My judgement: Well, to say the least, I'm not familiar with the theme ingredient, but I'm not sure the dishes are anything spectacular. They all seem very plain, and not sophisticated. Well, again, this is a home-style chef, who's probably more used to making plain, straight forward dishes then the high risk/high reward style of dishes in Iron Chef.

Iron Chef Nakamura also has five dishes:

"Californian Ruby" a chilled appetizer, combining avocado and cod roe

Smoked Cod Roe in a Bamboo Leaf. He fashioned his own smoker out of a metal container and apple wood chips inside. Very interesting to watch this move (he apparently didn't bring his own smoker, and had to improvise.

Cod Roe Dumpling in Soup. Adds Grated Yam and Abalone. I think that's a rather interesting combinations of flavors, from the Yam, to the seafood, to the salt cured Cod Roe in the soup.

Baby Sweetfish stuffed with cod roe: Yes, these are EXTREMELY tiny fish, grilled, and filled with a cod roe mixture. Very haute cuisine (which also means very very small)

Cod Roe and Yam on Rice. Kinda like the challenger's dish. Adds lobster meat as a base.

Off we go to judging:

Judges: Shinichiro Kurimoto (former House of Representatives member in Japan), actress Kazuko Katoh, baseball commentator Takehiko Bessho, and Culinary critic Asako Kishi.

(Just as an aside before I get going with the judging, Asako Kishi is generally known as the "East German" judge when it comes to Iron Chef, because she is not only the Simon Cowell of judges, not hesitating to penalize chefs for substandard dishes, but because in general, the feeling is that the Iron Chef would have to serve fried poop on a plate for her to not favor the Iron Chef. If Kishi ever votes for a challenger, you know the challenger won clearly)

First up in the judging, is the challenger Katsuko Nanao

First dish (the cod roe salad) is met lukewarm by the judges, who generally think its a bit too salty.

Ooof! The 2nd dish (the milk soup) gets savaged by the two judges who reviewed it, and neither of them were Kishi. (if this was an airplane, I'd be shouting Mayday, Mayday at this point)

Third dish: (the cod and code roe grilled in Mayonnaise) they like the fish part of it, but not the cod roe. Since the cod roe is the theme ingredient... The good thing is Kishi likes the dish, so it's not a complete disaster.

Fourth Dish: The Steamed Cod Rice. Again, they try to lessen the blow by saying "I know this is not a common item, but.." ooof. This is painful to watch. Way too salty.

They didn't even show the Fried Cod Roe. That must really say something when they basically dimissed the other four. Can we declare this one a forfeit already?

Iron Chef's turn.

First dish shown is the Cod Roe smoked in the bamboo leaf. They praise the Iron Chef for harmonizing and lessening the saltiness of the cod roe by smoking and mixing eggs in with it.

Next up is the soup. Gets judged a bit too mild and a little too watery. Gets judged too elegant

the Baby sweetfish is next. Gets the best reaction from the judges. Gets full praises.

The Rice is praised as well, for harmonizing many different ingredients

They skip the fifth dish as well.

The BDJ judge says "Can you please come and cook for us every day". If this was wrestling, I'd fully expect the swerve at this point and for the female chef to win.. but it's time to go for judgement..

So who takes it, whose cuisine reigns supreme?

Well, if you made it all the way to the end, the result should be obvious...

The winner is... Iron Chef Komei Nakamura!

Let's go to the scoring (20 point system)

Kurimoto 18-14 Iron Chef
Katoh 19-17 Iron Chef
Bessho 18-14 Iron Chef
Kishi 19-17 Iron Chef

(4-0 Judges 74-62, Score)

The challenger scored VERY poorly, to not even get 15-16 from two judges, is not usual. This was the Iron Chef version of a squash match, basically.