"AltonBrown" news and stories

Ever wondered what chefs and food critics eat when they're behind closed doors? Guess what? It ain't foie gras. Our friends over at The Daily Meal asked a slew of tastemakers -- such as Alton Brown and Ruth Reichl, April Bloomfield and Mario Batali -- about their secret food indulgences, and got some surprising answers. GQ's food guru Alan Richman has a soft spot for garlicky sausage, and gets his fix with Katz's Deli's knoblewurst. We won't ask which party he's going to after he loads up on garlic.

And what does the doyenne of Italian food, Lidia Bastianich, snack on when she has a sweet tooth? Nope, not a tiramisù. Lidia joneses for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Frankly, so do we.

Who's the chef who loves to nosh on Popeye's fried chicken?
Discover all the food vices at The Daily Meal.

It took a transpacific flight, but finally last night, "The Next Iron Chef" deviated from its status as a "Top Chef" also-ran and finally started getting ... weird. Or maybe it was just the goofy opening montage of our four remaining cheftestants standing in the busy rain-slicked streets of Tokyo, crossing their arms in slo-mo and acting all alpha-dog dominant.

In any event, the show is finally getting down to its high-stakes, high-drama Japanese roots after an extended period of trumped-up, low-stakes challenges in Los Angeles. Our trio of alternately grumpy and spunky judges have come along for the ride, and eyebrow-cocking "Chairman" Marc Dacascos is no longer beamed in via satellite to bark oblique commands to the chefs -- now he can do so in person!

This week's mission was the pursuit of umami, the Japanese concept of a so-called fifth flavor -- something beyond savory -- that seems to be everywhere these days. The word was mentioned about a zillion times in the course of last night's episode, and -- surprise! -- it just happens to be the current marketing catchphrase of "TNIC" sponsor Kikkoman, whose umpteen varieties of soy sauce were littered around the challenge kitchen. The umami theme also allowed host Alton Brown a moment to do what he does best: Explain all the geeky details of how soy sauce is made.

That food chemistry lesson out of the way, it was up to our remaining pro chefs to get down to the flavor at hand, a challenge made all the more confusing in the Hattori Nutrition College kitchen, replete with weird can openers, stoves operating in celcius and ice cream makers that seemed to deep-freeze their wares to a glacier-like consistency. Asked to fill five spots of a bento box each with a different rice-based dish, the foursome didn't need to engage in the usual reality-show sabotage -- the people who arranged the kitchen seemed to do that for them.

Marc Dacascos. Photo: Food Network.

Not enough tension in your cooking competition shows? Do you find your blood pressure leveling out to near-normal readings during "Top Chef"? Do you wish that "Chopped" had more creepy smoke-machine fog piped into the set? Would judges' decisions be more exacting if only they were accompanied by loud, metallic wooshing sounds?

You're in luck. Last week brought the return of "The Next Iron Chef," one of the Food Network's variations on the legendary Japanese cook-off show, and with it a heaping helping of adrenalin-fueled, hacksaw-edited mania. After just two episodes, it's clear the show isn't going to give us a moment's peace, whether to pour ourselves a nice glass of sherry or grab our anti-anxiety meds -- or both, should it ever come to that.

Next time you have the urge for English muffins, try this homemade version from Alton Brown and bake up your own batch.

Hungry for a little bit of behind the behind the scenes dish from The Next Iron Chef before tonight's premiere? Host Alton Brown chatted with our friends at AOL Television about culinary pattern recognition, his chances of competing and yes -- his favorite multitasking tool.

Read Slashfood's interview with The Next Iron Chef contender Nate Appleman.