Post by missteetheironchef on Jul 26, 2008 11:25:56 GMT -5
abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Story?id=5444825&page=2
'Iron Chef' Secrets Revealed
Behind the Scenes at One of the Food Network's Most Popular Shows
The chefs also get $500 per episode to buy specialty groceries so rare they are impossible to get in the Kitchen Stadium pantry.
And just to make it all a little more fun, 150 pounds of dry ice is pumped through the studio all day long. The fog makes for dramatic moments but also hides some of the secrets.
Things Aren't Always as They Seem
At the beginning of the show, the chefs you see standing under the spotlights aren't actually all iron chefs. Two of them are stand-ins because the real contender is chosen ahead of time.
And what about the "chairman," who introduces the secret ingredient? According to legend, he's the nephew of the original chairman from the Japanese series and he insists that everyone call him "the chairman" -- all the time. But it turns out that he will answer to another name: Mark Dacascos. He's actually an actor and martial arts master.
Despite all the show biz flash, the competition and the desire to win are very real.
Cat Cora is the only female iron chef on "Iron Chef America." Cora, who stands 5 feet 2 inches tall, describes herself as small but mighty, and says during each show she feels like an athlete gearing up for battle.
"We joke around, we get ourselves pumped up … and we get ready to go and we come here to win," she said. "We don't play around. I mean, it's really serious."
Some of the rivalries are pretty intense. Once, Bobby Flay leaped triumphantly onto his cutting board at the end of a battle with Masaharu Morimoto (before Morimoto became an iron chef). Afterward, Morimoto said Flay was not a chef because he had disregarded the cleanliness of his cutting board.
The show is an hour long and the cameras never stop rolling -- not even when the Kitchen Stadium chefs have an accident.
"This season there's been a fair amount of blood. People have been cutting themselves, lopping off things," said Brown, who explained that the chefs are more likely to injure themselves because sous chefs tend to handle knives better.
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To be continued...
'Iron Chef' Secrets Revealed
Behind the Scenes at One of the Food Network's Most Popular Shows
The chefs also get $500 per episode to buy specialty groceries so rare they are impossible to get in the Kitchen Stadium pantry.
And just to make it all a little more fun, 150 pounds of dry ice is pumped through the studio all day long. The fog makes for dramatic moments but also hides some of the secrets.
Things Aren't Always as They Seem
At the beginning of the show, the chefs you see standing under the spotlights aren't actually all iron chefs. Two of them are stand-ins because the real contender is chosen ahead of time.
And what about the "chairman," who introduces the secret ingredient? According to legend, he's the nephew of the original chairman from the Japanese series and he insists that everyone call him "the chairman" -- all the time. But it turns out that he will answer to another name: Mark Dacascos. He's actually an actor and martial arts master.
Despite all the show biz flash, the competition and the desire to win are very real.
Cat Cora is the only female iron chef on "Iron Chef America." Cora, who stands 5 feet 2 inches tall, describes herself as small but mighty, and says during each show she feels like an athlete gearing up for battle.
"We joke around, we get ourselves pumped up … and we get ready to go and we come here to win," she said. "We don't play around. I mean, it's really serious."
Some of the rivalries are pretty intense. Once, Bobby Flay leaped triumphantly onto his cutting board at the end of a battle with Masaharu Morimoto (before Morimoto became an iron chef). Afterward, Morimoto said Flay was not a chef because he had disregarded the cleanliness of his cutting board.
The show is an hour long and the cameras never stop rolling -- not even when the Kitchen Stadium chefs have an accident.
"This season there's been a fair amount of blood. People have been cutting themselves, lopping off things," said Brown, who explained that the chefs are more likely to injure themselves because sous chefs tend to handle knives better.
==========================================
To be continued...
