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The theme ingredients this week had an advantage over the chefs in Kitchen Stadium. Unfortunately for them, the fact that they had more arms than their human adversaries meant little once the Gong of Fate sounded. The theme for the Episodes of the Week this week is armed sea creatures.
To paraphrase the classic line from Daffy Duck in Rabbit Seasoning, “He doesn’t have to cook me now. Wait ’til you get to Kitchen Stadium.” And since we’ve already seen Elmer Fudd in action in the kitchen, let’s leave it to the Iron Chefs this time. I thought Daffy would fit right in this week as our Episodes of the Week theme is bird battles.
My Mayuko Takata love continues with yet another addition to Beyond Kitchen Stadium featuring my favorite Iron Chef judge of all time. This video is an episode of Mago Mago Arashi that originally aired in Japan on 6/2/2007.
This episode features two members of the Japanese singing group Arashi trying to take vegetables and cook them in such a way that a pair of picky eater children will eat them. Their guest is Mayuko Takata. The parents of the children tell the guys that their kids don’t like carrots, peppers, or eggplant. Their challenge is to make dishes with those ingredients that the kids will eat and enjoy. Takata offers some cooking tips to the boys, but her biggest contribution is showing off her mothering skills and getting the crying little girl to take a nap. (And we get to see a side of Takata we never saw on Iron Chef when the boys keep trying to use the blender when the girls are sleeping. I wouldn’t mess with her if I were there.)
This video is in Japanese with no subtitles, but it is still a fun watch.
This video, along with many others, may be found in our Beyond Kitchen Stadium section.
This is the second edition of our Iron Chef Collection Exclusives Episodes of the Month. Of course, this is where we present to you Iron Chef episodes that did not air on Food Network. Today, we present our Episodes of the Month for August. Thank you to everyone who voted in the poll.
A recently aired episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel had Mr. Bourdain traveling to Japan. Several segments of the show featured Bourdain with Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto as his guide.
I believe the entire episode is available for purchase in the iTunes music store, but I’m not positive.
The newest ICC Exclusives post will be up before the end of the weekend.
Chen vs. Ikegawa
Originally aired 11/10/95
Iron Chef, the Official Book episode# 106
Iron Chef Collection episode# 343
Challenger Kiyotaka Ikegawa, Head Chef of Ononishiki in Osaka, was formerly a Sumo wrestler. His restaurant is named after his father, who was also a Sumo wrestler, and who had previously owned the restaurant.
“Master Chen,” he shouts politely, pointing, “please accept my challenge!” Chen does accept, and the ingredient is revealed as horsehair crab.
On the commentators’ panel are Sumo Stable Master Wakamatsu, actress Mayuko (“pint-size by comparison”) Takata, Dr. Yukio Hattori, and Kenji Fukui.
While Challenger Ikegawa has trimmed down since his Sumo days (offering encouragement to any viewers wishing to lose weight), Wakamatsu is built like a Sumo wrestler. When asked if he’ll be OK with regular-sized portions, he assures Fukui-san, “No problem.” He’s on the lookout for a special stew eaten by Sumo wrestlers, called Chanko, but he and the rest of the commentators agree with anticipation, that much more than just stew will be set before them.