"IronChefAmerica" news and stories

Given how often the secret ingredient on Iron Chef America ends up being a vegetable, it's a wonder we haven't seen more vegetarian chefs plying their trade. Sure, Bobby Flay can grill a lime like nobody's business, and at this point, there are few things that come out of the ground that Chef Morimoto hasn't oh-so-delicately tempura-ed.

So we were looking forward to Amanda Cohen's challenge to the throne this week. Would the proprietor of Manhattan's tiny, inventive vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy show the meat boys a thing or two? Would she show solidarity for her patrons by refusing to wade into the carnivorous, pescetarian waters judges like grump-o Jeffrey Steingarten are so used to treading? Would a vegetarian chef -- gasp! -- win the title of Iron Chef?

Granted, after the past two guests ruthlessly defeated, respectively, Chefs Symon and Morimoto, we thought it unlikely that another win was in the cards, for anyone. And the Shelley Duvall-esque Cohen looked like she was going to break out laughing when The Chairman barked out her introduction ("you walk to the beat of a different drummer!").

As The Next Food Network Star winds down its sixth season, we here at Slashfood are taking time to chat with the final contestants about their experience on the show.

Click through for our interview.

We have to admit: It's more than a little hard to keep all the renowned chefs of America and their various TV appearances straight. It's getting to the point where, if you're lucky enough to be able to dine in a big city, you're liable to be greeted by the same person who you saw whipping up calamari with Kathie Lee & Hoda in the morning, getting eliminated from a rerun of The Next Iron Chef in the afternoon, and cruelly critiquing young upstarts on Top Chef D.C. in the evening.

Such is the case with Maria Hines of Seattle's renowned Tilth. Okay, so we didn't get to dine at Tilth Sunday night, and it's been a while since she graced the airwaves on Top Chef Masters. But we've missed her bold, distinctly northwestern (not to mention organic and local) flavor profiles, unpretentious plating, and utterly cool, laid-back demeanor. In just a couple short episodes, she became our number-one summer chef crush.

So while we were eagerly awaiting her face-off with Chef Morimoto on Iron Chef America this weekend, we did so with a lump in our throats: Really, does anyone other than the reigning Iron Chef win? Sure, there are a few token wins to reassure us that the whole thing isn't rigged, but surely, pairing up Hines with seafood whiz Morimoto was a "better luck next time" kind of move on the part of the producers.

Marcus Samuelsson may have recently been crowned Top Chef Master for bringing African cooking to Bravo's judging tables. But he's not the only New York chef introducing the flavors of the continent to armchair chefs in Middle America.

Chef Pierre Thiam has attracted quite a bit of attention for his two Senegalese restaurants in Brooklyn, Yoele and Grand Dakar. Add to that a well-received cookbook, and you've got an Iron Chef virgin just waiting to be subjected to all the screaming, hyperbole and whiplash camera moves of Kitchen Stadium.

Of course, Thiam is so stately and composed, it was difficult to even detect a bead of sweat as he faced off against -- who else -- the reigning King of Big Flavors, Bobby Flay. The secret ingredient, papaya, seemed to favor the cooking style of Flay -- who described it as the "ugly cousin of mango" -- more than that of Thiam, but we were willing to give the episode a chance. Hyper-polished (and super-sauced) South-American-influenced cuisine versus spare, almost vegetarian Afro-Asian ingenuity? Bring it on.

John Fraser had us fooled this week on Iron Chef America. To look at him -- brown hair neatly parted, boy-next-door face, apple-cheeked complexion -- he didn't seem that threatening. Everything about his appearance screams, "I gave up becoming a doctor to fry scallops," a fact we were reminded of countless times by host Alton Brown.

Don't get us wrong, Fraser's reputation precedes him: Rising-star awards, a New York Times three-star review for his restaurant Dovetail, incessant appearances on talk shows -- this is a guy who has "Future Iron Chef" written all over him.

But next to the streamlined, chrome-domed, tattoo-chested, "hey bro"-spouting defending champ Michael Symon, we were sure he'd be toast. And then a funny thing happened. After the unveiling of the secret ingredient (cauliflower!), Fraser had his own surprise: He'd be letting his flavors speak for themselves, he announced, without the help of sous chefs.