Iron Chef

Iron Chef, a Japanese television program shown on FujiTV since its debut in 1993, started as a 90-minute long show. When it first debuted, the show began with competitions between different chefs. After a couple years, the competitions were dropped and the show, hosted by Takeshi Kaga, became an hour-long series. The place for these competitions was known as Kaga's 'Gourmet Academy'. The Iron Chef theme is a "king is his castle" with Kaga being the king and his kitchen being the castle.

The original format of the show had visiting chefs coming to Kaga's kitchen (called "Kitchen Stadium") to compete against one of Kaga's Iron Chefs. The winner of this competition was entitled to a competition to become the "Honorary Iron Chef". This competition become unpopular and was dropped, however the show was a huge success in Japan, and a huger success when it came to the United States and was picked up by the Food Network. Audiences loved the eccentric use of different foods to complete a specific dish.

In today's show, chefs come to the Iron Chef restaurant for cooking competitions against other famous chefs. Their meals are centered on one specific food item. They are also based on specific cuisines like Japanese, French, Chinese or Italian. They each have one hour to complete a mulitcourse meal. For instance, if the food item were rice, the chefs would have to make as many parts of a meal with rice, etc. One food that they have been known for is their Iron Chef sauce. They even have an Iron Chef Sauce store. You will also find their Iron Chef beets, which is a recipe by the organic Iron chef, not to be duplicated.

To add some excitement and challenge, however, the ingredients tend to lean towards exotic and expensive. Throughout the show, there are commentators and an announcer discussing what is going on in the kitchen and talking about the foods involved while the judges observe.. There are discussions about the culture in the foods being prepared as well as the preparation. You can get an Iron Chef DVD if you are interested in watching the competition. Iron chef recipes are also available to those interested. Also available is an Iron Chef DVD in Japanese.

Each chef has two assistants who are also students of the Gourmet Academy and Hattori Nutrition Academy. After the hour is up, the competitors are interviewed prior to the sampling of their dishes by the judges and a famous critic. The chefs are given points based on taste, presentation and originality. The chef with the most points wins the competition. Some of the famous Iron Chefs were Chen Kenichi, Masahiko Kobe, Koumei Nakamura and of course famous Iron Chef Morimoto (Masaharu Morimoto, a famous Japanese chef)

There are Iron Chef American events like meetings where fans get together and exchange recipes and discussions about the Iron Chef Japan and Iron Chef in France. Iron Chef America is very popular and highly viewed. You can even purchase Iron Chef America wallpaper for your kitchen or any room you desire.