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[deleted] t1_jd0ag29 wrote

that's so sad - Chen Kenichi was my favorite OG Iron Chef.

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tuxedo_jack t1_jd0pc9f wrote

He, Michiba, and Sakai will always be my Iron Chefs.

Allez cuisine, you magnificent Sichuan master, you.

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Vordeo t1_jd0xv0e wrote

> He, Michiba, and Sakai will always be my Iron Chefs. > >

Those 3 plus that Iron Chef Italian who was in the intro but was never actually in the stadium for some reason.

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tuxedo_jack t1_jd1mlc3 wrote

AND MASAHIKO KOBE IS IRON CHEF ITALIAN

... he died of a fall in his kitchen when he was 49. Damn shame.

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FlopsyBunny t1_jd378zn wrote

It's always worth remembering how dangerous kitchens are. Fire, knives & falls.

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big_nothing_burger t1_jd40bgb wrote

People who watch Hell's Kitchen know. Every season has like 2-3 serious injuries.

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Jarl_Xar t1_jd4c8hj wrote

Hells' kitchen is nothing like a real commercial kitchen, unless your kitchen is a set i suppose.

Source: chef for 25 years in a variety of restaurants bistros and hotels.

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ThePencilRain t1_jd52msc wrote

Hells kitchen is what happens when you get a bunch of Denny's line cooks together thinking they are more than the sum of their skills.

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big_nothing_burger t1_jd578vd wrote

You know they only used novices in the first couple of seasons right? Almost every contestant is a sous chef, an executive chef, or just graduated from an acclaimed culinary school.

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PeeCee t1_jd10lh0 wrote

Yeah, I wa always puzzled why he was introduced separately

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Scooterks t1_jd16pxi wrote

Probably was added in later and they didn't want to refilm thw whole sequence.

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jrp55262 t1_jd1coce wrote

Masahiko Kobe, Iron Chef Italian. He was a later addition. Among the reasons why he doesn't rise with the rest is that the number 4 is considered unlucky in Japan, so they didn't want to show four chefs rising together.

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Ok-Seaworthiness4488 t1_jd1cpim wrote

Because he wasn't a head chef and owned his own restaurant at the time like other Iron Chefs iirc

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SquiffyRae t1_jd2kft1 wrote

I was shocked when I looked it up once and Masahiko Kobe actually cooked

None of the episodes they aired in Australia ever actually had him as an option beyond the intro and we never actually got an episode where he was chosen

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STrRedWolf t1_jd3gxkx wrote

He actually was in a few episodes, competing against other Italian chefs.

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ShogunFirebeard t1_jd4ebrh wrote

I definitely recalling watching episodes with him facing the challenger. But they were far and few between on US reruns.

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throw123454321purple t1_jd0j9zu wrote

“FUKUI-SAN!”

“Go ahead.”

“This is a repost from a few days ago.”

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BeautifulType t1_jd13vz8 wrote

Listen dude, tons of people don’t know that the Chinese legend has passed. I think I’ll allow it

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basilwhitedotcom t1_jd10spi wrote

At the beginning of the Yogurt Battle episode, Kenichi Chen tastes yogurt for the first time in his life, closes his eyes for a moment, and tells his team what they're going to cook.

I mean, damn.

EDIT: He won

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jrp55262 t1_jd1cys2 wrote

I remember the absolute look of horror on his face when the theme ingredient was revealed. Both chefs are given a list of possible theme ingredients ahead of the battle so they're not completely unprepared, but I bet Chen thought it was a joke...

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tandemxylophone t1_jd2fcpr wrote

I needed to watch that episode to know what you are talking about, and I was not disappointed.

"Iron chef, do these ingredients go well with yogurt?" "I don't know, maybe!?"

"Iron chef, this looks like plain Chinese noodle dish (Because we are expecting surprises)" "Ofcourse! What else does it look like!?"

"Iron chef, do you think it will turn out good?" "I don't know! I never made this before!"

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stormywhethers321 t1_jd0b5la wrote

I remember watching him cook on TV as a kid. He was super talented and always seemed like a great guy. RIP.

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SonOfOnett t1_jd2zji9 wrote

I remember he made a Mapo Tofu once that made me try tofu for the first time. Now I order the dish whenever so see it

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[deleted] t1_jd0e331 wrote

[deleted]

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chewytime t1_jd1lhx9 wrote

What’s weird for me is that the series ended at least 20 years ago which means he would’ve been around his early/mid-40s when it started yet in my mind’s eye he was always like mid-50s for some reason. He just seemed like he was older to begin with.

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binzoma t1_jd1xwxh wrote

yeah fucking hell, in my teens when I was watching og iron chef I thought they were all super old vets/masters etc. not just a few years older than me now

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ShogunFirebeard t1_jd4eje9 wrote

That applies to a lot of television shows. People just looked older than they were back then.

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mokutou t1_jd7ij9t wrote

I’ve never worked BoH but from what I gather from those that have, working in kitchens will age the fuck out of you. It’s hard on your body and spirit.

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shewy92 t1_jd2scrp wrote

> 67 is so young

67 is past retirement age AND past the age Reddit wants people to stop being eligible to run for political office because they're too old.

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Vaporsynthtechnowave t1_jd1jg5x wrote

the 24/7 Iron Chef Japan stream on twitch really held me down during covid. RIP

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tuxedo_jack t1_jd1mzsb wrote

I still have AVI rips of about 150 or so of the original US airings on Food Network on one of my servers at home. I can't count the number of times I've watched Battle Strawberry, Battle Lobster (both regular and homard), Battle Water, and many many more.

Back in the day, I had a capture card, a decent encoding rig, disk space, and Time Warner Cable. Good times.

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Vaporsynthtechnowave t1_jd2bhqc wrote

Battle strawberry was legendary but how have I not seen battle water?!

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tuxedo_jack t1_jd3kxnp wrote

I'm just going to leave this here.

Cough cough.

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SayTheWord-Beans t1_jd3rt3x wrote

Wow you are amazing.

If you also happened to know where to stream lots of Japanese Style Originator, I would be even further indebted to you

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tuxedo_jack t1_jd3vfue wrote

Ain't my channel. I just Googled for the following and found it:

>"Battle $THEME" +"Iron Chef Japan"

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mokutou t1_jd7ks1d wrote

I couldn’t remember Battle Strawberry so I went and watched it. It brought back the desire to do creative cooking again, something I haven’t felt in ages after the last decade of being the primary cook with a picky partner. It burnt me out on cooking, but now I want to get back in the kitchen. Iron Chef was largely responsible for my initial draw to cooking. It feels like unexpectedly encountering an old friend…feels good. ☺️

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blinkycosmocat t1_jd3rfyy wrote

The fatty tuna battle featuring sommelier Shinya Tasaki is one of my favorites.

Edit: fun fact - some of the music used to present dishes was borrowed from Yoko Kanno's anime soundtracks, mainly Brain Powerd.

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tuxedo_jack t1_jd4jbvx wrote

Don't forget that Hans frickin' Zimmer composed the main theme.

... yes, it was from Backdraft, I know.

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TearsDontFall t1_jd2ob1j wrote

Wait... what?! How did I miss this?!

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JRockPSU t1_jd39ung wrote

Same, now I’m extra bummed. I was already sad when they canned/banned the Game Center CX streams.

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Schmorganski t1_jd0h3s9 wrote

My favorite Iron Chef. That squid ink fried rice!

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johnnydlive t1_jd10fc7 wrote

His famed dish was Chili Prawns.

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wildwalrusaur t1_jd2xdvv wrote

The recipe for them is in his cookbook. They're sublime

He gives his father's original version and his own spin on it.

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sirfuzzitoes t1_jd0cgiz wrote

I hope they used this as his obit photo. That is a man doing exactly what he loved.

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MisterFlyer2019 t1_jd16x34 wrote

That was a great show. it had such a fun vibe, very entertaining. Nothing in modern food show culture has come close to it, doubt they ever will.

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mokutou t1_jd7jppc wrote

Yes. I was always disappointed with the American version, especially if they featured that pompous asshole Bobby Flay.

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Sn0wpooka t1_jd15huz wrote

All honors and praise to Chen Kenichi, the Szechuan Sage; Son of the Szechuan God.

the world is a worse place today 😪

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AlvinsH0TJuicebox t1_jd0d9wb wrote

He always seemed so friendly. He was my favorite Iron Chef

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Mingerfabulous t1_jd2h8pq wrote

Love the Iron Chef Japan show. Pluto TV has a dedicated channel for this. The American version sucks compared to it, including the food creativity. Sorry to hear he passed.

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drugsrbadmmmkay t1_jd0z1o0 wrote

I used to watch the shit out of the original Iron Chef, you will be missed

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zephyrseija t1_jd1qtyo wrote

Dude, fuck that. The God of Szechuan Cooking will live forever in our hearts.

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DepletedMitochondria t1_jd0qn4g wrote

Oh man, I hope his family is alright and he passed peacefully. Absolute legend

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PPQue6 t1_jd1cmk0 wrote

You're about 1 1/2 weeks late on this....

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matt2001 t1_jd1cp6z wrote

>Kenichi Chin, a famed chef of Chinese cuisine, died of interstitial pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital on Saturday. He was 67.

Is that COVID related?

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tiredofsametab t1_jd2rw99 wrote

I checked a handful of Japanese articles and none mention corona (コロナ in Japanese). It would only be released if someone chose to allow its release due to privacy laws in any case.

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valcatrina t1_jd1qffl wrote

Kinda sick of these delayed news. He gone last week, why is this news thread popping up now?

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I_DontEvenLikeReddit t1_jd1swia wrote

Reddit's algorithms keep going funky. I think they are changing things constantly but it is leading to some weird stuff like this.

I remember this headline on my front page last week, so was confused to see it reaching there again this week.

Before that the last weird thing reddit did was send me new (like less than 1 hr old) posts from 3-4 of my subs to my front page constantly all day long for like a month.

Now it is this where news stories are being weighted really strangely so "old" news stories are hitting my front page when there are more popular posts that should be here.

IDK man, but it is really annoying.

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darkseidx2015 t1_jd2g6s2 wrote

I've been binging on old school Iron Chef on Pluto for awhile. It's so sad to hear about Chin. He was always such a humble and funny person. You will be missed Chef. R.I.P.

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TroyMacClure t1_jd33uu0 wrote

Where are people finding the old show to watch? I'm sure there are random episodes on YT, but is there a good source out there? These were the best.

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bczt99 t1_jd3dyej wrote

Pluto TV has a free channel dedicated to Iron Chef. They probably play about 30 or so episodes on repeat.

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pdzulu t1_jd1fwjq wrote

Love what this guy did for cooking around the world. An inspiration to us all. And an XO sauce that’s to die for

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stu8018 t1_jd1omfz wrote

Damn. He was a legend. I watch the series over and over. Terrible news.

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strcprstskrzkukl t1_jd2xiw9 wrote

Original Iron Chef was some of the best TV ever. The best part being that the challenger virtually never won. It made that rare winner seem all the more impressive.

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Ratstail91 t1_jd28x9g wrote

RIP. I loved watching that show.

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HungryMoon t1_jd2tkuc wrote

I loved and still watch Reruns of this show often. RIP the Real One. Thank you for inspiring my love for cooking Chinese at home.

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ShaitanSpeaks t1_jd3uo2h wrote

That’s so sad! He was my favorite Iron Chef.

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heffayjefe t1_jd40erk wrote

Hey, great choice for a picture of him /s

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Tentapuss t1_jd56n62 wrote

Dang. I miss the OG iron chef. Iron Chef America never got close to capturing the magic of that show.

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Gloriathewitch t1_jd77k6m wrote

Really sad to hear this, wife and I watched this show a lot and Chen was an absolutely amazing chef

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mokutou t1_jd7i1pp wrote

No… 😣 I spent many nights watching Iron Chef, and Chin was my favorite Iron Chef out of all of them. And he was still fairly young.

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GoldDustbunny t1_jd0nuxt wrote

NooooooOoOOoOooOooooo! End of the family line.

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lsp2005 t1_jd1alji wrote

No. He has a Michelin starred son. So not the end of the family line. You made me look up his Wikipedia entry.

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jigokubi t1_jd12fsh wrote

His father was apparently the guy who popularized mapo tofu in Japan. The Japanese version, mabodofu, is one of my favorite foods.

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SayTheWord-Beans t1_jd3u94p wrote

Got a recipe link for your favorite mapodofu?

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jigokubi t1_jd4yoik wrote

I never measure anything, but I use:

either beef or beef mixed with pork, onions, sometimes green onions, ginger, garlic, all sauteed in sesame oil.

Then add: water, a little sake and soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, doubanjiang, tianmianjiang, tofu obviously, maybe some chili oil. Next time I'm going to try using Korean chili paste. You can add starch, too.

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ohcanadada67 t1_jd16ubd wrote

Dude ate the fugu. Never eat the fugu unless you prepared it yourself.

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