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

Focus on the food
On the surface, the domestic incarnation of “Iron Chef” resembles a mere cooking show the way “American Idol” resembles a high-school talent contest.

Translating it from the Japanese original, which was first launched by FujiTV in 1993, has been a highwire act. But the show clearly has found its groove and solidified its culinary cred.

Ironically, it accomplished that by reining in some of the celebrity dazzle of its four marquee chefs — Morimoto, plus New York superstars Mario Batali and Bobby Flay, and newcomer Cat Cora.

Courtesy of Food Network Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto prepares a pressed sushi dish on an episode of “Iron Chef America.”

Instead, the food is allowed to take center stage. Though the Japanese version's kitschier moments — cooks catching live octopi, or chef Hiroyuki Sakai's infamous trout ice cream — made for great television, the focus was more on spectacle. It would be a stretch to say “Iron Chef America” is choosing substance over style, but the belligerent approach been replaced by a tone of friendly competition.

“The original was more like a cooking battle,” notes Morimoto. “The American version is a little bit more casual.”

Showboating aside, each “Iron Chef America” episode now offers valuable lessons from the kitchen. It may have become Food Network's most serious-minded show, in part because it has transformed from mere spectacle to include a healthy dose of how-to.

“There was the drama, the tension, the humor and the campiness of it, but people were actually taking away food information,” says Bruce Seidel, the Food Network's vice president for program planning. “We were like, ‘How can we build on that?’”

Striking a balance
One strategy has been to simplify the show's “secret” ingredients. When the series kicked off in 2004, Flay and chef Rick Bayless faced off over a side of buffalo. Now you're more likely to see simpler offerings such as potatoes or frozen peas, though kitchen staples are interspersed with thematic battles that play to both chefs' strengths, as when Mario Batali and Todd English went mano a mano over pizza dough.

More care is also spent on pairing challengers, with Seidel and his counterparts at Triage Entertainment, which produces “Iron Chef,” striking a balance between high-profile chefs, like Cantu, and regional talents. This season's contenders include both A-listers like Rick Tramonto of Chicago's Tru and rising stars like New Orleans' John Besh or David Bull of the Driskill Grill in Austin, Texas. Oh, and Ralph Pagano, runner-up on last summer's Fox hit “Hell's Kitchen,” who will face off with Flay.

While chefs on the original “Iron Chef” prided themselves on bizarre experimentation, TV's unblinking eye pushes U.S. contenders to stick to their strengths. “I've had better food on that show than I've had in some of those chefs' restaurants,” says regular judge and cookbook author Melissa Clark.

There are misfires, as when pastry chef Michael Laiskonis faced Batali in a puzzling sweet-vs.-savory battle. But when it works, it's dazzling television, as with last season's appearance by Wylie Dufresne of New York's WD-50. Dufresne, known for avant-garde practices, stunned audiences when he broke out so-called “meat glue” to create an unholy meat-fish hybrid.

“That was probably one of the weirdest things we have seen here,” says Kevin Brauch, the show's floor reporter.

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