Iron Chef America: Flay vs. Sakai
I've spent the last hour or so watching the ICA - preview, and now its time get it on
Yukio Hatori has a Ph.D. in nutrition, I believe
Okay, Alton as commentator is ok, but there really liked the Fukui and Hattori interplay better. I really miss BDJ too.
Ha, no surprise that Sakai would bust out the circle mold or that Flay would smoke something.
Great judge selections, I thought, other than Unger
Why didn't the Sous-Chefs get introduced, if they were going to be named during the show?
Morimoto could actually be a good commentator.
Sakai's grilled trout looked totally excellent.
Half-way-through-review. This version of Iron Chef is almost too much a cult of personality show. The original was about the cooking, the various styles of cusine -- the focus was on the technique, the ingredients and the dishes; this is almost seems like a huge ego trip for the Chefs instead. The "very hansome" Bobby Flay, for example. Geeze!
Yes, Alton, there was an Ice Cream maker on the original show. Did you ever watch? Who could forget Cod Soft Roe Ice Cream
I'm left wondering what the actual dishes are at the end of the cooking. That's a different and awkward feeling.
Flay: Tappas, seemed very inventive; Coconut soup looked really good; Panned Trout looked nice; Fried Trout and Tamales seemed good too.
Sakai: Trout custard looked killer; the Tartare looked totally awesome; Spicy Trout Soup made me hungry for Zac's Nabe; and the carpaccio seemed excellent; I think the trout Ice Cream actually worked.
Okay, I see something I'm not going to like. In the original IC, scoring for taste was supposed to be based on how well the dish presented the flavor of the ingredient, it appears that the scoring here would be based on a less objective (well, yes, I know, it's all mostly subjective...) standard of "how much did you like it or not. I don't think that measures a chefs skills quite as well. Based on what I saw, I'd say Sakai clearly won. Not a clean slam, but at least by two or three points per dish.
Chen instead of Morimoto would have been awesome, its too bad that they could have had all four ICs take on Flay, Batali, Puck and Tsai. Oh wait, Tsai seems to be banished to the waste lands of Food Network... Kind of like David Rosengarten.
Yep, I knew it, Sakai got screwed. Ego-stroking all the way. Who ever gave Flay more points for originallity just needs to have their judge status revoked.
Thank God Battle Jinhua Pork was on following this. One of the best IC episodes, IMHO.