Hi, everybody. (“Hi, Dr. Nick” Oops. Wrong show.)
It’s finally time to share the very special special episode that was sent to me at the end of last week. It is the special episode of Iron Chef that aired on New Year’s Eve 1996.
The episode is in Japanese with NO English subtitles. Here are some things I think I noticed and/or understood. As always, if someone with much better knowledge of Japanese than I have wants to correct anything I say, please do so.
- Oosechi = food served during the New Year’s holidays
- As usual, Michiba is all business. He won’t even let Ohta into the dressing room before the battle.
- Previous challengers come into Kitchen Stadium to offer gifts welcoming in the new year. It’s kind of cool to see all of the challengers coming back through.
- “If my memory serves me. . .no. If my watch serves me correctly, 1997 begins in one hour, fifty one minutes.. The top class of Japanese chefs are here for a new year countdown.”
- This will be Iron Chef Michiba’s first battle in Kitchen Stadium since he retired in January of this year (1996). There are going to be 100 people tasting the dishes.
- It really is chaotic in Kitchen Stadium as each chef has 10 assistants to help prepare the large amount of food needed.
- They will have 100 minutes to prepare their dishes.
- This has to be the most creative way the theme ingredient was chosen/revealed.
- Possible choices for theme #1 (Meat): Beef (Ushi), Chicken (Niwatori), Pork (Buta), Duck (Kamo)
- Possible choices for theme #2 (Vegetable): Carrot (Ninjin), Daikon, Sweet Potato (Satsumaimo), Green Pepper (Piman)
- Possible choices for theme #3 (Fish): Salmon (Sake), Japanese Amberjack (Buri), Lobster (Iseebi), Octopus (Tako)
- Theme ingredients chosen: Pork, Sweet Potato, Octopus (We will see many of the other ones not chosen in the chefs’ dishes because the ingredients were there in case they had been chosen as the official themes.)
- Kishi Asako is looking sharp in her kimono. And we get a rare appearance from original Iron Chef French Ishinabe.
- I hate to say it, but the first part of this feels like ICA, where the assistants just go off and do their thing with little to no input from the Iron Chef.
- The white stuff on Nakamura’s side is something with Shiratamako (Rice Flour)
- On Nakamura’s side backstage, most of his crowd seems to be his bosses from the restaurant. On Michiba’s side backstage, there are only two people: his wife and his daughter.
The file can be found in the database: 452NYE-OA
Happy 2011 everyone.
I am in the process of uploading a very special New Year’s Iron Chef episode that was a surprise gift this week. It is the final battle of 1996, Nakamura vs. Michiba. This one does not have subtitles, but I have a feeling you’ll still enjoy it. As soon as the files are uploaded, I will post links and a short description (at least the best I can with my very limited Japanese.)
Keith
Merry Christmas, everybody.
Time to open some special Iron Chef gifts that Kaga Claus left under the tree last night. We have four new subtitled battles for your viewing pleasure today. (Of course, huge special thanks go out to our generous benefactor for providing these episodes for the Iron Chef fans around the world to enjoy.)
- European Rabbit (503) – Sakai vs. Rory Kennedy – The challenger is the head chef of a London restaurant that was established in 1798. He is a master of Gibier (wild game) cuisine. Only four months after this episode originally aired in Japan, Chef Kennedy died after a fall in his restaurant.
- European Pigeon (504) – Sakai vs. Rory Kennedy – It is only the second overtime battle in the history of Kitchen Stadium. The chefs used most of the supplies and ingredients in the first battle, so they must be creative during this 30-minute overtime cook-off.
- Rice (506) – Chen vs. Kou – The challenger is Premier Chef in China. He is an expert in Fujian Cuisine. This is a battle between two outstanding Chinese chefs. To quote our generous benefactor: “This is a fantastic battle, the pick of the rice battles, and a wonderful example of what happens when haute cuisine meets modern alchemy.“
- Truffle (507) – Sakai vs. Shimada – Club Mistral is back with yet another challenger for Sakai. Shimada trained in France for 5 years before returning to Japan. He hopes to show that the new generation of French chefs in Japan is ready to take over. Can Sakai fight back the challenge?
The following episodes are available in the file database: 503, 504, 506, 507
There will be the usual two versions of each file: Divx and the higher quality VOB files. As of right now (12/25/10), only the Divx versions are available for 504, 506, 507. As soon as the VOBs are uploaded, I will update this post. The VOBs for all episodes in this post are now available for download.
I plan to have a few more battles up for New Year’s Eve, including a couple of familiar faces among the challengers. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your families. I’m off to spend some time with mine.
Keith
tuthead
25 December, 2010
‘T was the night before Christmas and in old K.S.
All the Iron Chefs were stirring, it’s what they do best.
The ovens were lit and the theme was prepared.
In hopes that the Chairman soon would be there.
A handsome man enters. The women go ga-ga.
I knew in a moment that it must be Kaga.
His jacket, eye catching. His style, quite unique.
His friends, we’ll see later to offer critique.
The stars of the show from their podium came.
The announcer Fukui called each one by name.
On, Kobe, the youngest. On, Morimoto!
Now, Sakai! Now, Chen. Stand in front of your photo.
With skills of great masters the chefs start at their task.
If there’s something we want to know, Ohta will ask.
Sakai with his circle molds. Chen with his wok.
Kobe makes pasta. Morimoto will shock.
The Chairman just smiles as he exits the scene.
Happy Christmas to all and Allez Cuisine.
(Apologies to Clement C. Moore for butchering his Christmas classic.)
It is Christmas in Kitchen Stadium, and we have several Christmas themed battles for this week.
- Chicken Battle (110) – Ishinabe vs. Borie – This is the only Ishinabe battle that ever aired on Food Network. It was the very first Iron Chef Christmas battle from back in season 1.
- Strawberry Battle (249) – Sakai vs. Waki – Dr. Hattori calls this challenger a genius.
- Oyster Battle (348) – Sakai vs. Groult – The challenger was the second MOF winner to do battle in Kitchen Stadium. The first was Jacques Borie from the Chicken Battle above.
- Turkey Battle (647) – Morimoto vs. Ogue – The challenger trained under a famous 3-star French chef. (We also have the original Japanese version of this episode. Be sure to check out the Christmas-style music during the recap of dishes and announcement of judges.)
- Chestnut Battle (541OA) – Kobe vs. Seki – While not officially a Christmas battle, I can’t help but think of The Christmas Song when I saw the theme listed. Did they roast these chestnuts on a open fire? Watch and find out in this ICC Exclusive from 1997.
I am finishing some episode conversions and uploads tonight. We get some new subtitled episodes from the greatly-under-represented-in-our-database year 1997. Check back tomorrow after you’ve finished opening presents for all the goodies.
tuthead
24 December, 2010
Hey kids,
I hope you’ve been good this year because Kaga Claus is on his way with a bag full of new subtitled episodes for you to enjoy this Christmas. Check back under the Kitchen Stadium Christmas tree later this week for your special gifts.
tuthead
18 December, 2010
On this date seventeen years ago (10/10/1993), the very first episode of Ryori no Tetsujin aired on Japanese television. The only clip of it I have ever seen is in “The Making of Iron Chef America”, believe it or not. While I would love to come to you tonight with a copy of that rarest of Iron Chef episodes, it is not to be. However, I do bring you three new subtitled episodes thanks to the continued efforts of our formerly-anonymous benefactor. (Thanks again for continuing to share your collection with Iron Chef fans around the world.)
- Caviar Battle (433) – You have seen this challenger many, many times. He is one of the challengers featured in Food Network’s opening to the show, but his episode never aired on the network. Now you get a chance to see him in action. The challenger is the head chef at the Brazilian embassy. He is Thierry Houngues, and he is the owner-chef at La Table de Thierry in Kyoto. (WARNING: There are battle spoilers in the link above.)
- Pacific Saury (439) – Iron Chef Japanese Nakamura is not off to a great start as an Iron Chef. His record so far is a very average 7 wins, 4 losses. Of course, Kandagawa is not going to let an opportunity to jab at the Chairman slip by. Kandagawa has a so-called Phantom Warrior ready to take on the embattled Iron Chef. His name is Tokuo Endo, and he is the executive director of Kandagawa Osaka. He was in charge of Kandagawa’s five restaurants.
- Mushroom (444) – Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi could handle the toughest ingredients and find ways to come out on top in any battle. The one thing he couldn’t seem to handle was a woman challenger. This battle features yet another female challenger for Chen, who at the time of this battle had yet to defeat a female. Daniella Ozik is a food researcher who encouraged people to make delicious dishes in their own homes rather than visit expensive restaurants. Can another “home cook” take down an Iron Chef? (Here is a list of her books on Amazon Japan. See her cooking in June 2009 right here.)
I have also finally added the DIVX versions of the previous two episode additions 430, 431.