The movie Backdraft was on television tonight. I always find myself watching it whenever I see it in the listings because so much of the music from Iron Chef comes from the Backdraft Soundtrack. I thought this might be a good night to share an a cappella version of the song “Show Me Your Firetruck.” You might know it better as the opening and closing theme song to Iron Chef. Enjoy.
A Cappella Iron Chef Theme
Takeshi Kaga is best known in most parts of the world as The Chairman of the Gourmet Academy and the man behind Kitchen Stadium. I recently saw a blog post that inspired me to search for clips from some of Kaga’s many other roles.
I hope you enjoy seeing Chairman Kaga outside of his duties in Kitchen Stadium. Have you seen an Iron Chef cast member in another show or commercial? Let me know, and I’ll do my best to track it down and post it here.
Hi, everybody. I’m working on a big BKS post featuring Chairman Kaga for tomorrow. I wanted to put up a screenshot from one of the videos. It makes me laugh every time I see it. 😀
This BKS video features the girls of Morning Musume, the popular Japanese idol group, and their attempt to cook like the Iron Chefs. You might remember a couple of these girls from previous BKS videos. Nozomi Tsuji and Kago Ai were featured in Ryori no Tetsu-Kappa. The Iron Girls enter Kitchen Colosseum. The girls will split into two teams: Italian (Green) vs. Chinese (Red).
The master chef teaching the Italian team is two time challenger in Kitchen Stadium; Hiromi Yamada (217 – Cabbage vs. Chen, 1994 Mr. Iron Chef).
The master chef teaching the Chinese team was also a challenger in Kitchen Stadium; Nawasaka Matsuo (539OA – Spare Rib vs. Chen.)
The girls are getting lessons from the chefs. The pasta looks OK, but Nakazawa Yuko seems to be having a little bit of trouble with the fish. In the red kitchen, Ishikawa Rika watches the chef take a thin slice of pepper and says, “Muri.” (Impossible), but she still makes an effort.
It’s time to finally begin. We don’t get our usual Fukui-san, but we do get to see the ever present Dr. Yukio Hattori. The guests include a familiar face to IC fans. Tatsuo Umemiya (guest and challenger in ep 245), Hayashiya Kobuhei (actor), Imori Miyuki (actress). And the most familiar voice in Kitchen Stadium, Shinichiro Ota is also on hand.
The three theme ingredients are: Red Pacific Sea Bream (Tai), Matsuzaka Beef, Ostrich Eggs.
The teams will be cooking one at a time. The Chinese team is selected to cook first. The rules are that the master chef can give advice during the first 50 minutes of the battle, but he must not touch anything. During the final 10 minutes, he is allowed to directly help the girls with their dishes.
Chinese Team – Round 1
Abe Natsumi quickly removes the scales from the fish while Rika almost removes her fingers while cutting off a slab of beef. Fortunately, the chef reminds her to tuck her fingers under when doing knife work. They are stuffing the fish with oolong tea. Yaguchi Mari is preparing salt for a salt-crust grill treatment for the fish. They seem to be taking a long time to cut into the ostrich egg so they can start their dessert. They are going to make an ostrich egg meringue and a mango puree.
Rika forgets the rule that the chef can’t touch anything, so he can’t even taste her dish. She decides on her own that it is “O.K.” Abe grows impatient waiting for her fish and says the oven is “osoi” (slow).
Italian Team – Round 2
Nakazawa Yuko was chosen to do the main dish but doesn’t seem too excited about working with the fish. The Italian side also has abalone, squid, and shrimp. While the Chinese team took the time to saw through their ostrich egg, the Italian team is going after theirs with a hammer. They ask Nakazawa what she is feeling, and while I’m not sure what she says, I would imagine it is something about not wanting to put her hand in the fish. They put a huge slab of beef on the grill. Of course, they are making pasta. The chef really has to move fast during his ten minutes of action. After it’s done, they ask Nakazawa if that was her first time cooking fish. (I think.) She said, “Yes.”
It is time for the judgment, but not before Morning Musume performs their #1 song Happy Summer Wedding. (Subtitled PV here.) Anyway, back to the judgment.
Umemiya – Chinese Team 16, Italian Team 16
Kobuhei – Chinese Team 18, Italian Team 17
Imori – Chinese Team 18, Italian Team 19
Totals – Chinese Team 52, Italian Team 52
A tie!! Oh well, at least we got to see Morning Musume have fun in the kitchen.
New in the database this week: Ryori no Tetsu-Musume
No new episodes this week, but we do have four new additions to Beyond Kitchen Stadium.
- IC on Scrubs – JD and Turk know what to watch on TV
- Morimoto Interview – Iron Chef Morimoto as part of Google’s Authors @ Google series.
- Kenji Fukui on Mecha Ike – Announcer Kenji Fukui is part of a segment with Fuji TV announcer/anchor Mizuki Sano on the popular (and one of my all-time favorites) Japanese TV show Mecha Mecha Iketeru. (As usual, I need some help with the question Okamura asked Sano. I think it said something about not being able to announce a variety show and retirement, but I could never get a good translation of it.)
- Nakamura Policeman – Iron Chef Koumei Nakamura is the honorary Police Chief for a day.
New in the Video Database this week: IC on Scrubs, Morimoto Interview, Fukui on Mecha Ike, Nakamura Policeman
Here are four new additions to Beyond Kitchen Stadium.
- Fukui Raps – Kitchen Stadium announcer Kenji Fukui briefly entertains the guests on a TV show that he hosts in Japan, Japonica Logos.
- Iron Chef on Food Network – This is a segment of a show that aired about Food Network and its shows. It talks about the discovery of Iron Chef and the decision to air it on the network.
- Morimoto on Regis and Kelly – Regis Philbin went to Morimoto restaurant in New York to learn how to make sushi from the Iron Chef himself.
- Morimoto RAW – This is a special that aired on Food Network back in 2002. It is a behind the scenes look at the effort that went into opening Morimoto’s first restaurant in Philadelphia.
I did not put up a poll for the November ICC Exclusives, so I will be adding a few of my favorites some time this week.
tuthead
23 November, 2008