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Iron Chef! Allakazam!

© Kimberly Skopitz

One of the most popular cooking shows of the past year is Iron Chef. Every week one of the Iron Chefs (there are four, one each for Chinese, French, Italian, and Japanese) competes against a challenger in the awe-inspiring Kitchen Stadium (if Bruce Lee had gone in for cooking rather than martial arts, this is the arena he would have chosen). A secret ingredient is chosen by the MC Kaga Takeshi (who wears clothes suited to a '60's supervillian), and the contestants then have one hour to create a full meal-appetizer, soup, main dish, side, and occasionally dessert, with each course featuring the secret ingredient. The speed is frenetic and the dishes range from the delectable to the nose-wrinkling.

Four judges, a combination of actors, singers, fortunetellers and food critics, taste the dishes and make their decision. Given the dubbing quality, this section often reminds me of Woody Allen's "What's Up Tiger Lily?" especially with whoever does the translating for that week's ingenue, who always ends up sounding as though she's auditioning for an erotic film. ("Oh, that's sooooo good! My mouth...feels like it's being kissed.")

In the few weeks I've watched the show (including a good bit of the 24-hour New Year's Day Marathon), I've noticed that the judges do seem to prefer the food prepared by the Iron Chefs. Is it always better? Are they really that good? Maybe, or perhaps they've learned that the best way to appeal to the judges (usually all Japanese) is to make the dishes, no matter how Italian or French they may have started out, taste Japanese. That does seem to be the highest praise a judge can bestow, "This lasagna? Usually it's very rich, very cheesy, but you have made it seem very light with the addition of abalone and tofu, very Japanese. I like it."

So, what does this have to do with your cooking? The recipes the chefs use are usually off the cuff, and are therefore unavailable. But how this show can help you is by showing how fun, quick, and creative can be. My husband was inspired to make buffalo wing ravioli after watching this show-no recipe, just ingredients and imagination. Beautifully done, and an exciting treat to cook and to eat. So let go of your inhibitions, sharpen your knives and heat up your skillet, and go for it!

The Food Network's Iron Chef site: http://www.foodtv.com/tvshows/ironchefin...

And the hilariously funny Unofficial Site (complete with a parody starring Lego's):

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