Today, we present the first half of the 1997 Iron Chef World Cup.
If memory serves me right, it was exactly two years ago that Chairman Kaga last held a World Cup cooking battle. Rokusaburo Michiba was the winner back then. The chairman decides that he wants to see new chefs do battle. He gets his list of the best chefs in the world. He knows he has to choose very carefully. He will choose only genius chefs.
Where to have such a special battle? Arashiyama, Kyoto. He builds Arashiyama Kitchen Stadium outdoors. It appears to be a windy, drizzly day. (During the first battle, an appearance by the sun even draws a round of applause.) Here, we see a very interesting opening that shows a yellow pepper floating in the river.
The guests with the commentators for the first part of the program are Kitaoji Kinya (who says the set is wonderful) and Ishiki Sae. The chairman rises into the outdoor Kitchen Stadium. He calls for the six Iron Chefs. They walk into the Kitchen Stadium one-by-one.
The Challengers.
- First up, France. He talks about the Michelin Guide and the challenger’s restaurant Arpege. Alain Passard. A three star chef. He began cooking at the age of 8. We will see him do battle again as the challenger in the final Kitchen Stadium battle vs. Sakai.
- Next, is the challenger from America. This man’s restaurant is in Central Park. He calls him the Tiger Woods of the cooking world. (Come on. Was it just because he’s black?) He is the chef at Tavern on the Green in New York. Patrick Clark. (Unfortunately, Patrick Clark passed away four months after this special aired in Japan. Click here, here, and here to learn more about him.)
- The third challenger, a Chinese chef, is this man. His hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, was the center of the ceremony that returned Hong Kong from British to Chinese control. Lau Xikan. He took over the kitchen at the Mandarin Oriental at the age of 35.
- The fourth member of the battle represents the Iron Chefs and Japanese cuisine. He is Koumei Nakamura.
This will be done tournament style. Semi-Final #1 is an all Asia Battle: Japan vs. China. The theme ingredient is the best in Japan and cost 1,500,000 yen. It is Beef.
Notes about the first battle: Hiramatsu Ayumi and Shinichiro Ota are the floor reporters. The time calls are both in Japanese and in Chinese.
The challenger’s dishes include: Water shield and Meat Dumpling Soup, Spicy Steak, Mandarin-style Beef Stir-Fried Rice.
Nakamura’s dishes include: Sesame Shabu-Shabu, Beef in red wine sauce, Smoke Steak.
We see Michiba taking a sneak peek at all of the dishes before tasting begins.
The judges for all three battles are: Kitaoji Kinya, Sae Isshiki, Chau Lam, Asako Kishi, Daniel Berman, Christian Boucharac
The American judge says that the dish makes him nostalgic for the Chinese cooking in California.(?)
It’s time to announce the winner of the first semi-final battle. The winner of the all-Asia semi-final is: Koumei Nakamura. Nakamura runs over to shake hands with the other Iron Chefs in attendance.
Semi-Final #2 Euro-USA battle
French Chef Alain Passard vs. US-born chef Patrick Clark
The theme is Lobster. We don’t get to see a lot of the cooking from the second semi-final. I thought that was kind of a disappointment, but I suppose it had to be done to get the entire three battle show into the time slot.
Passard’s dishes include: Homard and Sliced Daikon Salad, Ravioli Homard Soup, Homard in White Wine Sauce
Clark’s dishes include: Homard and Abalone fried Daikon Club Sandwich, Sauteed Maguro and Homard with 2-color sauce
Again, the American judge has a comment. This time, he says it is perhaps the number one American club sandwich in the world.
The winner of the second semi-final is Alain Passard. The scoring is pretty lopsided with Passard winning 5-1. The second battle gets a whopping 8 minutes of airtime devoted to it. I guess that makes sense. I would think that Fuji wanted to show as much of the Iron Chef’s battles as they could.
New in the Database this week: 538aOA
Coming Wednesday, the finals of the 1997 Iron Chef World Cup.