Today is Independence Day in the United States. To help you celebrate the Red, White, and Blue, I have picked some battles with an American connection or with a red, white, or blue theme. Enjoy.
- 336 – Matsutake – Michiba vs. Noda – The first American-born challenger.
- 901 – 21st Century Battle – RED Snapper/Spiny Lobster – Sakai vs. Kandagawa and an All-American rematch featuring Morimoto and Bobby Flay.
- 607 – RED Snapper – Morimoto vs. Hirayama – The debut battle of the American-based Iron Chef Japanese Morimoto.
- 324 – BLUE Crab – Michba vs. Mingxing
- 627 – BLUE Crab – Kobe vs. Sakai
- 802a – New York Battle – Part 1 – The Iron Chefs tour New York.
- 802b – New York Battle – Rock Crab Battle – Morimoto vs. Flay – The first battle to take place in the United States.
- 802OA – Original Japanese version of the New York Battle – (Read this for a list of differences between the original version and the Food Network version.)
- 709OAa – Morimoto Retrospective – Iron Chef Michiba visits Morimoto in New York.
- Morimoto RAW – Special detailing the opening of Morimoto’s restaurant in Philadelphia.
- 636 – Lobster – Sakai vs. Siegel – The first American challenger to win in Kitchen Stadium
- 503 – European Rabbit – Sakai vs. Kennedy – The challenger is a British chef who heads a restaurant that was founded less than 30 years after the Revolutionary War with the colonies (1798).
Enjoy some Iron Chef. Fire up the grill. Watch some fireworks. Have a great holiday.
Keep your eyes open for a brand new post later today when I’ll be adding 4 new subtitled episodes.
This episode has been available here for a while in it’s raw Japanese form, but now I am glad to give to you the subtitled version of this great episode. Enjoy.
Iron Chef Tag Team Battle – Watermelon – IC530sub
Today, I am adding a subtitled version of an episode that was previously only available in raw Japanese. You might know the episode best as the one where Kaga brings cows into Kitchen Stadium. It is the milk battle (529) between Sakai and Seiji Toyoshima. More subtitled episodes coming soon.
529-sub – Milk Battle – Sakai vs. Tomoshiya
Food Network never aired the debut battle of Iron Chef Italian Kobe. We were lucky enough to get a copy of the episode from Japan a couple of years ago, so many of you have had a chance to see it. Unfortunately, that version was in Japanese with no subtitles, so it might have been a little hard to follow for most of us. Now, we get a chance to see it and actually understand what they’re saying. 🙂
Here is the subtitled version of the Kobe debut battle. IC522-sub
(Special Technical Note: The VOB versions of the recent additions (this episode included) have had audio in only the left channel. You can force sound to both channels in VLC Player by selecting the Left Channel from the Audio menu. The divx version has audio in both left and right channels.)
Tonight, I add five “new” subtitled episodes for your viewing pleasure.
- Natto Battle (508OA-sub) – Yamazaki vs. Nakamura – The challenger is a hit with the women of Akasaka with his unique take on Kaiseki cuisine. He begain cooking at 18, and worked in many prestigious hotels in Tokyo. He likes to use a variety of ingredients and seasonings to go beyond the limits of Japanese cuisine.
- Return Match – Wine Battle (509OA-sub) – Jo vs. Sakai – This is the first of the “return matches.” Four challengers who were previously defeated will return for a second chance at victory. The first challenger was defeated by Michiba in episode 321 (Broccoli). (You may also recognize Jo from the 2000th dish special.) His name is Etsuo Jo. He became well known for his sauces, he earned the nickname “The Jou of Sauce.” (The castle of sauce.) He wants another chance to show that his traditional French cuisine can win in Kitchen Stadium. For the return matches, the challenger selects one of four hidden theme ingredients. Needless to say, he hit the jackpot with Wine.
- Return Match – Papaya Battle (510OA-sub) – Wakiya vs. Chen – The second challenger in the return match series is Yuji Wakiya. He is best known for his Chinois Chinese cuisine. (Chinois is French for Chinese.) His first visit to Kitchen Stadium ended with a loss to Sakai in episode 223 (Sea Urchin). (You may also recognize Wakiya from the 2000th dish special and from the Millenium Cup special where he was announced as the new Iron Chef Chinese.) He feels he did not adjust quickly enough during his first battle. He opened a restaurant on the second floor of Iron Chef Ishinabe’s Restaurant Alice. He eventually opened a restaurant in New York in 2007. If you live in Hawaii, he will take part in a benefit for Japan on April 21, 2011.
- Return Match – Wakame Seaweed Battle (511OA-sub) – Mera vs. Nakamura – The third challenger in the return match series is Takashi Mera. This challenger wields the longest knife in Japan. His knife was no match for the skills of Michiba in episode 226 (Tuna). He has an even longer knife this time. Will it be enough to stave off defeat?
- Return Match – Honey Battle (512OA-sub) – Kitami vs. Sakai – The final challenger in the return match series is Hiroyuki Kitami. He was defeated by Sakai in episode 210 (Tomato). (Unfortunately, this episode is not part of our collection.) This chef is a former boxer. He was the executive chef at Basta Paste, a restaurant that was designed after Kitchen Stadium with its open kitchen. After the loss, he moved to New York to take some time to mature as a chef.
I have several more episodes I will try to post in the next week or so.
UPDATE 4/10: I’m sorry about the audio missing on the divx files. I obviously didn’t double check everything before uploading. (I was trying to get everything up before heading out of town for a few days.) I’m working on new files now with audio. I’m still doing some tests now, but as soon as I get things figured out, I will post either new files or a new update. –Keith
UPDATE 4/13: New divx file (with sound 🙂 ) uploaded for Wine (509) I can’t extract the audio from 510-512 the same way I did from 509, so I’m doing another work around. Hope to have the others uploaded tonight.
UPDATE 4/14: New divx file uploaded for Papaya (510) UPDATE 4/21: New file uploaded for Wakame Seaweed (511) U{DATE: New file uploaded for Honey (512)
Hi, everybody. (“Hi, Dr. Nick” Oops. Wrong show.)
It’s finally time to share the very special special episode that was sent to me at the end of last week. It is the special episode of Iron Chef that aired on New Year’s Eve 1996.
The episode is in Japanese with NO English subtitles. Here are some things I think I noticed and/or understood. As always, if someone with much better knowledge of Japanese than I have wants to correct anything I say, please do so.
- Oosechi = food served during the New Year’s holidays
- As usual, Michiba is all business. He won’t even let Ohta into the dressing room before the battle.
- Previous challengers come into Kitchen Stadium to offer gifts welcoming in the new year. It’s kind of cool to see all of the challengers coming back through.
- “If my memory serves me. . .no. If my watch serves me correctly, 1997 begins in one hour, fifty one minutes.. The top class of Japanese chefs are here for a new year countdown.”
- This will be Iron Chef Michiba’s first battle in Kitchen Stadium since he retired in January of this year (1996). There are going to be 100 people tasting the dishes.
- It really is chaotic in Kitchen Stadium as each chef has 10 assistants to help prepare the large amount of food needed.
- They will have 100 minutes to prepare their dishes.
- This has to be the most creative way the theme ingredient was chosen/revealed.
- Possible choices for theme #1 (Meat): Beef (Ushi), Chicken (Niwatori), Pork (Buta), Duck (Kamo)
- Possible choices for theme #2 (Vegetable): Carrot (Ninjin), Daikon, Sweet Potato (Satsumaimo), Green Pepper (Piman)
- Possible choices for theme #3 (Fish): Salmon (Sake), Japanese Amberjack (Buri), Lobster (Iseebi), Octopus (Tako)
- Theme ingredients chosen: Pork, Sweet Potato, Octopus (We will see many of the other ones not chosen in the chefs’ dishes because the ingredients were there in case they had been chosen as the official themes.)
- Kishi Asako is looking sharp in her kimono. And we get a rare appearance from original Iron Chef French Ishinabe.
- I hate to say it, but the first part of this feels like ICA, where the assistants just go off and do their thing with little to no input from the Iron Chef.
- The white stuff on Nakamura’s side is something with Shiratamako (Rice Flour)
- On Nakamura’s side backstage, most of his crowd seems to be his bosses from the restaurant. On Michiba’s side backstage, there are only two people: his wife and his daughter.
The file can be found in the database: 452NYE-OA