Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend

Last updated
Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend
Genre Cooking show
Developed byDaniel Calin
Presented by
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Production
Executive producers
  • Daniel Calin
  • Eytan Keller
  • Ross Weintraub
Production companies
Original release
Network Netflix
ReleaseJune 15 (2022-06-15) 
July 2, 2022 (2022-07-02)
Related

Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend is an American cooking show reboot of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America . Alton Brown returns to co-host the show with Kristen Kish, and Mark Dacascos again serves as The Chairman. Contestants challenge the Iron Chefs in a cookoff with a secret ingredient, and in this series, the highest scoring challenger battles with all five Iron Chefs one more time in hopes of becoming an Iron Legend. The series debuted on Netflix on June 15, 2022, for its first season of eight episodes.

Contents

Format

Five new Iron Chefs have been introduced: Curtis Stone, Dominique Crenn, Marcus Samuelsson, Ming Tsai and Gabriela Cámara. Challenger chefs compete against the Iron Chefs to prepare a dish centered around a secret ingredient revealed by The Chairman. Hosts Alton Brown and Kristen Kish provide real-time commentary on how the competition proceeds, with Kish occasionally filling the role performed by Shinichiro Ohta on the original show and Kevin Brauch on Iron Chef America as floor reporter. Each episode has three judges, Nilou Motamed, Andrew Zimmern, and a third guest judge. Unlike prior iterations, Brown and Kish also try the dishes and participate in deliberation with the judges, although their votes are not counted in the final score. At the end of the season, the highest-scoring challenger returns to face off against all five Iron Chefs in hopes of becoming an Iron Legend and receiving a Golden Knife.

Episodes

Each episode has three judges, Nilou Motamed, Andrew Zimmern, and a third guest judge.

EpisodeTitleIron ChefChallengerChallenger specialtySecret ingredient(s) or themeWinnerFinal score
1"Battle Street Food" Curtis Stone Mason HerefordSandwichesStreet Food (Theme)

Lamb (Secret Ingredient)

Curtis Stone 85–78
2"Battle Tailgate" Marcus Samuelsson Esther ChoiKorean FusionTailgate (Theme)

Ribs (Secret Ingredient)

Esther Choi86–81
3"Battle Milk" Dominique Crenn Curtis DuffyFarm (Theme)

Milk (Secret Ingredient)

Dominique Crenn 87–82
4"Battle Medieval" Gabriela Cámara, Dominique Crenn, Marcus Samuelsson, and Curtis StoneN/A (Battle of Iron Chefs)Medieval Times (Theme)

Game birds, Mushrooms, and Grapes (Secret Ingredients)

Gabriela Cámara and Marcus Samuelsson 85–84
5"Battle Chocolate" Ming Tsai Claudette ZepedaRegional Mexican cuisineYouth (Theme)

Chocolate (Secret Ingredient)

Claudette Zepeda81–77
6"Battle Chili Peppers"Gabriela Cámara Yia Vang Hmong cuisine Chili Peppers (Secret Ingredient)Gabriela Cámara86–81
7"Battle Live Sturgeon"Ming Tsai Gregory Gourdet and Mei Lin Live Sturgeon (Secret Ingredient)Ming Tsai86–85
8"Battle for Iron Legend"All 5 Iron ChefsEsther ChoiSea (Secret Ingredient)Iron Chefs83–82

Production

In January 2022, Netflix announced that it would reboot the Iron Chef franchise with a new iteration subtitled Quest for an Iron Legend for eight episodes, initially. [1] The release date of June 15, 2022 was announced that May with Alton Brown returning to co-host the show with Kristen Kish and Mark Dacascos reprising as The Chairman. [2]

Tsai, Samuelsson, Crenn, and Stone were previously challengers on Iron Chef America, with Tsai, Samuelsson, and Crenn having also competed on The Next Iron Chef . Samuelsson was also a challenger on the aborted Iron Chef USA pilot from 2001. Past Iron Chefs Masaharu Morimoto and Wolfgang Puck appear as guest judges during the first season. Morimoto was the third Iron Chef Japanese on the original Iron Chef and was one of the Iron Chefs on Iron Chef America, while Wolfgang Puck served as one of the Iron Chefs for the Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters pilot miniseries before retiring.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of 7 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10. [3] Jim Vorel at Paste enjoyed the show appreciating the preserved balance of "patently absurd" and "undeniably impressive" from previous iterations. [4] However, Wenlei Ma disagreed in her review for news.com.au feeling it lacked the weirdness of the original Iron Chef and was too polished, later calling it "soulless" and "not worthy of the Iron Chef name." [5]

Related Research Articles

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Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient. The series ended on September 24, 1999, although four occasional specials were produced from January 5, 2000 to January 2, 2002. The series aired 309 episodes. Repeats are regularly aired on the Food Network in Canada, the Cooking Channel in the United States, and on Special Broadcasting Service in Australia. There are 5 spinoffs, with the latest being Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alton Brown</span> American food show presenter, chef, author, cinematographer, and musician

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References

  1. White, Peter (January 20, 2022). "Iron Chef Reboot Cooked Up At Netflix". Deadline Hollywood . Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on July 15, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
  2. Maas, Jennifer (May 2, 2022). "Netflix's Iron Chef Reboot to Reunite Host Alton Brown, 'The Chairman' Mark Dacascos". Variety . Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
  3. "Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  4. Vorel, Jim (June 15, 2022). "Netflix's Iron Chef Revival Is a Delectable, Comfort Food Return to Kitchen Stadium". Paste . Archived from the original on June 15, 2022.
  5. Ma, Wenlei (June 14, 2022). "Netflix's Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend is not worthy of its name". news.com.au . Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2022.