I am a big fan of the Iron Chef shows, both the
American version and the original, Japanese version. The shows are a culinary competition between two outstanding and
acclaimed chefs. One, of course, is an "Iron Chef" - a standing competitor and always the favorite, rather
like the home team in sports. The challenger is a restaurateur or chef that cooks against one of the Iron
Chefs to see "whose cuisine reigns supreme." The dishes must feature a theme ingredient that is revealed to
competitors at the beginning of the show, though I have heard that they are presented with several potential
ingredients in advance. During the "battle", which lasts one hour, the chefs must prepare 5 dishes,
which are almost always unusual, innovative and elaborately plated. Once the battle has come to an end, the dishes are
tasted and judged on taste, creativity and presentation by a panel of judges, which can include a variety of critics,
writers and actors.
Bobby Flay is one of the American Iron Chefs. He also updates his own site fairly frequently, announcing various news items and when they are filming new episodes of the Iron Chef. Recently, he mentioned that this season will feature a battle including some of the other Food Network celebrity chefs, namely Giada deLaurentiis and Rachael Ray. They will be pairing up with Bobby and Mario Batali, respectively. I would be inclined to think that Bobby has the advantage with Giada, who formerly worked at Spago, on his side, but perhaps Rachael will surprise us. She certainly has a knack for quickly-cooked meals. There is no known air date for this celebrity chef battle, yet.
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