So Cal Iron Chef Report Battle# 280 May 21, 1999 "Suckling Pig Confront" Greetings, Iron Chef Fans: Yes, I am back. This is the report on "Suckling Pig Confront", aired originally in Japan on May 21, 1999. It is a surprise episode, where President of Gourmet Academy, Takeshi Kaga is missing. It is said that he was extremely upset that Tetsujin has not been fairing well as of late. They are 3-6 past nine weeks, and that is the worst record ever on the seven year history of IC. To express his anger, Kaga boycotted this show. Instead, regular commentator Hattori opened the show. ... that is the cover story. I have a feeling Kaga was just late showing up to the taping due to traffic (Fuji TV Head quarter Building is conveniently located right by the expressway, but the road is typically congested). Anyway, it was an unusual opening where the normal voice and acting of Kaga was missing. Challenger: ----------- Kaga at least did the introduction part (taped separately). To bring back Iron Chefs to life, he brought in a "special" challenger. The actor Masaki Kanda has a favorite Italian restaurant to go to. In fact, he goes there every opportunity he got, and he does not touch any other Italian food for the past two years. The owner chef Sperno Stervio (39) runs the restaurant "Saint Lucia" in Osaka. They did not say how long he has been in business, but the way Kanda is addicted to the food this man prepares is obsessive. His style is Neapolitan. [I think I remember reading about this place... It is a very small, funny shaped restaurant. Of course, it's the food that counts. -ICR] Will Iron Chef respond to the challenge from this happening Italian chef? Iron Chef: ---------- Iron Chinese Kenichi Chen was chosen to stop the skid (I understand Sakai lost last week's battle). Chen himself is in the two loss streak (re: 6/20/1999 "Chinese Cabbage", 7/25/1999 "Moyashi (Bean Sprouts)"). Chen has not lost two in a row before. All four Iron Chef were at the studio. In fact, I noticed Kobe showed up on his own pedestal. His new year's wish came true (ref: 3/28/1999 "Japanese Lobster Confront"). Comments from each IC to follow. - Sakai: "I feel for Chen. The pressure must be great. I will be battling with him in spirit tonight". - Morimoto: "Challengers as of late, come very well studied and prepared. It's tough. But we IC has to overcome that. I am sorry the result has not been reflecting that". - Kobe: "Kaga-san, I haven't lost any past nine weeks..." This is true. Kobe is the only IC who has not lost in the recent weeks. Theme Ingredient: ----------------- Hattori chose and announced tonight's theme ingredient. Suckling Pig. Thank god it's not alive. Some people may took offense from the display of baby pig corpse. You can rank this among the shocking shows of Iron Chef. [You know, this may be why Kaga ditched the show... -ICR] In fact, the BDJ judge (actress Chizuru Azuma) was not so cool about this. At least until the chefs prepared the dishes that look less gross. Dishes: ------- Challenger Sperno Stervio He was asked what is the Neapoli style cooking. Answer: "It is a delicate combination of seafood and mountain food". - Assortment of Two kinds Pork Hors D'oeuvre Pork thigh cream stew cooked with good deal of garlic is filled in a container of an egg plant. Calamari is cooked with its ink and the pork meat. Asked if squid and pork go well together, Stervio said "Yes, they go together very nicely. I call this Stervio Special". Congressman Kurimoto (whom, by now you know, I count as one of the expert critique) was impressed with this dish. - Fettre con Fajori Fettre is flat, thick pasta, that (to me) looked like papparadelle. Thick flat pasta "grabs" the sauce well, so it works well with Neapolitan style dishes. Stervio blended grated lemon peel in the pasta, giving it a unique aroma and texture. The sauce is a pomodoro (tomato) based with lots of vegetable and of course, baby pork. Kurimoto said Stervio is excellent at using the tangy flavor. Asako Kishi, the only food critique by profession, renewed her taste on baby pork. She liked the straight flavor of tomato sauce, too. - Roast Pork with Balsamico Sauce The pork is cooked in the oven for almost an entire hour. Both chefs did that today, which, considering the one hour time limit, is risky. This one came out very nicely, with skin comes out crispy while meat remains juicy. Balsamico adds elegant sweet flavor to it. They made mentioning on broccoli that is Kanda's favorite that was supposed to show up here, but didn't. I failed to capture the reason for it. - Dessert Pork with Red Wine Boiled Celery This is a dessert dish using baby pork. Sweetness of pork matches sour flavor of celery in red wine sauce. Described as a nice closer for the pork course. No comments from the judges. Iron Chef Kenichi Chen Chen said all dishes he did tonight were not supposed to be done in one hour. But he did, and he did well. That and from the sweat on his forehead tell how much he was into it tonight. "Tonight, it was all spirit -- kiai. I mean, I had to win, didn't I?" Will he? - Sliced Head and Kidney of Pork Sorry about the ungodly sounding name, but it is a direct trans- lation. This light dish with crisp texture and mild spiciness make an excellent opener for the course. Kishi was impressed the way the bone comes out easily when eating. Kanda, who was not a judge for the evening but tasting together, after tasting this dish, said "Perhaps Stervio chose the wrong opponent....". - Smoked Fry of Cola cooked Pork Chen cooked pork meat in Cola for sweet flavor (a la Morimoto), smoked it, then fried it, to mild up the smoking flavor. Served with pepper added salt. It is a rather involved dish, and looked impressive, too, but judges' comments were not covered. - Stew of Deep Fried Pork Chinese ham and bamboo shoot's flavors are absorbed by baby pork in this dish. Nice looking dish, but no comments from judges. - Chinese Style Roast Pork The most awesome looking dish of the night. Chen called this dish Lao Su-tan. He brushed on vinegar and syrup on the pork skin and cooked the whole pig in the oven. The result is a crispy skin and meat with a deep flavor. It is also rich with gelatin to add flavor and texture. Mango based sweet sauce is great, and sliced banana sauteed with lao chyu (Chinese Liquor) matches the pork perfectly. Also served with steamed bread. The flavor is described as "spicy sweetness". Judges are surprised how well it goes with the banana. Kishi enjoyed the "three different flavors" from this dish. - Pork Soup Han Style This subtle looking soup is also fairly involved. chen used Pai-tan (white soup) and gee-tan (chicken soup) together to boil the pork. Judges said the flavor of the soup does not go away. Kurimoto described it as "This is beyond good. I don't have a word to describe it...". And Now the spoiler!!! Don't read this if you don't want to know. SPOILER!! SPOILER!!! SPOILER!!!! SPOILER!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!!! SPOILER!! SPOILER!!! SPOILER!!!! SPOILER!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!!! SPOILER!! SPOILER!!! SPOILER!!!! SPOILER!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!!! Iron Chinese Chen won. Tetsujins saved face for the evening. At the time of judgment, Kaga was in the back watching. I still think he just arrived late. So the judgment was announced by Hattori for the first and most likely for the last time. No one has the delivery of Kaga. Except for Kishi, who gave him 19 points, all other judges gave Chen the perfect 20. It was that high a level of battle. My feel was that Stervio prepared four pork dishes for four different people. Chen prepared the course meal for all four people. That's the difference, along with Chen's challenging attitude of trying four time-consuming recipe. But you know what? I just came back from Japan and there, I watched Chen fought even greater battle. But I will not elaborate on it for now. You will see it soon. Look forward to it. Along with that, I had a few interesting IC-related experiences there. When I settled down to add the finishing touch, I can publish them in the mailing list. Look for it if interested.... Well then, till next week, Ciao. -ICR