This week in Iron Chef history, May 24 – May 30:
- 220 (5/27/1994) – Carrot – Chen vs. Kiyoshi Takahashi
- 321 (5/26/1995) – Broccoli – Michiba vs. Etsuo Jo
- 422 (5/24/1996) – Udon – Nakamura vs. Kenji Motai
- 520OA (5/30/1997) – Ham – Sakai vs. Germano Orsara
- 618 (5/29/1998) – Konyakku – Chen vs. Liang Shuqing
- 720aOA – (5/28/1999) – Indonesia Special (Part 1) – Michiba and Morimoto travel to Indonesia
TWICH Notes: In battle carrot, Chen takes on a chef who finished just behind him at the World Championship of Chinese cooking in 1992. Michiba takes on Etsuo Jo, a master of sauces. (You may also remember him as part of the French Team in the 2000th dish special.) The udon battle has special rules to accommodate the theme. The challenger had been recommended Dr. Hattori to take over as Iron Chef Japanese when Michiba retired. Our ICC Exclusives addition this week sees Sakai taking on an Italian chef in battle ham. The Konyakku battle is the OT for last week’s pork belly battle. Finally this week, we have another ICC exclusive. Follow Michiba and Morimoto to Indonesia for the first part of this two week special.
New in the database this week: 520OA – Ham
This week in Iron Chef History, May 17 – May 23:
- 219 (5/20/1994) – Duck – Sakai vs. Masatoshi Kimura
- 320 (5/19/1995) – Swordfish – Chen vs. Elio Orsara (This episode did not air on Food Network. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get a copy of this episode.)
- 421 (5/17/1996) – Abalone – Sakai vs. Tamotsu Takao
- 519OA (5/23/1997) – Pitan (Thousand-Year Old Egg) – Chen vs. Masao Takagi
- 617 (5/22/1998) – Pork Belly – Chen vs. Liang Shuqing
- 719 – (5/21/1999) – Suckling Pig – Chen vs. Spano Stelvio
TWICH Notes: Sakai takes on a challenger in the duck battle that is so talented, even a former Iron Chef traveled to see him. The theme ingredient in the Abalone battle cost over $5,000. (It is also the most downloaded video in our database.) Our ICC Exclusive episode this week is the Thousand-Year Old Egg battle. The pork belly battle is the first part of one of the greatest battles ever. (Come back next week for the OT.) Finally, the suckling pig battle. Watch to see which little piggy went sizzle, sizzle, sizzle all the way home. It is also memorable for the fact that Kaga boycotts the battle because of the Iron Chefs’ poor performances.
IPod versions of 421, 617, and 719 will be up Thursday night.
This week in Iron Chef history, May 10 – May 16.
- 218 (5/13/1994) – Bonito – Sakai vs. Hiromi Funatsu
- 319 (5/12/1995) – Caviar – Sakai vs. Isao Yanigadate
- 420 (5/10/1996) – Pineapple – Chen vs. Shunji Morikawa
- 518OA (5/16/1997) – Ostrich – Nakamura vs. Gillian Hirst
- 616 (5/15/1998) – Asparagus – Morimoto vs. Yasuhiko Habuchi
- 718 (5/14/1999) – Lamb – Sakai vs. Michel Husser
TWICH Notes: The bonito battle saw the first sushi chef to do battle in Kitchen Stadium. Sakai’s caviar battle had a theme ingredient that cost $1500 a can. Chen takes on the first challenger with a specialty in Thai cuisine. The ICC Exclusives battle this week features an Australian challenger. We had seen her for years during the FN intro, but it wasn’t until late last year that we had seen her battle. The asparagus battle features one of the worst dishes ever presented on Iron Chef. And finally, Sakai takes on a 2-star French chef who trained under Joel Robuchon.
This week in Iron Chef history, May 3 – May 9.
- 217 (5/6/1994) – Cabbage – Chen vs. Hiromi Yamada
- 318 (5/5/1995) – Liver – Chen vs. Lee Myong Suk
- 419 (5/3/1996) – Cod Roe – Nakamura vs. Katsuko Nanao
- 517OA (5/9/1997) – Pork – Nakamura vs. Norio Azuyama
- 615 (5/8/1998) – Mango – Kobe vs. Yousei Watanabe
- 717 (5/7/1999) – Bean Sprout – Chen vs. Takeshi Okubo
- 5/5/2008 – Fine Living Network begins broadcasting Iron Chef. The most notable difference between the FLN versions and FN versions is the music. (See my thoughts on the changes in this post from May 2008.)
TWICH Notes: Hiromi Yamada’s story is one of redemption as he is attempting a comeback after an auto accident killed two people. He also assisted in this BKS special with Morning Musume. Chen then faces yet another female challenger in the liver battle. Nakamura takes on a chef that specializes in home cooking. Our ICC addition actually showed up last week in our Salute to the Swine Flu, but here it is again. Kobe’s battle is against an authentic Mexican chef. That battle is also somewhat famous (?) for being the first Iron Chef episode shown on Fine Living Network. (And we have both the real version and the FLN version.) Finally, Chen takes on another challenger from the largest restaurant group in Japan. He is genius at Cantonese cooking.
Of course, you all know that you can’t get the H1N1 flu (aka “Swine Flu”) from eating pork. (Mmmm. . .pork. Sorry. Where was I? Oh, yeah.) If you’re tired of seeing story after story about the swine flu, take your mind off of it by watching some of the greatest Pork battles in the history of Iron Chef.
New in the database this week: 517OA – Pork