Tag Archives: iron chef america

Nov 13

Gummy cuisine

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I was a huge fan of the original Japanese “Iron Chef,” and for a good while I was a fan of “Iron Chef America,” especially because of the involvement of Alton Brown.  But as Food Network became obsessed with a glut of food competition shows, I got tired of the phenomenon. And, strangely enough, I was never really a fan of “The Next Iron Chef,” although I can’t really explain why. One of the few times I did watch it, a chef who I thought behaved like a total jerk (*coff*JoseGarces*coff*) ended up winning. Yes, it’s a cooking contest, not a popularity contest, but that’s sort of the point – I’d rather the producers pick an Iron Chef who is both talented and likeable.

Anyway, when Cooking Channel debuted – with everything I used to like about Food Network – I started watching it, and now I rarely watch Food Network at all. (Even Alton’s “Good Eats” reruns have moved to Cooking Channel).

But tonight, with nothing else to watch and not ready to go to bed just yet, I’m watching an episode of “The Next Iron Chef.” This season, unlike previous seasons, is an all-star edition featuring well-known chefs, most of them already current or past Food Network or Cooking Channel personalities. (They stole that idea, like much of the “Next Iron Chef” format, from “Top Chef.”) They’re preparing two dishes – one sweet, one savory – and each of them has been assigned a movie theater snack or candy as a secret ingredient. Alex Guarnischelli, who apparently won last week’s episode, got to choose her own candy – chocolate-covered raisins – and then assign each of the other chefs with their treats, which included cinnamon “red hot” candies, gummies and those super-sour-coated sweet candies, as well as popcorn and root beer. Surprisingly, Chuck Hughes got poor marks for his popcorn dishes; you’d think that popcorn would have been the least-objectionable of the options for savory cooking.

Anyway, this episode is relatively entertaining, and several of the participants – like Guarnischelli and Michael Chiarello – are chefs whose programs I’ve enjoyed in the past. I might tune in again some time between now and the finale.

There was also a foodie theme to “The Simpsons” tonight, with guest voices from Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali.

Feb 14

Under my umbrella

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Conan O’Brien’s talk show “Conan” had a Valentine’s Day video contest over the past week or two, the prize of which was that the winning couple would be served a Valentine’s Day dinner on stage during tonight’s show.

It was priceless. The winning couple were escorted to their on-set table by a Hosni Mubarak look-alike. Then Conan announced that Iron Chef Michael Symon would serve their dinner. Sure enough, here comes Symon – carrying a Taco Bell party pack in its original cardboard caddy.

But what’s a Valentine’s dinner without poetry? So William Shatner was brought out to read the couple the lyrics to Rihanna’s song “Umbrella.” Then, after a station break, Jack McBrayer (Kenneth the page from “30 Rock”) came out to tell the happy couple a story about his childhood in Georgia.

Sep 29

Good Eats and the Good News

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I am home sick. I’m supposed to be lying down – and I will be again, in a few minutes – but I had to check my e-mail.

My e-mail contained a notice of a new Twitter follower. I’m still not exactly sure who he is, but we have some Twitter contacts in common, so I went to check out his profile page.

I’m glad I did; he had a link to this article about Alton Brown. Any regular reader of this blog knows that I’m a huge fan of Alton’s – but apparently, I wasn’t a huge enough fan to know that Alton is a Christian:

When I go to New York and I tell people I am going to church tomorrow, people take a couple of steps back from me. What I’ve learned to do is go ahead and take two steps forward. But yeah, it’s tough, and there have been times when I’ve broken out in a sweat a little. I still feel a funny little tinge in my stomach when I’m out to dinner with my wife and daughter in New York. We’ll go to dinner and we’ll be sitting around the table and we’ll say Grace. You know what? People are going to stare at you. I used to feel really self-conscious. But I’ve gotten to a point where I think, nah, I’m not going to feel bad about that. I’m not going to apologize about that.

It’s a nice article, and a pleasant surprise. One thing that struck me: So many people think – falsely – that science and religion have to be at odds. I think one of the interesting things about Alton is that “Good Eats” is, in large part, a show which popularizes science.

One of the earlier episodes of “Good Eats,” the one about casseroles, took place at a little white country church – a United Methodist church, which they took pains to identify by name through an on-screen graphic. The church reminded me of a lot of the churches my father used to pastor. Of course, all that proved was that Alton had been exposed to religion, and (given that he grew up in Georgia) that wasn’t too unexpected.

So, good for Alton. Although, I have to say, I’ve gotten a little tired of “The Next Iron Chef.” Why are they doing another one so soon? Is one of the existing Iron Chefs leaving? How many Iron Chefs does one network need? I didn’t watch the last “Next Iron Chef” except for the last couple of episodes, and I really didn’t like the arrogant Jose Garces, who ended up winning the thing.

Now I’m suddenly even sadder that “The Wittenburg Door” is in limbo. At this point, I would certainly have been calling Bob Darden to try to pitch him an interview with Alton, who would have fit the magazine to a T.

Feb 26

The man in the orange clogs

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If you’re a fan of Mario Batali — and even if you aren’t, but enjoy cooking — you will want to go here and download a free, 32-page cookbook from the makers of Barilla pasta, with Mario as one of the editors. You have to give them your name and e-mail, and they encourage you to sign up for their promotional e-mail list, but for every cookbook downloaded Barilla will donate $1 to Second Harvest Food Bank, a worthy cause if there ever was one.

I like the fact that they have two different PDF versions available and that they give you tips for saving ink if you don’t need glorious full-color photography. For cookbooks, however, I kind of like glorious full-color photography. And my new Kodak printer is ink-stingy anyway, so I may go for it.

Hat tip to Claudia at Music City Bloggers.

Speaking of Mario, this Village Voice article lifts the veil of “Iron Chef America” and shows that the actual competition differs somewhat from what you see on TV. Some of this was old news to me, going back to the original Japanese version of the show, but some of it wasn’t, or at least went even further (if the Voice writer is to be believed) that I had heard. Don’t read it if you don’t want the illusion spoiled.

Hat tip to Edible TV.