I’ve only recently gotten in to Iron Chef, like in the past month, so forgive me if this particular issue has been discussed on these boards.
Anyway, I’m curious as to how the producers know what the chefs will need to complete their dishes. For example, last week one of the competitors used fat from a horse’s neck (at the base of the mane) in one of his dishes. Now, that’s about as obscure an ingredient as I’ve ever seen used in a recipe. I could go my whole life without ever cooking or eating a dish with horse-neck fat in it.
However, when the Iron Chef competitor needed it, it was right there. Sending a courier to go get it would have been impossible within the one-hour time limit of the contest. And besides, where in Japan does one go when one needs horse-neck fat?
So I’m forced to conclude one of three things:
The competitors are told, in advance, what the “secret” ingredient is, and they tell the producers what they’ll need.
The Iron Chef kitchen has every imaginable spice, vegetable, fruit, animal product, etc. in its cabinets and coolers.
A panel of experts goes over every possible dish that might be made with the secret ingredient and makes sure the kitchen is stocked with the necessary supplies before the competitors arrive.
I’ve read elsewhere that the contestants are told in advance that the theme ingredient will be one of four things. They then plan four menus and give the producers their shopping lists so they’ll have what they need regardless of which of the four things they’ll be cooking.
Well, in one of the specials about the new “Iron Chef America”, they went to great pains to point out that the ICA kitchens did in fact have just about every ingredient under the sun. We also saw the guy that had to go out shopping in Asian markets for Japanese ingredients. I dont know if said ingredients were things that the Japanese chefs wanted generally or if they were based on all the possible “secret ingredients” though.
I one read that the chefs do have some warning about the theme ingredient…sort of. There is apparently a preselected short list of three or for possible theme ingredients which a preapproved by both chefs. Although they don’t exactly which ingredient it will be until the show they do know what the options will be and they do have some time to request possible speciality ingredients beforehand.
That, and “Kitchen Stadium” is also extremely well stocked anyway, plus the chefs often bring some of their own pet ingredients with them.
I once read that the chefs do have some warning about the theme ingredient…sort of. There is apparently a preselected short list of three or for possible theme ingredients which is given to both chefs. Although they don’t exactly which ingredient it will be until the show they do know what the options will be and they do have some time to request possible speciality ingredients beforehand.
That, and “Kitchen Stadium” is also extremely well stocked anyway, plus the chefs often bring some of their own pet ingredients with them.
heh… I was reading on the IC website that the chefs are allowed to take home any leftovers from ingredients they’ve opened, and that more than one Iron Chef has opened a $500 tin of caviar, added a teaspoon of it to a dish and taken the rest to their restaurants. IIRC, most of the Iron Chefs have an assistant bring a cooler with them to chill the “loot” in the meantime.
Sakai is notorious for thelast-minute “Oh, I just have to have three caviar eggs - oops! I just opened a whole pound can of Osetra. Mustn’t let it go to waste, so I’ll take it home.”
I think they often try to fit the theme ingredient into their pre-planned recipes. So they know they’ll be making horse-neck something regardless of what the specific theme is.
The dubbing is brilliant - I would love to see how it is done - the voice actors convey a good depth of content - from the incredibly stupid things the actress says to the pompous ravings of the older judge.
What’s amazing about the dubbing – particularly of the “sportscasters” who do the narration and speculation during the cooking – is how many Americanisms it’s laced with!
“He was going to use duck meat, but it looks like he ducked the duck!”
“There’s about a buck forty-five left on the clock.”
etc.
I can’t believe the original Japanese contained any of these euphemisms or puns.
As an aside, I’ve noticed that, more often than not, the seafood theme-ingredients are brought out live. The chefs frequently start cutting them up before they kill them, too. I wonder if they’ll ever do other kinds of live theme-ingredients – like, say, a “live pork” battle.
I remember there was one battle where an Iron Chef wanted to use a particular type of fish but the challenger had got the only one before him so he had to settle for a different kind so they DO run out of ingredients occasionally. Also, there was one where Sakai wanted to make a beef stew with one of the cheaper, more flavourful cuts of beef but all that were availible were high quality steaks presumably.
Probably to the same place one goes when one needs horseflesh of any kind. As I was somewhat surprised to learn, horsemeat dishes are a regional specialty in Kumamoto. You can even get horse “sashimi” and sushi rolls there. I can’t remember ever hearing of anyone outside Kumamoto sitting down to a big ol’ plate o’ horse, but for a trained Japanese chef horse fat probably doesn’t seem that obscure or exotic an ingredient.
I believe this episode was on last night, Salmon Battle. Sakai wanted the only female salmon of the 6, but the challenger got it instead (and got to use the roe, too).
The dubbing is not completely faithful to the original dialog. In addition to throwing in puns and suchlike, they also explain certain foods and customs to the American audience which it would obviously not be necessary to explain to the Japanese audience.
I used to be really freaked out by the way they’d throw lobsters into the pot still twitching, but now I’m kind of inurred to it. Live pork battle would definitely be a sight to see, though!
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What’s amazing about the dubbing – particularly of the “sportscasters” who do the narration and speculation during the cooking – is how many Americanisms it’s laced with!
“He was going to use duck meat, but it looks like he ducked the duck!”
“There’s about a buck forty-five left on the clock.”
etc.
I can’t believe the original Japanese contained any of these euphemisms or puns.
[QUOTE]
At my house it’s a game to pick out the porn phrases. “It feels so good in my mouth” or “I really like this one. It’s so slick.”
And the female actress is always referred to as either Fuk Mi or Fuk Yoo.
Yes, it’s juvenile. We don’t care.
I can see it now: instead of sitting at a sushi bar with the circling boats, you have one designed like a racetrack. “I’ll have an Appaloosa, a Klydesdale, and a pair of Highland ponies, please.”
