Taking a break from reviewing classic episodes to reviewing (several weeks late) the premiere of Iron Chef Japan 2012. Brand-new Kitchen Stadium, brand-new Iron Chefs, same great show we've come to know and love. So let's dive right into this!
(Note: I am watching this episode in Japanese with no subtitles, so...let's see how this goes.)
Original Airdate: 10/26/12
Episode: 1
The scene opens with who I presume to be the new Chairman kneeling by...a grave. Oh, right...the last episode of the original series, Japan Cup 2002, killed off the character of Chairman Kaga. Anyway...nice touch with an overlay of moments from the original series. We now see the new Chairman (one Hiroshi Tamaki) stride into the new Kitchen Stadium (or "Studium," as the caption reads). Looks bloody gorgeous.
I have no idea what the new Chairman is saying in his opening monologue, but I will say that the commentator sounds a lot like Fukui-san from the original series. I don't think it's the same person, but man, they sound remarkably alike.
Also, the music...it doesn't hold a candle to the soundtrack of Backdraft, but then nobody was expecting it to.
I love how it sounds like Tamaki set up a council to select the Iron Chefs. And is that Dr. Hattori I see?
So there will be *four* Iron Chefs. And now, Tamaki calls upon his first Iron Chef to a strike of lightning...the screen lowers to reveal a young man in blue, Iron Chef Japanese: Jun Kurogi.
Each of the Iron Chefs sounds like he'll get his own introductory video. I don't understand very much of it, but I *do* understand is that Kurogi, 34, owns a restaurant in Tokyo called...well, "Kurogi."
Interesting that they seemed to have eschewed the moniker "Tetsujin" of old...
Now, to meet the second new Iron Chef...the screen lowers to reveal a man in yellow...hey, wait a minute, he looks familiar...and I'm not talking about Chen Kenichi!
Meet the new Iron Chef Chinese: Yuji Wakiya!
And...oh, hey, they mention his battle vs. Chen Kenichi from the original series all those years ago. Hattori's very familiar with this guy.
So, we have Japanese...Chinese...it's only natural that this guy would be Iron Chef French, no? He *is* in red...
Your new Iron Chef French: Yosuke Suga, who apparently just got back from France just two days before this show taped. He trained under Joel Robuchon, whom they referred as the "God of French Cuisine" in the original series. Of course, now, it doesn't seem like Robuchon has aged well. But then, that's why he has his young protege in Suga...who doesn't look that old at all.
So...then that leaves one...Iron Chef Italian, perhaps? The screen lowers to reveal...nobody?!
Not sure what that was all about, but now we're introduced to today's "nominator," who will introduce the challenger. And who should it be but none other than Iron Chef Chinese, Chen Kenichi! (He hasn't aged a bit, if at all.)
Chen sounds like he's giving his well-wishes to the new guard, even getting a few laughs in the process. He's holding a scroll of some kind, which he unfurls to reveal a message...gasps from the crowd. Apparently they recognize who it's by, because showing up in the introductory video that follows is none other than Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba. He's aged pretty well, all things considered--he's 81 now, if that can be believed.
That being said, his number one apprentice, Kenichi Miyanaga (who was an assistant to Michiba and some of the challengers from the original series), appears to be the first challenger--or "nominee" in this case--for the new series. Hang on a second, what's this image of an x-ray they're showing on screen? Miyanaga appears emotional in the interview that follows...Michiba can't be *dying* yet, can he? In any event, the x-ray must explain why Michiba's not there in person, but...that bit of news is disconcerting.
But the show must go on...the new floor reporter (who is definitely cuter than Shinichiro Ohta ever was) interviews Miyanaga on the floor. Now the question remains...which Iron Chef will he be up against?
"Iron Chef...Yosuke Suga!" Tamaki proclaims. That there's some pretty dramatic music they're playing there.
So now there's only one thing left to do: reveal the theme ingredient. Tamaki mentions something about October 1993, when the original series premiered...hmm, I wonder...
And the theme is salmon...the very first theme ingredient from the original series. How 'bout that.
Now for the Chairman's call to battle...
"Good gastronomy!"
What the...no "Allez cuisine"? Hrm. Anyway, Suga is beginning to pull the roe out of one of his salmon, while Miyanaga is taking a page out of Michiba's book and writing a menu. Suga meanwhile has taken the roe he just extracted and making a broth of some kind with it.
And in another move characteristic of Michiba, Miyanaga is preparing katsuobushi. We have another floor reporter who actually fulfills Ohta's role, and we learn that the new Fukui's name is actually Sano. (Only because the guy says it twice..."Sano-san, Sano-san!" That's gonna get annoying very fast.)
And Miyanaga's kids are in the Royal Box, who give a wave. D'awww.
We saw Suga pick the bones out of his salmon while all that was going on, and Miyanaga has a couple of kinds of mushrooms in his food processor.
15 minutes gone already, and Miyanaga is working with the head of the salmon. I hear the word "hizu" in there, which is the cartilaginous flesh in the salmon's head. I've seen Sakai work with it before.
Suga is cracking eggs open on his side, while the ice cream machine is in action on Miyanaga's side. Speaking of Miyanaga, the salmon head appears to have gone into a pot of vegetables for a stock of some kind. He's also shaving bits of the skin from the head of a different fish off--there's that word "hizu" again--for later use.
Suga, meanwhile, has potatoes with bits of salmon snaked around them, which is skewered.
Back to Miyanaga's side...salmon steaks filled with the bit from his food processor, topped with matsutake mushrooms. Suga, meanwhile, has...scrambled eggs?
Oh, I see what Miyanaga's doing...the salmon steaks were taken out of the fish, filled with the mushrooms, then reconstructed into the body of the fish.
Suga's side is working with wasabi, along with a honey mustard mixture. I hear the word "risotto" tossed around on his side as well. Hey, I thought he was Iron Chef *French*...
30 minutes gone (the audience is rather quiet today), and Miyanaga is covering fish balls in flour. "Surimi" was mentioned on his side--it sounds like those balls were covered with tapioca. And that cute floor reporter is getting a word with the nominee's kids.
Shirako (cod roe) has hit the frying pan on Suga's side, sauteed in butter and a honey/soy sauce mixture. A sort of ghetto teriyaki sauce, if you will...
And Miyanaga struggles with the food processor before he finally gets that going...didn't catch what went in there, though.
Suga's potato/salmon skewers have also hit the frying pan for a quick saute in butter, while Miyanaga is stuffing a kind of cheese into some tomatoes he had lightly boiled earlier. And he's now trying to peel a giant daikon (kabu, I heard)
15 minutes left now, and Suga is grilling some salmon fillets, while Miyanaga sandwiched what looked like a salmon skin between two cooling racks and put that over a flame. The giant daikon he was working with is being shredded...and do I hear trouble with the ice cream maker? They had to pull out dry ice.
Suga's side has some crisped salmon skins out...and what on *Earth* is going on on the other side, did they just put the dry ice *in* the ice cream machine? Oh boy...
10 minutes left, and the other floor reporter has now started shouting "Sano-san" three times instead of the usual two. Suga is filling the eggshells he had emptied earlier with a yellow mixture of some kind...and it looks like Miyanaga, ditching his hat, is taking his ice cream mixture over to the Iron Chef's side with just 5 minutes to go.
Plating is underway on both sides, and the shirako Suga was grilling earlier goes down on top of a risotto. And *now* the audience decides to make some noise!
Suga's eggshells get some gold foil, while Miyanaga's reconstructed fish comes out of the oven. A sauce goes down on Suga's risotto (perhaps the ghetto teriyaki sauce we saw earlier), and perhaps as a result of a bad edit, we now only have 30 seconds left! And the Kitchen Stadium goes relatively quiet as the time expires...
Now, the moment of truth...tasting and judgement. Normally this is when I recount who's on the panel and the names of each of the dishes...but since I don't know any of that, a picture of the dishes from both chefs can be found here.
But now, the moment of truth...will it be the Iron Chef or Michiba's hero?
"Winner...Iron Chef, Yosuke Suga!"
And he wins in a 4-1 romp, to boot! What a way to inaugurate the new series...even if I didn't understand much.
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