|
Post by okonomiyagi on Feb 19, 2019 20:53:34 GMT -5
Some more work from my notes from forever ago--this picks up where I left off before, and takes us right up through the introduction of the tasters.
FUKUI: Five chefs have set foot in the Gourmet Academy for the right to challenge an Iron Chef. As you can see, the preparation for the preliminary match has begun in earnest. My name is Kenji Fukui, and I’ll be relaying to you all the proceedings. Now then, let’s introduce the theme that these five chefs will articulate. That theme is…gyoza!
KAGA: Gyoza. If memory serves me right, in China, it is said that “Shumai is eaten for the filling; gyoza is eaten for the skin.”
There’s a big reason Chinese people love gyoza so much. In Chinese, the word that sums it up is “tsuei” (literally "brittle").
“Tsuei” means that, when biting into a dumpling, its elastic properties make it “snap” …and it’s this texture that the Chinese people have come to regard as irresistible.
About 4 cm long…today’s qualifying stars will wrap up infinite drama in one gyoza skin during today’s preliminary. To say it one more time…gyoza is “tsuei” (brittle).
NARRATOR (not Fukui as far as I can tell, but I don't think he's ever identified): The five chefs whose recipes were deemed the best faced the Gyoza Preliminary. The judging was left to three advisors of the Gourmet Academy: Tamio Kageyama, Mitsuko Ishii, and Rosanjin Scholar Masaaki Hirano.
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Oct 21, 2018 21:14:17 GMT -5
This show changed my life. Before I watched the show, I was not a very adventurous eater. This Asian-American rarely saw Asian faces on television (maybe once a year on Jeopardy! but little else).
Then I saw an eel battle after having watched the show for a while, and the next time I went to a Japanese restaurant, I decided to order it, despite only ever seen eel on the show. And I freaking loved it.
This went on with other ingredients as well. Mushrooms. Bell peppers (of course). Anything spicy. Tuna. Salmon. Yellowtail. Uni. Foie gras. If it was on the menu, and if I had seen it on the show, I had to try it.
And as if that wasn't enough, I started picking up small words and phrases in Japanese, enough to spark an interest in learning the language, which I finally did formally a couple of years ago. I made my first trip to Japan not long after that. And while I didn't get to eat at one of the Iron Chefs' restaurants (I admired Michiba's restaurant in Ginza from the sign on the first floor), it only made me hungry for more.
So it's with an open heart, and an empty stomach, that I say a very profound どうもありがとうございました to Iron Chef. Without this show, I'd still be eating the same boring meals every day, and would be a lot poorer for it.
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Oct 21, 2018 20:45:13 GMT -5
ironnut77, did the music sound anything remotely like this?
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Jun 16, 2018 17:15:47 GMT -5
You get to judge for yourself just how bad this actually was.
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on May 5, 2018 23:37:17 GMT -5
Some short video snippets have surfaced from the reunion event. Notably, it looks as though they staged a truncated battle between Chen and a former challenger, with ostrich eggs as the theme. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM2_MbGZjgk
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Apr 19, 2018 23:42:57 GMT -5
This is a really, really cool video, even if I only understood bits and pieces of it. We get to see the lead-up to the epic osechi battle between Michiba and Nakamura, including their preparations in the weeks leading up to the battle; the construction of the special stadium in use that day; rehearsals of the battle for the day of; plus cool shots of scenes we don't normally get to see during a typical episode. Hattori, for instance, turned out to be a lot more involved with this episode than we typically give him credit for.
We also get to see the challenger selection process in action a bit, as well as how they shoot those challenger introduction videos with the chef in the darkened kitchen. It should be noted that the prospective challenger in this video is Hiroshi Michifude, who challenged Chen in Battle Dried Scallop just two weeks after this battle. As you'll see, he was present for the Osechi Battle.
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Apr 6, 2018 22:58:17 GMT -5
Link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwI2yEmMUsMListen carefully during the post-battle interviews. Chen, upon being asked about his use of the torch, says he wanted "to look like Morimoto," at least in the dub...of a Michiba-era episode.
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Apr 6, 2018 9:28:20 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Apr 1, 2018 0:56:03 GMT -5
Actress Naomi Kawashima, twice a judge on the original run of Iron Chef, died in September 2015 of bile duct cancer at the age of 54: newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/113817.phpOne of the battles she judged was Battle Chutoro, Tasaki vs. Kobe. Her husband, pastry chef Toshihiko Yoroizuka, was the only nominee to defeat Iron Chef French Suga—she was in attendance for that battle.
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Mar 29, 2018 21:17:02 GMT -5
I've always thought this was a good one for an Iron Chef leitmotif. Imagine Kaga bellowing, "Hitoridake yomigaeru ga ii...IRON CHEF!" followed by the Star Wolf/Sector Z theme from Super Smash Bros. 4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs7ZDS_L90M
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Mar 29, 2018 16:19:19 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Mar 24, 2018 23:36:47 GMT -5
So, I think I may have a decent translation of the first three minutes of the first episode. This goes through Kaga's opening narration, and his additional narration after the infamous pepper chomp opening, right up until Fukui-san speaks for the first time.
Note: I'm not a fluent Japanese speaker, but I recognize certain words. I have listened to the first three minutes of the show repeatedly to identify the phoenetic readings of what is being said. Using Google Translate and Jisho.org, I converted those readings into recognizable words and then took a little artistic license to render these words into plain English. I hope this suffices for a crude translation.
---
“If memory serves me right, the great chef Bechamel served in the court of France’s Louis XIV. At a banquet, Bechamel developed a mushroom sauce, complemented by stir-fried butter and milk. Thus the famous Bechamel sauce was born, and was said to have greatly impressed the king.
Around the same time, in China, there was a chef in China named Enbai. Enbai created the basis of Chinese cuisine within the grounds of Zuien, where it is said that over 300 ingredients, with the exception of tofu and pork, could be found.
And of course, in Japan, we had the great Rosanjin. These chefs that wrote history…someday, meeting these chefs and tasting their dishes as they were invented…before I realized it, I asked myself, ‘Couldn’t I build an arena to make the same discoveries these genius chefs did, to find the foundations of their techniques?’ I began to think seriously about this…”
(Opening Sequence)
The Gourmet Academy. This institution’s basic belief is that ‘Love is not what makes a great dish; it is the technique and artistry involved.’ Spurred by this belief, in order to find such capable genius chefs, I constructed this huge Kitchen Stadium. Every week, the pride of the Gourmet Academy--the three Iron Chefs--and the skill of the challengers who dream of victory will be contested.
Should a chef beat the Iron Chef in the preliminary battle, his or her ticket will be punched for the final battle. Should he or she win this battle as well, I shall, without hesitation, consider him or her as an Iron Chef.
(Preliminary)
However, there can only be one challenger against the Iron Chef each week. Before that, a tough qualification period awaits.
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Mar 24, 2018 10:33:43 GMT -5
I watched the opening to the first episode again. Because I recognized some words in Kaga's opening monologue that didn't directly translate, I revised the translation found in the book:
"If memory serves me right, the great chef Bechamel served in the court of France's Louis XIV. He created the famous Bechamel sauce at Louis's banquet and was said to have greatly impressed the king. At around the same time, there was a chef in China by the name of Enbai. Enbai created the basis of Chinese cuisine within the grounds of Zuien, where it is said that over 300 ingredients, with the exception of tofu and pork, could be found. And of course, in Japan, we had the great Rosanjin Kitaoji. These chefs that wrote history...someday, meeting these chefs and tasting their dishes as they were invented...before I realized it, I asked myself, 'Couldn't I build an arena to make the same discoveries these genius chefs did, to find the foundations of their techniques?' I began to think seriously about this..."
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Mar 21, 2018 23:49:17 GMT -5
Here's a fun question.
Say you're the Iron Chef for the day, and you're making a solo ascent into Kitchen Stadium. What would you want as your personal rise music as you rode the elevator platform?
I need a few to think of one, myself...
|
|
|
Post by okonomiyagi on Mar 21, 2018 23:37:16 GMT -5
The only one that I think was mentioned by name was Kenichi Miyanaga, who was a frequent assistant to Iron Chef Michiba. (Miyanaga was the first challenger on the 2012 Japanese revival, as you might remember.) Other than that, I don't think they made a big deal of mentioning the assistants' names like they do on Iron Chef America.
|
|