Iron Chef America Ingredient Lameness

khm99 wrote:Does anyone else feel a little gypped that ICA uses such downscale ingredients?

I did some work and dredged up what the secret ingredients have been from the start (thanks Wikipedia). I've marked them with + for respectable, - for lameness.

Battle of the Masters
Trout
Spiny Lobster (why not Maine? see Season 3)
Eggs
Fruits of the sea

Season 1
Buffalo
Catfish
Duck
Chocolate and Coconut
Crabs
Squash
Scallops
Cheese (iirc, all Italian cheeses)
Mushrooms
Potato

Season 2 -- this seems to be the lamest on average
Pizza Dough
Hamburger
Chicken
Black Bass
Shrimp
Clam
Onion
Asparagus
Crawfish
Wild Chinook Salmon
Turkey
Tilapia
Lamb
Pork

Season 3 (partial)
Andouille Sausage
American Kobe Beef
Eggplant
Barramundi
Squid
Goat Cheese
Bigeye Tuna
Bacon
Lobster
Frozen Peas (probably the lamest from the outset, but proved very flexible)

Admittedly, some of the original Iron Chef theme ingredients just don't appeal to US audiences: Pen Shell? I don't think so.

They have hit some classic "American" ingredients, such as lobster, salmon and buffalo, but there are ingredients that really, really should be featured:

• Apples -- what's more American than apple pie, and it has a lot of savory uses.
• Oysters
• American sturgeon caviar
• Carrots -- another flexible vegetable (well, once you cook 'em)
• Corn -- maybe a separate show for masa harina?
• Soybeans (tofu, edamame, etc.)
• Oats?

Having a whole show on pork, lamb and chicken seems like they used up too much. Americans probably won't go for as much seafood as the Japanese... perhaps some more Euro-sounding ingredients, such as Pheasant, Wild Boar...

I could probably come up with more, if I wasn't so kitchen-challenged for the last few months. I haven't really cooked in eight weeks now.

To be fair, you're judging the japanese ingredients by their strangeness to you, not to an average japanese consumer. And ICJ had its own share of ingredients that might strike a viewer as pedestrian:

many times (at least 3):
Salmon
Tuna
Squid
Crab
Shrimp
Flounder
Chicken
Tofu
Rice
Sea Urchin
Beef
Pork
Lamb
Lobster

1-2 times (maybe more, I didn't count exactly)
Mochi
Bok Choy
Noodles
Garlic
Shiitake Mushrooms
Cabbage
Eggplant


The issue is that we remember stuff like Sea Bream, and Matsuba Crab, and Natto. We don't remember the 18,000 times they've done some form of pork or rice or tofu.

You can browse all ingredients here: http://www.lunaclara.com/sswt/whatever/ironchef/

I see 6 pork, 7 beef, 4 rice, 3 tofu, 6, tuna, 9(!) shrimp, 11(!) crab, etc.

The most astounding (and lame) thing to me is that produce has accounted for only 18% of the ingredients.

Actually, the difference between ICA and IC original that is even more dismaying to me than the choices of ingredients are the editing choices.

When they use a live ingredient, there's a LOT less "oh, the humanity!" moments, such the classic scene in IC Battle Octopus, with Masaharu Morimoto pummeling an octopus with a Flinstone-sized daikon radish.

I really miss moments like that. Call me morbid, but if the chefs are going through the effort of preparing live ingredients from scratch, I want to see it cinema-verite style.

I never thought about the fact that the IC ingredients are probably considered common to the audiences in Japan. Something to ponder...

khm99 wrote:I never thought about the fact that the IC ingredients are probably considered common to the audiences in Japan. Something to ponder...

On the other hand, there were plenty of episodes where they say, "that's $4000 worth of shark's fin" or "those are rare black-skinned chickens not normally seen in supermarkets" and so on. There were certainly of exotic episodes.

Yes, but you could say similar things about the american wagyu or the chinook salmon in the US. I think they just didn't play it up as much because the US doesn't have the same fetish for ultra-expensive exotic ingredients the japanese do, with their $40 peaches and $200 canteloupes.

I am not an IC fan (either Japanese or American). But I'd pay to watch them have to figure something out with the contents of a 7-11.

It'd be yet another Krispy Kreme bread pudding, I fear.

It'd be yet another Krispy Kreme bread pudding, I fear.

Oooh, I actually made this once. It was intensely disappointing to me. The concentrated Krispy Kreme goodness was too much for me, I fear. Far too oily and sweet for the bread pudding Nirvana I was seeking. From here on out, give me a good stale baguette and now we're talking...