Iron Chef Gauntlet: Gladiators Ready!

[dleighg]

"deceptively simple -- ruffle feathers" makes me think it's chicken.

[spiderpig]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

"deceptively simple -- ruffle feathers" makes me think it's chicken.

You are probably right.  We'll find out in but a few hours.

[FormerMod-a1]

YAY, Stephanie!  I did feel bad for Shota Nakajima  though.  He had been there every other time. 

[riprock]

All the talking heads that Nakajima was getting had me convinced he was getting the winner's edit. 

I really wanted one of those skewers!

loved the color and plating on Nakajima's side, and not really sure about chicken liver ice cream ever being yummy. 

All three remaining chefs express so much self-doubt in their interviews. Is that all they ever talk about? It just makes me uncomfortable.

[Wings]

Yay, Stephanie made it.  I wasn't confident as I watched.  Daring of her to dishes she has never done. 

[attica]

Geez, Stephanie looks to me barely older than Shota. It freaked me out when she said he was in elementary school when she opened her first restaurant!

As much as I love the double-handed knife superchop, doesn't it dull the crap out of your knives?

[mlp]

I was glad Stephanie pulled through but I was surprised.  From my side of the TV, Nakajima's dishes looked better.  Chicken liver ice cream?  Gag.

If this comes down to Izard vs, Dady I won't know who to root for because I like both of them.  If Sarah is one of the final two, the decision will be easy.

[dcubed]

Very suspicious results this whole episode.  Dady takes coconut and lime and makes a Thai dish.  Outside of freezing the coconut milk, how did he reinvent anything?  He not only survived but he won the first challenge...hmm, scratches head.

Most everything said in the final round lead me to believe Shota would win.  He tackled the black chicken masterfully in an incredibly short amount of time.  He incorporated palate cleansers.  His plating was lovely.  And then he lost by a pretty large margin.

I think the producers want an all-women, Chicago chef vs. Chicago chef final.  I'm going to be hanging out in the grassy knoll if anyone wants to join me.

 

i

Edited May 8, 2017 by dcubed

[Blonde Gator]

This was the best episode so far.  I like 3 of the 4 last chefs who started tonight, and was sorry that Dady didn't pick Chef Gruenenberg for the cook-off.  I get the feeling that while Nakajita is extremely talented, he just isn't as experienced enough yet(i.e. not dressing the salad with his Schezhuan honey/mustard chicken), and his super minimalist style, while beautiful, demands that every single thing on his plate must be perfect. 

I'm getting the feeling that the Iron Chef judges (including Alton) are putting a premium on inventiveness.  Last week, Sarah won with beets prepared in a new way.  And Stephanie's dishes were quite different in the cook-off, chicken liver ice cream!  The lime ice pulled Dady's dish out of the bottom place, right into first.  He was smart enough to take Alton's feedback and realize a straight up lime/coconut curry wasn't going to reinvent the pairing.  Good for him, I was glad to see him win. 

I would really like to know how Cat Cora would have plated the stupid chicken feet!   I would like to know whether the chefs have a standard bunch of plates in standard sizes/shapes to use, or whether they can specify the kinds (and colors) of the plates they have available.  Stupid and picky, I know, but I would really like to know that.  The wooden bowl Nakajima used tonight was beautiful. 

[Irlandesa]

I really liked the judging tonight. 

6 minutes ago, Blonde Gator said:

I would really like to know how Cat Cora would have plated the stupid chicken feet!  

Maybe she would have added something else.  It was a yummy and simple dish but it did look kind of boring.

[GaT]

I've realized that I don't care who wins, none of these people have the presence that people like Bobby Flay, Morimoto, Mario Batali, or even Michael Symon have. They're Top Chefs, not Iron Chefs.

[spiderpig]

Mr. Brown was especially Alton-y tonight.  

Yes, it seems "thinking outside the box" and taking risks weigh heavily in the judging.

I didn't find Izard's chicken feet any more boring that Nakajima's minimalist plating - and I didn't find that boring at all, but beautiful.

I'm surprised at how much I'm liking this IC incarnation.

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

I've realized that I don't care who wins, none of these people have the presence that people like Bobby Flay, Morimoto, Mario Batali, or even Michael Symon have. They're Top Chefs, not Iron Chefs.

I thought the exact same thing when they did the commercial. No one has ever matched the first few seasons and Symon who was the first NIC winner.

Also wtf is the budget for this show? White tape and a sharpied X across the brand names? I wish I was in the production meeting where they ended up making that decision.

[Ellee]

Guess I was wrong about Nakijima. 

[Wings]

10 hours ago, dcubed said:

I think the producers want an all-women, Chicago chef vs. Chicago chef final.  I'm going to be hanging out in the grassy knoll if anyone wants to join me.

I don't see this.  The bottom two have been men other than the first battle. 

But I do see Chef judges choosing the chef with more experience if it is a close call.   They reward a proven contender vs someone new on the scene.  There is some ego involved in that, too!  

7 hours ago, spiderpig said:

Mr. Brown was especially Alton-y tonight

Yes, he was! 

10 hours ago, Blonde Gator said:

I would really like to know how Cat Cora would have plated the stupid chicken feet! 

They could have been on a rectangular plate with pickled vegetables along the side, for one.  I think she had to find something negative to keep viewers in suspense.  It worked for me!  I was shocked to see the huge difference in the scoring. 

11 hours ago, attica said:

As much as I love the double-handed knife superchop, doesn't it dull the crap out of your knives?

I'm sure it does.  I sharpen my knives daily if I have been using them a lot.  

[rab01]

I was in suspense during the judging because I was rooting so hard for Stephanie but they really did show some kiss-of-death comments about Nakajima's dishes.  Cat Cora did not like how he cooked the skewers - she had textural issues with them.  She also thought he made his meatballs too dense.  The parts of the scoring that surprised me were that Stephanie somehow managed to not lose plating and that she beat him by such a wide margin.  It's amazing to think that she beat him by so much while feeling that she wasn't cooking her best.

Related note, I think the judging has been clearer than these shows usually are.  Obviously, I can't taste the food but the scores really do seem to follow their comments - or at least, when you rewatch it, you see that they gave you the clues necessary to understand the decision. 

[Stardancer Supreme]

Sigh.  So much for Shota. I'm out. 

[spiderpig]

1 hour ago, Stardancer Supreme said:

Sigh.  So much for Shota. I'm out. 

He's very young, talented and charming - so he'll be back somewhere in TV ChefWorld.

Maybe he can use his wicked knife skills on a particularly annoying contestant.

[Skyfall]

On 5/7/2017 at 11:42 PM, dcubed said:

Very suspicious results this whole episode.  Dady takes coconut and lime and makes a Thai dish.  Outside of freezing the coconut milk, how did he reinvent anything?  He not only survived but he won the first challenge...hmm, scratches head.

Most everything said in the final round lead me to believe Shota would win.  He tackled the black chicken masterfully in an incredibly short amount of time.  He incorporated palate cleansers.  His plating was lovely.  And then he lost by a pretty large margin.

I think the producers want an all-women, Chicago chef vs. Chicago chef final.  I'm going to be hanging out in the grassy knoll if anyone wants to join me.

 

i

He won because Alton could taste both aspects of the dish clearly. The other three failed on doing that. I pinned him as the winner due to that and he won.

[Lura]

I could have stood and cheered when Stephanie pulled it off!  She seems like a sweet person and has a lot of determination.  Sarah is determined as well ... determined like a cobra.  I'm getting the feeling that if Sarah wins this thing, it will be the most unpopular win in the history of television.

I LOVED watching Stephanie attack those chicken toenails like she did it every day!  I am not cut out to be a chef!

[spiderpig]

5 minutes ago, Lura said:

I LOVED watching Stephanie attack those chicken toenails like she did it every day!  I am not cut out to be a chef!

Judges are always wincing at chicken feet preparation, murmuring "they have to remove the nails".  I guess there's a reason they're left on until actual prep time.

[Wings]

I would love to find chicken feet on a menu!  I really want to try them.  I love fat, cartilage, skin and connective tissue in all meat.  I bet they have really good texture.  

Edited May 9, 2017 by wings707

[spiderpig]

5 minutes ago, wings707 said:

I would love to find chicken feet on a menu!  I really want to try them.  I love fat, cartilage, skin and connective tissue in all meat.  I bet they have really good texture.  

I was entertained watching the judges tear away at the feet caveman-style.  Usually we see the delicate nibble.

[Wings]

Just now, spiderpig said:

I was entertained watching the judges tear away at the feet caveman-style.  Usually we see the delicate fork-thingy.

They are definitely finger food with a cave man touch needed.  I am googling restaurants right now.  I have to have them. 

[mlp]

My sister lives in Honolulu.  When I was there, a Chinese friend of hers took us to an authentic, non-touristy Chinese restaurant and one dish was chicken feet. Once I got past the visual, I thought eating them was similar to eating a chicken wing without much meat on it.  OK but I wouldn't order again.

[spiderpig]

^That's what I've kinda thought @mlp.  Is there enough stuff on the footies to actually eat?

[Wings]

I found 3 restaurants in my area that serve chicken feet.  They are a very long drive.  I may do it one day but I have so many restaurants on my list before I choose to spend an hour in the car to get a delicacy in a restaurant where I know I would not order anything else.   Chinese food is not a favorite of mine and reserved for delivery when desperate.   And every time I have it I say, "never again."   I have had very good Chinese food in MA but never found it in FL or AZ.  

[Wings]

9 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

^That's what I've kinda thought @mlp.  Is there enough stuff on the footies to actually eat?

They are not about the meat, they are about skin and gristle!  When our kids were little I never ordered an entree for myself.  One would get chicken, bone in with skin,  the other steak/beef.  I talked them into those choices.  They shared and I would eat everything they rejected and order a salad.  Then they grew up to love chewing bones and eating fat and skin.   :^(  It was glorious while it lasted.  

[spiderpig]

1 minute ago, wings707 said:

They are not about the meat, they are about skin and gristle!  When our kids were little I never ordered an entree for myself.  One would get chicken, bone in with skin,  the other steak/beef.  I talked them into those choices.  They shared and I would eat everything they rejected and order a salad.  Then they grew up to love chewing bones and eating fat and skin.   :^(  It was glorious while it lasted.  

You trained them well for the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse.

[Hotel Diva]

Chicken feet? Livers and hearts? Ew, gross. I was grossed out by Izard's liver ice cream, and I almost threw up. I don't know what a gizzard is. Where are the Iron Chefs? Do they just come out when there is just one person left and that person will become an iron chef if they stay alive? I am sick and tired of Bobby Flay appearing on every freaking show.

To sum it up, I could do nothing but laugh so hard when Nakajima got eliminated.

[attica]

If you're an old person as I am, the phrase 'chicken liver ice cream' might immediately call to mind the Neil Diamond song "Porcupine Pie" which ends on the lyric 'chicken ripple ice cream.' Same meter, same vowels. Close enough! (That whole tune predicts Iron Chef, if you ask me!)

[dleighg]

30 minutes ago, Tessa Kizito said:

I don't know what a gizzard is.

A gizzard is sort of a stomach. I confess that the idea of eating one is disgusting to me. They have a really thick "skin" that I imagine would be extremely chewy (I've never eaten one but have cooked and cut them up for the cats. They don't want to eat them either!)

[attica]

Since birds don't have teeth, they need some mechanism to grind up food for digestion. Their gizzard does that.

14 minutes ago, dleighg said:

I've never eaten one but have cooked and cut them up for the cats. They don't want to eat them either!

They might prefer them raw, if they're anything like the cats I know.

[ITALIA]

8 hours ago, wings707 said:

I would love to find chicken feet on a menu!  I really want to try them.  I love fat, cartilage, skin and connective tissue in all meat.  I bet they have really good texture.  

Fat, cartilage, skin. connective tissue in meat = DISGUSTING.

8 hours ago, Lura said:

I could have stood and cheered when Stephanie pulled it off!  She seems like a sweet person and has a lot of determination.  Sarah is determined as well ... determined like a cobra.  I'm getting the feeling that if Sarah wins this thing, it will be the most unpopular win in the history of television.

I LOVED watching Stephanie attack those chicken toenails like she did it every day!  I am not cut out to be a chef!

Hopefully, the FATTY B will lose.

[susannot]

16 hours ago, Tessa Kizito said:

Chicken feet? Livers and hearts? Ew, gross. I was grossed out by Izard's liver ice cream, and I almost threw up. I don't know what a gizzard is. Where are the Iron Chefs? Do they just come out when there is just one person left and that person will become an iron chef if they stay alive? I am sick and tired of Bobby Flay appearing on every freaking show.

To sum it up, I could do nothing but laugh so hard when Nakajima got eliminated.

I was also grossed out by the gizzards and feet but wanted to try Stephanie's chicken liver ice cream.  Cat Cora said it tasted like a frozen chicken liver mousse.  Chicken liver mousse is a beautiful thing.

[MajorWoody]

I'm having a hard time with that final judges score. While we can't speak about the taste aspect, even though some of the comments would make it seem that overall it was much closer, we can comment on plating and originality. On both of those, based on observations and judges comments, Nakajima should have won going away. 

Cora called Izzard's chicken feet dish boring, she made some negative comments about the other plates, and the other judge also called out her dishes. None of the comments directed at Nakajima downgraded his plates to that extent. His dishes also looked more like something we would see on a real Iron Chef episode, while Izzard's looked mire like PF Changs, or in the case of the feet, like the local cheap takeout place. That final score was completey wrong. 

My guess is that Izzard is the predetermined winner to face the gauntlet, and this was just a chance to show her overcoming a challenge. 

Very disappointing.

No matter which of these three is the finalist, I can't see any of them beating all three of the real Iron Chefs, especially with the mostly pedestrian looking plates they have displayed so far.

[Wings]

6 minutes ago, MajorWoody said:

 

I'm having a hard time with that final judges score. While we can't speak about the taste aspect, even though some of the comments would make it seem that overall it was much closer, we can comment on plating and originality. On both of those, based on observations and judges comments, Nakajima should have won going away. 

 

Since they have to make negative comments equally for both to keep the suspense alive, I try to pay no attention to what they say.  Their scores reflect what they really think.  

Knowing the scores I went back to listen and look at their plating.  Nakajima got praise for choosing a black chicken but on closer inspection his plating was all the same.  Little pieces of the chicken in a bowl; it was pretty but since black chicken tastes like regular chicken when cooked I saw that his dishes were not all that inventive. 

Chicken feet raised Izzard's score for originality right there.  Nakajima's were all Asian and Izzard had more variety in style.  

Next episode I will pay closer attention to see if I can guess correctly.  

[Wings]

6 hours ago, susannot said:

I was also grossed out by the gizzards and feet but wanted to try Stephanie's chicken liver ice cream.  Cat Cora said it tasted like a frozen chicken liver mousse.  Chicken liver mousse is a beautiful thing.

I love the gizzards and heart.  When I make a chicken or turkey I save them and make myself a little treat. 

[buttercupia]

gizzards-since chicken and other birds don't have teeth, they swallow small stones which take up residence in the gizzard, a muscular organ, which helps grind the seed and other food they eat.  anyone who has kept parakeets knows to get them grit to mix with their food-it's for the gizzard.

[Wings]

23 minutes ago, buttercupia said:

gizzards-since chicken and other birds don't have teeth, they swallow small stones which take up residence in the gizzard, a muscular organ, which helps grind the seed and other food they eat.  anyone who has kept parakeets knows to get them grit to mix with their food-it's for the gizzard.

I didn't know this but I have never gotten a stone in any gizzard I have eaten.  

[rab01]

2 hours ago, MajorWoody said:

I'm having a hard time with that final judges score. While we can't speak about the taste aspect, even though some of the comments would make it seem that overall it was much closer, we can comment on plating and originality. On both of those, based on observations and judges comments, Nakajima should have won going away. 

Cora called Izzard's chicken feet dish boring, she made some negative comments about the other plates, and the other judge also called out her dishes. None of the comments directed at Nakajima downgraded his plates to that extent. His dishes also looked more like something we would see on a real Iron Chef episode, while Izzard's looked mire like PF Changs, or in the case of the feet, like the local cheap takeout place. That final score was completey wrong. 

Cora called her plating boring but said the dish itself was delicious.  All of Nakajima's dishes were traditional dishes so I'm not sure what made them more original than Izzard's.  I personally think that liver ice cream is a bit gimmicky but I think you have to give Izzard some originality points for making a dessert starring chicken.  I also thought the judge's comments about Nakajima's dishes were harsher than for Izzard but maybe if I rewatch it, I'll see it your way.

Edited May 10, 2017 by rab01

[buttercupia]

18 hours ago, wings707 said:

I didn't know this but I have never gotten a stone in any gizzard I have eaten.  

...because meats are generally cleaned of such things before they arrive at the table, or even at the cook.

[Wings]

6 minutes ago, buttercupia said:

...because meats are generally cleaned of such things before they arrive at the table, or even at the cook.

I cook them myself when they come in a chicken or turkey.  I have never seen them in a restaurant. 

[buttercupia]

ok but what you get in a chicken or turkey has been cleaned. 

[Blonde Gator]

3 hours ago, wings707 said:

I cook them myself when they come in a chicken or turkey.  I have never seen them in a restaurant. 

We used to have a fast food place here called Brown's Chicken.  They had the most delicious fried livers, gizzards & hearts (and button mushrooms).   I think all of the chicken offal is an acquired taste.  Perhaps that's why the judges preferred Chef Izard's dishes, her choice of feet & liver ice cream were "out there". 

Bottom line, I think Chef Izard won because she's the more experienced and versatile chef.  Chef Nakajima is certainly an up-and-comer.  In five years, I doubt any of the other chefs in this competition would be able to come close to him, but for now, his staying within one area of cuisine is a limiting factor, regardless of how brilliant his dishes might be.  I was sorry to see him go, but look forward to seeing him again in the future.  He's a very personable young man with megawatts of talent in the kitchen. 

[dcubed]

On 5/9/2017 at 11:54 AM, Skyfall said:

He won because Alton could taste both aspects of the dish clearly.

I still contend it was not to taste both aspects clearly, it was to reinvent the pairing.  If not, Stephanie could have made a great peanut butter cup.  Coconut and lime in a Thai dish does not reinvent anything. 

[dewelar]

*nods* Yet another hallmark of Just Another Cooking Show -- the rules are mentioned for one reason: to make the viewers think there are rules. If someone breaks the stated rules, it only matters as much as the judges (and producers) say it does on that particular occasion. At least Chopped was (at times) honest with us about that point. I can't remember any other show coming right out and admitting it, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, I'm still watching -- I at least want to see it through to the finale -- but the show has done nothing to change my opinion of it over the past couple of episodes. It remains at "perfectly fine time filler" level.

[Christina]

Even though I don't like her, I don't mean this in a mean way. On the May 14 show, did Sarah's voice sound strange to any of you? I was thinking she doesn't normally sound that high pitch, then wondered if it was allergies, but then she didn't sound rough. It makes no difference in the big scheme of things, but I'm actually wondering if it is the sound on my television.

[susannot]

Chef Izard won!  What happens next?  My TV Guide shows only one more episode. Does Chef Izard go against all three Iron Chefs next week?

[attica]

I confess to be mystfied at why the judges seem to think meringues are hard to do in an hour. I make them all the time: 10-15 minutes in the mixer, 10-15 minutes in the oven. And I don't even have schmancy commercial equipment.

I kind of love Stephanie's potty mouth. It me, as the kidz say.

I wonder if Sarah would have had better luck with the emu egg if she tried the knife-heel thing closer to the top end of the egg rather than around the middle. Less trauma for the contents, I would think. (But I don't actually know, so...)