Iron Chef America was adapted from a hit Japanese show that had a cult following long before
the U.S. version ever hit the Food Network airwaves.
But while the new version carried over many aspects of the original, Iron Chef America
was still a phenomenon in its own right.
Here are some things about the cooking competition series you might not know about.
"It's gonna be unbelievable.
You've never seen this before."
The chairman's stage history
The host of Japan's Iron Chef was Takeshi Kaga, and even before dishing out ingredients,
he had a history of working on-screen.
Before becoming the fancy dinner party host for the show, he was actually an actor who'd
been seen in films and TV shows since the '80s.
And while the chairman of Iron Chef America, Mark Dacascos, also hails from the thespian
realm, he's not as well known for that profession as Kaga was to Japanese audiences.
Dacascos is actually an accomplished martial arts expert and actor, though, who's occasionally
been spotted on TV's Hawaii Five-0.
But for the most part, his other career was relatively unknown to US audiences, as he
starred in mostly overseas features before becoming the chairman.
Iron Chef USA
Iron Chef America wasn't the first time an American production company tried to remake
the Japanese show.
The original Iron Chef took itself seriously: it was about the food and the presentation.
But Iron Chef USA didn't follow that formula quite so well.
William Shatner played the chairman.
And rather than having the chefs operate in the subdued atmosphere that was a signature
of the original, Iron Chef USA was filmed in Las Vegas and sounded like there was a
five-drink minimum to loosen up the crowd.
Also, whereas Iron Chef featured actors who had a knowledge of food and provided key critiques
of the dishes, the Iron Chef USA judges were people with some small claim to fame whose
commentaries left something to be desired.
"It's really something.
I've never tasted anything like this before.
And I think it's great.
It doesn't really matter to me what's in it, it tastes good."
Mercifully, Shatner's fluffy-shirted performance and incredibly bad line delivery only lasted
two episodes.
Premeditated matchups
Part of the mystique of Iron Chef is the majestic rise of the Iron Chefs themselves.
After the pageantry, the challenger chef stands before the Iron Chefs and measures them up.
While it looks like there are three Iron Chefs on-hand to choose from, it's really all just
theater.
The challenger chef picks the Iron Chef weeks in advance of the taping.
The only chef that rises up the day of the taping is the one who is being chosen — the
other "chefs" are stand-ins that look similar to the Iron Chefs.
For example, if the producers need a stand-in for Bobby Flay, they just find another tall
redhead not doing anything that day.
Those Iron Chefs are too busy to show up and not be picked, after all.
Ingredients list
Another aspect of Iron Chef America that's partially faked is that while it looks like
the ingredient reveal is a massive surprise…
"The day's secret ingredient is …"
"SPINACH!"
...Both chefs actually get hints about the secret ingredient well in advance of taping.
Sometimes, it's as blunt as producers telling the chefs that "it's either buffalo or bass";
at other times, the chefs simply pick something together.
In addition to the available spices and seasonings, the chefs are given a $500 budget to spend
on any specialty ingredients they want for their dish.
Then they'll write different grocery lists for each possible secret ingredient, and the
producers go out and purchase what the chefs need.
So, when chefs show up at the taping, all they really have to do is look at their ingredients
to figure out what the "secret" ingredient is going to be before the chairman lets the
audiences know.
Tinkering with timing
As much as the show's ticking clock adds to the drama factor of Iron Chef America, the
strict timing parameters seen on-screen aren't exactly accurate.
Some actions will probably be repeated, like Iron Chef Morimoto and his competitor repeatedly
reaching for an ingredient to get the timing and angle right.
Before any cooking begins, the crew can spend up to an hour getting the required video of
the Iron Chef, the challenger, the chairman, and Alton Brown.
And once the cooking begins, the one-hour time limit seems to be more for television
than anything else.
There's no rushing around as seen on TV, except specific hurried shots.
Once the chef presents the dishes to the judges, the actual presentation can be shot up to
three times to vary the angle.
The judging can take up to 45 minutes.
So, what happens if you're batting second with your food sitting around for an extra
hour?
The sous chefs or sometimes even the producers just re-cook a fresh, hot meal!
Sometimes, the judges aren't even tasting something prepared by the actual chef competing.
"Man.
This is wrong.
This is so wrong."
No cancellation
In Japan, Iron Chef premiered in 1993 and ran until 1999; it was still quite popular
at the time of its end, but traditionally in Japan, TV shows will end while still generating
ratings, unlike in the US where we beat every horse dead.
Iron Chef America, however, just sort of… stopped showing up.
That led most to conclude that Iron Chef America was cancelled.
In 2014, Food Network flatly denied Iron Chef America was being canceled, but there weren't
any new episodes airing either.
A few years later, we finally learned what was happening.
A new Iron Chef program premiered on the Food Network called Iron Chef Gauntlet.
Alton Brown served as the new "Chairman" but there was a twist — the show was just a
limited series.
Stephanie Izard won the six-episode competition, defeating the combined powers of three Iron
Chefs to earn herself the title of Iron Chef.
Which… doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot without a show to appear on, but hey, Iron
Chef America is still not technically canceled, so at least there's that.
"Excellent."
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