ICC Exclusive – Beijing Battle – Final

Today, I give you the final battle from the Beijing Special. Chen Kenichi takes on Son Rihei in the shark fin battle. (I didn’t have time to watch the whole battle again and make notes this morning. I will try to do some more early next week, if needed.) Again, a HUGE thank you to our secret Santa who provided this episode.

• Fukui asks the judges about their mood before the final battle. Saito says she is excited (“doki doki”). Tanimura says it feels like the World Series and that he is nervous (“kincho”).
• Does anybody know the music that was used for Kaga’s entrance? It certainly had a dramatic feel to it that set the mood perfectly.
• The theme ingredient cost about $20,000 (2,000,000 yen)
• Keep your eyes open for a Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial.
• Chen has a problem getting the theme ingredient. Is a mistake this early in the battle a bad omen?
• The challenger may be using the same orange juice based soup he used in the preliminary battle. (I couldn’t understand enough to know for sure).
• After finding out that the challenger is using melon, Fukui comments, “Yesterday oranges. Today melons.”
• The challenger’s daughter said that her dad was “really cool.”

This episode appears to have been recorded from the original Japanese television broadcast. As a result, the episode is in Japanese with NO subtitles. All commercials and breaks are intact. Enjoy.

There are two options for viewing this episode. The pop-up player will use the usual divx encoded file. This smaller, lower quality file can also be downloaded directly using the “Download File” option. Also in the download menu this time is an option to download a higher quality VOB file (approx. 1.7GB). (You can play the vob file in VLC Player.)

New in the database this week: Beijing Special – Final Battle

ICC Exclusive – Beijing Special – Preliminary Battle

It’s time for another Iron Chef episode you won’t find anywhere but here. It is with great pleasure that I present to you the Iron Chef Beijing Special. We have all heard about this special for years, but there are probably very few of us have ever seen it. (Again, I think we should all offer a HUGE thank you to the special Santa who provided this episode.) Until now, I only had a short video of the introduction to this episode in BKS. Now, we get the full episode to enjoy.

• Peking (Red) – Son Rihei
• Shanghai (Green) – So Tokushin
• Canton (Blue) – Shou I Ka
• Szechuan (Yellow) – Iron Chef Chen Kenichi

The two chefs with the highest scores will do battle in the final.

Some things I noticed and enjoyed while watching the preliminary battle:

• It’s kind of strange seeing the Iron Chefs in street clothes.
• Chen doesn’t seem too enthused about working in a strange kitchen, but says they will all be in that situation.
• I love the entrances from both The Chairman and the Iron Chefs.
• I think the outdoor Kitchen Stadium is kind of cool.
• Kitchen Stadium is stocked with some unique ingredients this time. I saw frogs and snakes among the other ingredients. (The frogs will make a break for it later.)
• After the announcement to the chefs to begin, Chen is the only one who moved toward the podium. He finally waves the other chefs forward. (I’ll chalk that up to a language difference.)
• Chen seems particularly talkative at the beginning of the battle.
• I’ve noticed that Sakai always has such a big smile on his face when they do these specials (See the 1997 World Cup for another example.) Maybe it is because he isn’t the one doing battle.
• All four chefs make some really creatively beautiful dishes. I wonder if Sakai took any notes.

After the battle, we get to see the Iron Chefs Chen and Sakai exploring southern China.

• I think the restaurant’s mapo doufu is a little spicy for Sakai.
• They visit a place with huge containers of spices.
• Sakai appears to like the food at the second restaurant a lot more than the first.
• Chen and Sakai take an interesting (and sweltering) bus ride.
• I think they got off the bus one stop too soon and had to walk to their real destination. (I thought I heard 10km.)
• At the end of their walk, they visit some sort of shrine and offer up a prayer.
• After it is all over, both chefs agree that is was a fun trip.
• A commenter has added the following information: If I may, I’d like to correct some texts in the summary.  My Japanes is kind of rusty, but I think the place Chen and Sakai visited at the end of the episode was his ancestors’ cemetery/grave.  There was no bus from  the village they got off and it took them about two hours to reach it. (Actually, Chen told Sakai that it was an-hour-walk.)  On the way, they stopped at a shop to get something cool to drink.  (Was that milk?)  Also, that village was the place Chen’s father had lived before his immigrating to Japan.  Chen hadn’t been there for six years. (Thank you, 5suchaya.)

This episode appears to have been recorded from the original Japanese television broadcast. As a result, the episode is in Japanese with NO subtitles. All commercials and breaks are intact. Enjoy.

There are two options for viewing this episode. The pop-up player will use the usual divx encoded file. This smaller, lower quality file can also be downloaded directly using the “Download File” option. Also in the download menu this time is an option to download a higher quality VOB file (approx. 2.5GB). (You can play the vob file in VLC Player.) This preliminary battle is in two parts. Part one is the full introduction and cooking portion of the battle. Part two includes the tasting, judgment, and Chen and Sakai’s Excellent Adventure.

New in the database this week: Beijing Special – Preliminary Battle

I think everything is updated and functioning. If not, let me know.

Where in the World is Chairman-San (Diego)?

Here are a couple of screenshots from the rare special episode I will be uploading as my Christmas gift to the Iron Chef fan community. Do you know where they are?

ICC Exclusive – Beef Tongue – Nakamura vs. Miyashiro

It’s time for another pre-Food Network episode for your viewing pleasure.

The challenger, Kiyoshi Miyashiro, is the owner/chef at a restaurant known as a favorite of Japanese author Shusaku Endo. He trained in France for five years before returning to Japan. He was unhappy with the direction of French cuisine in Japan, so he opened his own restaurant, K-M. (Click Here, Here, or Here to see pictures and information about K-M. The last two links are in Japanese.)  Surprisingly, the challenger chooses to take on Iron Chef Japanese Nakamura, who is riding a 4 battle winning streak into Kitchen Stadium. Enjoy. (Want to make your own Beef Tongue dishes? Go here for some recipes.)

What makes this episode a rare and special treat for current Iron Chef fans is that it comes from the time before Iron Chef was aired on Food Network. It was recorded from one of the local stations broadcasting the show. (In fact, it still has some local commercials intact.) It is in Japanese WITH English subtitles. I know you will enjoy being able to experience this rare episode not shown in North America in over 10 years.

There are two options for viewing this episode. The pop-up player will use the usual divx encoded file. This smaller, lower quality file can also be downloaded directly using the “Download File” option. Also in the download menu this time is an option to download a higher quality VOB file (approx. 1.3GB). (You can play the vob file in VLC Player.)

New in the video database this week: 448s – Beef Tongue – Nakamura vs. Miyashiro (subbed)

This is the last pre-Food Network subtitled episode from the first batch. I hope to have another announcement soon, though. 🙂

And while looking for a link to the challenger’s restaurant, I found two incredible blog posts that you must read: Allez Cuisiner! and My Dinner with Matsuo-san.

UPDATE 12/4: I know there is a problem with the zipped VOB file. I am working on getting a working version uploaded as soon as possible. I’m sorry everybody. It has been fixed and it should work now. Thanks for being patient.