Iron Chef America: Allez Cuisine!

Kitchen becomes Stadium and the secret ingredient the name of the battle – Battle Elk, or Battle Asparagus, for example -- in the immensely popular Food Network program Iron Chef America. The program is an Americanized version of the Japanese program Iron Chef which originally showed also as a Food Network offering, but with lively and quirky dubbing which only added to its appeal. The program’s fictionalized background story, the culinary mastery of the chefs, and the genuine enthusiasm of the Japanese judges engaged a large cult viewership.

The Iron Chef America has strived to recreate some of the same elements viewers loved in the Japanese show:

• Celebrity chef mastery
• Exciting match-ups
• Enthusiastic and arena-like commentary, by oddball Alton Brown
• Intriguing dishes

Iron Chefs America lineup:

• Chef Matsaharu Morimoto, an original Iron Chef from the Japanese show
• Chef Bobby Flay
• Chef Mario Batali
• Chef Cat Cora
• Chef Michael Symon

Each has a different culinary specialty intended to serve as sometimes a detriment, and sometimes an advantage depending upon the challenger and the “secret” ingredient. For example, history has it that during one of the more memorable episodes, Iron Chef Masaharu Moritmoto was quite befuddled with Battle Jalapeno Pepper.

But are the “secret” battle ingredients really secret? Not really. Chefs are briefed well beforehand on a possible variety of “secret:” ingredients. And by the time viewers see the announcement and unveiling of the secret ingredient, the chefs have run through a number of camera takes, so it is no longer a surprise to them, either.

Kitchen Stadium

What chef wouldn’t like to work in a real Kitchen Stadium? This industrial-strength pro kitchen is jam-packed with the biggest brand names in equipment, some that have rather offbeat functions.

Iron Chef America vs Iron Chef

Iron Chef America departs a bit from its original version in a number of key ways. One of the most notable is the use of assistant chefs or sous chefs. Iron Chefs America may each use two sous chefs. Great opportunity for up and coming chefs to learn and be noticed by a larger audience. Bobby Flay, for instance, uses a variety of sous chefs from his restaurants and Mario Batali regularly chooses Anne Burrell and Mark Ladner. Burrell is an Executive Chef and chef/instructor of Italian cuisine, in her own right, so a solid choice for sous chef in a battle of this caliber. Ladner is a highly acclaimed Executive Chef with New York’s Del Posto restaurant.