# Iron Chef: How Do They Know What Ingredients the Competitors Will Need? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862 "2004-05-24T19:37:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/21 "2004-05-26T00:59:29Z")
> [@Jpeg Jones](#): > > 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). On another episode, Michiba wanted to use tilefish but the challenger had gotten the only one in kitchen stadium so he had to settle for some other fish. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/22 "2004-05-26T02:17:30Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > I can’t believe the original Japanese contained any of these euphemisms or puns. Taking in mind that Japanese considers puns to be perfectly respectable and even desirable literary tropes, it probably has a lot of _Japanese_ puns, though. > [@Rez](#): > > 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.” My brother’s favorite. Also, we dig the parts where the actress, or the former Deputy PM or whatever they have that day for a guest will say something like “this dish allows the true spirit of the [ingredient] to speak to us, and it really moves me”. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/23 "2004-05-26T02:24:23Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > 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.” If such a place does not actually exist already, it’s probably just a matter of time. 😉 I once went out for a country drive with a Kumamotoan friend and her father. Dad didn’t speak much English, but every time we passed by horses grazing in a field he’d smack his lips and say “Ah, delicious!” This was probably partially a bit of gaijin-teasing, but the guy really did like horsemeat – I once saw him put away a whole dish of horse sashimi. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/24 "2004-05-26T03:57:58Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > 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 always enjoy the end where Fukui-san says “And the pork battle is OVA” Or when what’s-his-face (the guy who puts up all the challengers… became bald at one point) says “It’s gut-check time.” I always have to ask whatever hapless person I’m watching with what phrase in Japanese translates to “It’s gut-check time!” (or ova… please, no caviar puns 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/25 "2004-05-26T06:08:09Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > 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.” I went to a restaurant a few weeks ago with some colleagues. Two of the dishes we had were beef sashimi and _ike-zukuri_. The later is a kind of sashimi that you eat while the fish is still alive. The chef cuts it up so as not to kill it. You pick pieces from a still-shivering carcass while the fish eyes you, mouth agape. It’s both horrific and delicious. Anyway, I started thinking about mixing the two dishes to get: _beef ike-zukuri_. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/26 "2004-05-26T06:48:50Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > Anyway, I started thinking about mixing the two dishes to get: _beef ike-zukuri_. Wasn’t there a scene in _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ in which a talking cow tried to convince Arthur Dent to eat her? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/27 "2004-05-26T11:06:32Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Wasn’t there a scene in _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ in which a talking cow tried to convince Arthur Dent to eat her? Not to mention, pointing out which parts of itself were the most tender and succulent. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/28 "2004-05-26T11:31:53Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > 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. It’s also a local delicacy in Nagano, from what I’ve heard, and there are plenty of places in Toyko that serve it. I have to say, it’s pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![peculiar\_hailstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/46a35a/32.png) [@peculiar\_hailstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peculiar_hailstone)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/29 "2004-05-26T15:49:49Z")
I live in Montreal, and I’ve seen horse meat in lots of the local grocery stores. Not exactly sure why though. Didn’t know it was a local dish. Never seen it on a restaurant menu here either, but sure saw it at the store. Not sure about neck-fat though. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/30 "2004-05-26T19:56:26Z")
The English slang would be fine if it didn’t include “Get it on, bang a gong” (right on?) ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/31 "2004-05-26T20:44:27Z")
Mmmm, Pinto-Maki and Scallion-stallion soup. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/32 "2004-05-26T20:47:26Z")
Mmmm, Pinto-Maki and Scallion-stallion soup. Oh, maybe the whole horse-as-ingredient idea got started this way: I asked for chopped _scallions_ you idiot! ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862/33 "2004-05-27T05:05:29Z")
> [@peculiar hailstone](#): > > I live in Montreal, and I’ve seen horse meat in lots of the local grocery stores. At least they don’t cut the horse in half lengthwise while it’s still alive, starting at the tail, and let you pick bits of flesh off of its body to chew on while it’s still conscious and watching you. _shudder_ I’ve heard of people who are semi-vegetarians: they don’t eat beef or pork or fowl because they feel morally opposed to killing animals or causing animals to suffer, but they have no problem eating seafood. Let 'em see one episode of _Iron Chef_ with one of their live seafood theme-ingredients and they’ll never feel that way again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-how-do-they-know-what-ingredients-the-competitors-will-need/246862.md?page=1)