Iron Chef Episode 1-Who should have won?

[Singapore]

I thought Sakai had that one won, certainly his presentation and originality topped Flay's creations. I mean, c'mon, a fish taco? How is that original?

I will grant the possibility that the trout ice cream grossed the tasters out.....

Comments? Am I off base here?

Edited April 24, 2004 by Singapore (log)

[pjs]

Obiviously, Sakai wasn't using "Miracle Whip."

PJ

[Gifted Gourmet]

I really thought for originality and ability to create interesting and innovative dishes for the trout, that Sakai would positively win ... but alas, I was wrong ..

Extremely interesting, too, that the FN TV voters at home agreed on Sakai as the winner ...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ia/ar...2803991,00.html

Edited April 24, 2004 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

[cakes]

I think Sakai blew it with the shark fin...........not PC.

Good battle, I thought.

Cakes

[Gifted Gourmet]

In the possible event that you missed tonight's shows, here is the schedule for the week, as well as some other interesting material from FN TV:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ia/te...6_19048,00.html

Edited April 24, 2004 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

[bottomlesspit]

Watching the late showing of this battle...

Could be wrong, but I think the Iron Chef American competition judges might have somewhat less sophisticated palates than those on the Japanese version - a little less adventurous. It certainly seemed that way in the previous American competitions.

For instance, I think the issue w/ the shark fin is not so much that it's un-PC as it's just a little too exotic for the Americanized palate. Flay definitely makes more crowd pleasing food, but...

"...the very handsome Bobby Flay... "???

That's so lost on me. He's not ugly, but he ain't exactly all that and a bag o' chips, either.

[enrevanche]

On our scorecards, the wife and I had Sakai as the winner. Of course, it's hard to really tell without actually tasting the food. Aside from the trout ice cream (which I would have gamely tried) Sakai's dishes all looked like complete winners.

As an aside, was Alton Brown useless as a color commentator, or what? Failure to recognize a daikon radish: ten yard penalty, loss of down. "Um, it's a long, white, root-looking thing." Indeed.

Made me long for Hattori-san, Fukui-san, and Ota-san.

[godito]

Was Sakai robbed?Ofcourse he was! Did everybody seethescorecardsat the end? Flay had more points with hisplatepresentations (????????????????) and the same with originality (fish tacos Vs trout ice cream)

I do believe that Sakai used more sophisticated ingredients, and is that hurt him, then it speaks poorly of the judges. His plates looked better, were original and I'm sure they even tasted better. Even though he won (maybe because he's the good looking american boy) I still don't understan what is Bobby Flay doing there. The quality of foodhe produced was mediocreat best, even if it tasted like the nectar of the Gods!

[carp]

This is complete crap!

They need to balance out the panel. This was a complete fix. I completely agree that the judges have far less sophisticated palates. I mean, Kerry Simon? Brian fuc*ing Unger? Who are these damned people? Alright, so Simon has a restaurant in Las Vegas... but what's the excuse for putting Unger on the panel?

Later they bring in the stupid coffee shop guy from Friends?

There is little hope that Sakai or Morimoto will get a fair shake with the crowd of losers the Food Network has assembled for the panel...

Edited April 24, 2004 by carp (log)

[bpearis]

i like brian unger (an original daily show correspondent) and the way the show was edited it seemed as if sakai was a lock. maybe that was the problem, the editing.

that said, we've got steingarten coming up as a judge. then again, some vapid Access Hollywood woman too. i'm still looking forward to the batali/morimoto battle.

[ExtraMSG]

Um, did you guys ever watch the original? Baseball players, fortune tellers, actresses, sumos....

The reason the Japanese palates looked more exotic is because we're looking from the outside in at their ingredients. To them, corn is exotic. There were a lot of western cooks that lost because they didn't meet the palates of the locals.

The local iron chefs should have an advantage. They're the home team.

Ya bunch of pissy bastards.

[carp]

Um, did you guys ever watch the original? Baseball players, fortune tellers, actresses, sumos....

The reason the Japanese palates looked more exotic is because we're looking from the outside in at their ingredients. To them, corn is exotic. There were a lot of western cooks that lost because they didn't meet the palates of the locals.

The local iron chefs should have an advantage. They're the home team.

Ya bunch of pissy bastards.

Don't forget lower house members...

[jogoode]

that said, we've got steingarten coming up as a judge. then again, some vapid Access Hollywood woman too. i'm still looking forward to the batali/morimoto battle.

In this month's Vogue, Steingarten writes about being a judge on Iron Chef. I was surprised to read that he thought Flay produced some of the best tasting dishes. I guess you have to eat the stuff to really judge.

[jhlurie]

that said, we've got steingarten coming up as a judge. then again, some vapid Access Hollywood woman too. i'm still looking forward to the batali/morimoto battle.

What? They drafted from "Access Hollywood" and they didn't get President Bush's creepy little cousin Billy?

I wonder if the "Access Hollywood" woman is expected to giggle a lot and talk too fast and all breathy. 'Cause it's Iron Chef.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Does anyone think perhaps they should have imported the judges from the Bocuse d'Or panels?? Now those people knew what was on their tongues, down to the last grain of Fleur de Sel ...

Accuracy and reliability of tastebuds is best done by the pros .. not someone imported from Comedy Central ...

worse yet, Central Casting!

[Saydee]

I have to admit the show was interesting, but of course not as good as the Japanese version (hey, they've still got to work out all the kinks). I thought Alton did a good job once he got going, but the guy from Thirsty Traveler could have not been there at all and it wouldn't have made a difference. Poor guy either was overwhelmed or wasn't paying attention... nearly every time Alton asked him what was going on down on the floor, he said, "I'm not sure" or "I don't know!" I also think it suffered from being a bit too sterile. During the Japanese show, the tasting panel is constantly making comments about what's being prepared, guessing what's going to happen next, or saying things like, "wow, that's interesting, can't wait to taste that." The tasting panelists here were pretty much a non-entity until the end of the show. And I think they have too many "experts" on the panel, anyway (chefs, food magazine editors). They should have some random people like maybe... Bruce Willis, Rachel Ray, and John McCain. Yep, that's it. I also think Sakai was robbed for originality and presentation. The trout ice cream alone should have gotten him the nod for originality, even if the idea *did* wig out the panelists.

On a side note, I do think the actor playing the Kaga role is pretty hot.

Edited April 24, 2004 by Saydee (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

On a side note, I do think the actor playing the Kaga role is pretty hot.

Mark Dacascos, the faux Kaga "hot guy" .... from Food Network's website:

Actor and martial artist Mark Dacascos makes his Food Network debut on Iron Chef America. Prior to hosting the show, Mark has had numerous television, film, and theatrical appearances.

Before being discovered in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Mark was a European martial arts champion.

He is, to be sure, not without talents, one of which is his backward somersault done without hands ....

[Singapore]

On a side note, I do think the actor playing the Kaga role is pretty hot.

I rather liked the bit where he gave a nod to the yellow bell pepper, and then took a crunch out of an apple. Nice bit of respect towards the original Kaga.

From the "Who will make history, and who will be history" promo bits ('Make history' shows the American IC's, and 'Be history' shows Sakai and Morimoto), I wonder if the Japanese Iron Chefs can actually win one here? Are we looking at fixed battles? Sakai certainly didn't look upset or surprised last night.

[Chris Cognac]

that said, we've got steingarten coming up as a judge. then again, some vapid Access Hollywood woman too. i'm still looking forward to the batali/morimoto battle.

In this month's Vogue, Steingarten writes about being a judge on Iron Chef. I was surprised to read that he thought Flay produced some of the best tasting dishes. I guess you have to eat the stuff to really judge.

I second that and I WAS THERE! Flays dishes were awesome, no disrespect to any of the other I.C's but the man can cook. Flay cooks for the American palate, he has tthe same advantage that the I.C's had in Japan...home field!

[sanguinella]

Sigh, once more I have proof that anything slathered, and I mean truly slathered in flavourings will be "haute cuisine" in the USA and grab the gold. Oh, yes, let's not forget that anything truly daring or foreign (trout ice cream), is not truly seen as a dish to be savoured in the light of a new creation for the palate, and analyzed thusly , but more of "extreme cuisine" and is thus invalidated .

Who in the dickens was that chef with the grunge hair? He made faces, faces, even before putting a spoon in his mouth. A true chef and gourmand should not have such horrid bias, or at least show it. Why this gustatory bias amongst most Americans that to be good, it must be painfully spiced, smoked, seared, salted or sweetened? Obviously, I was really disappointed by the vote. I suppose it's because I have tasted the Mesa approach and think of it as the way Wagner would cook. Personally, while I acknowledge the historical and musical impact of Wagner's works, and find some of his oevre palatable, on the whole, I think of it as bombastic, brassy, and without subtlety. Maybe melodious, but not harmonious. Sakai obviously is more of a Scarlati, and thus failed.

[ExtraMSG]

btw, people ripped on Flay's presentations versus Sakai's. They tied in the scoring on presentation. I actually liked Flay's more. Flay's were more bold presentations, using the cast iron skillet, coconut and dried spices, and the whole fried trout. Maybe they just translated to TV better.

Except for the trout ice cream, I didn't think Sakai was pushing the envelope. I really thought they about tied there, too. Besides, the trout ice cream obviously wasn't something the panel enjoyed. Even Sakai knew it was primarily weird, judging from his jokes. Originality for originality's sake isn't necessarily a good thing. It should be in the service of flavor. And originality for its own sake will almost never please an American palate. We're a pragmatic country. We like things to work, not just be cool, in general. (I think that's a good thing.)

As for taste, who knows unless you were there. The ice cream alone could have cost Sakai the two points. I, too, would like to see it broken out by person. Who doesn't love to look back at ICJ and say, "oh, that bitch Kishi is making the difference for the iron chef, again..."?

I agree with Chris about the home court advantage. I don't think the foreign palate proved itself any more adventurous on ICJ. eg, when they went to France, the French judges voted straight down the line for the French chefs and the Japanese judges voted straight down the line for the Japanese chefs. That's part of what made it so impressive when people from the west won in Kitchen Stadium.

(And, a bit off-topic, but what's this BS about Americans thinking stuff slathered is haute? The standard in the US is probably towards too much simplicity and just letting the ingredients speak for themselves. Are you saying that the Chinese and French, eg, like their haute foods less slathered?)

[Emily Kaiser]

Wouldn't it be great if they just combined Iron Chef with the Apprentice, and have the panel be The Donald and Carolyn and George? "Bobby Flay .... You're Fired!" (Sakai, up to the suite!)

Just a guess, but I bet the "dumb" guy who didn't know what Daikon or foie gras was was actually playing to audience members who wouldn't know either -- he got to set up Alton to explain.

[ExtraMSG]

It's also possible that the floor guy is looking across from the other side of the stadium and can only say, "Sakai is putting something, I'm not sure what, into the a pot right now." Whereas AB has a closeup on the monitor and can say, "That's daikon". Or whatever.

[Mabelline]

Well, crud, I went to the wrong starter for this. But perhaps---just perhaps, Bobby Flay's trout dishes made the flavor of the trout come out, as well as his presention? Many, many IC battles used some real weirded out containers, and what all...I did start thinking he blew it when he overfilled the soup bowls, until he explained why.

And damn, where's anyone find Golden Trout like that? It is a melanistic sport, isn't it?

[mudbug]

... the show was edited it seemed as if sakai was a lock. maybe that was the problem, the editing.

I voted for Sakai. Would have loved to taste the crispy fish in the spicy soup especially!

As a person somewhat involved in the industry... That type of editing is done intentionally. Pay attention during 95% of all the reality competition shows. They can take things completely out of context, (especially on the other shows like Survivor, The Bachelor, Fear Factor, etc to make a person's personality appear completely different than who they completely are, ie... someone "drinks and gets drunk" three out of thirty days but when they do drink, they're agressive or lovey dovey, etc. and they edit it so that the most of what you see of that person is out of those three incidents. Then you think that person has a serious drinking problem which is totally untrue.

Rest assured that if they keep following "The Formula" for editing these shows, they'll lead you one way so they can suprise you by the other.

I scoffed when they didn't go ahead and show Flay chop the head off the fish... come on...! Where do Americans think their food comes from? God forbid we see that someone has to kill the animal.

I was also surprised that the person on the floor came off as a little clueless. Come on... hire someone who knows what a daikon radish is.... geeeez, they sell those at Wal-Mart! As for where he was logistically and being able to see what he was commenting on... there is absolutely no reason I can think of as to why he wouldn't be able to see the ingredients. That's assuming the directors and producers didn't plan on that person being able to logistically do his job and I find that impossible to believe since they built the thing from scratch.

At least Flay appeared to buckle down and focus on cooking. I rather prefer that he not talk, and just cook.

sanguinella,

"The chef with the grunge hair?" I assume you mean with the longer hair? He was actually an Iron Chef Competitor when FoodTV had their goofy all american iron chef battles when William Shatner was the host. Talk about overdone.

As for the ice cream, are we sure they didn't enjoy it? Some of thier glasses were completely devoured.

enrevanche,

It was not Alton who did not know the daikon radish, it was the guy "on the floor". Alton saved his a**.

Edited April 24, 2004 by mudbug (log)