Iron Chef: Quest For An Iron Legend - General Discussion

[JTMacc99]

Coming to Netflix in 2022!

Quote

Synopsis: The legendary Iron Chef series is reborn with a supersized approach to the ground-breaking culinary competition that started it all. It’s been called the toughest culinary challenge a chef will ever experience. This is where world-class cuisine meets high-octane sports. Five new trailblazing Iron Chefs will welcome brave Challenger Chefs to the re-imagined Kitchen Stadium, where they'll face off and be pushed to the limits of endurance and creativity, as they cook up extraordinary culinary creations. The competition’s most successful Challenger will return to battle in a grand finale for the chance to be named the first ever "Iron Legend."

 

[Fukui San]

I see...

[blackwing]

I have greatly missed this show, especially the original Japanese version.  I kind of lost interest in the later seasons of Iron Chef America.  I liked Next Iron Chef but it was obvious that Geoffrey Zakarian and Alex Guarnaschelli were going to be picked, and I did not enjoy either of these two nor their battles on ICA.

I am curious as to who the five new Iron Chefs will be.  Are they going to be names that we are familiar with?  If so, I would think Marcus Samuelson is a given.  I've been watching "Next Level Chef" and I would like to see more of Nyesha Arrington.

[JTMacc99]

5 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I am curious as to who the five new Iron Chefs will be. 

I'm going to assume that they're going in a different direction from whatever we know from Food Network. 

It's hard to imagine, however, that you would be able to find talented chefs who want to be involved in competitive food television who haven't spent time on FN. 

[Rickster]

On 2/25/2022 at 10:58 AM, JTMacc99 said:

I'm going to assume that they're going in a different direction from whatever we know from Food Network. 

It's hard to imagine, however, that you would be able to find talented chefs who want to be involved in competitive food television who haven't spent time on FN. 

Given that unlike FN, Netflix is to some extent a global broadcaster, it’s possible they may pull in chefs from other countries. I’m thinking of things like their Chef’s Table series, for example.

[blackwing]

https://ew.com/tv/meet-the-new-iron-chefs-netflix-reboot/

The five new Iron Chefs for this version of the show are Curtis Stone, Dominique Crenn, Marcus Samuelsson, Ming Tsai and Gabriela Camara.

I'm not familiar with Camara, but the rest of them are great choices.  Stone and Samuelsson are mainstays of course on many reality TV cooking shows.  I really liked Dominique Crenn on the second season of Next Iron Chef.  And Ming Tsai is a legend and should have won his season of NIC.

Really looking forward to this show!

[Peper81]

I'm kind of bummed Stephanie Izard isn't on the list.  I was so happy when she won her spot on NIC.  I am thrilled to see Ming Tsai.  He's awesome!  I love watching his cooking show on PBS.  I'm not familiar with Crenn or Camara so I'm excited to get to know some new people.  I'm excited for this to start airing.  

Edited May 19, 2022 by Peper81

[libgirl2]

22 hours ago, blackwing said:

https://ew.com/tv/meet-the-new-iron-chefs-netflix-reboot/

The five new Iron Chefs for this version of the show are Curtis Stone, Dominique Crenn, Marcus Samuelsson, Ming Tsai and Gabriela Camara.

I'm not familiar with Camara, but the rest of them are great choices.  Stone and Samuelsson are mainstays of course on many reality TV cooking shows.  I really liked Dominique Crenn on the second season of Next Iron Chef.  And Ming Tsai is a legend and should have won his season of NIC.

Really looking forward to this show!

I so agree! I was so disappointed. 

[Fukui San]

Crenn was on one of the early seasons of The Next Iron Chef. She was fine, as I remember. Ming Tsai was one of my favorites back in the day. Hopefully he still has steam left.

Signing onto this franchise right now is a gamble as to how long you think it's going to go on Netflix, which canceled liked and loved shows earlier than you'd like in the best of times. 

[MyMaui]

I wish I had Netflx to enjoy this but I got rid of it due to costs.   Would be great to watch but not enough to pay their fees.

[Rickster]

Crenn has an episode of Netflix Chef’s Table devoted to her. I believe Camara has a documentary, also on Netflix.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

I have not seen any shows with Dominique Crenn, but I have eaten at two of her restaurants.  She is a very talented chef.  I am not familiar with Gabriela Camara.  Flove Marcus Samuelsson and Ming Tsai.  I always enjoy them on shows.  They are both talented and are very personable. 

I feel like Curtis Stone is not in the same class as a chef as the others.  However, I've never had his food.  He just always comes off as more of a TV personality than an accomplished chef to me. 

With that said, I am looking forward to this.  I recently watched the original Iron Chef shows that are available on Netflix.  

[singsong]

19 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

I feel like Curtis Stone is not in the same class as a chef as the others.  However, I've never had his food.  He just always comes off as more of a TV personality than an accomplished chef to me. 

I watched the first episode last night, featuring Curtis Stone, and was rather impressed.  I had rather thought he was more looks than substance, but Iron Chef has me reevaluating my thinking on him.  I enjoyed the first episode quite a bit.  

[Deskisamess]

I enjoyed the first episode well enough. Love Curtis Stone and Ming Tsai. The Chairman is way over the top campy, but that's expected.

Thought the "toys as plates" schtick from the first contestant was too cutsie pie, and not high end chef at all. He should be competing against  Sandwich King Jeff Mauro, not Curtis Stone et al.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

I watched the first episode.  I too was impressed by Curtis Stone's food.  I also looked into his restaurants.  He seems to have really upped his game.  

I found "the Chairman's nephew" annoying.  I never really watched the US version.  I always enjoyed the Chairman in the Japanese original - his OTT outfits were something I looked forward to.  He was also very handsome.  His replacement on this show is a bit much with the cheesy arm movements, etc.  I could use less of him. 

I missed the thing of the challenger choosing who they would battle.  It also felt like they knew what the ingredient was ahead of time. 

The challenger seemed rather outmatched.  He may make the best damn sandwiches ever; they are unlikely to compete against fine dining.  The food did look good and there were some interesting things done. I did enjoy how both chefs were very respectful of their sous chefs and really worked in teams.  

Overall it was enough to keep me watching. 

[Daisychain]

I've missed Iron Chef America, so I have been enjoying this A LOT.  The best thing for me is the chemistry of Alton Brown and Kristen Kish!  Alton is always going to be the Encyclopedia Britannica of food, but Kristen is real close -- and she really brings out Alton's sense of humor.  I'm already on Ep. 4 and there was a cute bit when they were predicting what dishes the contestants were making, and Kristen says, they're making ____, a hundred dollars!  Then when she was right she said "I'm rich!"  Next time Alton said, you should bet a million dollars and Kristen said "I bet 7 million dollars!"  They seem to be having a gas.  Plus this time the hosts get to eat, not just the judges.

Anyhoo, now I really want to go plague my Minneapolis and N. Wisconsin friends and make them take me to Hmong restaurants.  That food looked delectable.  I love some heat (ep 4, chilis), but I can't take the face-melting kind.

I'm on the Mei/Gregory episode and I have to leave it for tomorrow . . . I love them both from Top Chef.

[libgirl2]

I watched the first three and really enjoyed them. It was fun to have the show back. I agree with the person who posted about the chef from the first episode with all the cutesy toys as plates. It got old fast. I was surprised that 

Spoiler

Marcus Samuelsson lost. He always seems to win these competitions. 

[libgirl2]

12 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

I missed the thing of the challenger choosing who they would battle.  It also felt like they knew what the ingredient was ahead of time. 

I think both teams know either the ingredient or at least the theme. Why would that one chef have brought frito bags and dinosaurs? He had to know the theme at least. 

[chessiegal]

IIRC on the original Iron Chef America, they were told it would be one of 3 ingredients.

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

IIRC on the original Iron Chef America, they were told it would be one of 3 ingredients.

Something like that makes sense. They can plan certain things but not know for sure. 

[dleighg]

20 hours ago, Deskisamess said:

Thought the "toys as plates" schtick from the first contestant was too cutsie pie, and not high end chef at all.

14 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

I missed the thing of the challenger choosing who they would battle.  It also felt like they knew what the ingredient was ahead of time. 

Seriously. The challenger just "happened" to have little toy dinosaurs that just "happened" to be the perfect vehicle for an open face pita?

[eelpout]

3 hours ago, dleighg said:

Seriously. The challenger just "happened" to have little toy dinosaurs that just "happened" to be the perfect vehicle for an open face pita?

5 hours ago, chessiegal said:

IIRC on the original Iron Chef America, they were told it would be one of 3 ingredients.

yeah, I'm sure they are given a list of what the main ingredient could be as in the past. in addition to arranging to bring their own plating options, this also gives them the ability to work up menus in advance. it's not a sham per se, but this show is never what it appears to be. 

I find this Netflix incarnation wiped of any of the "controlled chaos" of the past, even some of the Food Network productions, never mind the original. I miss that. There are clearly some edited voice overs added in post production too. Also, while I like Kirsten K. a lot when she's actually in her element, cooking (see Fast Foodies), I'm not clear why she's here aside from maybe a positive "Q Score" for some demographic that Alton wouldn't cover, as this co-hosting thing feels off to me. Could be in part because I think Alton prefers to fly solo.

(and curious that when we watched the first episode, Netflix said this was trending in "Kids"... ;))

[libgirl2]

36 minutes ago, eelpout said:

(and curious that when we watched the first episode, Netflix said this was trending in "Kids"... ;))

I saw that! 

[Fukui San]

I watched my first episode of this version, the Ming Tsai/Claudette Zapeda Chocolate episode since that appealed to me most of the descriptions. Of course I spoiled myself at the end when they talked about the result of a previous episode, but that's my own fault for going out of order.

I like this version a lot. They've made some format changes from the ICA days, and here's how I feel about each:

• Alton and Kristen as co-hosts instead of Alton as analyst and Kevin Brauch as floor reporter. I'm for it. Kristen could at any given episode be the best chef in the room, and she plays a co-analyst role well. Better than I was expecting, actually. She seemed a bit wooden in the promos, but is more at ease in episode.
• Alton and Kristen eat while Chairman does not. Approve! Hosts are able to lead the conversation a bit to cover the bases. Marc Dacascos dutifully ate everything set in front of him for however many seasons of ICA there were.... and never said a thing about any of them. I actually think he's probably not much of a food person at all which made his having this job hilarious, that he's merely tolerating eating some of the best food possible. I'd love to have that confirmed or not.
• Between course conversations. They made sure to have some space between courses to say some things while the chef is not there to hear. More blunt assessments than they say to their face. I like that change a lot, though in this episode it telegraphed the result a bit.
• Keeping the 1st course at 20 minutes but axing the "Receive a random element in the middle of cooking". I could do without both, but the random element was way worse.
• Chef intro packages. Cut the screen into panels oh so artfully, comic book panel style. OK, I guess. It has energy, but I expect that will seem old as soon as next episode. 
• Pre-cook rituals. Do they do this hokeyness every episode? Claudette leading her team in a stretch while the clock is running? Ming Tsai putting on his headband? A little cheesy. Not as cheesy as Iron Chef USA, but a little cheesy.
• Regular judges Nilou and Andrew Zimmern. Likable enough. Knows their stuff. Weren't trying to coin bon mots every 10 seconds. Gave critiques when needed that made sense. Even guest judge Loni Love decent for a non-culinary world guest judge. Overall an improvement over proud asshole Jeffrey Steingarten and Bobby Flay's literal business partner Karina whatshername.
• No scoring breakdowns? We got the overall scores for each chef, but we were told neither which judge voted for which chef a la original ICJ, nor what the chefs scored for each category a la ICA. Curious.

Incidentally, Ming Tsai seems to have not aged a goddamn day in the last 20 years whilst Marc Dacascos.... has. He's certainly still limber though you notice he's not doing backflips anymore, but his face is weathered and he's probably playing more old master roles in his acting. 

Edited June 18, 2022 by Fukui San

[libgirl2]

3 hours ago, Fukui San said:

Incidentally, Ming Tsai seems to have not aged a goddamn day in the last 20 years whilst Marc Dacascos.... has. He's certainly still limber though you notice he's not doing backflips anymore, but his face is weathered and he's probably playing more old master roles in his acting. 

He does look fantastic, but yes Marc Dacascos has aged. I think it suits the role of the chairman better. 

[dleighg]

I was really wondering- did they let Ming Tsai's delicate souffles just SIT THERE while they judged the challenger's whole meal?

[Fukui San]

3 hours ago, dleighg said:

I was really wondering- did they let Ming Tsai's delicate souffles just SIT THERE while they judged the challenger's whole meal?

Here how I believe it works in The American versions of Iron Chef. If you notice in the mad scramble at the end they are plating only one of each dish to beat the clock. In the Japanese version they were cooking one for each judge plus one for the camera while clocked. Once the timed portion is over, each chef will be able to plate the judges’ dishes just before tasting, so that they get to them in a fresher state. I don’t know how much reheating is allowed, but composed plates aren’t just sitting there for a half hour. 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

28 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

Here how I believe it works in The American versions of Iron Chef. If you notice in the mad scramble at the end they are plating only one of each dish to beat the clock. In the Japanese version they were cooking one for each judge plus one for the camera while clocked. Once the timed portion is over, each chef will be able to plate the judges’ dishes just before tasting, so that they get to them in a fresher state. I don’t know how much reheating is allowed, but composed plates aren’t just sitting there for a half hour. 

First, I love your user name. I find myself saying it in my head the way it was said on the show.

I noticed we saw him take two souffles out of the oven in the mad rush to finish segment. We never saw all of the souffles in the oven at once.  So I think you are right.  On the original Iron Chef, while composed dishes were plated before the hour was up, they often cracked salt crusts at the judging table and plated there, or cooked the noodles tableside, etc., so that the food was right when served. 

I think they are doing something similar here with the timing of plating.  Otherwise by the time they get to dish #10, things would be off. They do seem to often compose only one plate by the end of time unless it is something that will be served early in service and will not be harmed by waiting.  

[libgirl2]

I like the Chairman better now that he has a few years on him.

Talk about looking young..... Morimoto! He looks fabulous!

Edited June 18, 2022 by libgirl2

[FormerMod-a1]

Watched them all, liked them all. :)  I hope this gets continued and with the same chefs as Iron Chefs.  One minor thing - I don't love the round judging table - not sure why.  Maybe I just liked the old layout better with chairman sitting at the end and the judges down the side.  Granted with Alton and Kristin sitting there too (and getting to eat!) that would be harder to do. 

I was very intrigued with all the food from both the challenger and Crenn in her solo battle - all those kinds of milk and with the "pastry" techniques challenge.  (Of course, I'd love to taste all the food from all the challenges.)  

[GaT]

Still watching & I'm actually kind of bored. The chefs who are the "Iron Chefs", since when? Wasn't it Morimoto, Bobby Flay, Alex, etc.? When did Curtis Stone become an Iron Chef?

[dleighg]

12 minutes ago, GaT said:

The chefs who are the "Iron Chefs", since when? Wasn't it Morimoto, Bobby Flay, Alex, etc.? When did Curtis Stone become an Iron Chef?

They seem to have been anointed. No competition.

[GaT]

5 minutes ago, dleighg said:

They seem to have been anointed. No competition.

Interesting, so I guess we should be hearing about Guy Fieri being an Iron Chef one day if he isn't one already.

[emmawoodhouse]

32 minutes ago, GaT said:

Interesting, so I guess we should be hearing about Guy Fieri being an Iron Chef one day if he isn't one already.

Sweet baby Jesus no. Thankfully, he's tied to FN, so we'll never see him at Netflix.

[libgirl2]

37 minutes ago, GaT said:

Interesting, so I guess we should be hearing about Guy Fieri being an Iron Chef one day if he isn't one already.

The chefs they picked are pretty much up there. Marcus Samuelsson and Dominique Crenn are nothing to sneeze at. Let's not forget not all the Iron Chefs were the end all to end all (not naming names). 

Edited June 20, 2022 by libgirl2

[GaT]

11 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Sweet baby Jesus no. Thankfully, he's tied to FN, so we'll never see him at Netflix.

Every one of the "Iron Chefs", plus Alton Brown & even Kristen Kish have ties to Food Network.

Also:

Spoiler

So glad Esther Choi lost because her attitude just annoyed the hell out of me.

Edited June 21, 2022 by GaT

[sugarbaker design]

6 hours ago, GaT said:

Every one of the "Iron Chefs", plus Alton Brown & even Kristen Kish have ties to Food Network.

Also:

  Reveal spoiler

So glad Esther Choi lost because her attitude just annoyed the hell out of me.

Didn't that chef in your spoiler win?

Edited June 21, 2022 by sugarbaker design

[FormerMod-a1]

17 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

The chefs they picked are pretty much up there. Marcus Samuelsson and Dominique Crenn are nothing to sneeze at. Let's not forget not all the Iron Chefs were the end all to end all (not naming names). 

This!  Plus Ming Tsai!  As noted above Curtis Stone is actually impressive, too (not just a "pretty face").  The only one I didn't know much about was  Gabriela Cámara but I had heard of her.  

[libgirl2]

Just now, aquarian1 said:

This!  Plus Ming Tsai!  As noted above Curtis Stone is actually impressive, too (not just a "pretty face").  The only one I didn't know much about was  Gabriela Cámara but I had heard of her.  

Yes, I love Ming Tsai! And I agree, Curtis Stone really impressed me. 

[GaT]

4 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Didn't that chef in your spoiler win?

Nope

[emmawoodhouse]

10 hours ago, GaT said:

Every one of the "Iron Chefs", plus Alton Brown & even Kristen Kish have ties to Food Network.

Also:

  Reveal spoiler

So glad Esther Choi lost because her attitude just annoyed the hell out of me.

They don't have the ties that Guy does. These days, Guy and Flay ARE FN.

[sugarbaker design]

5 hours ago, GaT said:

Nope

Spoiler

I may be misunderstanding your original but I'm certain Esther Choi beat Marcus Samuels on.

[GaT]

2 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

  Hide contents

I may be misunderstanding your original but I'm certain Esther Choi beat Marcus Samuels on.

Spoiler

Oh yes, she beat him, but whichever of the chefs who beat an Iron Chef had the highest score had to compete against 5 Iron Chefs to win. She lost by a point, so the Iron Chefs are the winners.

[sugarbaker design]

18 minutes ago, GaT said:

  Reveal spoiler

Oh yes, she beat him, but whichever of the chefs who beat an Iron Chef had the highest score had to compete against 5 Iron Chefs to win. She lost by a point, so the Iron Chefs are the winners.

I knew I misunderstood your post!

[dleighg]

In the Ming Tsai v Chefs Mei and Gregory, Wolfgang Puck says "what are 'spaghetti-Os'?" as he plays the cute non-American. And then says "I may have to go buy a can."

So he knows they come in a can, LOL.

And I'm sorry but that notochord skeeved me out.

[dleighg]

So in the finale for Iron Chef Legend, Esther Choi says she is the "Dumpling Queen." Is she going to have to battle Shirley Chung of FN Tournament of Champions? (Oh I see that Shirley is Dumpling MAFIA Queen.)

[snarktini]

On 6/21/2022 at 12:32 AM, GaT said:

Every one of the "Iron Chefs", plus Alton Brown & even Kristen Kish have ties to Food Network.

Previous ties, but possibly not current ones? It's not crystal clear from this, but it sure sounds like signing up for this show means breaking with FN:

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/alton-brown-iron-chef-netflix-why-not-on-food-network-1235295792/

[GaT]

50 minutes ago, snarktini said:

Previous ties, but possibly not current ones? It's not crystal clear from this, but it sure sounds like signing up for this show means breaking with FN:

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/alton-brown-iron-chef-netflix-why-not-on-food-network-1235295792/

It does, & this quote from Alton:

Quote

There was never a second thought for me. It meant removing myself from one network, but that was not a hard decision. Timing just worked out that I was able to extricate myself from that.”

"extricate" does not sound like he was on good terms with FN. Unfortunately, I never really liked him, so that may be part of the reason this was mostly background noise for me.

[Fukui San]

Circling back to the first episode. My family wanted to watch the show since it was my fave back in the day, as my username attests. My 11 year old daughter has been beginning to say that she wants to be a vegetarian since she feels so sorry about animals. This would be fine with me except that she doesn’t like vegetarian foods! If you don’t like tofu or eggplant or falafel or beans or meat substitutes, what am I supposed to feed you, kid?

Anyway, as you can imagine, the breaking down of the whole lamb was not her favorite. 

[SnarkShark]

On 6/20/2022 at 3:49 PM, dleighg said:

They seem to have been anointed. No competition.

Well, that was the original model method.   And would you argue three Michelin star restaurant owning chef Dominique Crenn NOT being qualified?