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This past month was no doubt one of the saddest times for Iron Chef fans. If you’re on this site and reading this, then I’m guessing you already know, but on March 11th, Kenichi Azama, who we all know and love as Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi, passed away from interstitial pneumonia at the age of 67.
Iron Chef fans will readily tell others that he was the only Iron Chef to serve throughout the entire series, the leader in career battles fought and battles won and also the runner-up to Sakai in the King of Iron Chefs series finale. Watching him strive to live up to the legacy of his father, Chen Kenmin – the one who popularized Szechuan food in Japan and known as the country’s deity of Szechuan cuisine – and succeed while also proving himself to be a true Iron Chef was and is amazing to watch. I have a lot of great memories of him, especially one of the most amazing battles in the show’s history and the battle Chen himself remembers the most: the legendary Battle Prawn against his old coach and Kenmin’s top apprentice Takashi Saito. Adding yet more to it, both chefs recreated Kenmin’s classic prawns in chili sauce, and Kenichi’s canapé style reproduction of the modern version including ketchup was both Takeshi Kaga’s favorite of the first 2,000 dishes and helped Chen win the only battle he fought in front of his mother Yoko.
According to a Shisen Hanten press release, Chen’s funeral is or was for close relatives only according to his will, and his family also declined receiving flowers, condolences and such, but a farewell party in his memory was also planned. Even writing this now, I still felt myself getting misty-eyed, but I want to make sure I pay my respects and I’d like to open this up so others here can share their memories and tributes. I also like to think I speak for Iron Chef fans the world over when I say that we thank him for all the memories and good food and will miss him dearly.
PS – It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Chen and Kobe, who was gone too soon, have already battled again in heaven with judges including Asako Kishi, Tamio Kageyama and maybe even Kenmin himself.
This is definitely something I wanted to share because it combines a few things to say the least that we don’t see too often (or at least, things we didn’t see too often during Iron Chef‘s original run): Iron Chefs dealing with the loss of someone they know, Morimoto doing a full English interview and an Iron Chef being on CNN.
How it came about was definitely something that was all too understandable, though. When Anthony Bourdain died in 2018, Morimoto went on Quest Means Business in order to pay tribute to the No Reservations star, who had been a friend of his to the point that they’d worked together onscreen as well.
This one’s definitely a bit bittersweet because it’s all about the late, great Kobe, but I couldn’t possibly not share it. This is something the Iron Chef Episodes Twitch Channel introduced me to: Shortly after Kobe’s debut in Battle Short Pasta (522), a 26-minute documentary aired showing Kobe’s life story up to that point and how he was balancing his debut as Iron Chef Italian with his day-to-day business – which would mean this is from 1997 in all likelihood. Really hope you enjoy this one.
I only recently came across a YouTube video profiling a sushi chef with a name that looked familiar, and on further inspection, it was!
It was Kenji Nakazawa, the Edo-style sushi specialist who had challenged Iron Chef Japanese Morimoto in Battle Sushi (722). In 2019, Eater caught up with him when he was running an omakase in Hawaii that was already one of the best outside Japan for their video profile series, also titled Omakase (the Japanese term used in sushi restaurants that indicates you’re leaving it up to the chef). It’s mainly in Japanese but is subtitled. Hope you enjoy!
I expect some you folks may have seen this before, but wanted to put this up in case you haven’t. Sakai and Chen were interviewed in uniform while they were in Sydney for a 2010 Iron Chef event, and the topics they discuss include their time in Australia (including Sakai’s time working in Perth early in his career) and their time on the show during its original run. Watch until the end for some English (or Engrish, if you prefer) from both of them!
A bit of a flashback not just to the Iron Chef event on February 14th and 15th, 2015 at the RACV City Club in Melbourne’s CBD but also to, among other things, Chen’s tofu battle (314 vs. Chiyo Cho). This one’s a fancam but still gives a chance to see a demo narrated in English of a Szechuan and Chen family (dynasty?) specialty.
Chen Kentaro was advertised as the only Chen attending the event, so attendees got a shock when Kenichi was also shown backstage and then when he came out and helped demo the recipe with added assistance from Sakai and Kobe. Hope everyone enjoys!