Easter is this weekend, so I thought I’d make it this week’s Episodes of the Week theme. The obvious choice for an Easter theme would be eggs. While egg was the theme ingredient 5 times during the run of the show (203, 310, 417, 519, 709), three of the episodes did not air on Food Network, and the other two are already in our database. Of course, the whole point of these EotW posts is to add new episodes to the database, so let’s change directions slightly. This week’s Episodes of the Week theme is EGGplant.
- Episode 225 – Iron Chef Chen vs. Koichi Tabata (The challenger is the oldest to compete in Kitchen Stadium)
- Episode 330 – Iron Chef Sakai vs. Shinichi Nagamatsu (The challenger runs an exclusive restaurant in the mountains of Nara. He grows his own vegetables and catches his own fish every morning.)
- Episode 531 – Iron Chef Chen vs. Sousei Kawaguchi (Not aired on Food Network)
- Episode 622 – Iron Chef Kobe vs. Yasuhiro Sasajima
New this week in the video database: Eggplant (225), Eggplant (330)
- And as an Easter bonus, we add a new video to BKS. This addition to Beyond Kitchen Stadium shows Iron Chef Michiba announcing the theme ingredient for a battle between Nakamura and Morimoto. (This episode did not air on Food Network.) The theme ingredient is tamago (egg). For some reason, Chairman Kaga thinks this announcement is funny. This short clip is in Japanese with no subtitles.
These episodes (225, 330, 622, BKS-tamago) may be found by searching our video database.
With apologies to Anita Ward for using her song title, we present this week’s theme: Bell Pepper. Bell Pepper was the theme ingredient on four different occasions in Kitchen Stadium.
- The first time was back in the second season. Episode 235 – Iron Chef Rokusaburo Michba vs. Artur Rutter
- It was next used two years later for Nakamura’s second battle as an Iron Chef. Episode 413 – Iron Chef Komei Nakamura vs. Lin Kumbi
- We would not see Bell Pepper as the theme ingredient again until the final season of Iron Chef, and then we saw it twice. The first time was in early 1999. Episode 703 – Iron Chef Masahiko Kobe vs.Constantino Gemmoli
- The fourth and final time we saw Bell Pepper as the theme was in the second battle of the King of Iron Chefs Tournament. Episode 735 – Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai vs. Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.
New this week in the video database: Bell Pepper (703), Bell Pepper (735)
Of course, all of these episodes may be found by searching our video database.
We all know that there were a lot of battles in Kitchen Stadium involving out of this world/expensive theme ingredients . But we tend to forget that some theme ingredients were everyday foods like fruits. For this week Fruit Theme, we have added an episode that few people have seen, the banana battle.
- Chocolate and Apple (305) – Iron Chef Sakai versus Fuyuko Kondo
- Chocolate and Pear (407) – Iron Chef Sakai versus Seiji Yanagi
- Mango (615) – Iron Chef Kobe versus Yousei Watanabe (He’s the only chef specialized in mexican cuisine to have appeared on the show.)
- Banana (706) – Iron Chef Kobe versus Hironobu Tsujiguchi**
New in the video database this week: Mango (615), Banana (706)
The following episodes may be found by searching our video database: 305, 407, 615, 706
**Special thanks to DoomTurtle for sending us his tape and to Tuthead for ripping it
WPHendrix
28 February, 2008
Kitchen Stadium was the stage to show the skills of the larger-than-life culinary masters, the Iron Chefs. Surely these giants of cooking need grand ingredients with which to work. That must have been Chairman Kaga’s thoughts when he chose these themes. This week we bring you a trio of larger than usual theme ingredients.
- Giant Eel Battle (628) – Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto vs. Hirokazu Handa
- Giant Lobster (721) – Iron Chef Masahiko Kobe vs. Makoto Osada
- Jumbo Mushroom (727) – Iron Chef Masahiko Kobe vs. Shoji Yamaoka
New this week in the video database: Giant Lobster (721), Jumbo Mushroom (727)
The following episodes may be found by searching our video database: 628, 721, 727
Look for Episodes of the Week every Tuesday as we continue to add episodes to the video database. (And if you have an idea for an Episode of the Week theme, please let us know. You can check out the full episode list to see all of the theme ingredients.)
tuthead
12 February, 2008