Food TV

Last night was the season finale of Next Iron Chef. Now I know I didn’t update y’all on parts 4 and 5, I just couldn’t find it in me to re-cap it all. So in short… In part 4 the Chefs were asked to prepare a first class meal for a new airline in Munich. Chef’s Besh and Symon both fared pretty well, with chef Besh’s only criticism being that his Watermelon Consomme should have been crystal clear, rather than just clarified… Chef Symon was declared the winner of the challenge, leaving Chef’s Sanchez and Cosentino out in the cold. In the end Chef Sanchez was sent packing, and can I just say HOORAY!!!
Part 5 brought the top three Chef’s to Paris where they had to use the ingredients they could find in Paris, to create and All-American Feast. They were to feed 20 people at the American Embassy, including Host Alton Brown, all three judges, and the American Ambassador to France, along with several top Chefs and culinary type people. All three impressed, although in the end Chef Cosentino didn’t impress quite enough and he too, was sent on his way … looks like my early prediction was wrong indeed…

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That’s right, I was so frustrated that I couldn’t find a single photo of AB’s new tattoo, that he got on the season finale of Feasting on Asphalt, that I wrote to the artist. And he wrote me back… With his permission I have his photo of that tattoo. As far as I can tell, this is the first copy of this photo anywhere on the internet!!! And isn’t it an awesome tattoo? I told you, didn’t I? I believe that the artistry and detail work on this tattoo is amazing and beautiful.

Well, Nic, being a wonderful (and might I add, patient) man, not only sent me this amazing picture to use, he also agreed to an interview with me. So, this being my very first interview ever, I made a few mistakes. Most notably of which was trying to set it up on IM, and then realizing that my IM doesn’t really work at home. Thank you very much $40 Wal-Mart wireless router… So rather than the lively conversation I was hoping for, I sent him some questions, and he sent me his responses. Here they are now, along with some of my thoughts after reading his answers…

Tell me a little about you… How long have you been tattooing? Are you married? Any Kids?

I have been tattooing for 16 and a half years, as long as I have been with my wife, we have been married for 15 years. We are both 36, we have 2 children a boy and a girl. This answer seems kind of dry, sorry, I cant think of anything to spice it up, I am kind of a white picket fence guy. I work, and go home and I coach soccer and volunteer at my daughters school, and I own a tattoo shop.

Actually, I don’t think this to be dry at all. As a matter of fact, I think it’s a great way to show the general public that tattoo artists are people too. They are husbands and wives, and soccer coaches. Really just like the rest of us, making a living, and hopefully having fun while they’re doing it…

What is your favorite of all of the tattoos that you have done?

That is a hard question, as I am fortunate to do lots of REALLY fun tattoos, so it would be hard to have a favorite, as the new fav’s supplant the old ones, but are still favorites one and all… does that make any sense? I realistically do a true favorite every couple months.

It seems like you truly love your job. If only everyone in this world could be that happy!!!

What are your hobbies?
I work out (which is what I am gonna do right after I am done with this!), I run (marathons!), I play video games, I paint and draw, I hang out with my kids and wife, and go scuba diving.

Wow! You’re a busy guy…

Are you a Food Network fan?
Yes, though not as big of a fan as my wife and son are! They love Iron Chef.

Well, who doesn’t?

What is your favorite show on the network?

Probably the original Iron Chef, I saw it in San Francisco like 11 years ago and loved the concept and program ever since.

I was a fan of the original Iron Chef as well, although I must say I like the American version much better. The secret ingredient in the original almost always grossed me out, and the dialogue of the judges seemed a bit cheesy. Mostly due to the dubbing of the voices, the overlays were always a little over the top for my taste…

Have you seen Feasting on Asphalt, before Alton Brown came to your shop?

No, but my wife and son love his other shows and were stoked when I told them he was at our shop. I had seen him a couple other times on Good Eats and Iron Chef America.

Of all of his shows I think Good Eats is my favorite…

Did you recognize him right away?

Yes, he is unmistakable

What was he like?

He was super nice and respectful, it was amazing considering they had been on the road for like a month at that point (I think it was that long, maybe just a couple weeks). His personality was pretty much the same or similar to the guy you see on TV.

That is so fantastic to hear. So often these days we hear that our favorite stars are jerks in real life. I’m glad that he really is what he seems to be…

His coming up to the shop was very spur of the moment in the show, was it actually? Or did he have an appointment?

It was totally spur of the moment and had us scrambling to open up space to get him in! They called a couple hours before they were coming down, but I am usually booked 5 months ahead of time so it was a little stressful, but worth it, for sure!

Who thought of the design, him or you?

He thought of the design, I drew it up.

Is there anything else you would like me to include?

Not that I can think of. It was a great experience and has been really fun running into people I know who have seen the show on TV. I wish I have been able to engage him more during the tattoo with cooking talk, but I am not much of a cook (though I can grill with the best of them!)

Thanks so much for your time Nic, I really appreciate it, hopefully I will be able to get a better wireless router before my next interview… heehee… You are awesome, and I really appreciate you sharing your art with us.

And to my readers in the Twin Cities area, when you want your next, (or first…) tattoo, be sure to get in touch with Nic, and the folks over at Uptown Tattoo. From the looks of what he’s done to our favorite food geek, it’s totally worth the wait for his next appointment!!!

A scant 90 minutes before the third episode of the Next Iron Chef, I am finally sitting down to review the second one. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the episode, as a matter of fact I thought that the challenges were very telling of the type of chef’s that we are dealing with.

In the first challenge the Chairman stated that a great meal always begins with a single bite. He then instructed the potentials to put every thing that they are about in a dish that was only one bite. Just as Alton Brown was about to let everyone go to the ingredients he got a phone call. The contestants were to make 6 plates of their one bite dishes. And then it began. There was a flurry of ingredients and tools everywhere. All to soon AB was counting down the seconds, and all of the chef’s had plated 6 beautiful, tiny dishes. All that is, except one. Chef Sanchez continued messing with his plates long after time up was called, and even then, only had one dish actually plated. His confusion? He thought they would be able to plate later as they seem to do on the other challenges. Now, I would allow this, except for a couple things… First of all every other chef understood perfectly well what they were supposed to do. The rules were in no way unclear. Second of all, this is not the first time. In only two episodes, and three challenges, we have seen Chef Sanchez continue on his dishes after time up is called twice. He doesn’t seem to understand the concept of a time limit, and that irritates me beyond belief. I am a strong believer in rules when it comes to competition, and I think he should be eliminated out an out if it happens again. He hasn’t been strongly cautioned by AB yet, but I think it’s coming. I hope so anyway!!!

Once we finish listening to his little temper tantrum about how he doesn’t think it’s fair that he can’t finish, we find out why they were making six dishes in the first place. In this challenge, titled Simplicity, they are judging each other. After they have tasted each others dishes, each is to votre for the one they thing expressed themselves wholly, in one single bite. Chef Sanchez, of course, cannot win this challenge. Having only completed one dish it’s mathematically impossible. However his bite was eaten by Chef Besh, who says it’s a good thing he didn’t finish all the plates… Chef Symon, however, is voted by his peers to be the winner.

We return from the commercial to fabulous Kitchen 5 which is just chock full of strange and wonderful kitchen implements. Things that even these world class chef’s had never seen. As well as jars and jars of chemicals. Things like xanthan gum, and methocellulose. You know, all those things on the back of so many ingredient lists that most of us are clueless about. Who knew that people actually cooked with that stuff? And liquid nitrogen for goodness’ sake!!! The tools were just ans interesting and innovative. As a matter of fact the challenge associated with them? Innovation. There is first 90 minutes of learning how to use the ingredients and tools like the vacuum sealer, smoker, and a clever device called an Anti-Griddle. Like a griddle, except instead of super hot, it runs at minus 30 degrees and freezes liquids into cute little patties very quickly. Then is the actual challenge. The chef’s are to create dishes using at least 2 chemicals, and at least 3 devices. Chef Symon gets his very own kitchen station fully stocked as well as the chance to raid the buffet before everyone else. Chef Davie seems to have fallen in love with the liquid nitrogen, and made a strange dish she called the freezo-frito, in which she nitrogen froze some slices of citrus fruit, and some other random stuff, and topped it with some ugly brown fried thing. It was certainly innovative, but she missed the point that it has to be both innovative AND edible… oooooohhh…edible too you say?

The masterpiece of the evening was Chef Cosentino’s Razor Clams with Saoir “shaving cream”. Innovative, witty, tasty, all around a winner. Which is why he won!!! I am going to make an early prediction here and say that our next Iron Chef America is going to be Chef Cosentino. He has an excellent attitude, and is quite comfortable using the strange array of ingredients that we often find to be the secret ingredient. The loser of the evening was of course Chef Jill Davie, who while very nice, just couldn’t quite get it… I look forward to seeing episode 3: Resourcefulness. And I promise the review of that will come BEFORE next Sunday…

Everybody loves the fast paced excitement of Iron Chef America. The talent and showmanship of the four people that hold the proud title Iron Chef cannot be denied. Food Network has decided to play up the success of the Next Food Network Star, by creating another Survivor style reality show. Finding one more chef to stand beside Bobby Flay, Cat Cora, Mario Batali, and Matsuhara Morimoto in Kitchen Stadium.

The first episode of Next Iron Chef was very good. It’s main focus was speed and artistry. Narrated by the versatile Food Network personality Alton Brown, the show was quick paced and intelligent. After having met our contestants, we got right into the competition.
The first of the two competitions showcased speed and skill. The contestants had a mere 15 minutes to de-bone a whole chicken, fillet a salmon, french a rack of lamb, husk 6 bivalves, get 2 cups of milk out of coconuts, and slice a piece of vegetation that I can’t quite place, nor remember the name of into four slices thin enough to read a newspaper through
The first group of four chefs managed to get through the challenge pretty well. Although Chef Cosentino, who brags that he is happy to cook with what most people are all to eager to throw away, completely ignored Alton Brown’s repeated hints that perhaps he should remove the bones and fins from the salmon that he filleted. When the second team came up, however, we were blown away by the speed and efficiency of Chef Morou. That is until he noticed that somewhere between the chicken, salmon, and lamb that he managed to get to within the first three minutes of the competition, he had sliced his finger open. He was bleeding all over the place. Still he was the first to finish the entire challenge, with quite a bit of time left to spare.
On the judging of the challenge we found that while Chef Morou may have been the fastest of the lot, he was not the most accurate. That honor, and the first “reward” of the series went to a competitor that until then I hadn’t really noticed. He cut cleanly and quickly and ended up with the full 75 points. A feat that not one of the other competitors accomplished. And that was Chef Aaron Sanchez.
For the second half of the show, the elimination challenge, the Chairman had a “sweet tooth”. Alton explained to the competitors that they were to make 2 world class desserts in 90 minutes. One a classic dessert of their choosing. The twist? They could not use, butter or sugar. And if they wanted cheese, they would have to make it themselves. The second dessert would be made of something savory. Chef Sanchez, having won the first challenge, got to choose first and decided on Duck Confit. The rest of the competitors made their choices, and Chef Cosentino surprised everyone by picking tripe. Even though he was only the third to choose, and there were plenty of other things on the table. Apparently he really means it when he says he will cook with anything! The chefs were then split into two groups once again and prepared their desserts. Although there were a few technical difficulties in the kitchen, probably due to the extraordinary amount of people and heat in there, everything went smoothly.
The judging was quick and painless. Chef Besh impressed with “Catfish Three Ways”. The catfish and grape truffle was the most astounding of the three. He also made a bread pudding with bananas foster, and the judges commented on how rich and tasty it was even though he did not use butter. He easily won, and chef Cosentino’s tripe was good enough to have him called back as well. Unfortunately Chef Des Jardins was not as good with her salmon roe, and was the first to be sent home. Perhaps because when asked if she did anything with the salmon roe, her response was a sharp “I rinsed it”.
Who will be the Next Iron Chef? I will be tuning in, and I hope you will too!!!

I don’t know if it’s just me, but lately every time I turn on the Food Network I end up getting stuck watching a rerun that I have recently seen. Today it was practically all shows that have been on in the last two weeks. Now I realize that repeats will happen, but the majority of shows in the daytime lineup of Food Network have been on for more than one season. The Barefoot Contessa and Paula Deen have done numerous shows so there really is no need to repeat the repeats quite so soon.

It definitely makes it hard to watch the Network on a regular basis. Today Ina made fish. While the fish looked great, I saw it last week so I wasn’t as enthusiastic as I could have been. Once you see these shows a couple times they tend to lose their excitement.

The evening lineup is a little better about their reruns and some of the shows, like Dinner Impossible are back to their new seasons so there are a few things still worth watching.

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The title of Iron Chef is about as prestigious as it comes in the food world. It is a title given only to culinary masters. With that in mind and in the tradition of the Next Food Network Star, Food Network has begun production for The Next Iron Chef.

This new reality competition will identify the next chef to be standing with the greats Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Cat Cora, and Masaharu Morimoto. The finalists in the competition will battle for a chance to be the next Iron Chef America. Alton Brown will be hosting this competition. Everything begins on October 7 at 9 PM EST.

Bob Tuschman, Senior VP of programming and production recently announced the list of finalists. The finalists were chosen based on their ability to be at the front of the culinary landscape. The goal was to find finalists who would be able to be a proud addition to the Iron Chef America team. The Food Network team looked for finalists that would have a chance to complement the current group and bring a unique sense of creativity to the show.

The eight competitors are listed below:

• John Besh (New Orleans, LA) Executive Chef, Restaurant August, Besh Steak, Luke and La Provence
• Chris Cosentino (San Francisco, CA) Executive Chef, Incanto
• Jill Davie (Santa Monica, CA) Executive Chef, JOSIE
• Traci Des Jardins (San Francisco, CA) Executive Chef & Co-Owner, Jardiniere, Mijita and Acme Chophouse
• Gavin Kaysen (San Diego, CA) Chef de Cuisine, El Bizcocho at the Rancho Bernardo Inn
• Morou Ouattara (Washington, DC) Executive Chef & Owner, Farrah Olivia
• Aaron Sanchez (New York, NY) Executive Chef & Owner, Centrico and Paladar
• Michael Symon (Cleveland, OH) Executive Chef & Owner, Lola and Lolita

Next Iron Chef, Food Network, Reality TV, Contest, New Chef