Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters

Sorry guys, but it sucks. Here's the straight dope: The Chefs are not as versatile or as good as the truly awesome Japanese Iron Chefs (Bobby Flay most especially is a not an Iron Chef. He really isn't good enough). The critics aren't that critical. They all seem happy just to be getting free food and being on TV. The chairman knows nothing about what he is doing or food. The special ingredients are more often than not, not that special. The narration is kind of annoying. The narrators comments aren't that great and often really corny.

Some board of executives over at Food Network obviously recognized the potential of the original Iron Chef, but the idea was then passed down to a team and the end result is a poor, washed out version of a truly great show, being the original Japanese Iron Chef. Iron Chef Japan was the "Iron Chef". Iron Chef America is kind of like fast food.

I really loved the original Iron Chef. It came as quite a shock and a disappointment for me to discover that it had stopped airing in 1999. The show really wrapped up very well and ended on an incredible high note. (Seems that someone there knew when to quit while they were ahead, unlike many American shows that go way past best their "best before" dates).

Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters is a very good attempt to capture the spirit, aura and just plain good watching that the original Iron Chef had. Watching these cooks put together mouth-watering dishes that look so sumptuous that one can *almost* smell them from the t.v., many of which are totally original AND do it all in an hour is truly amazing.

Special mention must be given to Alton Brown. He is very knowledgeable, lending all sorts of interesting information, facts and trivia to his very entertaining commentary. In short, he is PERFECT for this show.

However, there are a few differences from the original that I do miss. I do miss having a panel of commentators (i.e. original Iron Chef) which I think could be a good foil or sounding board for Alton Brown, but that's okay because he really is THAT good. I also miss the introductions given to the chefs, which briefly outline their culinary experience before each battle. It really adds to the atmosphere (like introducing boxers before a match) and attests to the experience of each chef.

I also found that the new chefs, in some cases, depended too much on their assistants. Some of their assistants are very accomplished chefs in their own right, and in some cases, it looked like the assistants cooked ENTIRE dishes on their own! That seems to me to be a little unfair since it's suppose to the Iron Chef who is suppose to be making the dishes and doing all the neat things. They also modified the rules, requiring the chefs to make exactly five dishes. I think this modification is unnecessary and takes away from the chefs flexibility. I mean, what if he/she wants to create just 3 REALLY good dishes instead of 5 mediocre ones? It should be the best the chefs can do with 1 hour, whether that is 1 dish or 10 dishes - at least, in my opinion.

Finally, perhaps it is just my opinion, but I found the judging to be a little unfair. Perhaps unfair is too strong a word - unknowingly biased?. I just felt that many of the judges were unfamiliar with more exotic or unfamiliar foods, and hence marked them more harshly. Basically, there were higher scores for more typical American style dishes. I realize it's hard to judge "taste" objectively. I'd probably find "Americanized" dishes tastier just because it's what I'm use to. Thus when judging "taste", its only inevitable that one would score familiar dishes better. The only way I could think of to fix this is to get better judges - judges with more eclectic tastes.

In summary, an excellent, excellent start. A jewel in 21st century television and fresh comeback of an old idea. Like any new show, it needs a little tweaking. However, I am anxiously awaiting new episodes.

In this four-episode series tribute to "Ryori no tetsujin", Food Network put countless hours of time and effort into returning to the glory that is "Iron Chef". They almost succeeded.

One element that absolutely captures and vexes the audience of "Ryori no tetsujin" (the original Iron Chef series) is the flamboyancy and commanding nature of the wizened "Chairman Kaga". Here, replaced by his "nephew", (Mark Dacascos, whom I highly doubt has any true blood relation to Kaga) the mantle of "Chairman" is lacking.

Our new Chairman is stone-faced, and definitely does not dress the part. He attempts to harness Kaga's former command by shrieking "Allez Cuisine!" at the top of his lungs like an insane Samurai, rather than bellowing it with joy as Kaga would.

With the judges, I found them to be good selections all around-- but a bit biased. I felt strongly that the true "fairness" on this competition would be more even if two of the judges selected were American, and two were Japanese. (I realize that NONE of the judges in "Ryori no tetsujin" were ever American, either-- but this episode wrenches our Iron Chefs French and Japanese from their environments, and they now are faced with the challenge of suiting strictly American palates... which our Iron Chefs America have had the lifelong luxury of doing. Hey, some Americans don't LIKE eating horse fat!) The even balance of two Japanese judges and two American Judges would have given us all the real "thrill of the battle". It would have been like watching the SuperBowl.

As for bright spots in these shows, it was all taken quite seriously. Alton Brown, as usual, does a spectacular job. He is as charismatic here as he is famous for his own Food Network show, "Good Eats". Alton conveys a true feeling of anticipation and excitement as the competition rages, and his nervousness and passion is easily detectable in his voice. If we could not have had Kenji Fukui (dubbed, obviously, by Bill Bickard), then Alton is an excellent replacement. However, Kenji and Alton would have made a superb commentating team, accompanied by translators for each other's benefit, of course. I also missed Ota running around and getting all of the information he could present to us.

Another thought is, why three Iron Chefs America, and only two original Iron Chefs? It was my original hope that Bobby Flay would face Hiroyuki Sakai (which he did), Mario Batali would face Masahiko Kobe (Iron Chef Italian - a natural archenemy for Batali), and Wolfgang Puck would challenge Masaharu Morimoto (which he did). Perhaps in a future jaunt? One can only hope.

In conclusion, Chairman Kaga is sorely missed. The judging needs to be more even and fair, and more of the original Iron Chef elements should be returned to the new Kitchen Stadium. Food Network should pay Takeshi Kaga whatever he wants for his return. He is worth it, and so are the ratings.

Take another stab at this, FoodTV. You've almost got it.

FoodTV, after seeing the popularity of Ryouri no Tetsujin, got the rights to make its own Iron Chef show. New Kitchen Stadium, new Chairman (Mark Dacascos) and new Iron Chefs. Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, and Wolfgang Puck are the new three to take on two of the original Japanese Iron Chefs: Masaharu Morimoto and Hiroyuki Sakai.

In this mini-series, we saw four battles: Sakai v. Flay, Morimoto v. Batali, Morimoto v. Puck, and then a special twist battle (which I won't divulge.)

The show was well done. Alton Brown has jumped in as the commentator, taking the spot of Kenji Fukui, and he did a great job. His commentary was just as interesting as his show. The battles were almost as good as the original, as was the judging. (They even had the standard giggly chick saying stupid things.) And the new Kitchen Stadium is very pretty.

But overall, it just didn't have the same feeling to it that the originals did. "Ryouri no Tetsujin" just had a style to it - slightly ridiculous, fast-paced, fun, and a good time overall. These shows had some of that, but there was something missing. Even still, it's worth a watching if you're an Iron Chef fan.

I'm a fan of the original Japanese Iron Chef show, and all I can say is that this show makes professional chefs everywhere, especially the original Japanese Iron Chefs, look ridiculous. The show features incredibly low-skill-required "secret ingredients" like hamburger and cheddar cheese, which, being an amateur cook myself, is very easy to use. While the original Iron Chef show maintained a high standard of culinary arts skill, Iron Chef America puts this good reputation to shame with bad commentary, biased judging/judges, and lack of skill & finesse. I highly recommend not watching this show at all simply because the recipes are not practical for home use and displays little to no skill in its creation.