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Whose Cuisine Reigns Supreme?

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

02:27 / 09.04.02

Why am I hooked on Iron Chef?

And I am the only one?

HELP!

Mazarine

05:57 / 09.04.02

Curses. I just wrote a lengthy and impassioned reply, but my pathetic connection could not stand up to its grandeur. I will attempt to duplicate it now. *Ahem*

Skui-san?
Go ahead!

The only one? Hell no, baby. Iron Chef is a fantastic show- I was biting my knuckles during the overtime green-onion battle of Morimoto v. Yamashita from Ohta, and nearly in tears because that steamed scallop thing Morimoto-san made looked sooooo fucking good. I can barely say Bobby Flay's name without spitting, curse you and your arrogance Flay!

I don't know what it is about Iron Chef that makes it so addictive. Kaga's shirts? Watching people cook with ingredients that cost more than most of us could get for a kidney? I could not tell you. But watching the marathon they aired was eleven hours well spent.

What's your favorite battle? I would have to go with the Yogurt Battle myself, mostly because it skeeved the panel members so much.

The Return Of Rothkoid

08:27 / 09.04.02

I am so missing out.

Has anyone seen the - uh - Shatner version? If so, is it any good? Disregard the fact that that's a question that probably didn't need to be asked before you answer, though...

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

11:46 / 09.04.02

My favorite so far has actually been the Rice battle, simply because it was so amazing that they took something so simple and made so many unique things with it...my 13 year old son is hooked as well and loved the Milk battle for pretty much the same reason.

It is quite literally the only show on any of those "Home" networks (like The Food Network, Home and Garden or that sort) that I can watch, since all the rest make it seem like you should have the time to do that sort of thing yourself. Iron Chef makes cooking seem like it is a sport, and takes more skill than I coudl ever have.

One thing I find odd is that every magazine article I read calls the show "campy". I don't find it like that myself, and wonder if I've read comic books for so long I can't recognize camp anymore.

And it's Fukui-san, he is saying the name of the main commentator, Mr. Fukui Kenji, but pronounces it so rapidly that it's hard to understand. ^_^

grant

16:17 / 09.04.02

I was lucky enough to catch a few episodes before Food Channel picked it up (friends in San Francisco), when everything was captioned and really Japanese. Favorite ingredient: fish testicles. I am not making this up. Slimy, white, tripe-looking stuff my buddy's Japanese girlfriend told us was "the sperm of the mackerel."
North Japanese challenger decimated the Italian Iron Chef with that one, although the Italian fellow tried valiantly - made a fish stew and some other stuff.

I also loved the one (on the Food Channel) with the asparagus. They both made asparagus desserts.

And if an American is gonna do an Iron Chef, it's got to be Shatner. I only saw the end of that one, but I *loved* the speech he gave. And, of course, the food looked delicious.

Persephone

20:47 / 09.04.02

I've said many times the only reasons I'd have a TV in the house would be for the Food Network and Star Trek.

This seems to combine both.

Curses.

Mazarine

21:43 / 09.04.02

And it's Fukui-san, he is saying the name of the main commentator, Mr. Fukui Kenji, but pronounces it so rapidly that it's hard to understand. ^_^

Thank you! I've been reading the credits thinking, "hm... no one's name is 'Skui'... what the hell does Skui mean?"

gentleman loser

00:07 / 10.04.02

I love Iron Chef, but for the love of God, Food TV, enough Morimoto episodes already! He's the least interesting Iron Chef in my opinion, yet about three quarters of the episodes I've seen have been Morimoto episodes.

My favorite episodes are where the ingredient is alive. It's a good lesson for people who think that animal parts magically materializes in styrofoam and plastic wrap.

Also, any episodes where brains are used.

What exactly do sea urchin or crab brains taste like?

I think Bobby Flay and his over-tanned space cadet co-hostess (what's the name of his show?) should both be shot out of a cannon into the sun. He's even more obnoxious than Emeril "Catchphrase" Lagasse and Wolfgang "Hollywood Sycophant" Puck.

Mazarine

02:17 / 10.04.02

Yes! Down with Flay!

grant

13:57 / 10.04.02

Sea urchin basically tastes briny, like oysters without the muckiness. It's a semi-liquid, too, which can be fun. Fresh uni at the sushi bar....

Crab brains are, well, like what they call "head mustard" when sucking crawfish. A little pungently fishy, great texture (like a grainy mustard or thin hummus). I *think* they're really all the internal organs, localized in the crab's head. The main one would be the heart, I suppose.

gridley

03:00 / 13.04.02

Y'all should come out to Philadelphia, where Morimoto has a restaurant. He still does the cooking almost every night, and it's pretty fantastic. It can get expensive, but it's well worth it. Highlights including his tempura with gorgonzola dipping sauce, lobster sushi, and kobe beef that was like some kind of heavenly steak-flavored butter.

Plus Morimoto himself is pretty damn nice. We told him how much we loved the show and the dinner, and he bowed and bowed and thanked up and gave us all autographs.

Mazarine

00:34 / 14.04.02

Jaw-droppingly jealous, gridley.

Mourne Kransky

17:42 / 14.04.02

Is he really called Flay - this Drainage, this Kitchen Boy? Does this show have Sourdust in it as well?

Mazarine

05:20 / 15.04.02

*Raises hand* ZoCher, what's Sourdust?

The Monkey

21:39 / 15.04.02

Did anyone see the bean sprout battle...with the bean sprouts that cost $4000 per pound? I wonder what that tastes like.

The show is fun, but makes me crave food I can't afford. Unless I fill my window boxes with super bean sproouts....

The Monkey

21:40 / 15.04.02

Or maybe poppy plants, now that Afghanistan is out of commission.

Mourne Kransky

21:35 / 17.04.02

Mazarine, sorry for delay - just haven't encountered a real life Flay before. I had, heretofore, thought it was a name made up by Mervyn Peake for a character in Titus Groan. Hence the Sourdust too. And the Drainage and Kitchen Boy.

Great books and a lot of the action happens in and around the kitchens of Castle Gormenghast. But this is all thread-rotting.... Very sorry, culinary spectators of the U.S. A land of lovely names, clearly.

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