ICT: Battle Carrot: Chen vs. Takahashi

BATTLE DATA FILE
Japan Original Airdate: 5/27/1994
Episode: 30

The Challenger: Kiyoshi Takahashi, the bronze medalist at the 1992 World Championship of Chinese Cooking. It is the most prestigious competition in China. While he took the bronze, he finished just behind a familiar face in Kitchen Stadium, who took the silver. He's got a sort of vendetta against him, because Chen is 5 years younger than he is.

The Iron Chef: Iron Chef Chinese, Chen Kenichi. Last time out he lost against an Italian mastermind trying to get his life back on track...can he get back on the winning path? He's really up against it today, seeing as this battle will be a revenge match of sorts.

The Battle:

As Chen prepares to take on another chef named Takahashi, we have, once again, actress Mayuko Takata, in full Chinese garb. This is, what, her sixth or seventh battle in the booth? Not that I mind, but still...the only breaks we've had were with Ishinabe and Hashimoto...

And here comes Kaga into Kitchen Stadium, saying that there are many chefs out there who hold a grudge--well, maybe not a grudge, but a sense of rivalry--against his Iron Chefs. After Kaga gives a recap of the competition from 1992, here comes the wizard of Chinese knives, Kiyoshi Takahashi. The man's confident today, and he's aiming to take down one of the Iron Chefs. Three guesses as to which one...

"CHEN KENICHI!" Takahashi cries, pointing a defiant finger at the man who bested him two years ago.

"Today's challenger once created a full course Imperial Chinese Dinner," Kaga begins. "His superhuman blade-work will be revealed today. It would be nice if he could make the time to to show us his decorative work as well. For decorative carving, we must have a certain vegetable." And for once, I can kinda figure out Kaga's cryptic clues, as he rips off the veil and reveals...CARROTS!

And remember: "Eat the meat of the carrots."

Two of the best Chinese chefs in Japan are about to duke it out in a high-stakes grudge match at Kaga's familiar call: "ALLEZ CUISINE!"

These carrots are huge, compared to the ones we're accustomed to seeing in the West. And out of the gate, Takahashi appears to be in a bit of a funk, not knowing what to do...but after setting his carrots down, he quickly grabs some kokkei (silky fowl), which is a Chinese chicken used in medicinal dishes, and makes short work of that.

Chen, meanwhile, is cookie-cutting some carrot cores as Fukui jokes that some of our younger viewers might not be thrilled at the vegetable theme. "I know I wouldn't," he adds.

Takahashi's kokkei is quickly boiling away, while he's breaking down some loquat. He also has a lot of fruit out on his side, while Chen's cored carrots have hit the hot water. He's scoring some others, while Takahashi already has some carrots with the kokkei and loquats in a soup.

Chen's dropping some honey into the carrot cores, perhaps a Chinese take on a French glacer. And as Hattori and Takata argue over whether Takahashi will steam the soup or not (hint: "15-love, Dr. Hattori," Fukui calls), his food processor took some carrots for a spin, perhaps for a sauce later. And Chen's got white peaches on his side...

"Ratcheting up the sweetness quotient--hey, maybe the kids will like it now," Fukui quips.

15 minutes are already gone, as Takahashi has vanilla essence and butter in what appears to be carrot juice in his wok. Chen has something in the steamer, while Takahashi's carrot soup/juice is filling the papayas (laying that on top of some sweet red bean paste).

Flatfish and crabmeat have hit Chen's wok (which confuses the commentators for a bit), and Takahashi's papayas have found the oven. And we discover Chen's peaches (and carrot cores) were in the steamer all along! Those have hit ice water, while Takahashi has his carving knives out...Hattori's calling a pagoda carving.

"But why such a big chopper for this? Style points?" Fukui asks. Hattori replies that a smaller knife would've been too wobbly for the job he's trying to do. And Chen's doing a little carving of his own, but he's now rolling out some dough that already has carrots kneaded in there. And 30 minutes, just like that, are gone!

Takahashi's carrot pagoda is done, as his papayas hit the plates (with a wedge of lemon and cherry just added). And Chen's still trying to find his way around the theme, as he panics over the time call! He's slicing his dough into noodles, while Takahashi has julienned carrots and truffle mixed with truffles and watercress on top.

20 minutes left now, and Chen's noodles have hit the water. Takahashi has dried bean curd on his side, as he chops up some more carrots. And Ohta says Takahashi is in complete control over his dishes, saying, "Heck, I'll start one more!"

Chen is chilling his noodles and, as Fukui puts it, "wokin' and rollin'" with carrots, beef, and garlic sprouts. Takahashi is doing some stir-frying of his own, with some shoestring carrots in his wok (which is flaring up), laying those down on the bean curd.

15 minutes to go, and Takahashi is laying some foie gras in his wok! Chen, meanwhile, has plated his stir-fry from earlier, on top of a nest of shredded carrots.

Foie gras is already down on Takahashi's side, although we don't know what he's going to do with it yet. His yuba spring rolls have hit the oil, while Chen has mini carrots and Shanghai cabbage for...something.

10 minutes left, and now shark's fin on Chen's side (just to decorate, according to Hattori,), but we see the crabmeat and flatfish mixture go down on top of that. He's panicking here, as his noodles aren't yet finished...uh-oh.

Takahashi's spring rolls are down with a sauce on top. and Chen has another soup in the works (with mushrooms). Down goes some meat on top of Takahashi's foie gras, as with some carrots as well. And Chen flips over the shark's fin mixture, much to the amusement of the commentators (warranting a replay, in my opinion...and we get it!). He's laying the Shanghai cabbage on top of that as the 5-minute call is announced...

Takahashi's steamer is open with the silken fowl soup inside (which he plates a little later), while Chen is laying down his carrot cores into martini glasses. And here come his noodles, which aren't too much trouble after all. And we have fire on Takahashi's wok, with less than 2 minutes to go!

1 minute left now, and his carrots have hit the new soup in his wok, while Chen appears to have calmed down a bit as he plates some more soup as the last few seconds are ticking down...Fukui seems to be running out of breath as Takahashi plates his soup at the last second, it's a wonder he can still say...

"Close call, but he makes it, the Carrot Battle is OVAH!"

Takahashi reveals in the postgame interviews that his pagoda is just an accessory. So it will indeed be all by its lonesome over there...something doesn't sound good about that.

Challenger Takahashi's 6 dishes:
--Carrot and Caviar Salad
--Carrot and Shark Fin Soup
--Stir-fried Beef, Foie Gras and Carrots in Black Bean Sauce
--Carrot in Bean Curd
--Silky Fowl and Carrot Soup
--Carrot Pudding in Papaya
--For decorative purposes, the Carrot Chinese Pagoda

Iron Chef Chen's 4 dishes:
--Shark Fin Stew in Carrot Sauce
--Carrot and Noodle Soup
--Stir-fried Carrots and Sirloin, on Fried Carrots
--Carrot Compote

On the panel today for the Carrot Battle are:
--Song Writer Yasushi Akimoto
--Actress Mayuko Takata
--Culinary Critic Asako Kishi

Takahashi's up first, as they sample his salad. Takata likes the pairing of caviar and truffles, while Kishi simply says the caviar's like an accent. So far, so good...I think...

Akimoto can't see the carrots in his soup, while Takata says it's fluffy. And we get the first bit of criticism from Kishi (who else, really?) on his foie gras dish, saying the carrots aren't really center stage. "I think it could've been any vegetable," she adds.

On to the bean curd spring roll, which Takata says is sweet. She's shocked that there's only carrots inside...

...and quickly onto the silky fowl soup! (Are we in a hurry to get through all the dishes or something?) Akimoto says he's already feeling well, after tasting it. And there seems to be a weird edit before they cut to the sampling of the dessert...the only thing that's clear is who I presume to be Akimoto saying "This is good" while Takata's on screen.

Well, they all like that one! And Takata gets the carrot pagoda on her table, which Akimoto jokes is the bill. No bill in this menu-less restaurant...

And now, Chen's turn to face the music.

Akimoto likes the harmony amongst all the ingredients in Chen's first dish, while Kishi says (off-screen) that something's too soft in his second. "You may have waited too long before serving this," Kishi says. Akimoto agrees, although Takata likes it that way.

And while Kishi and Akimoto think Takata's crazy for thinking Chen's beef stir-fry is spicy, Kishi likes the flavor of the carrot nest along with it.

Takata and Akimoto like how the carrots in his dessert don't taste like carrots at all, but like fruit! Transformation, I suppose?

"A rival makes a man stronger," Kaga philosophizes before the verdict. "Please remain good rivals in the years to come."

But now, the verdict. Who takes it? Will it be the Iron Chef or the upstaged senior? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

"Tetsujin, Chen Kenichi!"

Look out, Kitchen Stadium, he's back! Quality, not quantity, was the deciding factor today as Chen gets back on the winning path.

My take: First, on the battle itself: Takahashi did a respectable job as a challenger. However, I do think his time may have been better spent on garnishing some of his dishes with his intricate carvings that Kaga raved about. While this may have meant scrapping a dish or two (he probably could've done without the foie gras dish, as that was a little hastily put together), I do think 1) he would've earned some more presentation points by incorporating his carvings into his dishes, and 2) would've saved him some time to really perfect those other five. Chen, despite not really knowing what he was doing (or at least it sounded like it), did well with his four, although if this were judged on clock management alone Takahashi definitely took the cake.

As for the show as a whole, it seems the polar opposite of the Ishinabe battle--whereas the Ishinabe battle was too slow, now this seems really rushed. While I'm glad half the show doesn't consist of the tasting portion anymore, I'm also a little disappointed that the dishes we see only get maybe one or two judges commenting on it. Maybe it's their own device to keep the judging as even as possible to the home viewer, who knows. But one thing's for sure, that first 15-minute call really sneaks up on you...

Watch this battle at the Iron Chef Collection here.