is a Japanese television
cooking show
A cooking show, cookery show, or cooking program (also spelled cooking programme in British English) is a television genre that presents food preparation, often in a restaurant kitchen or on a studio set, or at the host's personal home. Typ ...
produced by
Fuji Television
JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...
. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized
cook-off
A cook-off is a cooking competition where the contestants each prepare dishes for judging either by a select group of judges or by the general public. Cook-offs are very popular among competitors (such as restaurants) with very similar dishes, su ...
featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient. The series ended on September 24, 1999, although occasional specials were produced until 2002. The series aired 309 episodes. Repeats are regularly aired on the
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...
in Canada, the
Cooking Channel
Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting ...
in the United States, and on
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...
in Australia. There are 5 spinoffs, the latest being
Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend.
Fuji TV aired a new version of the show, titled , starting on October 26, 2012.
Features
The host of the show was the flamboyant
Takeshi Kaga
, real name , is a well-known stage and movie actor in Japan who is best known internationally for his portrayal of Chairman Kaga in the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef'' produced by Fuji TV.
Biography
Kaga was born on October 12, 1950, ...
, known on the show as the aristocrat . He began most episodes with his signature words, taken from
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...
, "If memory serves me right...「私の記憶が確かならば…」"(Jadis) ''si je me souviens bien''..." and started the cooking time with the phrase "''Allez Cuisine!''". The show had two regular commentators,
Kenji Fukui, who narrated the action on the floor, and
Yukio Hattori
Dr. is best known as an expert commentator on the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef''. Hattori is also the fifth president of the Hattori Nutrition College; the ''Iron Chef'' end credits mention that the program is "produced in cooperation wit ...
, a food scholar and founder of the
Hattori Nutrition College. A floor reporter,
Shinichiro Ohta
is a Japanese voice actor and television announcer noted primarily in the English-speaking world for his appearance as the kitchen reporter in ''Iron Chef'', where he was known for his rapid-fire announcing style. On the English-language version ...
, reported to Fukui on what the challengers and Iron Chefs were preparing, their strategy, and their comments, breaking Fukui's train of commentary with a polite "''Fukui-
san?''". One or two guest commentators (who also served as judges) also made frequent appearances. The commentary covered ingredients, history of contenders, and other background information to give viewers context for what was happening in the kitchen.
Story
The
kayfabe
In professional wrestling, kayfabe, as a noun, is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not staged ...
"story" behind ''Iron Chef'' is recounted at the beginning of every episode. A title card, with a quote from famed French food author
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (; 1 April 1755, Belley, Ain – 2 February 1826, Paris) was a French lawyer and politician, who, as the author of ''The Physiology of Taste'' (''Physiologie du Goût''), gained fame as an epicure and gastronome: ...
first appeared: "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you what you are." Then, it was said that Kaga "realized his dream in a form never seen before" and specially constructed a cooking arena called "Kitchen Stadium". There, visiting chefs from "around the world" would compete against his Gourmet Academy, led by his three (later four) Iron Chefs. Chairman Kaga himself was a showpiece, dressed in outlandish examples of men's formal attire. The English name ''Iron Chef'' comes from the show itself: Kaga would use this translation of the Japanese title when summoning his chefs at the beginning of the "battle".
Iron Chefs
From the beginning of the show in 1993, the three Iron Chefs were: Iron Chef Japanese
Rokusaburo Michiba
is a Japanese cuisine chef most notable as the first Japanese Iron Chef on the television series ''Iron Chef''. He was on the show from its inception in 1993 until his retirement on his 65th birthday, January 3, 1996. After his retirement as a ...
, Iron Chef Chinese
Chen Kenichi
, whose name is often romanized Chin Kenichi in Japanese sources, is a chef best known for his role as the Iron Chef Chinese on the television series ''Iron Chef'' (料理の鉄人). Nicknamed The Szechuan Sage, he wears a yellow outfit and ris ...
, and Iron Chef French
Yutaka Ishinabe
was the first French chef in the Japanese cooking show Iron Chef. He appeared from the first episode in 1993, sporting a green outfit while holding a bell pepper. Over the years, he has earned the nickname of "The Artist" for being creative with ...
. After the first season, Ishinabe decided to step down and become an 'honorary Iron Chef', thus passing the mantle of Iron Chef French to
Hiroyuki Sakai
is a Japanese chef who specializes in French cuisine. Sakai is best known as the second, final, and longest-serving Iron Chef French on the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef'', first appearing at the beginning of 1994 (after Yutaka Ishinabe ...
in 1994. Ishinabe returned for two more battles during season three. At the beginning of season four in 1996, Michiba announced his retirement and debuted
Koumei Nakamura as the new Iron Chef Japanese. Michiba returned on rare occasions for special Kitchen Stadium battles. In 1997, Chairman Kaga announced a new, additional Iron Chef to the group: Iron Chef Italian
Masahiko Kobe
was a celebrity chef specializing in Italian cuisine, most notable as the "Iron Chef Italian" on the television series ''Iron Chef'', where he appeared wearing a chef's uniform decorated like the Italian Flag (green, white and red) and holding a ...
. He was the youngest of the Iron Chefs and battled sparingly throughout the rest of the show, ascending to the stage separately from the three main Iron Chefs, and surrounded by a chamber string ensemble. In 1998, Nakamura also decided to retire and passed the title of Iron Chef Japanese to
Masaharu Morimoto
is a Japanese chef, best known as an Iron Chef on the Japanese TV cooking show ''Iron Chef'' and its spinoff ''Iron Chef America''. He is also known for his unique style of presenting food.
Career
Morimoto received practical training in sush ...
.
Iron Chef statistics
Show staff
*
Kenji Fukui, Announcer/Commentator (English voice:
Bill Bickard)
*
Yukio Hattori
Dr. is best known as an expert commentator on the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef''. Hattori is also the fifth president of the Hattori Nutrition College; the ''Iron Chef'' end credits mention that the program is "produced in cooperation wit ...
, Commentator (English voice: Scott Morris)
*
Takeshi Kaga
, real name , is a well-known stage and movie actor in Japan who is best known internationally for his portrayal of Chairman Kaga in the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef'' produced by Fuji TV.
Biography
Kaga was born on October 12, 1950, ...
(as Chairman Kaga), Host (English voice: Duncan Hamilton, Kent Frick)
*
Shinichiro Ohta
is a Japanese voice actor and television announcer noted primarily in the English-speaking world for his appearance as the kitchen reporter in ''Iron Chef'', where he was known for his rapid-fire announcing style. On the English-language version ...
, Kitchen Reporter (English voice:
Jeff Manning
Jeff Manning, also credited as Jeffrey Manning, is an American voice actor and narrator based in Japan. He is known primarily for his work on the North American English dub of ''Iron Chef'', as well as roles in several video games and voice-ove ...
)
* Kyoichi Tanaka, Director
* Masahiro Ito, Screenwriter
*
Kundō Koyama
(born 1964) is a Japanese writer. He is best known for scripting the television series ''Iron Chef'' and the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film recipient '' Departures''. Koyama has also worked under the pen name Udon Kumayakko, ...
, Screenwriter
* Setsuko Yuuki, Food Coordinator
*
Dave Spector
is an American ''gaijin tarento'', television producer, author, and actor based in Japan. Originally from Chicago, he moved to Japan in 1983 after visiting as a producer with the American television program '' Ripley's Believe It or Not!''. H ...
served as translator and commentator for "New York Special".
Original format
Originally, challengers vied with each other in preliminary "battles" to earn the right to face an Iron Chef in a 90-minute competition, and should a challenger win twice against Iron Chefs, the challenger would be given the title of "Honorary Iron Chef". However, this format proved unpopular, the preliminary round was scrapped and the main contest was reduced to the now familiar 60 minutes. The awarding of honorary Iron Chef titles to challengers was also discontinued (although this was largely a moot point as few challengers ever defeated two Iron Chefs in separate contests), but was given as an emeritus title for a retiring Iron Chef. Once honorary titles were no longer issued, challengers who beat an Iron Chef had to settle for, according to the English version's introduction, "the people's ovation and fame forever".
In each episode, chefs have one hour to cook and improvise a multicourse meal around a theme ingredient that must be present in each dish. Before the actual taping, the chefs are given a short list of possible themes, allowing the producers of the show to get any ingredients that may be needed. Judges' primary goal was said to be determining which chef was able to "best express the unique qualities of the theme ingredient". In rare cases, the format changed—
angler fish
The anglerfish are fish of the teleost order Lophiiformes (). They are bony fish named for their characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified luminescent fin ray (the esca or illicium) acts as a lure for other fish. The luminescence c ...
battles were typically 75 minutes in length, and
noodle
Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, In ...
battles had the Iron Chef stop after 50 minutes of cooking, only to resume after the challenger's dishes were tasted so that the noodles could be served right after cooking.
Theme ingredients
Featured ingredients tend toward the exotic and expensive. Many theme ingredients reflect the Japanese origin of the show—river
eel
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
,
tofu
Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...
,
udon
Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as with a mild broth called ...
—though ingredients more familiar in the West, such as
bell peppers, summer
corn, and
peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...
es, are spotlighted, as well. In one episode devoted to
asparagus
Asparagus, or garden asparagus, folk name sparrow grass, scientific name ''Asparagus officinalis'', is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus '' Asparagus''. Its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable.
It was once classified in ...
, the challenger boasted that he used over $1,000 worth of
lobster
Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
(which he then discarded) simply to flavor his asparagus in this battle against Iron Chef Morimoto.
Initially, a minimum of three dishes was to be prepared, although some challengers have finished only a single dish; four is the typical number. The record for highest number of dishes prepared for a battle was eight, first set by challenger Kenji Kaji against Iron Chef Michiba in "Battle
Umeboshi
Umeboshi ( Japanese: 梅干し, pronounced , literally 'dried ume') are pickled (brined) '' ume'' fruits common in Japan. The word ''umeboshi'' is often translated into English as 'salted Japanese plums', 'Japanese plums' or 'preserved plums ...
". Five (later six) servings of each dish are prepared, one each for the chairman and judges, and one for photography and presentation.
Assistant chefs
Each chef is also given two assistants, who are supposedly students of Kaga's "Gourmet Academy" (in reality, they are students of
Hattori Nutrition College). If the challenger does not speak Japanese, students who can speak in the challenger's native language are sometimes provided. In a notable exception, San Francisco chef
Ron Siegel struggled with his assistants, who did not speak English. One assistant, Kenichi Miyanaga, became a challenger himself, taking on Iron Chef Morimoto in a
sweetfish battle.
Commentary and judging
Throughout the cook-off, running commentary is made in a booth near the cooking area by an announcer, Kenji Fukui; a commentator, Yukio Hattori, and one or two of the guest judges, with one floor reporter (sometimes two; normally Shinichiro Ohta) providing details of the action on each side. The commentators and judges discuss the style of cooking, culinary traditions and unusual food preparation. At the end of the hour, after end-of-battle interviews with both competitors, each dish is presented to the camera, with a description of its properties (written by the show's screenwriters based on the chef's explanation) read by the announcer. Then, a panel of three (later expanded to four, and later still, five) judges, of which typically one is a professional critic, tastes the dishes and judges them based on taste, presentation, and originality. Each chef may be awarded up to 20 points by each judge, with 10 given for taste and five each for presentation and originality. The chef with the greatest score wins the competition. (In earlier four-judge episodes, the win went to the chef who won three of the four judges, or, failing that, the chef who makes the highest points total.)
Chairman Kaga tastes the dishes along with the judges. While he occasionally makes comments and seeks input from judges during tasting, he generally does not participate in scoring; he did do so, however, during the ''2000th Dish'' Battle. During this episode, a team of French cuisine chefs—captain
Hiroyuki Sakai
is a Japanese chef who specializes in French cuisine. Sakai is best known as the second, final, and longest-serving Iron Chef French on the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef'', first appearing at the beginning of 1994 (after Yutaka Ishinabe ...
, the original Iron Chef French Yutaka Ishinabe, and former challenger Etsuo Joh—battled a team of Chinese cuisine chefs composed of captain Chen Kenichi, former challenger Sozo Myamoto, and former challenger
Yuji Wakiya (who would later be Iron Chef Chinese on the 2012 revival). To break the tie, Chairman Kaga asked them to allow him this one instance of selfishness, and he cast his vote for the French team.
Ties
In the case of a deadlock (as was possible during the era of the four-judge panel), first place is awarded to the chef with the greater number of points. On the rare occasions that the scores were also tied, an immediate "overtime battle" was held to determine the winner. In overtime, the chefs are given 30 minutes to prepare dishes with a different key ingredient, having to make do with what remains of their pantry or with items that were previously prepared for the main battle. The overtime battles are aired as a separate episode. On one occasion, the overtime battle itself resulted in a tie, prompting Chairman Kaga to declare both the Iron Chef and challenger winners.
Broadcast history
The stage setting for the show, , the high-quality (and sometimes very expensive) ingredients used in the cooking battles, and Kaga's extravagant
costume
Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people.
The term also was tradition ...
s required the show to have a budget far higher than those of most other cooking shows. Some statistics: 893 portions of ''foie gras'', 54
sea bream, 827 ''Ise''
shrimp, 964
''matsutake'' mushrooms, 4,593
eggs
Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
, 1,489
truffle
A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including '' Geopora'', '' Pe ...
s, 4,651 g of
caviar
Caviar (also known as caviare; from fa, خاویار, khâvyâr, egg-bearing) is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread. Traditionally, the te ...
, and 84 pieces of shark fin were used during the show, bringing the total grocery bill to
¥843,354,407 (or about
$7,115,520). One of the most expensive battles was Battle
Swallow's Nest
The Swallow's Nest ( uk, Ластівчине гніздо, , russian: Ласточкино гнездо, ), ) in Ukrainian, ''Schwalbennest'' in German, and (''Qarılğaç yuvası'') in Crimean Tatar., group="nb" is a decorative castle locat ...
, which ran over $40,000 solely for that ingredient, not counting large quantities of shark's fin; for the battle, the producers were permitted to return any unused portions to Hattori Nutrition College.
Final episode and specials
For the show's grand finale, aired from September 10, 1999, to September 24, 1999, the Iron Chefs faced off against each other in a three-part battle, with the winner to face French chef
Alain Passard
Alain Passard (; born 4 August 1956 at La Guerche-de-Bretagne, France) is a French chef and owner of the three michelin star restaurant L'Arpège in Paris.
The son of musicians, Passard plays the saxophone.
History and mentors
Alain Passard ...
, owner of Michelin three-star restaurant L’Arpege, with the winner dubbed the "King of Iron Chefs".
In the first round, Iron Chef Chinese Chen defeated Iron Chef Italian Kobe in Battle Pork (Tokyo X). In the second round, Iron Chef French Sakai defeated Iron Chef Japanese Morimoto in Battle Bell Pepper. In the final match, Sakai defeated Chen in Battle Homard Lobster and was dubbed "King of Iron Chefs." Prior to that episode, Sakai had never won a lobster battle.
In the final bonus match in Kitchen Stadium, with all of the current and previous Iron Chefs looking on, Iron Chef French Sakai defeated Alain Passard in Battle Long-Gang Chicken. Thus, Hiroyuki Sakai was dubbed as both "King of Iron Chefs" and "The No. 1 in the World."
Two reunion specials were produced in 2000. The first was "The Millennium Special"; the second was "New York Special", staged in a makeshift Kitchen Stadium at
Webster Hall
Webster Hall is a nightclub and concert venue located at 125 East 11th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues, near Astor Place, in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. It is one of New York City's most historically significant ...
in New York City, and was the first appearance of Bobby Flay. The New York special also included Michiba and Morimoto on
Gordon Elliott Gordon Elliott may refer to:
* Gordon Elliott (journalist)
Gordon Elliott (born 30 September 1956) is a British Australian journalist and producer, radio and television personality, based now in the United States. He was the executive produc ...
's ''
Door Knock Dinners'' (with footage aired on both shows) surprising a family in Rye by preparing dinner for them with just leftovers and other items in the family's refrigerator. Another reunion episode of the show (entitled "Iron Chef: 21st Century Battle") was produced and broadcast in 2001. A final reunion episode was produced and broadcast in 2002, entitled "The Japan Cup".
Sakai, Chen, Kobe and Michiba, along with celebrity chefs including Chen's son Chen Kentaro and Singaporean patissier Janice Wong, also participated in an Iron Chef All Stars charity dinner at the
Sydney Opera House in August 2017 that raised $26,500 (AUD) for Opportunity International Australia and was eventually Kobe's last Iron Chef event before his death.
United States reception
Starting around 1997, ''Iron Chef'' was shown, on
KTSF
KTSF (channel 26) is a multicultural independent television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by the Lincoln Broadcasting Company, and maintains studios on Va ...
in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
KSCI
KSCI (channel 18) is a television station licensed to Long Beach, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area. Owned by WRNN-TV Associates, the station airs programming from ShopHQ. KSCI's studios are located on South Bundy Drive ...
in
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
, as well as stations in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
and the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
area, in its original Japanese version with English subtitles, and quickly became a cult hit.
In summer of 1998, the show stopped using subtitles;
Fuji TV
JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...
released a statement saying that the show was intended as a "service to the Japanese community abroad" and due to Japanese copyright laws were to be aired without subtitles, which had previously been provided "inadvertently."
While always a success in Japan, ''Iron Chef'' became a surprise hit in the United States when it was picked up by the
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...
in 1999 and
dubbed into English. Part of the U.S. appeal was due to the dubbing, which gave the show a
campy
Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting ae ...
charm that evoked English-dubbed
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
kung fu movies of the 1970s. Audiences also found amusing some of the over-the-top culinary concoctions regularly featured on the show, eventually leading to a spoof on ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
''.
International syndication
The show was presented in the United States and Canada on the Food Network, dubbed and/or
subtitled into English. It is also actively broadcast on
SBS TV
SBS may refer to:
Broadcasting
* SBS Broadcasting Group, Belgium, formerly many countries
* Talpa TV, formerly SBS Broadcasting B.V., Netherlands
** SBS6, Dutch television channel
** SBS9, Dutch television channel
* Special Broadcasting Service ...
in Australia. In the case of SBS, this is unusual as the network has a policy favouring in-house subtitling. It may be felt that the tone given to the show by its American dub is essential to its charms, heightened perhaps by the fact that in most episodes, the flamboyant Chairman is subtitled instead of dubbed. However, episodes aired since February 2009 have seen the Chairman's voice dubbed rather than subtitled as was the case in previous airings, except when he sends the chefs into battle.
The show was broadcast on the
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
channel
SubTV, and the
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
channel TV400 (
TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to:
*TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station
*TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network
**TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station
*South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...
). ''Iron Chef'' was also broadcast on
Challenge in the
UK in 2003 and 2004, as part of its "Japanese Christmas Cracker" and "Japanorama" strands.
The show had again aired in the U.S. on the
Fine Living Network from May 5, 2008, until the channel went off the air on May 30, 2010; however, the music from earlier broadcasts, taken from the film ''
Backdraft
A backdraft ( North American English) or backdraught (British English) is the abrupt burning of superheated gasses in a fire, caused when oxygen rapidly enters a hot, oxygen-depleted environment; for example, when a window or door to an enclosed ...
'', had been replaced due to music-licensing issues with
NBC Universal
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...
. The
Cooking Channel
Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting ...
picked up the series on June 1, 2010, when it replaced Fine Living. The stations that have carried the series, Fine Living, Cooking Channel, and Food Network, are all owned by
Scripps Networks Interactive.
FilmRise
FilmRise is a New York City–based film and television studio and streaming network, which has become one of the largest independent providers of content to ad-supported streaming (AVOD) platforms, in addition to providing the largest free direc ...
acquired the exclusive rights to the original Iron Chef episodes in October 2021. The following month, episodes began streaming for free on
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
's
Pluto TV
Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported video streaming service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, in the United Sta ...
service.
U.S. streaming
Since the acquisition by FilmRise, Iron Chef has begun to appear on U.S. Streaming services. As of June 2022, this includes FuboTV, Peacock and Amazon Prime (via Freevee). These episodes are not presented in strict broadcast order. These episodes are dubbed and have different music than the original broadcasts. It is unclear if these are all of the dubbed episodes that were made.
For Amazon Freevee at least, the correct mapping of seasons/episodes to chronological broadcast order are (original episode information from
List of Iron Chef episodes:
Also Season 4 Episodes 1 - 2 are retrospective episodes on the history of Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba (Season 4 Episode 1) and Iron Chefs Chinese Chen Kenichi and French Hiroyuki Sakai (Season 4 Episode 2) that were apparently made for US audiences and not part of the original Japanese broadcast.
Notable challengers
Certain challengers have made repeat appearances, or have been particularly memorable (including if they were the lone chefs specializing in their particular cuisines in the show's history).
(Japanese names are not in the traditional Japanese style
.e. family name firstbut have been written in standard European style
.e. family name last)
* Jacques Borie: An
MOF winner. He is the only challenger who beat iron chef Yutaka Ishinabe.
* ''
La Tour d'Argent
La Tour d'Argent (English: The Silver Tower) is a historic restaurant in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is located at 15 Quai de la Tournelle. It has a rating of one star from the ''Guide Michelin''.
History
The restaurant claims ...
'' (Two wins and one draw in four battles) – A historic French restaurant in Paris (dating itself back to 1582) that has a Tokyo branch at the Hotel New Otani open since 1984.
** Tadaaki Shimazu: a chef who worked at the Tokyo branch, he bested Sakai with homard lobster as the theme.
** Bernard Leprince (Two win in two battles) : a chef at the main Paris branch who faced Nakamura twice, with the chefs winning one each. Leprince won their initial battle during the French Special with salmon as the theme and also won the rematch in Tokyo with duck as the theme.
** Dominique Corby: a chef at the Tokyo branch, he was the 300th challenger and fought Chen to a draw first with foie gras as the regulation theme and then with asparagus as the overtime theme. He is the only competitor to have tied an Iron Chef twice — once initially and again in the overtime battle. He and Chen were subsequently declared joint winners.
* ''
Arpège
Arpège () is a 1927 perfume by Lanvin. It is considered to be one of the world's classic scents.
History
The fragrance has been referred to as the "fragrance of 1000 flowers" and its official name is a derivation of the musical term ''arpeggio' ...
'' (Two wins and one draw in four battles) – a French restaurant in Paris that earned its first
Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...
star in its first year after its founding in 1986, its second soon thereafter and a third in 1996, which it has maintained since. It was also ranked 8th in
The World's 50 Best Restaurants
The World's Best 50 Restaurants is a list produced by UK media company William Reed, which originally appeared in the British magazine ''Restaurant'' in 2002. The list and awards however are no longer directly related to ''Restaurant'' magazine ...
in 2018.
**
Alain Passard
Alain Passard (; born 4 August 1956 at La Guerche-de-Bretagne, France) is a French chef and owner of the three michelin star restaurant L'Arpège in Paris.
The son of musicians, Passard plays the saxophone.
History and mentors
Alain Passard ...
(One win and one draw in three battles): Arpège's owner and head chef. He represented France in the 1997 Iron Chef World Cup in Kyoto and beat American Patrick Clark with homard lobster as the theme before tying Nakamura in the final with foie gras as the theme. Short after his appearance, L'Arpege had received its third Michelin star. In the series finale, Passard was invited to Kitchen Stadium to be the final challenger during the final King of Iron Chefs series, where Sakai bested him with Long Gang chicken as the theme.
** Tetsuya Shimada: A Japanese French chef who worked at Arpège from 1987 until his return to Japan in 1992, his skills were recognized by Passard, who made him a seafood specialist while at Arpège. Also a member of Club Mistral (see below), Sakai also beat him with black truffles as the theme.
* Cheng Kazuhiko: A Chinese chef and the first challenger to win in Kitchen Stadium after he bested Chen in the sixth episode with
octopus
An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...
as the theme
* Tadamichi Ōta: defeated Iron Chef Sakai in an octopus battle, in which Sakai was particularly squeamish about handling the live creatures. Later became the leader of the "Ōta Faction" (大田軍団) of traditional Japanese chefs. The Ōta Faction regularly challenged Iron Chef Morimoto and his neo-Japanese style, winning one out of five battles. Ōta Faction was the name used in the translated version shown on Food Network. In the original Japanese version (shown in the U.S. and transcribed by the Iron Chef Reporter in southern California) the group is called ''Ōta’s Party of Heaven and Earth'' (OPHE; 大田天地の会). Every time he appeared, Fukui would point out that he was not related to Shinichiro Ohta, the show's floor reporter.
* Kyoko Kagata (One win in two battles): A French chef, the first female chef to appear on the show and the youngest chef to be victorious after beating Chen with scallops as the theme. Four years later, after experiencing a midlife crisis, she challenged Chen again. This time, with veal as the theme, Chen won by 19-17 on Kishi's scorecard and 20-19 on the others.
: An interesting side note is that the second female challenger, cooking show host Katsuyo Kobayashi, also faced Chen. Kobayashi indirectly picked Chen because she allowed Kaga to pick for her. Chen lost both battles, and purportedly caught some flak from chef-friends of his. Chen fought another two female challengers in separate battles and won.
* Cho Chiyo: An okonomiyaki turned Cantonese chef from Kobe who helped feed those suffering hardship after the city was devastated by the
Great Hanshin Earthquake
The , or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST (January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region known as Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and ha ...
. Kaga invited her to battle in recognition of her bravery and so that she could cook to her heart's content, and she challenged Chen, who prevailed with tofu as the theme.
*
Toshiro Kandagawa (three wins out of six battles): Regular challenger who aligned himself with the Ōta Faction, a group of hardline traditionalists in Japanese cuisine, and often led his army of fellow chefs and protegés into Kitchen Stadium during challenges. Kandagawa has taken part in several battles wherein he supported apprentices to battle an Iron Chef (only one out of the ten won). Kandagawa also participated in several "battle special" episodes, including the 21st Century Battle. Rokusaburo Michiba was his main rival until Michiba's retirement as Iron Chef Japanese; he has recorded victories over Chen, Nakamura and Sakai.
*
Pierre Gagnaire
Pierre Gagnaire (born 9 April 1950 in Apinac, Loire) is a French chef, and the head chef and owner of the eponymous Pierre Gagnaire restaurant at 6 rue Balzac in Paris (in the 8th arrondissement). Gagnaire is an iconoclastic chef at the forefron ...
: The owner and head chef of the eponymous Michelin 3-star Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, Gagnaire represented France in the 1995 Iron Chef World Cup at Ariake Coliseum but lost to eventual runner-up Gianfranco Vissani with tuna as the theme ingredient. He was later under financial pressure as the French economic downturn threatened to close the restaurant, and Kaga was moved to organize the France Battle Special to rekindle Gagnaire's spirit. He then proceeded to defeat Sakai with lobster as the theme. Gagnaire has since opened another restaurant bearing his name in Tokyo as part of his ventures, operating since 2005.
* Rory Kennedy: The head chef of
Rules
Rule or ruling may refer to:
Education
* Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia
Human activity
* The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power
* Business rule, a rule pert ...
in Covent Garden, London and the lone British challenger on the show. He and Sakai battled to a draw with rabbit as the theme, with Sakai prevailing in overtime with pigeon as the theme.
*
Bobby Flay
Robert William Flay (born December 10, 1964), is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality. Flay is the owner and executive chef of several restaurants and franchises, including Bobby's Burger Palace, Bobby's ...
: Flay entered into a bit of a rivalry with Iron Chef Japanese Morimoto during the show's special ''New York Battle''. Flay complained that his side of the kitchen was poorly laid out (it was noted in an Iron Chef America "Behind the Scenes" episode that the kitchen was hastily set up in the provided forum). At one point Flay received an
electric shock
Electrical injury is a physiological reaction caused by electric current passing through the body. The injury depends on the density of the current, tissue resistance and duration of contact. Very small currents may be imperceptible or produce ...
, transmitted by a wet floor and faulty wiring, when he grabbed a metal pan on the range. When Flay stood on his cutting board at the end of the battle, Morimoto declared that Flay was "not a chef" for disregarding the cleanliness of one's cutting board. Morimoto won, but Flay was offered a rematch. He accepted, and got his revenge, in the 21st Century Battle in Japan, where, at battle's end, he tossed the cutting board off the counter before climbing on it, so as not to offend Morimoto again. Flay then became an Iron Chef alongside Morimoto on
Iron Chef America. This rivalry was revisited for a third time with Morimoto defeating Flay during the Holiday Ice Battle (''Iron Chef America'', November 2009)
*
Ron Siegel: A French/California cuisine chef who was head chef of Charles Nob Hill in San Francisco when he bested Sakai with lobster as the theme to become the first American challenger to win in Kitchen Stadium. Mayor
Willie Brown had personally recommended Siegel to be on the show.
* Michael Noble: The lone Canadian challenger and an award winner in the
Bocuse d'Or
The Bocuse d'Or (the ''Concours mondial de la cuisine'', World Cooking Contest) is a biennial world chef championship. Named for the chef Paul Bocuse, the event takes place during two days near the end of January in Lyon, France, at the SIRHA Inter ...
, who was head chef at the Metropolitan Hotel in Vancouver when he challenged Morimoto in Battle Potato in 1999 with Morimoto winning 3-1.
* Wayne Nish: A Japanese-American chef (his grandfather is from Yamaguchi Prefecture), New York native and the head chef at March, a highly-rated restaurant on Manhattan's
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...
. Sakai bested him with apples as the theme, with the battle also being notable because it was the only one that regular color commentator Yukio Hattori judged.
* : A group of Italian chefs working in Japan who took their name from
the top flight of Italian football and frequently challenged Iron Chef Italian Kobe: Mario Frittoli, Constantino Gemmoli, and Franco Canzoniere. No group member ever defeated Kobe, although one member did defeat Morimoto.
** Marco Paolo Molinari: A member of Serie A and a world pasta champion who prevailed over Morimoto with porcini mushrooms as the theme, making him ultimately the only Italian challenger to beat an Iron Chef. Utilized a block of marble that was first heated using alcohol spray and a torch and then cooled with dry ice while creating and kneading his dough, which bewildered Morimoto.
* Joël Bruant (One win in two battles): A Tokyo-based French chef considered a French culinary ambassador to Japan, he was vice chairman of the Acaedemie Culinaire de France and a top apprentice to
Paul Bocuse
Paul Bocuse (; 11 February 1926 – 20 January 2018) was a French chef based in Lyon who was known for the high quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine.
A student of Eugénie Brazier, he was one of the most prominent ...
. He and Marashi Furutaka beat Michiba and Chen in a doubles match with sea bass as the theme, but Sakai beat him with salmon as the theme.
* : A group of young specialists in French cuisine. They mainly targeted Iron Chef French Sakai as a member of Club des Trentes – one of their competing groups composed of more established French chefs that included Sakai, Ishinabe and challenger Etsuo Jō – in a similar fashion, although they took on Iron Chef Chinese Chen and Iron Chef French Ishinabe once each as well. Only one of them managed a win (Kazutaka Okabe versus Sakai, in a lamb battle) despite several attempts.
*
Tatsuo Umemiya
was a Japanese actor, ''tarento'', and businessman. He was represented by the agency Pickles. His daughter is model and ''tarento'' Anna Umemiya.
The son of a doctor, Umemiya gave up a medical career to debut as a Toei New Face at the Toei Stu ...
: An actor, ''
tarento
Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in America were described as " ...
'' (including on restaurant variety shows) and businessman. He lost to Michiba with horse mackerel as the theme but was invited back as a judge for some subsequent battles including the King of Iron Chefs series finale.
* Heichinrou (One win out of three battles): The oldest restaurant in Yokohama Chinatown sent three challengers to challenge Chen in 1998 and 1999 after deeming him worthy of their challenge. Chen beat cooking coach Hisao Yaginuma with bok choy as the theme and Mitsuo Suganuma (the first Japanese chef to head a Heichinrou branch) with shark fin as the theme before Xie Huaxian, the restaurant's grand chef, won with spiny lobster as the theme.
* Dr.
Yukio Hattori
Dr. is best known as an expert commentator on the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef''. Hattori is also the fifth president of the Hattori Nutrition College; the ''Iron Chef'' end credits mention that the program is "produced in cooperation wit ...
: A gentlemen's agreement went on between the Chairman of Gourmet Academy (Kaga) and the President of Culinary Academy (Hattori) where the Doctor agreed to battle an Iron Chef. If he won, he would be given a spot alongside the Iron Chefs and if he lost he would keep working for Kaga. As he remained a commentator until the end of the series, one can easily deduce the outcomes of his two battles. Joël Robuchon was invited as a guest judge for the event, and Honorary Iron Chef Ishinabe served in a commentary role in Hattori's place for the battle. Hattori also battled Nakamura in his final battle with tuna as the theme owing to the longstanding Hattori-Nadaban rivalry, with Nakamura prevailing with tuna as the theme.
*Takashi Saitō (not to be confused with Takashi Saito (baseball), the baseball player): The top apprentice of Chen's father Chen Kenmin who also coached Kenichi after Kenmin passed away and then challenged him with prawns at the theme. Both chefs recreated one of Kenmin's signatures, Chili shrimp, prawns in chili sauce – Saito recreated Kenmin's original recipe, while Kenichi recreated his father's modern version of the dish (with ketchup, which he then served Canapé Style) and went on to win. In the ''2000th Dish Special'', Kaga said that Chen's prawns were his favorite dish to that point, and Chen himself also said it was the battle he remembered most including because it was the one battle that his mother Yoko watched in person.
*Isao Makio: A French chef who was a classmate of Sakai's at Izumi Municipal Junior High School in Kagoshima Prefecture, the two sat next to each other but barely talked, though the two were also on the same train to seek jobs and got off at different stations. After Sakai returned to Kagoshima to visit his parents' grave and unexpectedly reunited with his class and teacher, the class relayed his wish to meet Sakai and challenge him, which would be the first time they had met in 40 years. Sakai prevailed with Kagoshima black pig as the theme and the class in attendance.
*Lin Kunbi (no wins in two battles): A celebrity Fuchien Chinese chef who battled Michiba to a draw with potatoes as the theme, leading to the very first overtime in show history where Michiba prevailed with sweet potatoes as the theme. He later also faced Nakamura, who won with bell peppers as the theme.
*Kenichi Miyanaga: A graduate of
Hattori Nutrition College who was also an assistant for several Kitchen Stadium Battles and eventually hired by Michiba after Michiba retired as an active Iron Chef and after Miyanaga graduated. Michiba chose him to face Morimoto in a battle to also push Morimoto, and Morimoto won with sweetfish as the theme.
*Yūji Wakiya (one win in three battles): A master of "neo-Chinese" cuisine, Wakiya lost to Iron Chef Sakai in Battle Sea Urchin but defeated Iron Chef Chen with papayas. He later became part of Chen's All-Chinese team alongside Sozo Miyamoto for the 2000th Dish Special. He was also named the second Iron Chef Chinese in the Millennium Cup and was supposed to take over Chen's place, but he never actually battled under the new title until the first episode of the 2012 revival.
*Etsuo Jō (two wins in three battles): A French chef famous for his sauces. Michiba defeated him with broccoli as the theme, but he then bested Sakai with wine as the theme. He was also chosen to be the third member of Sakai's All-French team for the 2000th Dish Special alongside Ishinabe.
*Sozo Miyamoto (no wins in two battles): A Shanghai cuisine chef and a rival of Chen's who, like him, won a silver award representing Japan in the World Chinese Cooking Championship in 1992. Chen won with carp as the theme, but Miyamoto was also invited to join him on the All-Chinese team for the 2000th Dish Special alongside Wakiya.
*Li Jinlun: A Cantonese chef working in Tokyo after being been the head chef at Fook Lam Moon, a famous Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong. Chen bested him with swallow's nest ($24,000 worth) as the theme.
*Kazunari Takeda: the first challenger defeat Iron Chef Masahiko Kobe in 30 minutes overtime battle with the theme ingredient Pink Prawn. He first tied with Masahiko Kobe during the battle of Cod Soft Roe and finally he made way to the 30 minutes overtime battle and won.
*Liang Shuqing: Liang Shueng's younger brother became the second challenger to defeat Iron Chef Chen Kenichi in 30 minutes overtime battle with the theme ingredient Konnyaku. He first tied with Chen Kenichi during the battle of Pork belly and finally he made way to the 30 minutes overtime battle and won.
*Masahiko Hagiwara (One win in two battles): An Italian chef and pasta specialist. Chen beat him with scampi as the theme, but he bested Kobe with short pasta as the theme in Kobe's debut, making him the only challenger to win against a debuting Iron Chef.
*Kentaro: Katsuyo Kobayashi's son who wants to defeat Iron Chef Chen Kenichi like his mother did before. He first appeared in his mother's cook show at the age of 5 and at age 25 he further his skills in art, music and cooking. During the battle with Iron Chef Chen Kenichi he refused to use the same recipes like his mother. Chen beat Kentaro in the new potatoes battle.
*Shinya Tasaki: The winner of the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale's Meilleur Sommelier du Monde (World's Best Sommelier) in Tokyo in 1995, the first (and as of 2020, still only) Asian national to win the competition. Also president of the Association . Tasaki is also the only non-professional chef to have won in Kitchen Stadium after defeating Kobe with fatty tuna as the theme. Though it was not a stipulation of the battle, by virtue of his being a sommelier, both he and Kobe chose wines to pair with their dishes. Also invited to perform sommelier duties during the series finale.
*Sotetsu Fujii: The high priest of the Fushikian Temple in Kamakura and a Shojin vegetarian chef, who Sakai bested with yams as the theme.
*Hiroshi Furusho: A French chef (including a specialty in Cajun cuisine) and a favorite of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, including manager Katsuya Nomura, a recurring judge who recommended him for the show. Nomura and a number of players attended his appearance, where Michiba prevailed with turkey as the theme.
*Jun'ichi Itō: The first challenger not classified as a chef specializing in any specific cuisine, he started French cooking at age 18 and left for France at age 28. He left for Italy three years later and joined Enoteca Pinchiorri, where Kobe had also trained. When he was 35, he opened his restaurant Herle Quin in Tokyo. Food critic Asako Kishi, the show's most frequent judge by dishes tasted, recommended him as a challenger before Chen won with yogurt as the theme.
*Kensuke Sakai: An Italian chef, but most notable because his restaurant "Nigiro" was (at time of taping in 1998) really a food stand that he brings in by hand to a monastery's yard each night – he had been cited 30 times by Tokyo police before coming to the arrangement with the monastery. At his introduction, Sakai brought the food cart into Kitchen Stadium. Kobe bested him with pumpkin as the theme.
*Chihiro Otsuki: One of just two Spanish cuisine challengers in the show's history, who had won awards for her cooking in Spain. Chen won by just a single point with tomatoes as the theme.
*Yosei Watanabe: The lone Mexican cuisine chef to be a challenger on the show and the chef who opened the first authentic Mexican restaurant in Tokyo, who Kobe bested with mangoes as the theme.
*Senji Osada: A sous vide specialist, who Sakai bested with scallops as a theme. A vacuum machine was stalled on either side of Kitchen Stadium for the battle, and Osada used it for all of his dishes while Sakai also used it for two of his.
*Lee Myong-suk: A Royal Korean cuisine chef and the lone Korean challenger on the show, she went on to become an executive chef at the Culinary Institute of California. Chen was victorious in their battle with liver as the theme.
*Hironobu Tsujiguchi: A patissier who became the youngest champion of the World Cup of Desserts, he was the first and only challenger to win a dessert battle out of seven after he prevailed over Kobe with chocolate and bananas as the themes.
*Tetsutoshi Shimazu: An Italian chef and the first challenger specializing in pizza. Chen bested him with squid as the theme but worried during the battle as Shimazu was making his pizza that he himself might not have a dish that would beat it.
*Gillian Hirst: A chef from Brisbane who was the lone Australian challenger in the show's history. Nakamura bested her with ostrich as the theme by a single point.
*Takashi Mera (One win in two battles): A chef who used the longest knife in the country, almost twice the 8-inch average length used by other Japanese chefs. He lost to Michiba with tuna as the theme but was invited back for a rematch and bested Nakamura with wakame seaweed as the theme.
*Kiyotaka Ikegawa: A sumo ''rikishi'' known as Fuyoho who turned chef after an injury cut his sumo career short. Chen bested him with horsehair crab as the theme.
* Other female challengers include Fuyuko Kondō, Kandagawa protégée Yoshie Urabe, Yoshiko Takemasa, Katsuko Nanao, Kumiko Kobayashi, Miyoko Sakai and Chinese Cui Yufen Among the women listed above, only Cui won in her battle (coincidentally against Chen).
Notable judges
The result of a battle may be influenced by the lineup of judges, which changes from show to show. A list of some of the more notable judges, some of which were previous Iron Chefs or challengers, includes:
: ''These names are not in the traditional East Asian style
.e. family name firstbut have been written in standard western style [i.e. family name last], as they appeared on the English dub of the show.''
* Akebono Taro, Akebono, Yokozuna (sumo), Yokozuna
* Asako Kishi, a.k.a. the "East German Judge", a food critic and nutritionist. She tasted the most dishes after Kaga, according to the 2000th Plate special episode.
* Chua Lam, Hong Kong gourmet and VP of Orange Sky Golden Harvest, Golden Harvest
* Jackie Chan, actor and martial artist
* Joël Robuchon, a French chef who was called "Chef of the Century" by the guide ''Gault Millau''; he also trained the 200th challenger, Maurice Guillouët
* Julie Dreyfus, French actress, she refused to taste one dish prepared by
Toshiro Kandagawa because it contained whale meat.
* Katsuya Nomura, Nippon Professional Baseball catcher and manager
* Kazuhiro Sasaki, Yokohama BayStars (and later Seattle Mariners) closer
* Kazuko Hosoki, popular fortune teller and holder of the world record for most best-selling books
* Kazushige Nagashima, a.k.a. "Junior," former pro baseball player and sports commentator
*
Kenji Fukui, the show's regular announcer and play-by-play commentator, who was also a judge for the 2000th Dish Special
* KORN (born as Nobuaki Kondo), a Japanese rap artist
* Masaaki Hirano, Rosanjin scholar
* Mayuko Takata, actress
* Mitsuko Ishii, newscaster
* Nagisa Oshima, film director
* Pierre Troisgros, a legendary French chef who judged the France Battle special; he also trained one challenger, Ryozo Azao
*
Rokusaburo Michiba
is a Japanese cuisine chef most notable as the first Japanese Iron Chef on the television series ''Iron Chef''. He was on the show from its inception in 1993 until his retirement on his 65th birthday, January 3, 1996. After his retirement as a ...
, Iron Chef Japanese I and Iron Chef Emeritus, who returned as a judge during King of Iron Chefs
* Ryuichi Sakamoto, musician, composer, record producer, producer and actor
* Ryutaro Hashimoto, former Prime Minister of Japan, judge for the final battle
* Shigesato Itoi, famous director, writer, producer and video game designer, creator of the ''Mother (video game series), Mother'' series
* Shinichiro Kurimoto, member of the Japanese House of Representatives
* Takehiko Bessho, Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher, manager and commentator
* Tamio Kageyama, novelist
*
Tatsuo Umemiya
was a Japanese actor, ''tarento'', and businessman. He was represented by the agency Pickles. His daughter is model and ''tarento'' Anna Umemiya.
The son of a doctor, Umemiya gave up a medical career to debut as a Toei New Face at the Toei Stu ...
, actor, ''tarento'' and challenger
* Tenmei Kanoh, photographer
* Tim and Nina Zagat, the founders of the Zagat Survey, who also helped organize and judge the New York Battle
* Toshiki Kaifu, former Prime Minister of Japan
* Ukyo Katayama, former Formula One driver
* Yasushi Akimoto, lyricist and music producer
* Yoko Akino, actress and cookbook author, who also featured in a TV Tokyo special featuring Sakai, Chen and Michiba visiting and cooking in Shanghai, Seoul and Ho Chi Minh City
* Yoshirō Mori, Lower House member
* Yoshiko Ishii, chanson singer
* Yukio Hatoyama, Leader of the Opposition
* Dr.
Yukio Hattori
Dr. is best known as an expert commentator on the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef''. Hattori is also the fifth president of the Hattori Nutrition College; the ''Iron Chef'' end credits mention that the program is "produced in cooperation wit ...
,
Hattori Nutrition College president, challenger and the show's regular color commentator
*
Yutaka Ishinabe
was the first French chef in the Japanese cooking show Iron Chef. He appeared from the first episode in 1993, sporting a green outfit while holding a bell pepper. Over the years, he has earned the nickname of "The Artist" for being creative with ...
, Iron Chef French I, who returned as a judge during King of Iron Chefs
Notable dishes
During the 2,000th Dish Battle, Chairman Kaga selected the five best and three worst dishes from the history of the show.
;Five best dishes
* Chili shrimp, Prawns in Chili Sauce, Canapé Style (Iron Chef Chen Kenichi)
* Foie Gras and Flatfish with Citrus Sauce (Iron Chef Rokusaburo Michiba)
* Foie Gras and Scallops in Cabbage (Challenger Hiromi Yamada)
* Sea Eel Royale with Truffle Sauce (Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai)
* Scallop Salad with Vinaigrette Sauce (Challenger Maurice Guillouet)
;Three worst dishes
* Smoked Asparagus Stick Salad (Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto), the asparagus was so strongly smoked that all judges commented negatively.
* Potato Dumpling Soup (Iron Chef Komei Nakamura), the smell of foie gras killed the aroma of the potatoes and nobody was able to finish it. Both chefs in that match reached a no-decision, therefore the match was restarted.
* Soft Roe in Sake with Truffles (Challenger and commentator Yukio Hattori), gave Joël Robuchon the wrong impression of Japanese sake.
2012 Revival
In 2012, Fuji Television announced that it was recording new episodes of ''Iron Chef''.
The first episode debuted on October 26, 2012 as a two-hour special, thereafter reverting to a one-hour show airing on Friday evenings at 19:57 Japan time. Unlike the original ''Ryōri no Tetsujin'', the new show was titled ''Iron Chef'' (アイアンシェフ) in katakana characters. The Chairman's role was assumed by Japanese actor Hiroshi Tamaki. Fuji TV commentator Mizuki Sano hosted the program, and the reporters were Yurika Mita and Daisuke Miyagawa. Yukio Hattori, Dr. Yukio Hattori returned from the original ''Iron Chef'' series to provide commentary. Three new Iron Chefs were chosen; Jun Kurogi as Iron Chef Japanese, Yūji Wakiya as Iron Chef Chinese, and Yōsuke Suga as Iron Chef French.
The first battle in the new show was a two-hour special with two battles. The first challenger was former Kitchen Stadium challenger (referred as "nominee") Kenichi Miyanaga, recommended by Iron Chef
Rokusaburo Michiba
is a Japanese cuisine chef most notable as the first Japanese Iron Chef on the television series ''Iron Chef''. He was on the show from its inception in 1993 until his retirement on his 65th birthday, January 3, 1996. After his retirement as a ...
. Miyanaga is Michiba's top apprentice and battled Iron Chef Suga. The challenger ("nominee") in the second battle was Kentaro Chen, recommended by his father Iron Chef
Chen Kenichi
, whose name is often romanized Chin Kenichi in Japanese sources, is a chef best known for his role as the Iron Chef Chinese on the television series ''Iron Chef'' (料理の鉄人). Nicknamed The Szechuan Sage, he wears a yellow outfit and ris ...
, who battled Iron Chef Wakiya.
It was announced, after airing thirteen episodes, that the new run of Iron Chef would be discontinued after the last episode on March 22, 2013. Mr. Tatematsu, General Manager of Editing, explained, "Iron Chef is a high quality show and we can say it is FujiTV's treasure. Currently we are struggling for the ratings. We think we have a time slot problem, too, so we would like to consider about a way to make it as special program and forward it into the next stage." On July 3, 2013 the Iron Chefs reunited for an American Chef Special with beef as the secret ingredient. All three Iron Chefs were paired with an American challenger, and then for a fourth round, all six competed. Currently, there are no plans for any more Iron Chef specials.
Iron Chef 2012 statistics
International editions
Iron Chef America
Iron Chef USA
Around Christmas 2001, the UPN network presented two one-hour episodes of ''Iron Chef USA'' hosted by William Shatner as "The Chairman of the American Culinary Academy." Competition took place inside "Kitchen Arena" (built in Garden Arena in the Las Vegas MGM Grand Hotel). Commentary was provided by Michael Burger and Anthony Dias Blue, with floor reporting by Sissy Biggers. The show featured four Iron Chefs: Iron Chef American Todd English (whose specialty is actually Mediterranean food), Iron Chef French Jean Francois Meteigner, Iron Chef Italian Alessandro Stratta, and Iron Chef Asian Roy Yamaguchi. In the show's only two battles, English defeated Kerry Simon in a dungeness crab battle, and Stratta defeated Marcus Samuelsson in a turkey battle.
These shows were neither a critical nor popular success, perhaps because the show focused little on cooking—a major part of the Japanese program. The show had a small audience section with bleachers, and the audience yelled relentlessly during the show (sounding much like a sports audience). Shatner walked around the kitchen sampling the more expensive items, the chefs refused to say what they were doing, and the cameras rarely showed the food preparation.
Iron Chef America
In 2004, Food Network announced that it would air an Iron Chef special, called "
Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters", featuring Sakai and Morimoto dueling with American Iron Chefs
Bobby Flay
Robert William Flay (born December 10, 1964), is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality. Flay is the owner and executive chef of several restaurants and franchises, including Bobby's Burger Palace, Bobby's ...
, Mario Batali, and Wolfgang Puck, all Food Network personalities and renowned American celebrity chefs. (Morimoto and Flay battled in two previous Iron Chef specials that were made after the original series aired.) The specials featured Alton Brown as the announcer and Mark Dacascos playing the role of The Chairman (in the storyline, this Chairman is the nephew of Takeshi Kaga).
The show received high ratings and rave reviews and in October 2004, and Food Network began taping weekly episodes that premiered starting in January 2005. Some changes were made to the show, most notably replacing Puck with Morimoto as an Iron Chef (a fourth Iron Chef, Cat Cora, was added later), and the location was moved from Los Angeles to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The fifth Iron Chef, Michael Symon, was added after his win in ''The Next Iron Chef''. In 2009, Chef Jose Garces became the sixth Iron Chef following his own victory in the second season of that show. In 2010, Chef Marc Forgione won its third season, becoming the seventh Iron Chef on Iron Chef America. Chef Geoffrey Zakarian won that show's fourth season in 2011, making him the eighth Iron Chef. In 2012, Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli, who had served as Sous Chef on Iron Chef episodes, became the ninth after winning the fifth season of ''The Next Iron Chef'', while Stephanie Izard became the tenth and final Iron Chef.
Even though both Todd English and Kerry Simon from ''Iron Chef USA'' competed on ''Iron Chef America'', the episodes did not mention their IC-USA appearances.
Iron Chef Gauntlet
''Iron Chef Gauntlet'' is a two season reformat of ''Iron Chef America'' where seven chefs from around the country compete in an elimination contest, with the last chef remaining facing a "running the gauntlet, gauntlet" challenge of defeating three other Iron Chefs in order to earn the title. It aired from 2017 to 2018
Iron Chef Showdown
''Iron Chef Showdown'' was a reimagining of ''America'' that also aired on Food Network for a single season of 10 episodes from 2017 to 2018.
Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend
''Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend'' premiered on Netflix on June 15, 2022. Brown and Dacascos return to their respective roles, with Brown now joined by chef Kristen Kish as co-host. There will be eight episodes.
Iron Chef Israel
Krav Sakinim
In 2007, Krav Sakinim ( he, קרב סכינים, Knife Fight), a show based on Iron Chef, began airing on Israel's Israel 10, Channel 10. Each episode features a different prominent Israeli chef, who competes against one of the show's featured foreign chefs. All Israeli winners compete against one another in the finals and the winner competes against a foreign chef for the title of season champion. Season 1 featured only France, French chef Stéphane Froidevaux, who won the season's finale, while season 2 saw the inclusion of Italy, Italian chef Alfredo Russo, meaning both Michelin Guide, Michelin star holders would have to compete against each other for a spot in the final bout. The show is actively hosted by actor Oded Menashe and the regular commentators are chef Yaron Kastenboim and catering company owner Ran Shmueli. While in season 1, the panel of judges was made up mostly of celebrities from the entertainment industry, season 2 features renowned persons from the culinary industry, such as restaurant critics and chefs. The competitors prepare a three-course meal, with each dish given a score of up to 10 points by each member of the panel and commentators, accumulating up to 150 points per chef (compared to 90 points in season 1, where the commentators had relatively more points to give).
Iron Chef UK
In 2010, UK public television network Channel 4 debuted Iron Chef UK, based on Iron Chef. The show airs five days a week, and is hosted by Olly Smith and Nick Nairn.
The four Iron Chefs are Tom Aikens, Martin Blunos, Sanjay Dwivedi and Judy Joo. Like the original Iron Chef, the competitions are held in Kitchen Stadium and presided over by The Chairman. Judging occurs in two rounds, with the first round being appetizers, and the second being the main courses. Two challengers prepare the appetizer, producing one appetizer each, while the Iron Chef prepares two. These are judged, and the standing for the team versus the Iron Chef are announced. Then the second half begins: the challenging team and the Iron Chef return to the kitchen to prepare the main course. The two challengers each prepare one dish, while the Iron Chef prepares two. Judging resumes, and the results are announced. Either the Challenging team wins, or the Iron Chef wins in overall score, and the best dish from the challenging team is also announced. The challengers with the best dish returns on Friday to compete against the best Iron Chef of the week.
Iron Chef Australia
The Seven Network announced in August 2010 that an Australian version was planned, in part to capitalize on the success of the highly popular ''MasterChef Australia''.
The Australian Iron Chefs were Neil Perry, Guy Grossi and Guillaume Brahimi, while the show features a static judging panel composed of food critics Larissa Dubecki, Simon Thomsen and Leo Schofield. Mark Dacascos reprises his role as The Chairman from ''Iron Chef America'', and the program is hosted by Grant Denyer, with additional commentary provided by Richard Cornish.
''Iron Chef Australia'' began airing on October 19, 2010, attracting an audience of 1.13 million viewers for its first episode.
It was cancelled at the end of its first season.
Iron Chef Thailand
On January 25, 2012, the first episode of Iron Chef Thailand broadcast on BBTV channel 7. The chairman is Mr. Santi Svetavimala. In this version of Iron Chef, there are four Iron Chefs: Chumpol Chaengprai (Thai cuisine); Boontham Pakpo (Japanese cuisine); Pongtawat "Ian" Chalermkittichai (Western cuisine); and Chaitep "Mr. Lee" Pattarapornpaisarn (Chinese cuisine). The program is hosted by Shahkrit Yamnam and the field reporter is DJ Pong (Nattapong Taengkasem). The format is different, in that in the first half of the program, there are three challengers who compete with each other to find out who is the best chef. The winner will compete against the Iron Chef on the second half of the program. This format was used for only three episodes.
On February 22, 2012 the format of Iron Chef Thailand was changed to: the first 30 minutes of the program is where the Challenger Chef will present his/her "Signature Dish with a Special Ingredient" to the guests. Then followed by the actual "Iron Chef Battle", similar to Iron Chef Japan where the host will ask the Challenger Chef to select the Iron Chef he/she wants to challenge. After the Challenger Chef has selected the Iron Chef the Chairman will reveal the "Secret Ingredient" and once the Chairman says "Allez Cuisine" the battle begins. The battle time is 60 minutes where they will need to complete at least four dishes. The order in which Chefs present to the Judges will be determined by a coin toss conducted by the Host. The last 30 minutes of the program is "Cooking with Iron Chef". Guests learn how to cook from the Iron Chef and win the "Best Student" at the end of the program.
Iron Chef Vietnam
The Vietnamese version was set to air from June 6, 2012 on Vietnam Television, VTV3. In this version there are only three Iron Chefs: David Thái, Long Chef and Yu Zhi Da. The ultimate winner would be a 2013 Iron Chef.
Iron Chef Indonesia
There have been two adaptations of ''Iron Chef'' for Indonesian television.
Allez Cuisine
The first Indonesian adaptation of ''Iron Chef'' series, also known as ''Allez Cuisine'', which came from Chairman Kaga's catchphrase in the original series, was aired on Indosiar from March 1, 2003 until August 12, 2006. The Kitchen Stadium owner role was played by Derry Drajat, and the main commentator was Gunardjo, an Indonesian food expert. The show featured three Super Chefs or Iron Chefs. Episodes were 1 hour long. The show also featured a mini-game segment with 6 competitors featuring the main ingredient of the episode. The mini game segment usually lasts for 2 minutes. After the main cooking segment was finished, the Super Chef will give verdict on the results of the mini-game and declare the mini-game winner.
Iron Chef Indonesia
The second ''Iron Chef'' series or known as ''Iron Chef Indonesia'' was aired on RCTI from April 22, 2017 until November 19, 2017. Just like the first series, the concept of this show was still a battle between one of the three Super Chefs or Iron Chefs that has been selected by a Challenger Chef to served the three or four dishes with a predetermined main ingredients. The winner will be announced by the chairman based on the scores that have been given by the guest judges. The chairman role was played by Edward Akbar, the field reporter by Yuda Bustara, and the commentator by Kevindra Prianto Soemantri, with guest judges selected from chefs, celebrities, businesspersons, and executives every week.
''Iron Chef Canada''
On October 17, 2018, ''Iron Chef Canada'' premiered on Food Network Canada,
the first Iron Chef spin-off in Canada.
The Chairman in this version is Jai West (in the storyline, the Chairman is the grandnephew of
Takeshi Kaga
, real name , is a well-known stage and movie actor in Japan who is best known internationally for his portrayal of Chairman Kaga in the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef'' produced by Fuji TV.
Biography
Kaga was born on October 12, 1950, ...
).
It is hosted by Gail Simmons, with play-by-play done by floor reporter Chris Nuttall-Smith. The Iron Chefs in this version include Hugh Acheson, Amanda Cohen, Lynn Crawford, Rob Feenie, Susur Lee, and Anna Olson.
The competition is similar to ''Iron Chef America,'' with two key differences:
1) Both the Iron Chef and the challenger must serve their first dish to the panel of judges within the first 20 minutes of competition (the Chairman does not taste these dishes). This dish is scored separately from the remainder of the dishes.
2) With 30 minutes remaining in the competition, the Chairman introduces a "culinary curve ball," a kitchen device or an additional ingredient which the chefs must use for at least one of their remaining dishes.
''Iron Chef: Brazil''
''Iron Chef: Brazil'' was first announced alongside ''Quest for an Iron Legend'' and ''Mexico''.
The series debuted on August 10, 2022.
''Iron Chef Mexico''
''Iron Chef Mexico'' is set to premiere on Netflix on September 21, 2022.
References
External links
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Interview with announcer Bill Bickardfrom bigempire.com
{{Iron Chef
Iron Chef,
Japanese cooking television series
1990s Japanese television series
1993 Japanese television series debuts
1999 Japanese television series endings
Food Network original programming
Fuji TV original programming
1990s cooking television series