Ryouri no Tetsujin – Season 1, Episodes 5-7

Time for another batch of first season Ryouri no Tetsujin episodes.

Ryouri no Tetsujin 105 – Chairman Kaga talks about Yi Yin a 16th century BC Chinese cook to whom the idea of the five tastes is generally attributed. The theme for the preliminary battles is Harumaki (Spring Roll).　Kaga’s speech about spring rolls ends with “Glass Skin” (perhaps referring to the lightness of the outer skin of properly prepared harumaki.）The final battle will take place between Shu Tomiteru (younger brother of the famed Shu Tomitoku) and Iron Chef Michiba.

Ryouri no Tetsujin 106 – For the first time, we do not have a preliminary battle. This episode is the first that really looks like an episode of what we now recognize as Ryouri no Tetsujin (complete with pre-battle video piece on the challenger). And of course, we have to have the challenger (in black and white) looking at the camera and saying “I’ll win”. It’s an all Chinese cuisine battle as the challenger takes on Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi. (Look for the classic Chen “Really?” face when he sees the theme ingredient.) This is a very entertaining battle.

Ryouri no Tetsujin 107 – It’s another Ishinabe battle for you. He takes on the Akimoto look-alike challenger in a Daikon battle.

Ryouri no Tetsujin – Season 1, Episodes 2-4

Here are the next installments from the elusive first season of Ryouri no Tetsujin.

Ryouri no Tetsujin 102 – The theme of the preliminary battle is Omurice. (From the reactions of the judges, some of these preliminary challengers didn’t do a very good job.) The main battle features Yousei Kobayakawa vs Rokusaburo Michiba. How will a traditional Japanese chef like Michiba handle a very non-Japanese ingredient? Like a master.
Even though it is his debut battle, look for the Michiba staples: the written menu and his Inochi no Dashi (aka Broth of Vigor).

Ryouri no Tetsujin 103 – The preliminary battle is a matchup of Spaghetti. Half of the challengers seem to be non-chefs this time. And the eventual winner is an Italian chef. (Kind of seems like they already knew who they wanted to be the challenger in the final battle.) This episode features the debut of Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi. The theme will be Fugu. Given the specialized skill needed to properly prepare Fugu, Kitchen Stadium provides trained Fugu experts to cut the fish apart for the chefs. (It should be noted that the Chairman Kaga character will eventually be “killed” by unproperly prepared fugu.)

Ryouri no Tetsujin 104 – The preliminary battle in this episode has a theme of Korokke (Croquette). Among the challengers is a 17 year-old student and a chef from La Rochelle. (Does that restaurant name sound familiar? It should. It’s the restaurant headed by future Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai.) The final is a French on French match-up. The theme is not a French theme, however, as the Chairman unveils Tofu. (“Shokuzai” = Ingredient) Ishinabe can only laugh while the challenger has a look of trepidation on his face.

Iron Chef 101 – Introduction to Kitchen Stadium

私の記憶が確かならば. . .

If my memory is correct. . .I was going to try to think of something clever to write here, but I feel I would be downplaying the importance of the video I’m presenting to you today by doing that.

Many of you have probably already guessed what today’s special post is going to be. You are correct if you guessed that today’s special presentation is the first episode of the first season of Ryouri no Tetsujin.

Of course, the format of the show changed dramatically from the first episodes that aired in the fall of 1993.
–The show was only 30 minutes long when it started.
–There were two “battles” each episode. There was a preliminary battle between five outside challengers, and then a final battle between the preliminary winner and the Iron Chef.
–The cooking time for the final battle was 90 minutes (we barely get to see any of it in the show.)

But you also see the foundations of what we expect from an episode of Iron Chef. The Backdraft music is there in all its glory; Announcers Kenji Fukui and Yukio Hattori are there; Familiar judges are part of the tasting panel; a newly opened Kitchen Stadium is still the centerpiece of the show. And Chairman Kaga (looking young and eager to open his Bishoku Academy) takes his bell pepper bite in the same opening sequence that has become so familiar to us.

There will be more episodes from the first year of the show coming very soon to the site. I just thought that Season 1, Episode 1 deserved to be presented on its own. Enjoy this rare piece of Iron Chef history and finally see how it all began.

Iron Chef Episode 1 – Iron Chef Ishinabe vs. Maruyama – 10/10/1993

Everyone should give a special thank you to CraigV for finding and sharing these rare first season episodes with us.

SPECIAL NOTE: This, and the other first season episodes I’ll upload soon, all came from the recent rebroadcasts on FujiTV ONE. While these episodes have been found, we’re basically at the mercy of an anonymous Japanese uploader to continue sharing them. If you have the ability to provide these videos to us directly, please contact me. We don’t know how long Fuji will continue these rebroadcasts, so we would hate to miss this wonderful opportunity to see more original episodes.