Food gets its close-up on ‘Iron Chef America’

Food Network shifts focus
Ironically, “Iron Chef's” just-the-facts approach comes as Food Network is trying to shift away from cooking's slice-and-dice mechanics and attract a younger, broader audience. Kathleen Finch, senior vice president of programming, has said she wants more “young viewers and male viewers,” which translates to more screen time for foodie vixens like Rachael Ray and Giada DeLaurentiis. (Both will appear this season on “Iron Chef” as sous chefs to Batali and Flay. Of that politically charged episode, Seidel will say only to expect “some surprises along the way.”)

The new emphasis is on comfort (Paula Deen's cholesterol-be-damned “Home Cooking”) and travel (Ray's “$40 a Day”), with fewer how-to lectures from chefs and more TV-friendly personalities. Fans of longtime on-air cook Sara Moulton were dismayed, for instance, when her contract was not renewed.

“Iron Chef” has largely stayed its course amid the changes, with one big exception: the addition of Cora, a telegenic Greek-American cook who apprenticed for two Michelin three-star chefs and held several West Coast kitchen jobs before the cameras called. 

The 37-year-old Jackson, Miss., native was meant to appeal to both male and female viewers. Reactions have been mixed. Though Cora has been praised for being the first female Iron Chef, some culinary types have sniffed at her credentials. Unlike the other Iron Chefs, who all managed large kitchens and received critical acclaim before their TV stints, Cora's on-screen debut came without having run a major restaurant kitchen.

Seidel is quick to defend her. “Chefs have become celebrities and personalities in our country and our show is about personality as well,” he says. “She's a chef, but she didn’t bring a chef empire with her, and that’s what we liked about her.”

Level playing field?
Whatever changes have come, “Iron Chef's” most crucial element remains unchanged: two chefs in the heat of battle for a by-the-clock, nonstop hour.

When the clock starts, it's 60 minutes of uninterrupted cooking — and barely controlled chaos. This particular day, Morimoto flails away at a pristine hunk of Atlantic salmon (not the secret ingredient) with two knives to create a picture-perfect tartare while Cantu freezes balloons with liquid nitrogen and mutters instructions to his assistants via radio headset.

Since Iron Chefs are more comfortable with the timed battle, producers strongly counsel challengers to practice in advance. Some don't listen, like chef Roberto Donna, of Washington's Galileo restaurant, who suffered a stinging defeat last March when he couldn't finish his dishes on time. (Donna will return for a rematch.)

Thus “Iron Chef” steams on, living with its contradictions: overloading viewers with information as it blinds them with dazzle, trying to avoid the perils of celebrity chefs even as it offers them a national platform to hype themselves.

No one knows it better than Alton Brown.

“Chefs come in with their publicists and their handlers,” he says, “and I'm kind of like, ‘Oh my God, what've we done? What've we spawned?’”

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