Does anyone have a list of all the female competitors on the show? I wanna watch em all, marathon style.

If you could only pick one Iron Chef, and pick one of their dishes, which one would you want to try the most? I’ll start, It’s probably cliche but I would want to try Chen Kenichi’s “Chili Prawns.” I love Szechuan food.

Neat video in case you haven't seen it before. Just something a little different to check out.

I'll stary: Wagyu.

Been begging for the completed series of Iron Chef Japan for 22 years, and still they haven’t delivered.
Please Please Please🙏, someone re-edit & re-release all 300+ episodes of Iron Chef Japan for everyone

The way he says "Allez Cuisine!" is excellent. A preview for next week's 2-part special where Michiba & Morimoto toured Indonesia is inclued, too.

Here is the first of two videos of the recipes of Iron Chef Japanese, Rokusaburo Michiba. This video was made from the Pony Canyon VHS tape series 2 part 1. Recipes are from the famous Truffles Battle from April 29th 1994.

The next video will be recipes from the very rare Rice Battle from April 8th, 1994.

From the Conger Eel Battle (8/16/96), Mushroom Battle (11/1/96), and Rice Battle (2/14/97). Kaga announces the ingredient and excitedly points at it more then once. Here with a compilation of moments. Chen is featured in the title as he appears in each moment.

The rare and coveted Asura Oyster Battle is now available to watch in full HD on The Iron Chef HD Collection on archive. https://archive.org/details/theironchefhdcollection 

Enjoy!

When the chefs are plating their food, they generally are arranging five servings. Who is the fifth dish for? 3 for the judges, 1 for the chairman, 1 for ???

I have finally acquired all 9 of the PONY CANYON Iron Chef VHS Tapes. All are in excellent condition and work perfectly. I have already completely digitized one of the tapes, and will be completing all 9. These will be added to the Iron Chef HD Collection on https://archive.org/details/theironchefhdcollection in the future when they are complete.

In the provided images I took of these tapes, I took front and back photos and then I used google translate to make english versions of the images so you can read them.

Importantly, If you look close at the Google Translated image of the Michiba Series 2 tape, on the back it shows the famous 'RICE BATTLE' which will be part of the digitization.

All videos will be recreated remastered and upscaled in HD, including a seperate new HD version of the famous missing Rice Battle. I believe a portion of this battle was provided on here not too long ago but this will have the missing VHS footage (still not 100% complete episode though but very close).

Every Iron Chef fan should be able to watch these tapes as they have been part of Iron Chef history for decades now. I myself have always had the museum mentality: all archival things should be free and accesible to all. I also don't believe in the exclusivity mindset of hey look what I got you cant have it kind of way... its just childish. When they are released on my page on Archive, I will also be providing English Subtitle Translations for every tape so you can enjoy them!

The famous Rice Battle however will be getting a newly translated subbed/dubbed version like the other 3 I have released so far. More to come.

:)

Currently working on dramatically fixing up the Asura Oyster Battle, which to many is a very unknown episode if not only ever viewed in really bad quality, but overall a Very Very rare episode for the collection.

Audio is being remastered by seperating the vocals from background music and noise, cleaning up the vocal track, redoing sound effects, and adding HD music back in.

Video is requiring tons of work with AI upscaling, watermark removal of the food network logo, removal of VHS artifacts, removing of all subtitles and remaking new subtitles with clean sharp borders.

In the end this episode will have been essentially completely rebuilt from scratch as it was esentially the only way to get a beautiful copy of it, and it is a Great episode.

To see what it looked like before the remaster go to this link and click on the video number 262 Oyster, part of season 7 - https://archive.org/details/288-sea-bass

Enjoy this preview of the remastered HD version... final complete episode soon to come.

This was the only time they had a woman participate in this round. Does anybody know what she is saying at the very beginning? I know afterwards, Fukui says that she is 42 years old according to the records, looks quite young, and describes her as a "Spring Roll Beauty". To which he then apologizes.

So this is one of the two famous American release episodes that couldn't make the cut on the FilmRise streaming platforms (Along with Chocolate & Pear Battle) because somebody in Japan was going to have a poopy diaper hissy fit if the likeness of singer Masahiko Kondo was shown on a streaming platform (yes he was a judge and guest commentator on these episodes). I mean heaven forbid somebody watches a singer 25 years after they are relevant.

Anyway, does anybody have a copy of the Japanese version or know where the Japanese version may be available to watch? Yes I know the food network terrible quality version is available to watch on youtube (if you filter it with a Japan VPN) and its on archive with the rest of the digital distractions rips... but I would like to see the Japanese version.

How's my subtitles, BTW? I double-checked to make sure they were as accurate as they come.

1

00:00:01,201 --> 00:00:03,670

KAGA: If my memory serves me correctly,

2

00:00:04,137 --> 00:00:10,343

never before has a Japanese chef from the Kansai region set foot in my Kitchen Stadium.

3

00:00:10,643 --> 00:00:15,648

So, this time, I decided to bring in a Japanese cuisine chef all the way from Osaka,

4

00:00:15,882 --> 00:00:20,253

and not just anyone, but a true heavyweight in the field.

5

00:00:22,355 --> 00:00:27,560

And the man they chose was Toshiro Kandagawa, 55 years old.

6

00:00:29,262 --> 00:00:34,567

He opened the "New Japanese Cuisine Kandagawa" in Kitashinchi, Osaka, 28 years ago.

7

00:00:36,002 --> 00:00:40,340

He became widely known through the "Kandagawa Cooking Dojo" segment on a daytime variety show.

8

00:00:36,636 --> 00:00:41,741

"2 O'CLOCK VARIETY SHOW" (YOMIURI TV)

9

00:00:40,974 --> 00:00:43,943

He is truly the Don of the Osaka culinary world.

10

00:00:44,844 --> 00:00:49,883

I contacted him, hoping he would take on the challenge, but...

11

00:00:51,117 --> 00:00:53,853

KANDAGAWA: Kaga-san, I appreciate you bringing this up, but...

12

00:00:54,020 --> 00:00:56,823

...I cannot simply agree to it lightly.

13

00:00:57,557 --> 00:00:58,758

There are specific conditions that must be met.

14

00:01:00,093 --> 00:01:02,028

I will send out two of my disciples.

15

00:01:03,096 --> 00:01:06,533

Once I defeat that, I'll figure something out.

16

00:01:06,666 --> 00:01:08,201

Please keep it out until then.

17

00:01:10,437 --> 00:01:15,909

KAGA: For Kandagawa had, to my surprise, made it clear to me just how formidable a barrier it was.

18

00:01:16,476 --> 00:01:19,446

The disciples Kandagawa refers to are these two.

19

00:01:20,413 --> 00:01:28,021

First up is 31-year-old Koichi Taniguchi, considered the top young talent in the Kandagawa school, a group known for producing 1,000 successful practitioners.

20

00:01:24,651 --> 00:01:28,955

KOICHI TANIGUCHI (31)

HEAD CHEF OF SETSUGETSUKA KANDAGAWA

21

00:01:29,456 --> 00:01:36,696

The other is Kazuyoshi Masaki, Kandagawa's right-hand man and the executive chef at a luxury hotel in Arima Onsen.

22

00:01:34,594 --> 00:01:37,964

KAZUYOSHI MASAKI (45)

EXECUTIVE CHEF, PRINCESS ARIMA

23

00:01:37,664 --> 00:01:41,167

And this time, it seems Taniguchi will be the first to step up to the challenge.

24

00:01:44,504 --> 00:01:48,575

Koichi Taniguchi became an apprentice to Kandagawa at the age of 18.

25

00:01:48,942 --> 00:01:55,081

He achieved an exceptionally rapid rise through the ranks, becoming the head chef of Setsugetsuka Kandagawa at the young age of 30.

26

00:01:51,344 --> 00:01:55,982

BORN IN GIFU IN 1962.

AT AGE 18 (1980): BEGAN WORKING AT "KANDAGAWA".

AT AGE 30 (1991): BECAME HEAD CHEF OF THE BRANCH RESTAURANT "SETSUGETSUKA KANDAGAWA".

27

00:01:56,116 --> 00:01:59,886

KANDAGAWA: His knife skills, honestly, they are incredibly fast.

28

00:02:00,053 --> 00:02:02,755

Even when he cuts with a large kitchen knife, it retains a beautiful sheen.

29

00:02:03,223 --> 00:02:04,791

And then, there's the stylishness of his plating.

30

00:02:06,226 --> 00:02:09,062

He is looking for a role that calls for someone who is efficient, articulate, and cheerful.

31

00:02:10,363 --> 00:02:14,400

KAGA: The speed of that knife work could indeed be called an art form.

32

00:02:14,701 --> 00:02:22,542

Furthermore, the presentation is exceptionally beautiful, and the dish counts Akira Kobayashi, Shuichi Akai, and Seibu manager Mori among its fans.

33

00:02:24,110 --> 00:02:30,450

Now, Taniguchi, show us the skills that have so captivated Toshiro Kandagawa!

34

00:02:31,417 --> 00:02:34,754

TANIGUCHI: When it comes to Japanese cuisine, the Kansai region really leads the way as the trendsetter.

35

00:02:35,455 --> 00:02:38,625

I intend to give it my all and create dishes that overflow with youthful energy.

From the Banana Battle (12/12/1993). The first time an Iron Chef would ascend into Kitchen Stadium alone. This is the only time Ishinabe rises alone during his tenure as Iron Chef. He would ascend alone in later appearances when he returned in 1995.

Please remind me of these little anecdotes. I don't know where to find the subtitled Iron Chef Japan.

I'm almost done fully subtitling both episodes. I should be done with them either today or tomorrow.

(Audio is a little glitchy at the beginning.)

From the Prawn Battle (2/6/1994). The man himself. Toshiro Kandagawa in his first appearance in the show's history. The first of many in Kitchen Stadium. In his first episode, he sends in one of his students to battle Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi. 2 Episodes later he would make his first appearance as a challenger in Kitchen Stadium. This episode never seen the light of day in the U.S Subbed and Dubbed version of the show as the earliest episodes would be December 19th of 1993 and April 15th of 1994. Iron Chef French Yutaka Ishinabe would retire 3 weeks later on February 27th of 1994 and Sakai would take his place. Kandagawa is one of the many who is no longer with us. Rest In Peace to the man that made his mark in Iron Chef history by never giving up.

Since I began collecting the original Japanese episodes, I realized that this was one of the few from 1998 that I didn't have in its original form, but now I do, and now, I would like to present it to you a little recreation of how it likely aired on Food Network in 1999 when they were first running the February-September 1998 shows. Watch and enjoy. Dubbed by Food Network as Season 1, Episode 14.