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Thanks to the recent rebroadcasts of the original series, we have been able to enjoy some milestone episodes. Today, we have another one. This is the debut episode of Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai. He is taking on French Chef Guy Shokr in an all-French battle. Enjoy.
Ryouri no Tetsujin – Episode 18 – Oyster Battle – Sakai (Debut Battle) vs. Shokr
I’m headed out to the Spring Festival at the Japanese Garden (春祭り）at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens today. I’ll try to get some good pictures to post. And I promise it won’t take too long for episodes 19-22 to get posted.
Sorry for the delay getting these posted for you. Today, we see three more episodes from the early part of the second season of original series.
Iron Chef 205 – We see an all-too familiar face for the first time in the intro to this battle. And as usual, Chairman Kaga is not happy with what he hears. Toshiro Kandagawa wants to take down the Iron Chefs, and he thinks he has the men to do it. The first challenger, Kouichi Taniguchi, began working for Kandagawa at the age of 18. You will enjoy his impressive knife work. He’s ready to be the lead-off man in the batting order and get the Kanto vs. Kansai challenge started.(I’m sure long-lime baseball announcer Kenji Fukui enjoyed being able to work in a Hanshin Tigers reference.)
Iron Chef 206 – Second up is Kandagawa’s other hand-picked challenger, Kazuyoshi Masaki. Michiba says he won’t lose to such a young challenger. The second round of this Kanto vs. Kansai challenge is ready to begin with a theme that is handled differently by the regions. (When you hear the chairman say “Nishi” and “Higashi“, he is referring to West and East.) Also listen during the theme introduction for Chairman Kaga to say “Nishi wa hara kara. Higashi wa se kara.” meaning (I think) “West from the stomach. East from the back.” referring to the common preparation methods. (Click HERE for a brief introduction to the differences between Kansai and Kanto cuisines.)
Iron Chef 207 – Finally, it’s time for the heavy hitter in the lineup to step up to the plate. This battle features the first competitive appearance from Toshiro Kandagawa. (And again, Fukui had to enjoy having Japanese Hall of Fame player and (at the time) the manager of the Yakult Swallows, Katsuya Nomura, in the broadcast booth.) Despite the baseball theme, Kandagawa brings in 11 chefs with him, which The Chairman points out is enough to field a team in the J-League. The theme is Hirame.
Next time, I will present another special milestone episode in the history of Iron Chef with the debut battle of Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai.
It’s been a week since the end of the new Iron Chef in Japan. Tonight, I present to you another finale. The end of the reign of Iron Chef Japanese Koumei Nakamura. The challenger is none other than Dr. Yukio Hattori. This episode is split into two parts. The first part is primarily about Nakamura and his time in Kitchen Stadium. The second part is the rest of the battle.
You will notice there are two versions of the first part of the battle: subtitled and the OA all-Japanese version. The OA version is about 5 minutes longer, but unless you are a completist, you’ll do just fine with the subtitled version. The main differences between he versions are the inclusion of footage of a visit to Doc Hattori’s dressing room and some minor image changes. (They seem to have removed any footage of soldiers and war during the section explaining why this battle is so important to Hattori’s family.)
Iron Chef 606a/b – a: Nakamura Retrospective – 2/13/1998 b: Nakamura vs Hattori – Tuna – 2/20/1998
(I’m heading to Houston for Opening Day of the 2013 Major League Baseball season this weekend. If you have any problems, please let me know. I might not get to it immediately, but I’ll take care of it as soon as I can. Same thing with the comments. I’ll approve them when I get a chance.)
I will have a couple of classic episodes up before the weekend, but I wanted to post this one now.
This episode is a rather unique one in that there was not a theme ingredient. The theme of the episode was Hanami (花見). Hanami is the Japanese tradition of enjoying the beauty of flowers, usually Sakura (桜) or cherry blossoms. The episode aired during the traditional Hanami time of the year. The judging takes place outdoors under the cover of Sakura. Nakamura vs. You.
GO HERE if you’d like to see some of the Sakura now on display in Japan via Google Streetview.
Iron Chef 513OA – Hanami Battle
Iron Chef 548sub – It is the last battle of the year (1997), and the chairman wants to use a theme ingredient he has been wanting to use for a long time. It is the largest fish that can be caught in the waters off Japan. The challenger is the “Don of Kansai cuisine” and frequent thorn in the sides of the Iron Chefs, Toshiro Kandagawa. (This episode is in Japanese with English subtitles.)
Iron Chef 601sub – For the first battle of the new year (1998), the Chairman selects a special challenger from Sendai. He is an expert at using Miso from all over Japan. (This episode is in Japanese with English subtitles.)
Iron Chef 602OA – The challenger is the owner/chef of a French restaurant in Japan. He trained with three-star chefs in France, so he should be a formidable foe for Kobe. (This episode is in Japanese with no subtitles)
Iron Chef 603OA – The challenger comes recommended by frequent judges Yasushi Akimoto and Tenmei Kano. (This episode is in Japanese with no subtitles.)
UPDATE: I’ve added .mp4 versions to the download page for these four episodes. If you want to stream instead of downloading, you can by copying the direct download URL into a media player such as VLC Player. To get the direct download URL, go to the download page and click “Download MP4”. The next screen will have a link under “Click here if you are not redirected automatically.” (You can cancel the download.) Paste that URL into the box that opens when you select “Open Network Stream” and the video will begin streaming.
Thanks for letting me put up my personal post on Monday. Here are some “new” original episodes for you.
Iron Chef 202 – The challenger is a Chinese cuisine chef from Hong Kong. He loves to cook on his super hot fire. (I thought I heard 60,000 kilocalories, but I don’t know exactly what that means. Someone feel free to enlighten me.) He has served Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan among others. Nice touch from the Chairman asking who he is going to battle in Chinese. It’s an all Chinese cuisine battle as he takes on Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi.
Iron Chef 203 – I believe this is the first time we have an amateur cook rather than a professional chef as the challenger. (You will hear the chairman say “Shirouto” several times. It means novice/amateur.) He will take on Iron Chef Japanese Michiba in an egg battle. Apparently the challenger’s wife is happy with the theme. Ota reports that as soon as she heard it announced, she did the “guts pose” in the royal box. Will her confidence lead him to victory?
Iron Chef 204 – The challenger was a gymnast, then a professional boxer, and now a highly trained French Chef. (He is still in the news, serving up dishes with dirt at his restaurant. Yep, dirt.) Don’t worry; the theme is not top soil. It’s sea bream and Iron Chef Michiba will be looking to deliver the knockout blow. (I don’t know what Fukui is really saying, but you know his dubbed version would be breaking out every boxing pun in the book for this battle.)