They have to get some, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to plan out a recipe or instruct their sou chefs. But how much time do they get before the challenge begins?
From a description I read years ago regarding a Japanese taping, both the Iron Chef and challenger are given a short list of possible theme ingredients about a week in advance. Whatever will be used is on the list of five items and the chefs have an opportunity to request special ingredients or equipment depending on which one is used. The day of the show they shoot the reveal and then there’s about a ten minute break while they set up equipment and the next shot. No preparation is allowed in this period but it does give them a chance to go over things with their assistants.
So, not quite as impressive as going into it completely cold as the show implies, but still very difficult to do.
It also explains how they’re able to get almost any ingredient they want – they have time to prepare their menus for each of three or four possibilities, and then they submit a list of ingredients they want on hand. I mean, however well-stocked Kitchen Stadium is, it’s unlikely they’d have a supply of eel livers at a moment’s notice.
I wonder how similar the items on the list are, too…that would have a big effect.
I mean, preparing for either sardines, heirloom tomatoes, mandarin oranges, goat cheese or vanilla beans has got to be a lot harder than a list like trout, bluegill, catfish, bass or squid.
I believe in Iron Chef America, they are given a choice of two possible ingredients about 2 weeks in advance. They have a team of buyers who try and pick up most of the likely obscure ingredients associated with the secret ingredient. Plus, they tape all the shows for a session in one long run so on average, a lot of it gets used. I’m not sure about the US version but in the Japanese version, the chefs were allowed to take home anything that wasn’t used.