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The Chairman comes onscreen, the teaser runs, Alton and Kristen introduce themselves and set the tone for the battle, the music comes up, and the lights come down. (It is painfully apparent how excellently the “Backdraft” score has upheld Iron Chef Japan.)
The challenger enters and is introduced, bringing their background and skills into focus. The challenger faces the Chairman… and it is at this point that the battle, for me, skews hard into left field…
Iron Chef: Battle for an Iron Legend was hyped to be a continuation of the original Iron Chef Japan series, a tall order for a series which has spawned 20 spinoff shows and series, all in homage to, and trying to capture, the fire and fury of the original. Do they succeed? I asked my significant other after 5 episodes of this new series
“For me looking at the original Iron Chef [Japan] – I’m looking at technique, the academic side of what they’re trying to portray. The current show is more engaging and less intimidating.”
Mrs. Iron Chef Fans
One of my Little Iron Chefs agrees:
“I think the real defining difference between the two shows is that Iron Chef Japan is a lot more serious about how they have their audience perceive how the competition is run. Iron Chef Japan is a lot more pedantic in how each dish is prepared and executed.”
Little Iron Chef the Eldest
Iron Chef Japan’s legacy is tremendous, from the previously-mentioned 20 spinoff series to the restaurants of the Iron Chefs and challengers themselves, the amazing impact that ICJ exerted on transforming modern cooking and food network television into a competitive landscape for chefs, and the meteoric increase in the visibility of celebrity chefs! Oh, and don’t forget the line of Iron Chef sauces available at your local store. (Don’t worry, they’re licensed by Fuji Television Network.)
My largest concerns with Iron Chef: Battle for an Iron Legend are the very small number of episodes and the inability of challengers to put their own feet to the fire by choosing the Iron Chef they will face. Those two things together are what gave us Kandagawa-san and his fierce (and returning) visage in one of the greatest ‘rivalries’ of the original show. Until Netflix commits to really spending the money to put that in play, this series will remain an echo of its former spinoffs…
I’d love to hear your thoughts as well – let me know if you’ve seen the new show and share with me what you do and do not like!
Yeah, that’s right: we have a date. June 15th, 2022, and then… the shishito hits the kitchen fan.
I expect there will be much to say once the first few episodes air, but I’m going to announce right now that there are at least three names now associated with the new Iron Chef on Netflix:
Mark Dacascos
Alton Brown
and
Kristen Kish.
I’m going to go on record RIGHT NOW, yes, right this very second, and say (within my official capacity as webmaster for what may very well be the greatest Iron Chef fan site on the whole of the Internet) that if it is beyond all hope to get Fukui-san as your Iron Chef Fount of Knowledge, Floor Announcer, and Hype Man, my next choice will always be Alton Brown as the man for the Iron Chef job and I, for one, am glad to see him on-hand. Smooth, urbane, both virtuoso and pedagogue, and he knows his way around social media.
Post your thoughts on our newly revealed Iron Chef Netflix series… Does knowing more spoil your dessert? Or does it make you hungry for more?
According to the Netflix synopsis for the new 8-episode show airing this year:
The legendary Iron Chef series is reborn with a supersized approach to the ground-breaking culinary competition that started it all. It’s been called the toughest culinary challenge a chef will ever experience. This is where world-class cuisine meets high-octane sports. Five new trailblazing Iron Chefs will welcome brave Challenger Chefs to the reimagined Kitchen Stadium, where they’ll face off and be pushed to the limits of endurance and creativity, as they cook up extraordinary culinary creations. The competition’s most successful Challenger will return to battle in a grand finale for the chance to be named the first ever “Iron Legend.”
-Netflix, https://about.netflix.com/en/news/iron-chef-quest-for-an-iron-legend-coming-to-netflix-in-2022
Most importantly, the page states something that should put a smile on the face of every Iron Chef Japan fan out there:
The series is based on Fuji Television Network’s format.
New Iron Chefs, New Challengers, and a Reimagined Kitchen Stadium with the support of Fuji’s format for the original show. While we wait to see how the judges will score this new dish, I want to know your thoughts – which head-to-head cuisines or ingredient battles are you most interested in?
Netflix will be airing a new Iron Chef show in 2022. According to many sites, it will be called Iron Chef : Quest for an Iron Legend. The show is planned for 8 episodes. The producer is Daniel Calin, who produced Master Chef USA, Top Chef and Nailed It.
This is yet another reboot in a long line of the original show. Others have included the poorly rated Iron Chef USA , Iron Chef America and the 2012 version of Iron Chef. Many more have been made titled Iron Chef with a certain country added at the end.
To say that people are a little weary of another reboot is an understatement. Most of the reboots have received poor ratings and Iron Chef America is a love it or hate it show for most. Nothing will compare to the original show that we all love. We will have to wait and see if the new show will fill a void.
Be sure to check back on this site often, as we will update you when the new show is set to air and for all of your Iron Chef news!
Kazuko Hosoki , a fortune teller and judge on the original Iron Chef, passed away on November 8, 2021.
If you watched any of the many episodes she was a judge in, you know she was very opinionated. She usually judged in place of late Iron Chef judge Asako Kishi. I just finished watching the King Crab Battle with Morimoto vs Tetsuji Iio and was reminded of when she didn’t like her portion of the kelp wrapped King Crab cooked in gravel rock and took the other judges and tried his, ending up enjoying his. She always had her way of judging and was an effective addition to the panel.
According to Ironchefdb, Kazuko Hosoki judged 37 battles, all appearing from 1998 and beyond into the 2000 battles. She also was the author of over 100 books and a winner on the Japanese version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire in 2004.
As the holiday seasons approach, I have a soft spot in my heart for Iron Chef Japan. My family established a holiday tradition almost a decade ago of binge-watching as much Iron Chef Japan as we could find through the holidays. The creativity and flair on display helped inspire some of our family’s traditional dishes and, though we have seen almost every episode more than a few times, we always appreciated learning something new every time we watched.
As 2021 draws to a close, I’m looking forward to be renewing this holiday tradition for the first time in a while! Iron Chef Fan Joe wrote in to let us know that FilmRise recently acquired the rights to dubbed episodes of Iron Chef Japan and that Pluto TV is airing ICJ on its free-to-download app. Along with the Twitch stream, this provides more access to Iron Chef Japan than we’ve seen in a while and answers some long-running questions many of you have had about the possibility of seeing it aired again.
Check out FilmRise and PlutoTV and let us know if they have what you’re looking for!