It is time for another pair of episodes that are exclusive to the Iron Chef Collection. Neither one of these episodes ever aired on Food Network.
- First is the Salmon Roe (Ikura) battle between Hiroyuki Sakai and the first challenger from Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. The challenger is considered one of the three best chefs in Hokkaido. He opened his award-winning restaurant at the age of 27. For 20 years, he has set the standard for quality cuisine in Hokkaido. (Keep an eye out for the current Prime Minister of Japan, Yukio Hatoyama, at the judges table.) This episode is in Japanese WITH English subtitles.
- From the cool waters off the island of Hokkaido, we go to the warm islands southwest of Honshu: the Ryuku Islands for our second challenger this evening. The challenger leads a kitchen at a hotel on Okinawa. He is the first challenger from Okinawa to do battle in Kitchen Stadium. I don’t remember seeing Asako Kishi sitting at the announcing table before, but perhaps she should have done it more often. They seem to be having a great time during this episode. While I acquired this episode from the same source as our recent subtitled episodes, it appears to have been recorded in Japan. This episode is in Japanese with NO English subtitles. (There is some static in the audio of this file.)
New in the database this week: Salmon Roe – 424sub and Winter Melon – 440OA. Enjoy