User:Cpritchett42/sandbox/Iron Chef America

'''This page is a work in progress, it's in my personal sandbox. This is the actual article: Iron Chef America'''

Iron Chef America is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carries a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef.

The chairman is portrayed by martial arts expert Mark Dacascos, who is introduced as the nephew of the original Japanese chairman Takeshi Kaga (in fact, contrary to the urban legend which suggests that Moriko McVey, Dacascos' real-life mother, is the sister to Kaga, the two are not related - this belief likely arose due to the fact that both chairmen effectively play fictionalized versions of themselves). The commentary is provided solely by Alton Brown (unlike previous incarnations where there were two commentators), and Kevin Brauch is the floor reporter.

The show is one of the more successful ones on Food Network (both in the US and Canada), attracting many from outside its normal demographic - in particular, the core 18-49 male demographic. This is due in part to its roots - Iron Chef in all its incarnations is often touted as more of a sporting event rather than a cooking show. Its critical acclaim is in stark contrast to Iron Chef USA, as Iron Chef America both modernizes the look and feel of Iron Chef in addition to bringing back Iron Chef to its roots. Criticisms of Iron Chef America are often minor in nature, such as having Alton Brown fill in the roles of both Kenji Fukui and Yukio Hattori on the original Iron Chef. As Brown, who in the making of Iron Chef America, likened himself to Hattori, many believed that Brown should have been paired with a play-by-play commentator. Some fans also claim that Brown is not as knowledgeable about Asian cuisines compared to European cuisines, and suggest that another commentator who is more versed in Asian cuisine work should be added. Others have criticized Brauch's somewhat intrusive floor reporting, often times interviewing chefs as they cooked, which was not done by Shinichiro Ota, his counterpart on Iron Chef (this was also done in Iron Chef USA, but the chefs on Iron Chef America are notably more open to Brauch compared to Sissy Biggers, his Iron Chef USA counterpart).

Another major criticism of Iron Chef America stems from the choice of chefs and other on-screen staff, as all of them are hosts of other Food Network shows: Alton Brown is the host of Good Eats, while Kevin Brauch is the host of The Thirsty Traveller.

Unlike the original Iron Chef or Iron Chef USA, however, Alton Brown, rather than the chairman, is credited as the show's host.

Chefs
On this version of Iron Chef, the Iron Chefs have either been previous Food Network personalities or, in the case of Masaharu Morimoto, were part of the original Iron Chef. They are:


 * Mario Batali, an Italian cuisine specialist
 * Cat Cora, a Greek and Aegean cuisine specialist, also the first female Iron Chef
 * Bobby Flay, a Southwestern cuisine specialist and former Iron Chef challenger
 * Masaharu Morimoto, a neo-Japanese cuisine chef, and the third Iron Chef Japanese on Iron Chef
 * Wolfgang Puck, a chef specializing in California cuisine

Iron Chef America also recognizes the Iron Chefs from the original Iron Chef. It is also to be noted that Morimoto is erroneously credited with 66 victories in Kitchen Stadium prior to Iron Chef America as a result of a typo (he was, in reality, 16-9-1, with one victory coming in overtime). However, Iron Chef America does not appear to recognize Iron Chefs from Iron Chef USA: when Iron Chef American Todd English appeared on Iron Chef America as a challenger, his record from Iron Chef USA was not reported, and no references to him being an Iron Chef was made.

Unlike Iron Chef or Iron Chef USA, the Iron Chefs wear contemporary denim chef outfits with solid-color patches and trimwork rather than stylish and elaborate chef garb, to create the impression that the chefs are battling in a modernized Kitchen Stadium. However, like Iron Chef, the Iron Chefs remained color-coded: Flay's were blue, Batali's red, Morimoto's white, Puck's black, and Cora's pink. On the right shoulder of each set of clothes is a flag representing their country of origin.

As Morimoto speaks with a very noticeable accent, or may sometimes even speak in Japanese when describing his dishes, his voice is occasionally dubbed over by Joe Cipriano. Cipriano also provided the voiceover for Hiroyuki Sakai in Battle of the Masters, a series of pilot episodes.

Format
At the beginning of the show, after the challenger chef is introduced, the Chairman would announce their Iron Chef opponent, unlike Iron Chef or Iron Chef USA, where chefs supposedly had the freedom to choose their opponent. (In reality, in all three incarnations the matchups are determined well in advance.) Afterwards, a theme ingredient is revealed, and the cooking begins.

Unlike Iron Chef, where chefs had upwards of 5 minutes to discuss their strategy before the battle begins, the revealing of the theme ingredient is immediately followed by the start of the battle, typically announced by Chairman Dacascos in the following manner:


 * So America, with an open heart and an empty stomach, I say unto you in the words of my uncle: Allez Cuisine!

Although this is drawn out compared to Iron Chef and Iron Chef USA, the cooking begins earlier in the program compared to the two: both Iron Chef and Iron Chef USA used the first five minutes of the program to give background information on the challenger, and another five for formalities that are not present on Iron Chef America (such as the symbolic rise of the Iron Chefs in front of their portraits). In the case of Iron Chef USA, the theme was not revealed until 20 minutes into the program.

On Iron Chef America, both the challenger and the Iron Chef have 60 minutes to prepare dishes based on a theme ingredient (which, like Iron Chef USA, is referred to as the secret ingredient). The dishes are tasted by a panel of three judges, of which two are professional food critics (a contrast to the original Iron Chef, which typically had one professional food critic as a judge, and Iron Chef USA, where none of the judges were professional food critics). Like the original Iron Chef, each chef can be awarded up to 20 points by each judge, and the chef with the higher amount of points (and not necessarily the plurality of judges, as with Iron Chef) is declared the winner. When a battle finishes in a tie it remains as the final result, unlike Iron Chef, where an overtime battle was immediately called with a new theme ingredient.

Unlike Iron Chef, Iron Chef America requires both chefs to prepare a minimum of five dishes, as did Iron Chef USA. Iron Chef America is also not affiliated with any culinary institution as Iron Chef was with Hattori Nutrition College, so chefs also bring in their own assistants, often themselves extraordinary chefs in their own right. Like Iron Chef and Iron Chef USA, each chef is allowed two assistants. In tag-team battles, the two chefs on each side each bring in one assistant (so there are four people working in a kitchen as opposed to three), as opposed to Iron Chef, where early episodes had two chefs without assistants and later episodes had two chefs and one assistant per side. The assistants brought in by the Iron Chefs are as follows:


 * Batali - Anne Burrell and Mark Ladner
 * Cora - Lorilynn Bauer and David Schimmel
 * Flay - Wayne Harley Brachman, Anthony Fusco, Dan Millacko, Neil Manacle, Brian Ray, and Patricia Yeo
 * Morimoto - Ariki Omae, Takao Iinuma, and Troy Thompson
 * Puck - Lee Hefter and Sherry Yard
 * Sakai - Kinya Komoda and Kaoru Ushimoda

The rules in Iron Chef America is also thought of as being less slanted towards the Iron Chef: on Iron Chef the Iron Chef's food was always tasted second, while on Iron Chef America, a coin flip before the show determines which chef's food is tasted first. Chefs also had the tendency to borrow equipment from the opposite side of Kitchen Stadium when the corresponding equipment on their side broke down (which occurred surprisingly frequently in the first season), a no-no on Iron Chef. Curiously, unlike Iron Chef or Iron Chef USA, the Iron Chefs do not usually work from the right side of the kitchen -- with the exception of Batali, the Iron Chefs typically worked from the left kitchen.

Like Iron Chef, as the tasting and judgement takes upwards of 45 minutes to complete (although it is edited down to five to ten minutes per chef in postproduction), the dishes tend to be soups and stews, which tend to improve in flavor over time, or dishes that could easily be served cold. In Iron Chef America, the chef serving second is allowed to reheat their dishes, which was allowed on Iron Chef but not on Iron Chef USA.

History
Iron Chef America first aired as a special titled Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters. Unlike Iron Chef USA, Iron Chef America quickly earned legitimacy with the appearance of Iron Chefs Hiroyuki Sakai and Masaharu Morimoto (with Chen Kenichi also originally slated to appear, but did not appear due to a scheduling conflict), as well as the appointment of Bobby Flay as one of the American Iron Chefs. The inclusion of Flay was a controversial one in the fact that Flay was hated by many Iron Chef fans - one which dated back to 2000, when Flay was a challenger. Ironically, the idea behind reviving Iron Chef was largely credited to Flay.

Flay had previously appeared on an Iron Chef special in 2000, where he was the challenger against Morimoto in a rock crab battle which took place in New York City. Flay was best remembered for standing on top of his cutting board at the end of the battle, which had caused quite a controversy among fans of Iron Chef, with Morimoto once stating that Flay "was not a chef at all". The battle also saw Morimoto's dishes tasted first, contrary to Iron Chef traditions, due to the spicy nature of Flay's dishes. Morimoto won the battle, but Flay demanded a rematch, partly due to the unsafe makeshift kitchen set up in New York. The following year, Flay demanded (and won) the rematch, partly due to his spicy dishes (which were tasted first) that had effectively blocked out the taste of Morimoto's dishes. There, Flay also attempted to rectify his apparent faux pas in the earlier battle by tossing his cutting board aside before standing on the kitchen counter.

The first battle of Battle of the Masters involved Sakai and Flay, with the theme of trout. There, Sakai had made two dishes of note: one was gift-wrapped to commemorate the opening of Kitchen Stadium America, while the other was trout ice cream, a dish that would be repeatedly recalled and referred to later on when anyone used the ice cream maker (especially when seafood of any kind was being poured in). In the end, the King of Iron Chefs lost by a single point. Other battles in Battle of the Masters was Morimoto taking on Batali, Morimoto (allegedly taking place of Chen) taking on Puck, and a tag team battle where Morimoto and Flay teamed up against Sakai and Batali. The battle between Sakai and Flay, in a sense, effectively contained all three incarnations of Iron Chef, with judge Kerry Simon having been a challenger on Iron Chef USA.

Battle of the Masters was largely successful, although the wins by the American Iron Chefs (and Flay and Morimoto in the tag team battle) had fans questioning whether the matches were fixed (except for the 21st Century Battle, Sakai had not lost in a battle where fish was a theme ingredient, nor had he lost in a tag battle). Nevertheless, the specials were successful enough that a regular series was commissioned.

The regular series is taped in New York, while Battle of the Masters took place in Los Angeles. Because of other interests, Puck declined to appear in the regular series, and Morimoto soon took his place. Not surprisingly, a few of the initial challengers were themselves Food Network personalities, such as Ming Tsai (East Meets West) and Rob Feenie (New Classics with Chef Rob Feenie). The first season also introduced Cat Cora as an Iron Chef, becoming the first female chef to hold the rank.

The second season of "Iron Chef America" began airing in July of 2005. This season will see Kerry Simon becoming the first chef to challenge on two different versions of Iron Chef (losing to Todd English on Iron Chef USA and defeating Cora on Iron Chef America, Simon also appeared as a judge in Battle of the Masters), as well as the first time an Iron Chef from Iron Chef USA challenges another Iron Chef, with English losing to Batali.

The second Iron Chef America season so far has seen its first and (so far) only tie on the American show: on July 31, 2005, with both challenger and Iron Chef receiving 45 points. In this case, unlike Iron Chef, no overtime is played, although a rematch was suggested by the hosts.

Notable judges
During the first two seasons, Iron Chef America has used a three judge panel for each match. Notable judges have included:


 * Jeffery Steingarten
 * Ted Allen -- Queer Eye for the Straight Guy foodie
 * Martin Yan -- renown Cantonese TV chef
 * Akiko Katayama
 * Mo Rocca -- former Daily Show correspondent
 * Jewel
 * Stone Phillips -- Dateline NBC anchor
 * Anderson Cooper -- anchor, CNN's Anderson Cooper 360
 * Soledad O'Brien -- co-anchor, CNN's American Morning