BATTLE DATA FILE
Episode: 38
Japan Original Airdate: 7/22/1994
The Challengers: Joel Bruant and Masafumi Furutaka. Bruant, who has been cooking since the age of 13, trained under Paul Bocuse, the "Emperor of French Cuisine." Furutaka is his top apprentice.
The Iron Chefs: Rokusaburo Michiba and Chen Kenichi. Sakai lost last week...can the Iron Chefs avoid taking one loss each in the span of just two battles?
The Battle:
Before we say anything more...can I just comment on how ridiculous Bruant's dubbed voice is in the intro film? It's almost like the guy's *trying* too hard to have a French accent.
Anyway, joining Fukui and Hattori in the broadcasters' box today is another new face, actress Kazuko Katoh.
This is the first time Kitchen Stadium will hold a 2-on-2 showdown, to honor--as Kaga says in the opening--the upcoming summer vacation.
"This has been one of my dreams," Kaga says before he brings on the two challengers, introducing them as literal heavyweights ("weighing in at over 500 pounds," the subtitles say--he actually says 250 kilos). And then he proceeds to ask if the kitchen is a bit too small for the both of them. Way to call them both fat, Kaga.
Anyway, we get a really cool angle from the kitchen floor of the Iron Chefs ascending into view. Once the dry ice clears, it is Bruant who makes the call--they want to take on Michiba and Chen! No chance for French redemption for Sakai this week. They don't mention Chen and Michiba's combined weight, but Michiba alone probably makes sure that the scales aren't tipped at all. He isn't a very big man at all.
But now to the business of the theme ingredient. "What would be a suitable ingredient for this special match?" Kaga asks. "A fish that is comparable to red snapper in the summer months. As its Japanese name suggests, it is very smooth. What kinds of Japanese, French, and Chinese dishes will we enjoy today?" And Kaga can barely contain his excitement as he unveils...sea bass!
And speaking of the best sea bass in summer, good sea bass makes a rainbow on sashimi, according to Kaga.
But this first doubles match gets underway as Kaga booms forth the familiar call to battle: "ALLEZ CUISINE!"
And the notes indicate that the 2-on-2 match means no assistants for either side. Hattori notes the fish has the most fat on it in the summer. Hattori says he overheard Michiba making Japanese dishes and Chen making Chinese dishes: "Not exactly earth-shattering news there," Fukui notes.
Furutaka is already doing some dirty work with the sea bass, while Michiba is already filleting away. And we find that he can really move--that's the first time I've seen him run in Kitchen Stadium!
The French team has diced sea bass, minced prawns, and eggs in their food processor. As we swing back to the other side, Fukui notes that he might expect sashimi from Michiba, but we won't have time for a menu, apparently...he fooled Katoh when he unrolled some paper towels instead. And Chen is peeling grapes, while Ohta notes he heard him saying, "Hey, I got the easy job today!" Hmm.
Furutaka is preparing what Hattori thinks will be a croute, with sea bass and the food processor mixture stuffed inside a pie. Michiba is skewering sea bass steaks, while Chen has a mixture in the food processor of his own. They say it might be the exact same as the challenger's side. And Ohta notes that, without assistants, Michiba's a bit lost--he has no idea how to work the salamander oven! Soon after he notes that the challengers have giant pie sheets sandwiching a whole fish.
While all that was going on, the 15-minute call was announced, while Fukui unwittingly gets in a Yu-Gi-Oh reference by saying Chen is in "attack mode," while Michiba barely saves his skewered sea bass steaks from burning. The challengers' pie crust is getting some scale patterns in it--that'll earn them definite presentation points. And into the oven it goes, as does the mousse that went into a circular cake mold earlier.
Chen's wok is in action, with some dumplings from his food processor (egg whites and lychee, Ohta says--later corrected to say the grapes are indeed there).
30 minutes gone now, and Bruant has chopped truffles to bits for a Sauce Perigeux. Michiba, meanwhile, drops a load of chopped-up fish into the steamer. The French side has a sauce Choron (with tomato purée) in preparation, and now Ohta notes that Bruant, perhaps flustered by the pressure of the battle, has switched tongues to French, and nobody knows what he's saying!
20 minutes left now, and Chen is working with sea bass innards--Hattori thinks he'll cure them with salt. Michiba is arranging the sea bass steaks from earlier, while the challengers are making a soup. And it looks like Furutaka put food coloring on lemon peels!
The broadcasters' box is noting how the challengers appear to have an edge with the overall flow of their dishes, because Michiba and Chen appear to be a bit disjointed...
Challengers are decorating a large silver dish, while Michiba extracts his chopped fish from the steamer with 10 minutes to go. Bruant, flustered earlier in the battle, says they'll make it on time just fine, while the Iron Chefs appear to be lost...Chen says it's gonna be close.
The mousse on the challengers' side doesn't want to come out of the mold...and after a short struggle, it eventually does come out, even if Furutaka has to do some reparative surgery to it. The Perigeux sauce will go over that.
Michiba is stuffing ginkgo nuts into some red blossoms, but nobody cares about that--the challengers' fish pie has just come out of the oven with 5 minutes to go! (Bless you, Michiba..."someone hand him a hanky," Fukui says.) That goes on the silver dish they were decorating earlier.
Chen has some potato strings in the formation of a nest for plating in his wok, while Michiba is plating sashimi onto winter melon and chicory.
3 minutes to go, and Bruant sounds a bit pressed for time...but he might not have anything to worry about, it's the Iron Chefs who are in trouble--Chen is frantically chopping things up with two and half left!
Chen's stir fry goes down on the potato nest from earlier, and the Perigeux sauce is down on the challengers' side. Michiba's putting some finishing touches on his sashimi, while Chen is on the run! That man can really hustle.
1 minute left, and the challengers' are putting finishing touches on their dishes, while the Iron Chefs have bigger fish to fry than just presentation with just 30 seconds left...the final seconds are ticking down as the Iron Chefs look like they just barely make it...
"And THAT'S IT! The cooking's done, the Sea Bass Battle is OVAH!"
The French team is offering four dishes:
--Chilled Sea Bass in Basil & Oil Sauce
--Sea Bass Mousse with Truffle Sauce
--Sea Bass Soup, Provence Style
--Sea Bass Pie (with Choron sauce)
The Iron Chefs are offering five dishes:
--Chilled Sea Bass Sashimi
--Salt-grilled Sea Bass
--Stir-fried Sea Bass & Vegetables
--Sea Bass Stew
--Lychee & Muscat in Sea Bass Dumpling
On the panel for the Sea Bass Battle are:
--Former Lower House Member Shinichiro Kurimoto
--Actress Kazuko Katoh
--Actress Mayuko Takata
--Rosanjin Scholar Masaaki Hirano
The long table is out today! Four, rather than three members are on the panel today...I wonder if they accounted for the possibility of a tie?
Kurimoto likes the texture and sauce of the challengers' first dish, while Takata likes the skin.
Katoh, on the second dish, is having an "I Can't Believe It's Not Sea Bass" moment.
Hirano says the soup needed a bit more salt for more depth of flavor, saying they held back too much. Takata says it's too oily--Bruant counters that he didn't have enough time.
And now the two men serve their sea bass pie...
Hirano likes how they preserved the original form of the fish, while Takata really likes the taste as well.
Now the Iron Chefs are up--I wonder how they'll do?
The sashimi is generally well-received, as are the grilled sea bass steaks. Chen's stir-fry gets a nod of approval after a few mellower dishes. Takata notices it "tastes like chicken."
The stew is jointly served, and Kurimoto has a politician moment when he describes it as "Japan shaking hands with China."
Hirano likes the clever approach of how the fruit was wrapped, while Takata notes it's a very lady-like dessert. But perhaps the nail in the coffin for them--Kurimoto doesn't sense a unifying theme across their courses.
But ultimately, it's the panel as a whole that determines whose cuisine reigns supreme. Will it be the Iron Chefs or the French cuisine heavyweights?
"Challengers, Bruant and Furutaka!"
"Yes, they have rolled over the Iron Chefs!" Fukui apparently can't help but get in one more fat joke before this battle is over. Le sigh.
My thoughts: If it were two-on-one, it may have been a very different story. But I think the Iron Chefs were done in by a lack of coherence in their courses. That and Chen's stir-fry didn't seem terribly original to me. I'm sure they all tasted great, though.
Watch this battle at the Iron Chef Collection here.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
ICT: Battle Homard: Shimizu vs. Sakai
BATTLE DATA FILE
Episode: 37
Japan Original Airdate: 7/15/94
The Challenger: Tadaaki Shimizu, former sous-chef and head chef of the Japanese location of La Tour d'Argent, a very famous French restaurant that opened in 1582. He once cooked for the Crown Prince of Japan during his time at La Tour d'Argent in Paris. His own restaurant, La Tourelle, is in Tokyo. His claim to fame is his use of sauces.
The Iron Chef: Iron Chef French, Hiroyuki Sakai. Last time out, he defeated Yuji Wakiya in Battle Uni, who's gone four in a row in this timeline. Can he extend his streak?
The Battle:
Joining Fukui and Hattori in the broadcasters' box today is NOT Mayuko Takata for once, but rather another actress, Shoko Tamura...a self-proclaimed French cuisine enthusiast. Fukui goes so far as to dub her an "expert," as she's experienced Belgian flavors as well. Let's see how she does as she comments on this battle...
And here comes Shimizu into Kitchen Stadium, confidently shaking Kaga's hand as he reaches the center. And as Kaga's audio gets a little hot as he summons his Iron Chefs, the lights dim, the men rise out of the floor, the dry ice clears, and Shimizu calls out another French chef--Sakai! (Still undefeated in Kitchen Stadium, might we add.)
"What would be a suitable ingredient for this genius French chef?" Kaga asks, adding that it didn't take him very long to decide. "When you hear 'La Tour d'Argent,' you think of a certain dish with that bird." (I presume he means the duck dish the Crown Prince dined on that he mentioned in the opening.) "But that's too straightforward," he quickly dismisses. "So instead, I chose the most popular expensive seafood in France." And as he says that, Kaga makes clawing motions with his fingers, indicating that the theme is indeed...(live) homard lobster!
Apparently, the French say the left claw of the homard is the best part...
But now this all-French confrontation begins with the Chairman's familiar call to battle: "ALLEZ CUISINE!"
Fukui is quick to note they're still alive, and Hattori says these are imported, hence the use of the French word "homard" (which actually means lobster in French). Shimizu has skewered the tails of two whole lobsters, and into a pot of boiling water they go. Sakai appears to be doing the same thing, sans heads.
Shimizu has the corail, or the livers of the lobster, in a bowl. Sakai, meanwhile, has a court-bouillon (soup of herbs) to do away with the fishy smell.
Shimizu sticks a pair of lobsters soaked in olive oil into the oven before he works on breaking down a chicken. Sakai has lobster roe in a bowl, and there's the 15-minute call already!
Lobsters in a frying pan on Shimizu's side (which gets a little flambé over the replay), and down they go into a bigger pot ("double play flambé," Fukui says). Sakai has boiled lobster tails from the court-bouillon, which he's slicing up...Ohta is quick to note that he overheard Sakai say this ingredient is a piece of cake. Hmm.
Shimizu has the beginnings of what appears to be a lobster bisque on his side, and after adding a creamy liquid of some kind, he's peeling some tomatoes with care. And as he does that, we get a shot of his wife in the Royal Box. And suddenly...rose petal tomatoes! So that's why he was being so meticulous about it.
Sakai's fighting words come out as he basically says the food from La Tour d'Argent "wasn't too impressive," adding that he wasn't into classic French dishes that much. Speaking of Sakai (and as the 30-minute mark is announced), he's got some rectangular molds which he's putting in okra and lobster pieces minced together.
Radishes on Shimizu's side, which he's making for a salad...while Sakai has pears, avocados, peaches, and mangoes. Sweet stuff...yum.
The rest of the tomatoes Shimizu used are being used as bowls for that mayonnaise salad with the radishes from earlier. Sakai is making a fruity sauce with all those fruits we mentioned earlier, as he gives 'em a spin into the blender.
Shimizu has already plated his tomato hors d'oeuvres (the "amuse," Hattori calls it). 20 minutes to go, and Sakai is cracking claws. He also has halved lobster tails with some kind of sauce spooned on top (that found the salamander oven), while Shimizu is still plating something else...while caviar goes down on the tomatoes.
Sakai's peaches find some glass bowls, paired with some lobsters, while Shimizu's chicken is now in the oven. Hattori speculates he's trying to imitate a duck dish, but substituting a lighter-flavored meat. Meanwhile, Sakai's fruity sauce goes down over the peaches and lobster.
Shimizu apparently has time for an additional dish (15 minutes, to be exact), while Sakai is plating the items in the rectangular molds. Shimizu's fifth dish appears to be lobsters stewing in saffron, veal stock, shallots, garlic, and butter. Fukui is quick to note that it looks a bit like Chen's prawns in chili sauce.
Sakai is plating some lobster tails, shells and all...while Shimizu's soup appears to have hit the blender to get a smoother texture.
Some more frantic activity from both sides, and Fukui once again mentions that Sakai is the only Iron Chef that's still undefeated in Kitchen Stadium. Five minutes to go, and Shimizu's saffron lobsters go down over some cucumbers. Sakai's lobster tails get an additional sauce that Hattori says is made from lobster stock. Shimizu's chicken and lobster dish hits the plate, while his soup also finds some bowls (Hattori says his soup looks like a cappuccino).
One minute left, and sauces are going down on both sides all over the place...Shimizu appears to be done with a few seconds to go, while Sakai is finishing with some sauces as the final seconds tick down...
"And THAT'S IT! The cooking's done, the Homard Lobster Battle is OVAH!"
Challenger Shimizu is offering five dishes:
--Homard Lobster Tartare
--Homard Lobster Salad
--Homard Lobster Soup, Cappuccino Style
--Chicken & Homard Lobster Combo
--Homard Lobster Stewed in Saffron Sauce
Iron Chef Sakai offers three dishes:
--Homard Lobster & Peach Salad
--Homard Lobster Galette
--Roast Homard Lobster
On the panel today for the Homard Battle are:
--Former Lower House Member Shinichiro Kurimoto
--Actress Shoko Tamura
--Rosanjin Scholar Masaaki Hirano
Challenger Shimizu is up first, and he says the first thing he thought about was the flow of his dishes.
Kurimoto loves the texture of the tartare, while Hirano actually says something meaningful for once--he likes the way the lobster was chilled.
The salad is generally well-received across the board, as is the soup--Hirano says the flavor is so profound, while Kurimoto sense the "wrath of the lobster." Whatever that means. He doesn't like the chicken/lobster combo, though.
Hirano says the final dish was unnecessary...while Kurimoto says he thought it was a good way to end the courses.
Now for Sakai--he tried to combine in-season ingredients with the lobster, he says.
Kurimoto says peaches and lobster is a strange combination, but it works. Tamura likes the texture of the peach.
Hirano says the softness of the okra makes the second dish playful, but Kurimoto thinks it's a tad overpowering. He does like the last dish, though, saying the lobster is perfectly grilled. Tamura especially loves the sauce.
But ultimately, who takes the day? Will it be the Iron Chef or the genius of the silver tower? Can Sakai stay undefeated? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?
"Challenger, Tadaaki Shimizu!"
Holy--! Down goes Sakai! DOWN GOES SAKAI! It's almost as if the Chairman couldn't even spit the words out, but eventually he did. Shimizu becomes the first man to take down Iron Chef Sakai, and how!
My thoughts: I definitely think Sakai won in terms of presentation. But I liked the way Shimizu's dishes had that clear flow Hirano talked about. In the end, I guess it came down to personal taste preference, and everyone knows you can't judge that unless you're actually there.
Watch this battle at the Iron Chef Collection here.
Episode: 37
Japan Original Airdate: 7/15/94
The Challenger: Tadaaki Shimizu, former sous-chef and head chef of the Japanese location of La Tour d'Argent, a very famous French restaurant that opened in 1582. He once cooked for the Crown Prince of Japan during his time at La Tour d'Argent in Paris. His own restaurant, La Tourelle, is in Tokyo. His claim to fame is his use of sauces.
The Iron Chef: Iron Chef French, Hiroyuki Sakai. Last time out, he defeated Yuji Wakiya in Battle Uni, who's gone four in a row in this timeline. Can he extend his streak?
The Battle:
Joining Fukui and Hattori in the broadcasters' box today is NOT Mayuko Takata for once, but rather another actress, Shoko Tamura...a self-proclaimed French cuisine enthusiast. Fukui goes so far as to dub her an "expert," as she's experienced Belgian flavors as well. Let's see how she does as she comments on this battle...
And here comes Shimizu into Kitchen Stadium, confidently shaking Kaga's hand as he reaches the center. And as Kaga's audio gets a little hot as he summons his Iron Chefs, the lights dim, the men rise out of the floor, the dry ice clears, and Shimizu calls out another French chef--Sakai! (Still undefeated in Kitchen Stadium, might we add.)
"What would be a suitable ingredient for this genius French chef?" Kaga asks, adding that it didn't take him very long to decide. "When you hear 'La Tour d'Argent,' you think of a certain dish with that bird." (I presume he means the duck dish the Crown Prince dined on that he mentioned in the opening.) "But that's too straightforward," he quickly dismisses. "So instead, I chose the most popular expensive seafood in France." And as he says that, Kaga makes clawing motions with his fingers, indicating that the theme is indeed...(live) homard lobster!
Apparently, the French say the left claw of the homard is the best part...
But now this all-French confrontation begins with the Chairman's familiar call to battle: "ALLEZ CUISINE!"
Fukui is quick to note they're still alive, and Hattori says these are imported, hence the use of the French word "homard" (which actually means lobster in French). Shimizu has skewered the tails of two whole lobsters, and into a pot of boiling water they go. Sakai appears to be doing the same thing, sans heads.
Shimizu has the corail, or the livers of the lobster, in a bowl. Sakai, meanwhile, has a court-bouillon (soup of herbs) to do away with the fishy smell.
Shimizu sticks a pair of lobsters soaked in olive oil into the oven before he works on breaking down a chicken. Sakai has lobster roe in a bowl, and there's the 15-minute call already!
Lobsters in a frying pan on Shimizu's side (which gets a little flambé over the replay), and down they go into a bigger pot ("double play flambé," Fukui says). Sakai has boiled lobster tails from the court-bouillon, which he's slicing up...Ohta is quick to note that he overheard Sakai say this ingredient is a piece of cake. Hmm.
Shimizu has the beginnings of what appears to be a lobster bisque on his side, and after adding a creamy liquid of some kind, he's peeling some tomatoes with care. And as he does that, we get a shot of his wife in the Royal Box. And suddenly...rose petal tomatoes! So that's why he was being so meticulous about it.
Sakai's fighting words come out as he basically says the food from La Tour d'Argent "wasn't too impressive," adding that he wasn't into classic French dishes that much. Speaking of Sakai (and as the 30-minute mark is announced), he's got some rectangular molds which he's putting in okra and lobster pieces minced together.
Radishes on Shimizu's side, which he's making for a salad...while Sakai has pears, avocados, peaches, and mangoes. Sweet stuff...yum.
The rest of the tomatoes Shimizu used are being used as bowls for that mayonnaise salad with the radishes from earlier. Sakai is making a fruity sauce with all those fruits we mentioned earlier, as he gives 'em a spin into the blender.
Shimizu has already plated his tomato hors d'oeuvres (the "amuse," Hattori calls it). 20 minutes to go, and Sakai is cracking claws. He also has halved lobster tails with some kind of sauce spooned on top (that found the salamander oven), while Shimizu is still plating something else...while caviar goes down on the tomatoes.
Sakai's peaches find some glass bowls, paired with some lobsters, while Shimizu's chicken is now in the oven. Hattori speculates he's trying to imitate a duck dish, but substituting a lighter-flavored meat. Meanwhile, Sakai's fruity sauce goes down over the peaches and lobster.
Shimizu apparently has time for an additional dish (15 minutes, to be exact), while Sakai is plating the items in the rectangular molds. Shimizu's fifth dish appears to be lobsters stewing in saffron, veal stock, shallots, garlic, and butter. Fukui is quick to note that it looks a bit like Chen's prawns in chili sauce.
Sakai is plating some lobster tails, shells and all...while Shimizu's soup appears to have hit the blender to get a smoother texture.
Some more frantic activity from both sides, and Fukui once again mentions that Sakai is the only Iron Chef that's still undefeated in Kitchen Stadium. Five minutes to go, and Shimizu's saffron lobsters go down over some cucumbers. Sakai's lobster tails get an additional sauce that Hattori says is made from lobster stock. Shimizu's chicken and lobster dish hits the plate, while his soup also finds some bowls (Hattori says his soup looks like a cappuccino).
One minute left, and sauces are going down on both sides all over the place...Shimizu appears to be done with a few seconds to go, while Sakai is finishing with some sauces as the final seconds tick down...
"And THAT'S IT! The cooking's done, the Homard Lobster Battle is OVAH!"
Challenger Shimizu is offering five dishes:
--Homard Lobster Tartare
--Homard Lobster Salad
--Homard Lobster Soup, Cappuccino Style
--Chicken & Homard Lobster Combo
--Homard Lobster Stewed in Saffron Sauce
Iron Chef Sakai offers three dishes:
--Homard Lobster & Peach Salad
--Homard Lobster Galette
--Roast Homard Lobster
On the panel today for the Homard Battle are:
--Former Lower House Member Shinichiro Kurimoto
--Actress Shoko Tamura
--Rosanjin Scholar Masaaki Hirano
Challenger Shimizu is up first, and he says the first thing he thought about was the flow of his dishes.
Kurimoto loves the texture of the tartare, while Hirano actually says something meaningful for once--he likes the way the lobster was chilled.
The salad is generally well-received across the board, as is the soup--Hirano says the flavor is so profound, while Kurimoto sense the "wrath of the lobster." Whatever that means. He doesn't like the chicken/lobster combo, though.
Hirano says the final dish was unnecessary...while Kurimoto says he thought it was a good way to end the courses.
Now for Sakai--he tried to combine in-season ingredients with the lobster, he says.
Kurimoto says peaches and lobster is a strange combination, but it works. Tamura likes the texture of the peach.
Hirano says the softness of the okra makes the second dish playful, but Kurimoto thinks it's a tad overpowering. He does like the last dish, though, saying the lobster is perfectly grilled. Tamura especially loves the sauce.
But ultimately, who takes the day? Will it be the Iron Chef or the genius of the silver tower? Can Sakai stay undefeated? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?
"Challenger, Tadaaki Shimizu!"
Holy--! Down goes Sakai! DOWN GOES SAKAI! It's almost as if the Chairman couldn't even spit the words out, but eventually he did. Shimizu becomes the first man to take down Iron Chef Sakai, and how!
My thoughts: I definitely think Sakai won in terms of presentation. But I liked the way Shimizu's dishes had that clear flow Hirano talked about. In the end, I guess it came down to personal taste preference, and everyone knows you can't judge that unless you're actually there.
Watch this battle at the Iron Chef Collection here.
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