Episode: 2
Japan Original Airdate: 10/17/93
Continuing with our special look at the first season of Iron Chef, we now proceed to the second episode ever produced.
Kaga begins talking about French chef Escoffier in his opening monologue. He mentions ice cream and the dessert peach melba as well...hmm. Apparently peach melba was named after one Marie Melba. (I've never had it, so I can't say too much...)
Anyway, on to the preliminary battle--today's preliminary theme is Omurice! In other words, rice in an omelet, usually topped with ketchup. But today's battle will be decided, at least in this writer's point of view, by how creatively the chefs flavor the rice. Bonus points to whoever does anything creative with the eggs themselves.
On the panel today:
--Producer Yasushi Akimoto
--Newscaster Mitsuko Ishii
--Culinary Critic Asako Kishi
First to face the panel: Noboru Ishidoya (I may have that last name completely wrong). He makes a donut-shaped omelet, with ketchup rice, onions, and bacon. A mushroom sauce fills the hole in the middle.
Ishii's reaction says it all...
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| "Something is very, very wrong." |
Next to face the panel: Shinya Abe. Potatoes and mixed vegetables go into his omelet, which ends up looking like an egg pizza with red bell peppers. His rice looked like it had some Vienna sausage in it as well. The ketchup rice is placed right in the middle.
Ishii, once again, gives away what she thinks, as she reaches for her water glass straight away. Akimoto says something that makes Ishii react quite profoundly...wish I knew what he said, because she agrees with him...and how!
Next to face the judges: 21-year-old Masanori Oshima. He mixes red food coloring into his eggs. Matsutake mushrooms flavor his rice, and a sauce containing said matsutake is poured over the top of the entire omelet.
Akimoto calls it "ninja rice," whatever that means. At least this one wasn't a flat-out "no" from the panel, at least as far as I could tell...
Fourth up: Yosei Kobayagawa. 12 different spices are mixed together with butter and rice. A sour cream sauce is draped over the eggs...and the panel likes it! The first time I actually hear "oishii" said.
Last up: computer operator Haruhiko Kaniuchi. His omurice resembles a sushi roll. A demiglace sauce accompanies the arrangement.
And Ishii is struggling to hold back a laugh, for some reason.
But in the end, as if we had to guess...the winner of the preliminary is...Yosei Kobayagawa! He advances to face the Iron Chefs...but whom will he challenge?
BATTLE OF IRON CHEF
Kaga seems to be much more imperial today, entering and declaring quite loudly, "My Gourmet Academy is forever!" After some more soliloquy, he finally welcomes Kobayagawa into Kitchen Stadium...and summons his Iron Chefs for the second time. (I think he's starting to get the hang of this.)
So, who will Kobayagawa call out today? Ishinabe already has dispatched the first challenger...so Kobayagawa opts for Iron Chef Japanese, Rokusaburo Michiba! They go so far as to call him the "God of Japanese cuisine!" (Think you made a mistake, Kobayagawa-san?)
So it'll be a French/Japanese battle today, according to Kaga. What theme will he give the two chefs? A doozy for Michiba, as far as the untrained eye can tell...foie gras. In other words, something completely unheard of in Japanese cuisine. Advantage challenger, for the moment...
An interesting fact pointed out by our Chairman: Europe has been using foie gras for the last 4500 years. Japan? Only for the last 10 (as of '93, anyway).
But we Iron Chef fans already have an idea how Michiba will handle this difficult ingredient, and now we get to see his first battle begin with Kaga's call to battle: "ALLEZ CUISINE!"
The time limit has already been lowered to one hour beginning with this battle, as both men advance to the ingredient stand very slowly. And both chefs, at least for the first couple of minutes, stand there staring at the foie gras--Kobayagawa gets a sniff at his, but both have this look on this face that just screams, "What on Earth am I supposed to do with this?"
Michiba begins his first menu 3 minutes into the battle, and Fukui says something along the lines of, "Well, let's remember, he's only got an hour!"
Meanwhile, Kobayagawa looks to already be slicing his foie gras into bite-size pieces. Michiba has fetched a flounder from the pantry, and we begin to see the beginnings of Michiba's first Inochi no Dashi (Broth of Vigor). He's become known for this--dumping huge heapings of bonito shavings into konbu broth.
Kobayagawa has leeks, mushrooms, and...something else boiling in water--Hattori confirms there's no foie gras there, though.
Michiba begins slicing his foie gras into fillets (almost just like filleting sashimi, if you ask me). Kobayagawa has asparagus on his side, and just like that, 15 minutes are gone!
Michiba has a different fish (amadai or tilefish) on his side that he's filleting, while the challenger is carving flowers out of tomatoes. He also has lemons and...something green on his side. Presentation points, indeed. The asparagus he had out earlier has found some boiling water...and there's another pot boiling as we hear half the battle is gone!
Michiba has dredged some of his foie gras in flour and is giving that a quick saute, while Kobayagawa appears to have sprinkled some pepper over a small portion of his. Something has gone into Michiba's steamer, and we see (as the 20-minute mark is announced) foie gras and matsutake about to be wrapped in fish fillets (the flounder from earlier). And--wait a second, that's not Ohta at all!
15 minutes left now, back to Kobayagawa's side, he has a sauce in the works.
Michiba's fish fillets have hit the steamer, and he's got a can of caviar out on his side as well. Kobayagawa is finally sauteing his foie gras with 5 minutes to go.
Michiba's first dish is beginning to take shape--a foie gras salad with fish fillets and ponzu sauce. Meanwhile, Kobayagawa's sauteed foie gras is plated over some asparagus. It's later joined by some shrimp and that sauce he was working on earlier. A decorative plate, to be sure.
1 minute left now, and Michiba's fish fillets are coming out of the steamer. Both sides appear to be done with about 15 seconds left...the final seconds tick down, and without any applause, the Foie Gras Battle is OVAH!
Challenger Kobayagawa has just one dish:
Iron Chef Michiba has two:
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| The bottom dish was his steamed fish fillets. |
Michiba's dishes get even *more* of a positive reaction from Akimoto, at least...
Well, Iron Chef fans should probably already guess who wins this one...and frankly, I think I already have an idea. But we turn to Kaga for the announcement of today's winner. So who takes it? Will it be the Iron Chef or the hero of French cuisine? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?
"Tetsujin, Michiba Rokusaburo."
And here's something we don't see...at the end, we get a credit roll of the recipes for all three dishes! (Though this probably didn't last long.)
My thoughts: If I didn't know the challenger was a French chef, this really could've gone either way. What it really came down to (since it appears they were about on par in taste and presentation) was originality. And clearly, Michiba isn't going to lose that kind of battle.
Watch this episode at the Iron Chef Collection here.
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