Iron Chef America question

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?

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.

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

I know there are more, better, “official” cites, to include the Official Book.

On preview, I was indeed beaten.

Buggered the coding.

This MSN article

I know there are more, better, “official” cites, to include the Official Book.

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

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.