Cool! Verrain is in. Having a relative newbie like yourself as a judge is an excellent idea. That way none of the contestants will know you well enough to bribe you
btw: Welcome aboard!
Ahem: We now have the requisite three judges.
We will accept more judges and contestants if they wish to apply, but we now have what we need.
The secret ingredients will be posted this Friday night. The Iron Chefs will be allowed one week to the minute to work their delicious magic.
Once the judges have completed their delicious assignment, the supreme Iron Chef will be declared, and kitchen stadium will never be the same!
Oh! Oh! Pick me! I want to be a critic! I can say inane things and make up lame comparisons. Plus, I need this more than anyone, since i have no other life to rely on for entertainment. PLEASE let me be a judge?
My best? On Prozac and Chardonnay? Hmm…probably the most likely under these circumstances. I shall give it my best shot. Now what’s the surprise ingredient? Shall we have Possum Blood ice cream? Slug surprise. What IS it?
Chairman Scylla, wearing my Judge’s hat (as opposed to my obsequious Otah hat), I’d like a ruling before the competition starts on the rules additions and clarifications I proposed above. My sensitive photographer’s soul requires that I understand what my judging criteria are beforehand (and know that the contestants understand what’s expected of them.)
If you’d intended to do that as part of your grand unveiling, and I’m joggling your elbow, simply say “Shut up, Fenris-San” through gritted teeth and I’ll revert to my cringing, Otah-like self.
Oh and I just realized…eeeewwwww. If Chief Scott is going to be the Bimbo DuJour (BDJ), I’m breaking character as the photographer. I don’t wanna flirt shamelessly with him!! :eek:
Iron Chef Zenster’s saffron robed acolytes once again bring forth the teak wood chests, redolent with exotic spices. Flashes of Damascene steel catch the studio lights as they are unpacked along with jars of spices and containers of living herbs still planted in their native soils.
Secret Nordic liquors are kept frozen in blocks of ice to preserve their bouquet. A barrel is staved in to reveal bottle after bottle of American, Asian and European wines of all grapes and grains packed amongst the straw inside. There is a small French oaken cask. What does it contain, a firey provincial Calvados? Perhaps a more mature Armagnac, or possibly a fine Cognac? More discernable baskets of tree ripened fruit and creels of living seafood are packed on ice as the studio kitchen’s station is brought to readiness.
Iron Chef Zenster ponders the novel yet recognizable fusions of world cusines to be condensed into the California style that is his. He looks forward to the avid participation of the judges in the critical scoring phase of this contest and sips at a chilled ginger tea to cool his overheated imagination.
Well scoot over! You’re crowding me on the critic’s bench. I hardly have room to get a really good mouthful of this saffron flavored baby squid over ettoufeé.
Since the Iron Chef sow allows for ties, I feel that I cannot reasonably excude them. Ideally the judges responsibility is to make fine distinctions between dishes, so a tie should be uncommonly rare. Should one occur it will result in a quick cook off.
Of course the goal of Iron Chef is to articulate the secret ingredient and contestants should be judged on their ability to do so. I can imagine something along the lines of a jalapeno battle where one dish might be very hot, and the following might be a very mild sweet pepper dish containing no jalapenos. Done properly such an exercise may serve to emphasis and articulate the jalapeno by its very absence, the sweet pepper provideing a reminder of jalapeno texture and flavor without heat. While this is certainly a very dangerous and controversial tactic, I do not feel it appropriate to unnecesssarily constrain the Ion Chefs, but rather to give their creativity full reign. They will suffer the glory of humiliation of their choices.
Finally, I do expect full and complete recipes, as well as presentation notes.
Remember it is 10 points for taste. 5 for creativity, and five for presentation.
Neglect any aspect at your own peril.
Ingredients will be posted Friday night. That allows time for anyone else to participate who whasn’t seen this yet.
A point of fact: In Chairman Kaga’s Iron Chef, ties only occur when all the judge’s scores are added together and equal a tie. An individual judge is not allowed to give equal points to both participants. Kaga doesn’t like cook-offs. (Apparently neither do the participants! Chen (my personal fav) has said he hates them) There have only been 7 or so in the entire history of Kitchen Stadium because of this policy. By forcing the judges to choose one participant over the other, even by only one point, Kaga minimizes the chance of a tie. Besides, at the level of talent we have, if not forced to, it would be very, very easy to fall back on a “They’re both great! I can’t choose” type answer. Is this worth reconsidering?
One remaining question: Since you are boldly offering two ingredients!!! (A daring idea: I salute you!) to the honored chefs, are both ingredients required in each dish? Or are they only required use at least one of the ingredients per dish? I, as Taster and Judge look forward to your ruling on this
(An’ I’m still not gonna flirt with Chief Scott.)
Fenris-San, who will now shut up (except in his role as Otah) and look forward to the contest, drooling hungrily
Perhaps it is worth reconsidering. Do you have a cite for that ruling point that I can have my analysts examine?
If I answered your question about the dual ingredients I would be giving something away. Something that I have not finalized. Rest assured that answer will become clear upon the unveiling.
Chairman Kaga has performed in a number of musicals: JC Superstar, Les Mis, and West Side Stories. He has also done a rap song. May we anticipate a similar performance from you?
Regarding the ruling point, I thought I had a cite, but the site seems to have disappeared in FujiTV’s purge of Iron Chef web-sites. (They’ve since relented, and a few sites have sprung back up, but nothing like what was once available). The Iron Chef faq linked to above doesn’t say anything, neither does Sluggo’s I.C. USA page. At this point, the only evidence I have is that in all the Iron Chefs I’ve watched (every Food Network episode and a few of the subtitled only ones) I don’t recall ever seeing a judge give equal points to both contestants.
I know I saw the rule, and my experience supports my memory, but I’ll admit that this is pretty flimsy evidence.
Oops!
I did find a couple of cites on Deja, from the alt.tv.iron-chef group, here and here.
Checking further, it seems that one BDJ gave out a perfect score (20 pts) to both contestants once. Apparently it’s the only time it’s happened. I’ve not seen the episode (so it was filmed before '97), so the rule may have been established after that.
Fenris
(Who sincerely hopes that one of the ingredients that Chairman Scylla chooses is not Fish Sperm. Fish Spooge Ice-Cream is too yukky to contemplate)
