# The Next Iron Chef, season 4: The Super Chefs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338 "2011-10-31T00:58:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/41 "2011-11-14T15:42:15Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > In another life, I would have been a pastry chef so I kind of get the whole “OMFG! Anything but desserts!” mantra. Believe me, I teach math so I hear the same thing about my chosen discipline. But I was amazed that these extremely capable chefs were so anti-pastry. And their attitude of “Of course Falkner will nail it.” comes across as very condecending hence her attitude. Exactly. From Alex Guarnaschelli assigning her the Whoppers because “she’s a pastry chef and they don’t have much flavor” the assorted mutterings of “of course she’ll win in a sweet stuff challenge” they completelty overlooked the fact that she embraced the ingredient and knocked the judge’s socks off with her savory dish, not just her dessert. Also it’s given me a raging craving for Whoppers. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/42 "2011-11-14T15:48:02Z")
Nice alternation. They eliminate a chef I don’t like, then one I do, then one I don’t. Next week MacMillan and Burrell better watch out. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/43 "2011-11-14T17:00:59Z")
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > Exactly. From Alex Guarnaschelli assigning her the Whoppers because “she’s a pastry chef and they don’t have much flavor” the assorted mutterings of “of course she’ll win in a sweet stuff challenge” they completelty overlooked the fact that she embraced the ingredient and knocked the judge’s socks off with her savory dish, not just her dessert. > > Also it’s given me a raging craving for Whoppers. I missed that part of the show, just saw the last bit where they had the tofu challenge, but I’ve seen a pastry chef win Chopped at least once. Someone who does desserts has almost certainly spent a fair bit of time training on the other parts of the meal also, so I wouldn’t discount 'em!! I must have missed something, I guess Robert Irvine was eliminated at some point recently. I didn’t see him in the lineup where they assigned the tofu cookoff! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/44 "2011-11-14T17:07:57Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I must have missed something, I guess Robert Irvine was eliminated at some point recently. I didn’t see him in the lineup where they assigned the tofu cookoff! Last week was a ballpark-themed cook off, and he and Chiarello were in the bottom two, with the secret ingredient being peanuts. He lost (though it was seen as very close). ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/45 "2011-11-14T18:33:45Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > Last week was a ballpark-themed cook off, and he and Chiarello were in the bottom two, with the secret ingredient being peanuts. He lost (though it was seen as very close). I think you meant to say “(he was screwed out of the win)” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/46 "2011-11-14T19:24:06Z")
Most assuredly. The bottom two should have been Zakarian and Chiarello. Irvine met the challenge directly while Zakarian missed it completely. The fix is definitely in. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/47 "2011-11-14T20:01:12Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I think you meant to say “(he was screwed out of the win)” No, if that’s what I meant, that’s what I would’ve said. It is priceless, though, how people can evaluate the results of a competition show largely based on taste without, you know, **tasting** the dishes in question. I’ll be the first to admit that they manipulate the editing to make it more suspenseful than it probably is in the judges’ minds, but I don’t see any reason to believe Irvine (who I like) didn’t lose on the merits. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/48 "2011-11-14T20:33:09Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I missed that part of the show, just saw the last bit where they had the tofu challenge, but I’ve seen a pastry chef win Chopped at least once. Someone who does desserts has almost certainly spent a fair bit of time training on the other parts of the meal also, so I wouldn’t discount 'em!! The challenge was to use movie theater candy (Whoppers, gummy bears, Rollos, Sour Patch Kids, chocolate covered raisins, cinnamon red-hots and I forget what else) in one savory and one sweet dish. Since Alex G. won last week she was able to pick her ingredient and assign the other chefs their Candy of Doom. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/49 "2011-11-14T20:44:33Z")
I don’t see the point in challenges like this. In Iron Chef, yes they have a secret ingredient, and sometimes it’s weird, but it’s always a protein, a vegetable, a fruit, at least something the chefs can work with. In a challenge like this one, the choice was to melt it down and turn it into a sauce or glaze or ice cream, or grind it up and use it as a batter/coating. Frankly, the descriptions of the dishes turned my stomach. I know they tasted like crap, too. The judges always commented on how well (or not) the proteins were cooked, and how the candy ingredient didn’t totally f up the dish. The only one I’d even try was the pastry chef’s. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/50 "2011-11-14T20:47:17Z")
Because Irvine is awesome! He’s my favorite chef in this year’s show and was gone in the 2nd episode! Zakarian continues to impress and I’m now really wondering how Alex is going to handle a cookoff, since she seems flustered all the time. Against 9 or 8 other people, she seems to do well, but as it stands right now, I’d probably take any of the other chefs over her in a one-on-one I’m at least kind of glad that 2 of the 3 chefs that’s gone home are people I don’t know. It makes the show more compelling for me that I’ve watched the other people and can expect certain things from them. Not really liking Zakarian much on Chopped, he’s really impressed me here so I’ll be rooting for him to go home later than the other guys at least. I’m still torn on whether I’d want a winner to be someone I’ve seen a lot (Anne, Alex, Zakarian, Marcus, Beau) or a relative unknown to me. It will be hard for me to separate the chefs from Chopped, should one of them win, with being an Iron Chef. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/51 "2011-11-14T20:49:47Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > I don’t see the point in challenges like this. In Iron Chef, yes they have a secret ingredient, and sometimes it’s weird, but it’s always a protein, a vegetable, a fruit, at least something the chefs can work with. > > In a challenge like this one, the choice was to melt it down and turn it into a sauce or glaze or ice cream, or grind it up and use it as a batter/coating. Frankly, the descriptions of the dishes turned my stomach. I know they tasted like crap, too. The judges always commented on how well (or not) the proteins were cooked, and how the candy ingredient didn’t totally f up the dish. > > The only one I’d even try was the pastry chef’s. A lot of Iron Chef battles hinges on creativity and using the secret ingredient in a new way. If you get pork, you can’t just make 5 bacon dishes and call it a day. There’s almost always a dessert no matter how savory the ingredient is. Plus, the show does sometimes throw weird ingredients out there and types of candy have been used. If they can’t make 2 good dishes with candy, think of how bad they’d do if they have to make 5 ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/52 "2011-11-14T21:09:02Z")
Halloween candy was a recent one, and they’ve done chocolate a few times. And don’t let’s forget the clam flan or the Two Hot Tamales’ turkey sorbet in little chocolate pastry cups 😃 I’d much rather take my chances on lamb with chocolate covered raisins sauce than either of those two! Actually the challenges on Next Iron Chef remind me more of Chopped than Iron Chef America, since on ICA the chefs know ahead of time what the secret ingredient is and on the other two there are many more deliberate curveballs to test how well they think on the fly. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/53 "2011-11-14T21:23:30Z")
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > …since on ICA the chefs know ahead of time what the secret ingredient is and on the other two there are many more deliberate curveballs to test how well they think on the fly. Do they really know in advance? I have often wondered that - it seems nearly impossible to come up with 5 new dishes in an hour without ANY time to plan, but the show sure tries to make you think it’s a complete surprise. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/54 "2011-11-14T22:18:39Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Do they really know in advance? I have often wondered that - it seems nearly impossible to come up with 5 new dishes in an hour without ANY time to plan, but the show sure tries to make you think it’s a complete surprise. The Iron Chefs and contestant are given a list of potential secret ingredients, mostly so that they can request special ingredients to be stocked in the pantry. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/55 "2011-11-14T22:24:10Z")
Oh boo. My favorite is gone. Now I have to pick someone else to root for. I have never seen Zakarian cook before. I’m liking him. Faulkner too. Very down to earth. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/56 "2011-11-14T23:04:50Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Do they really know in advance? I have often wondered that - it seems nearly impossible to come up with 5 new dishes in an hour without ANY time to plan, but the show sure tries to make you think it’s a complete surprise. I read a little bit about the old Japanese Iron Chef, maybe its done the same way as the American or maybe it isn’t, but like **D\_Odds** said, they are given a list of potential ingredients. After the ingredient is revealed, the Japanese version gave chefs about 15 mins to plan, that’s why the sous chefs quickly run off to do something like they can read the chef’s mind ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/57 "2011-11-15T00:47:48Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > It is priceless, though, how people can evaluate the results of a competition show largely based on taste without, you know, **tasting** the dishes in question. I’ll be the first to admit that they manipulate the editing to make it more suspenseful than it probably is in the judges’ minds, but I don’t see any reason to believe Irvine (who I like) didn’t lose on the merits. From the editing, it seemed the taste was pretty similar with Irvine’s hummus a little gummy. That being said, the theme was “Transformation” correct? How many uses of peanuts did Irvine give us and did he transform the peanut when compared to Key-a-rello’s one use which was substituting fried peanuts for raosted pinenuts? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/58 "2011-11-15T01:15:43Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > From the editing, it seemed the taste was pretty similar with Irvine’s hummus a little gummy. That being said, the theme was “Transformation” correct? How many uses of peanuts did Irvine give us and did he transform the peanut when compared to Key-a-rello’s one use which was substituting fried peanuts for raosted pinenuts? Your conflating the theme of the main challenge with the cook-off. The cook-off is simply “prepare the best single dish that you can with the secret ingredient”. The main challenge that week was transformation (of stadium food to Iron Chef stadium food). ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/59 "2011-11-15T01:21:13Z")
I think McMillan should’ve been eliminated for not using the secret ingredient at all. Sweet guy, but you can’t just say something is “inspired by” your ingredient. StG ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338/60 "2011-11-15T01:27:00Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Your conflating the theme of the main challenge with the cook-off. The cook-off is simply “prepare the best single dish that you can with the secret ingredient”. The main challenge that week was transformation (of stadium food to Iron Chef stadium food). Exactly. For the face-off, ultimately, it’s “Which tastes better?” Creativity, presentation, etc. are fine, but the taste is the final arbiter. That’s why Irvine lost. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-iron-chef-season-4-the-super-chefs/601338.md?page=4)