ICT: Battle Duck: Chen vs. Kimura

BATTLE DATA FILE
Japan Original Airdate: 5/20/1994
Episode: 29

The Challenger: Masatoshi Kimura, a Chinese chef from Chiba who runs his own farm to grow his own vegetables. Many chefs, including Honorary Iron Chef Ishinabe, came from Tokyo to visit him because of that. He occasionally goes to China to learn of the eight styles of Chinese cuisine.

The Iron Chef: Iron Chef French, Hiroyuki Sakai. Last time on the Iron Chef timeline, he defeated the first sushi chef to come into Kitchen Stadium with a fish theme (I guess they don't call him "Fish Sakai" for nothing), and is STILL undefeated in Kitchen Stadium! Can he stay that way?

The Battle:

Actress Mayuko Takata is back in the announcers' booth for this battle.

"The origin of all life is fire," Kaga quotes Herakleitos in his monologue. "And it applies to cooking as well," he continues, saying he promises "performances of fire."

And here comes Kimura into Kitchen Stadium, calmly before his firestorm, as Fukui says. Kaga calls upon his Iron Chefs as usual, and Kimura calls out--no, not Chen, but...SURPRISE! Sakai, for the second week in a row!

"The climate of Chiba is similar to that of Shanghai. Perfect for vegetables," Kaga begins. "I am impressed with the level of professionalism of this man. So, I must give him an ingredient that does justice to his talent. One of the most luxurious ingredients in Chinese cooking."

Luxury + Chinese cooking = swallow's nest? Shark's fin? No...DUCK!

And remember, when in China: "Go north for duck skin, go south for pig skin."

"He IS Chinese cuisine," Fukui says. We'll see how he personifies what the Gourmet Academy usually sees in Iron Chef Chen, as we are ready to blaze with Kaga's familiar call to battle...

"ALLEZ CUISINE!"

Two ducks apiece for each chef, which Hattori says every single part can be used. But Peking duck takes too long for the limitations of this battle, so forget that.

Early goings, of course, consist of breaking down their ducks (with VERY different knives, as Hattori and Takata note). Sakai is going for smaller pieces, perhaps for a soup or duck stock for possible sauces. Kimura's food processor is in action, with what Hattori believes is duck liver--but according to Ohta, it's minced duck meat. He's added other liquids and spices to that, and gives it another spin.

Meanwhile, Iron Chef Sakai is planning on three dishes, one of which will definitely be a soup or stew. And 15 minutes gone already?!

Kimura is smothering yuba bean curd in...well, something white, and dropping shredded shiitake mushrooms and yellow scallions on top. Hattori says he'll roll it up and cut it a bit like rolled sushi, though he drops some very thinly sliced (raw) duck meat on top before folding it. He plans to layer and deep-fry this, so Hattori's sushi guess is way off...

...but he jokes Sakai's thin cut of duck meat will be duck sashimi, which gets Fukui hook, line, and sinker.

Kimura has the beginnings of a crepe in his pan, which Takata guesses is the mysterious paste we saw on the yuba. And Hattori (probably through the English dub) makes a What's My Line? joke..."Will today's mystery paste sign in please?"

Sakai has taken some lightly boiled duck slices out of the water and into ice water. Hattori guesses the anchovy sauce he was working on earlier is to go with that. And we get a shot of his stew pot, which has a slew of vegetables in it.

Kimura is slicing up some prawns on his block, perhaps for a sweet sauce according to Hattori. And as 30 minutes go by, Sakai is chopping some more duck meat...and takes a tiny bit of his thumb with it (emphasis on tiny). Ouch. "Even the high priest makes a slip of the pen," he later quips. Taking it in stride, I suppose. "He's human after all," Takata replies.

Kimura sprints to the pantry and slices--then promptly pulverizes--some ginger. Sakai has the beginnings of a tartare steak on his side (which Fukui misinterprets as tartar sauce). And as Fukui regains his bearings, he comments he thinks he's seen something similar at a Korean BBQ place. This writer thinks he's crazy, as he's never seen anything of that sort there before in his life.

Anyway, back to the action. Kimura has fired up his wok, though the commentators have no idea what Chinese style he's leaning towards. And--uh-oh! Ohta's latest report says his assistants were supposed to thaw out a large brick of shanton soup, but they forgot to do that and are now scrambling to get it in liquid form as quickly as they can. In any event, the wok mixture of prawns and duck are going into the crepes from earlier.

And gimme some skin, Fukui says, as Sakai is deep-frying skins (with Fukui making more terrible skin jokes as the 15-minute call is announced).

Kimura's crepes are taking the form of small dumplings, while Sakai is plating his lightly boiled tartares. And Kimura's mystery paste from the food processor at the top of the battle is heading for...the wok, and some hot water? Hattori says it'll be a soup, though the commentators are skeptical--I guess Hattori managed to talk his way out of that one.

And there he goes over to the pantry again! He looks like he's scrambling, but the Iron Chef now has his "sashimi" into the pan, sizzling away as 10 minutes are left...Hattori figures there'll be a green sauce to go along with that.

And there go the flames on Kimura's wok! And he's just dipping his bare finger into the hot water...how does he not burn himself? Never mind the fact Sakai's doing some more plating on the other side...

Kimura is twice-cooking what looked like Chinese broccoli in his wok, and he's also poured some oil over the dumplings to add some extra heat to them in the steamer. Sakai, meanwhile, is stacking some long onions over the duck "sashimi". And he's got duck legs on a silver platter...the liquid from his stew has been strained.

Kimura's bean curd sandwich is done...almost...he's deep-frying it after all! And Sakai is putting some half-swirls of sauce by the tartares, sticking a piece of cucumber inside that. Kimura's bean curd sandwich is being sliced, and there are just three minutes left in the battle...and Sakai's deep-fried duck skins have gone down next to the tartare.

1 minute left, and Kimura is scrambling as Sakai is plating another sauce on what looked like a salad. 30 seconds left, and Kimura's dumplings and his soup come off the heat. It is smooth sailing to the end for Sakai, Kimura managed to get it all done as...

"THAT'S IT! The cooking's done, the Duck Battle is OVAH!"

Challenger Kimura's 3 dishes:
--Duck Soup
--Duck and Seafood Dumpling
--Fried Duck in Bean Curd

Iron Chef Sakai's 3 dishes:
--Duck Tartare
--Duck Drumsticks in Soup
--Sautéed Duck, Leek Flavor

On the panel today for the Duck Battle are:
--Song Writer Yasushi Akimoto
--Actress Mayuko Takata
--Rosanjin Scholar Masaaki Hirano

Challenger, as always, is up first. Hirano says the soup is light, while keeping the wild taste of the meat.

Hirano calls the color of the dumpling "noble", and the flavor "elegant". Akimoto likes the crispiness.

Finally, the yuba bean curd wrap: Takata says any oiliness she might have perceived is decreased when it's eaten with the lettuce. Akimoto doesn't like it, but doesn't hate it either. Takata is happily munching away at the lettuce while Hirano says the only thing missing was the extra crispiness he wanted. But nothing to worry about, he adds, as it's well balanced.

But Akimoto was waiting to be surprised, whatever that means...

Here comes Sakai's dishes now. The tartare is a first for Kaga, and Akimoto says it's an "adult taste." Well, I wouldn't exactly envision kids eating raw duck meat either...

Hirano launches into more flowery commentary almost reminiscent of the tortuous Chicken Battle tasting session, while Takata likes the mild flavors of the drumsticks and vegetables.

Akimoto likes how he left an element of the gamey smell in his last dish, which Takata likens to knowing the true essence of duck. She's right, this ain't no chicken.

But now, no ducking away from the harsh hammer of culinary justice that must fall on one of these two men...who takes it? Will it be the Iron Chef or the disciple of Chinese cuisine? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

"Tetsujin, Sakai Hiroyuki!"

And Sakai makes it three in a row! The flames of Chinese cuisine are no match for Sakai's artistry and mastery of the French kitchen. He might not have had much of a clue as to what he was doing, but whatever he did, it worked!

My take: This really could have gone either way, although I feel presentation might have decided this one. One thing's for sure, Kimura's duck soup looked a little boring (borderline...disgusting, judging from the color of the broth). In fact, all three of Kimura's dishes looked a little boring, especially compared to Sakai's. I do think they were relatively dead even on taste, though. Then again, what do I know about that? I'm just writing on it, I haven't actually tasted them.

Watch this battle at the Iron Chef Collection here.