Iron Chef America question

[Skammer]

Okay, I know I'm a Johnny-come-lately to the Iron Chef genre, but I've caught a few episodes of ICA in the last few weeks and I'm hooked. Asparagus ice cream! Crawfish coffee!

I have a question about the show's logistics. I have a hard time swallowing (heh) that the chefs are given a surpise secret ingredient, and in the time it takes for a commercial break they have planned 5 gourmet dishes and successfully communicated their plans to their staff of assistant chefs.

Once the secret ingredient is revealed (".... velveeta!"), how long do the chefs have before the 1-hr clock starts ticking?

[Jpeg Jones]

I believe the contestants are informed before the show about maybe three possible secret ingredients. It's not a total surprise, in other words.

I think they start in as soon as the ingredient is revealed.

[Only Mostly Dead]

I'm probably going to be beaten to the punch looking for cites:

A Food Network spokesperson tells us that the chefs are given a list of five ingredients in advance, knowing only that the secret ingredient will be taken from that list. We're told that this was the practice on the original "Iron Chef" as well as "Iron Chef America."

I know there are more, better, "official" cites, to include the Official Book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0425194078/qid=1129582358/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9641812-8914469?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).

On preview, I was indeed beaten.

[Only Mostly Dead]

Buggered the coding.

This MSN article (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8717337/)A Food Network spokesperson tells us that the chefs are given a list of five ingredients in advance, knowing only that the secret ingredient will be taken from that list. We're told that this was the practice on the original "Iron Chef" as well as "Iron Chef America."

I know there are more, better, "official" cites, to include the Official Book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0425194078/qid=1129582358/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9641812-8914469?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).

[Runestar]

I'm looking forward to an episode where the secret ingredient is Pop Tarts.

[fiddlesticks]

No cites, but I believe that in the Japanese version the chefs had some time (fifteen minutes, perhaps) between the unveiling of the secret ingredient and "Allez Cuisine" to plan a menu and game plan. I'm guessing the American version has a prep period.