The Next Iron Cheftag:blogs.foodnetwork.com,2008:/food/nic/742007-11-12T15:46:40ZWatch as 8 of America’s top chefs battle it out to become Food Network’s next Iron Chef America. Movable Type 3.33Episode 6tag:blogs.foodnetwork.com,2007:/food/nic//74.20152007-11-12T15:39:53Z2007-11-12T15:46:40ZIn February of 1998, when Chef Michael Symon was just 28 years old, food writer Michael Ruhlman wrote of him in The Soul of A Chef: "Though he is five-eleven, weighs more than two hundred pounds, and wears a size...http://www.amateurgourmet.com/The Soul of A Chef: "Though he is five-eleven, weighs more than two hundred pounds, and wears a size fifty-two jacket, he appears agile and light, a wrestler, weighed down only by the ledge of his brow and his nearly black eyes. Everything he cooks is important to him...."
I share this quote not to point out the fact that Ruhlman knew Symon nine years before judging him on The Next Iron Chef (a fact that, to my mind, is completely irrelevant; food speaks for itself and can't, no matter how much you might want it to, magically taste better than it actually does) but because it shows a remarkable prescience. What Ruhlman saw in Symon is precisely what the other two judges and the three remaining Iron Chefs (Flay, Cora and Morimoto) saw tonight: genuine passion and flair; technical proficiency and electric exuberence. In other words: the makings of an Iron Chef.
Hindsight, of course, is 20/20 and it's with some embarrassment that I admit that I didn't expect Symon to win. Judging by comments on this blog, many others didn't either. In fact, during tonight's episode when Chef Besh spontaneously decided to make a swordfish dessert, I wrote in my little notepad (a prop that makes my blogging task feel more significant): "Besh is going to win."
I thought he'd win because he was so game--spontaneous and confident and playful--and his dishes, from what I could see, looked better.
But if you listened carefully to the judging, you knew Besh was done for. The judge's praise for Symon's spice roasted swordfish and his braised swordfish collar far surpassed any praise the judge's had for Besh. True, Cat Cora was critical of Symon's seasoning, but don't forget that editing may have amplified her concern to make the final moments more tense. In the end, Symon's food tasted better and that's why he won.
And that, my friends, brings The Next Iron Chef to a close. We have a whole season of Iron Chef America to look forward to with Chef Symon proving his mettle going head-to-head with the nation's finest. Will he meet any of his former competitors again in Kitchen Stadium? I'd wager a "yes" and I look forward to seeing that. And as far as Chef Besh's future, there's no doubt that it's bright: after the exposure this show will bring him, not to mention a recent feature in the New York Times, he'll be riding high for a long time to come.
"But what about you, Amateur Gourmet. We'll miss you the most!"
Don't fret, dear reader. The answer's been here the whole time: just click your heels together three times and then click on over to my Amateur Gourmet blog where I'll continue to rant and rave about food and cooking and everything in between. And in case you haven't done so already, make sure to check out my book which may not make an Iron Chef out of you, but may qualify you for Copper Chef--a very honorable category indeed.
And you never know: with a little persistence and a little luck, you may be there in Kitchen Stadium before you know it. Michael Ruhlman makes a similar point in that very same chapter about Michael Symon: "Lunatics and madmen aren't drawn to cooking; chefs become that way because of the conditions of the form, conditions you could measure; in hours, in actual degrees Fahrenheit. I had changed, hadn't I? I worked in 150-degree temperatures in a daylightless, cavernous kitchen, I ran through parking lots--I ran everywhere I went--and I got angry when the world moved less quickly and efficiently than my kitchen expectations. I'd changed in in a year. Imagine the changes that happen over a lifetime of cooking!"
In nine years, Michael Symon went from small time cook to Iron Chef. What might happen to you if you put your mind to it? Happy cooking, America. In the words of my uncle: "Zie gezunt!"*
*Yiddish for "be healthy, be well."
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Episode 5tag:blogs.foodnetwork.com,2007:/food/nic//74.19752007-11-05T14:21:45Z2007-11-05T18:27:18ZDear Food Network, I have decided to do this post as a series of letters. Is that ok? Sincerely, The Amateur Gourmet Dear Amateur Gourmet, You have our permission. Please, however, use your own postage. Sincerely, The Food Network Dear...http://www.amateurgourmet.com/
this incredibly impressive video)--and even the most seasoned of lobster roll eaters might agree with Donatella that it's possible for a lobster roll to have too much mayonnaise. Now I wasn't there, so I can't attest to how mayonaissey the roll was, but still: leave the woman alone! No one likes a lobster bully.
Dear Donatella,
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? HAVE YOU BEEN TO MAINE? THAT LOBSTER ROLL WAS PERFECT, YOU INCOMPETENT OAF.
Dear Ruhlman,
You always beat me to the punch with your blog post about each episode. Just for that, I'm selling the advance copy I got of your new book on E-Bay.
Dear Alton,
How are you? I've never met you, but I feel like we might be simpatico. We're both a bit nerdy, we've both lived in Georgia (I went to college and law school there; I think you shoot your show there) and we both have a penchant for quirkiness. I'm a big fan of Good Eats and I think what makes it work is your affable charm. It's a perfect balance of playfulness and informativeness and entertainment: there, you come across like a favorite uncle with all these weird gizmos in the basement for drying fruit or fermenting cabbage. Here, on The Next Iron Chef, you come across more like a caustic older brother who ribs his younger siblings for breaking their bernaise or overblanching their asparagus. I'm not sure it's your fault since the producers put you there and told you to interact with the chefs while they cook and what is it you're supposed to say? I think you fare much better on the actual Iron Chef show where your role is clearly delineated and instead of an uncle or a brother you come across more like an adopted niece. Just kidding--I didn't know what to say there so I said adopted niece. But you see my point, I hope: we like you as an everyman, not as a smug ribber. OK?
Dear Ambassador to France,
Was that your house? Can I move in with you?
Dear Abby,
I don't know how to finish this post.
LOST IN CYBERSPACE
Dear LOST IN CYBERSPACE,
Please don't bother finishing this post. No one is reading this far--they're here to leave comments about how the show is racist.
Sincerely,
Abby
Adam,
Finish the post with us.
Sincerely,
Besh & Symon
Dear Besh & Symon,
Ok, I'll finish this post with you two. You're the last men standing and you should be awfully proud. It wasn't immediately clear from the first episode that it'd be you two who'd get this far: in fact, if I remember correctly, Symon you were in the bottom two on Episode #1. So you've both come a long way and should relish your time, next week, in Kitchen Stadium. And what a great idea for a finale, huh, to do it like a real Iron Chef: that makes a ton of sense, doesn't it? You'll be competing at the very thing you're aiming to compete at for the rest of your careers. It's just a question of who gets to compete at it continually which, come to think of it, may not be that great a prize after all. Imagine going to a casino where instead of chips, you were gambling for tickets to another casino and so on and so on. It's a paradox of infinite proportions. But, in any case, next week should be highly dramatic and exciting though I think the sneak preview gave away the secret ingredient. (SPOILER ALERT: Did anyone else see Besh holding a giant swordfish??) I'd say more, but this post is already too long and I better get to bed: it's 3:30 AM and I need my beauty sleep. I wish you both the best of luck! And, remember, don't take it too seriously: whoever wins basically becomes a stock character on a TV show the same way that Ned Flanders is a stock character on The Simpsons or Stan is a stock character on The Golden Girls. Then again, the loser becomes a disgrace in the chef community--a pariah whose name, when announced, will always trail with it the thought: "NOT an Iron Chef." Sleep tight and best wishes!
Fondly,
The Amateur Gourmet
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Episode 4tag:blogs.foodnetwork.com,2007:/food/nic//74.19402007-10-29T15:13:01Z2007-10-29T15:23:49ZLast night I had a burger, fries and a milkshake for dinner; tonight I had homemade pasta with pesto, and though I probably gained a few pounds this weekend, I'm pretty sure I'm not the elephant in the room right...http://www.amateurgourmet.com/
The Next Iron Chef is the most recent season of a show that rhymes with "Shmop Shmef." It's impossible to write about tonight's episode without calling attention to the fact that "Shmop Shmef" featured an episode with the same exact challenge earlier in the season. Not only that, it was almost the same exact set-up: the remaining contestants were put on a plane, sent somewhere far away (New York on "Shmop Shmef," Germany on The Next Iron Chef) and, once arriving there, told to cook a meal that could be reheated and served on a plane.
I'm sure the internet will be abuzz with this elephant tomorrow, but let's be fair: I'd bet anything that the producers of The Next Iron Chef didn't intentionally copy a challenge from "Shmop Shmef" (I bet they were mortified when that "Shmop Shmef" episode aired.) Logically, this accidental mimicry makes sense: if you were producing a reality show about competitive cooking, what's the one location where food is almost always dreadful? And how dramatic is it to have a bunch of chefs cooking and serving food on an airplane? So let's laugh off this snafu, bid our elephant adieu, and dig into the meat of tonight's episode.
The chefs were in full chef mode tonight: watching the four remaining chefs storm around the kitchen was refreshing and a welcome contrast to watching greener chefs on other reality shows. These seasoned chefs are fiery and focused and do not enjoy distractions, especially if those distractions are Food Network cameramen. Chef Cosentino was turning heads with his vaguely threatening words to whichever cameraman (or camerawoman) kept approaching (I would have loved to have seen footage of the cameraperson's reaction. Alas, The Food Network doesn't want to get too meta.) Just when you thought Cosentino was the lone griper, Symon snapped: "C'mon guys, move." In this episode we caught glimpses of how chefs probably behave in their own kitchens: bossy, pushy, highly vocal--it's what makes them successful. (Isn't it interesting that the sweetest-seeming chef, Aaron Sanchez, is the one who went home tonight?)
Now considering the challenge, I was a bit surprised--and a bit frightened, actually--by the chefs who chose to serve raw fish. There was Symon with his tuna crudo and Sanchez with his scallop ceviche. In my life, I can promise you that no matter what airline I'm on, no matter how far up I am in first class--even if I'm in the cockpit--I will never eat raw fish on a plane. Granted, Sanchez's ceviche was "cooked" by the acid, but still. Fish is a food you want fresh; and raw fish is something you want even fresher. When have you ever lifted the lid on a tray of airplane food and thought, "How fresh!" The last salad I had on an airplane dated my grandmother in high school. Airplanes are great places to watch Vince Vaughn movies with the sound off, to read trashy magazines you'd be embarrassed to read elsewhere, and to practice yoga, even though you've never taken yoga, to tune out the screaming brat a row behind you. It is not the place to celebrate the wonders of the sea.
Yet, strangely, the judges weren't too concerned about the raw fish. Instead, they--and by they, I mean specifically Ruhlman--were stricken by unclear consomme (Besh's) and undercooked cauliflower (Cosentino's).
"Consomme is clear," said Ruhlman, perhaps alienating half of America who think consomme is the lead character in Les Miserables. "This isn't clear."
Besh took his ribbing like a gentleman, as did Cosentino whose cauliflower Ruhlman thought was so undercooked it was "crudite."
Luckily, Symon came through with perfect salmon--"vow"-ing the guest judge, the head of food for Lufthansa. I admired Symon's decision to cook the salmon on the plane instead of pre-cooking it in the kitchen. Strategic, smart and sensible, Symon is showing himself to be a truly capable chef, certainly destined for the final two. Is there any question that it's between him and Besh? Cosentino's a goner.
As for Sanchez, it was his time to go. I liked that his cuisine wasn't predictable fancy restaurant food; it was culture-specific food with a story and a history. What it lacked, unfortunately, was polish. I'd definitely dine at one of his restaurants, though, and wish him lots of luck.
Finally, it's important to note (and I thank reader Cathy B. for reminding me) that Chef Kaysen, who left last week, was somewhat vindicated on Michael Ruhlman's blog. Check out the post here where Ruhlman explains how Kaysen's final dish was accidentally submerged in an ice bath before being served to the judges; an unfortunate event which would explain the shoddy seasoning.
Only two episodes left, fans. Who do you think's going home with the title? And who do you think has the best hair?
Until next time,
Adam Roberts, The Amateur Gourmet
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Episode 3tag:blogs.foodnetwork.com,2007:/food/nic//74.18952007-10-22T15:28:35Z2007-10-22T18:51:06ZFinally, it gets juicy! I enjoyed the first two episodes of The Next Iron Chef, but tonight--for the first time--it really hit its stride. There was real tension between the chefs, as they "hosed" their co-competitors with tricky ingredients; and...http://www.amateurgourmet.com/
The Next Iron Chef, but tonight--for the first time--it really hit its stride. There was real tension between the chefs, as they "hosed" their co-competitors with tricky ingredients; and there was real tension at the judge's table as Michael Ruhlman and Andrew Knowlton spatted about grilled escargot and mushrooms. Now instead of shoulder-slapping friendly competition, the show is getting intense. There are real egos on the line: study John Besh's face on Tivo when Ruhlman tells him his rabbit loin is mushy. At least Andrew Knowlton didn't restate his opinion that it tasted like wet tissue. (Query: have you ever had meat that tasted like wet tissue? I can't imagine meat having that texture.)
What occurred to me tonight, and hadn't occurred to me before, is just how much is at stake for each of these chefs. Unlike the rookie chefs on other cooking shows like Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen, most of these competitors have names that are inextricably linked to a restaurant. So, for example, the next time you visit Chef Besh's namesake restaurant "Besh Steak" and your waiter asks how would you like your sirloin, will you say: "Kleenex consistency, please?"
It's not really a laughing matter when your business hinges on your reputation and your reputation is continuously challenged, undermined, mocked or worse on national television. How will any of Chef Morou's customers at Farrah Olivia avoid staring at their plates and wondering, as the judges did, why each component is separate? And now that Chef Kaysen is taking over at Cafe Boulud in New York, will customers sneak in their own stashes of salt to discreetly season their food?
What a blow to a young chef's self-esteem to have the co-author of the French Laundry Cookbook and the new Elements of Cooking tell you that you've barely grasped the most fundamental principle of food preparation: salting! It's certainly a lesson that most home cooks take a while to imbibe. Most of my friends who cook are timid when it comes to salt. I was too when I started cooking for myself almost four years ago. But gradually I've grown to understand how much salt affects a dish; it's the difference between bland and bravo. If anything, Chef Kaysen is a martyr to the cause of getting cooks, both at home and at restaurants, to properly salt their food.
But let's rewind a moment. I thought tonight's challenge was clever in theory, though in execution it was a bit confusing. Were chefs expected to "hose" the person they were paired with? Some chefs were given rabbit (Besh), snails (Sanchez), and frog's legs (Kaysen); others had quail (Symon), squab (Cosentino), and venison (Morou). The latter three items you might find on any cosmopolitan restaurant menu in any major city. Wouldn't it have been more interesting if all six protein choices were less-than-desirable? That would have leveled the playing field a bit, and made it a true test of resourcefulness. (Though, to be fair, there are certainly plenty of high-end places that serve rabbit, snails and frog's legs too.)
What I find fascinating to study, as the show goes on, is how each chef's demeanor reflects his (or her) performance in the competition. For example, both Besh and Symon are affable, confident, thoughtful, passionate, and focused. My guess is that one of these two will be the winner. Cosentino is in their category, but seems a bit too fidgety, a bit too unsure at times. And Chef Sanchez always looks like he just woke up. The departing contestants, Morou and Kaysen, were both a bit too wide-eyed and in over their head.
Ultimately, tonight's episode revealed The Next Iron Chef at its best: it moved away from the camp (sorry Chairman) and focused on the food. If this keeps up, the show is heading towards a very exciting finale.
Check out Judge Michael Ruhlman's take on last night's episode here.
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Episode 2tag:blogs.foodnetwork.com,2007:/food/nic//74.18672007-10-15T15:55:59Z2007-10-15T16:02:17ZMr. Wizard, who died this year, once did a kitchen experiment on TV that I remember from my childhood. He took a glass of ice, filled it with water, and then said to a little girl, "When this ice melts,...http://www.amateurgourmet.com/
Next Iron Chef clearly don't share my vision for scientist-free kitchens. Tonight's episode, the second episode, may as well have been called: "The Science Episode." Contestants were asked-forced, rather-to use high tech equipment and chemicals to create competition-worthy food. Naturally, the results were mixed and very few dishes-if any-were the kinds of dishes audience members were pawing their screens to try.
Honestly, readers, were there any dishes you were desperate to sample? See: that proves my point. The only dish I remember, because of the judge's reaction, was Chef Symon's tomato salad. That looked interesting. Did it look better than a salad of real summer tomatoes dressed with olive oil, basil, and a drop of balsamic? You tell me.
But I'm not here to editorialize about science and food (for the record: I am eager to try the food at wd-50, Alinea, and, of course, El Bulli-all temples of molecular gastronomy); I'm here to talk about tonight's episode. Here's a cluster of random thoughts crammed together, unscientifically:
-Aaron Sanchez had no excuse not to plate his food on time during the preliminary challenge. There's a timer, dude! All the other chefs knew they had to be done when the timer was done; and you did a similar challenge last week, how was it different then? Quit complaining and get your act together. You're lucky it was a contestant-judged challenge or you'd be toast.
-Chef Gavin Kaysen is in an interesting position this week: he was just tapped (story here) to take over as chef at the recently three-starred Cafe Boulud in New York. How will his performance on Next Iron Chef affect his business at the new job? Will Daniel Boulud, the owner, regret his decision if Kaysen continues to flounder as he did tonight? His clam appetizer looked pretty excellent; it's sad that his entree, with aromatic pillow, didn't fare as well. Maybe he was thrown off by all the technology? See, I'm not kidding, food and science rarely mix!
-I'm frustrated that we don't get to hear more of the judging. At one point Andrew Knowlton said, "I disagree" about one of the dishes to Michael Ruhlman. What did he disagree about? Why couldn't we hear that argument play out? I feel like we get little snippets-like Donatella's flirty exchange with Chef Symon-but no meaningful discourse. These are all really intelligent judges and I want to hear more of them-it's a wasted opportunity to have their reactions trimmed down so mercilessly. (Luckily, judge Michael Ruhlman is blogging about each episode when it's over on his blog Ruhlman.com.)
-Alas, the other woman chef (Chef Davie) is gone. I mentioned this last week and I'll mention it again: it's a shame that women chefs aren't better represented on the show. To be fair, I trust that the judges truly thought her dish was the worst dish (it did look kind of bad) and for that she deserved to go. I only wish Chef Des Jardins had survived the first challenge because she seemed like a contender who could've gone far. Now only men remain: if civilization ended and only Next Iron Chef contestants survived, there'd be no one to propagate the species. We'd all be doomed.
In conclusion, this episode was a fun episode, even if the science left me a bit cold. I'd much rather an Italian grandmother make me her Sunday gravy from scratch than the world's greatest food scientist prepare me an exquisite steak in a vacuum bag, but maybe that's just me. At least now we all know that when our water glasses are full with ice and water, when the ice melts they won't overflow.
Especially if you add Xantham.
See you next week!
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Next Iron Chef, Episode Onetag:blogs.foodnetwork.com,2007:/food/nic//74.18342007-10-08T13:13:08Z2007-10-08T14:14:21ZI like Blood, Sweat and Tears on the radio, but do I like it in my food? This is the question I kept asking myself as I watched this, the first episode of the first season of The Next Iron...http://www.amateurgourmet.com/
The Next Iron Chef. It's a valid question-particularly for someone who's only spent time on the customer side of a restaurant's kitchen door. How many bodily fluids must we imbibe to get our food quickly? Judging by tonight's episode, Chef Morou will have your oysters shucked in a jiffy, but they'll be slathered in his blood. And Chef Cosentino may whip up his olive oil zabayone quite zippily, but that extra hit of salinity you're tasting probably came from his forehead.
Luckily, there weren't too many tears tonight, though Chef Des Jardins looked a bit stunned to be the first to go. I was a bit stunned too: of all the characters on screen tonight, she was one of the most likeable, most professional and most compelling. Where did she go wrong?
Two words: salmon roe. She made a "dessert" (though that term is dubious here) with beets, crème fraiche and salmon roe and the judges just weren't having it.
"Did you do anything to the salmon roe?" asked Judge Donatella Arpaia (not to be confused with Donatella Versace, whose face is actually made of salmon roe).
"I rinsed it," Chef Des Jardins shot back, her face puzzled by what else she might have done with it.
Judge Michael Ruhlman, looking dapper, said, "The beet and celery salad is delicious, but there's just too much salmon."
The salmon sealed her fate. Well, the salmon egg. And isn't that somehow poetic? I mean, Chef Des Jardins was one of only two female chefs on the show (the other being Jill Davie who said, rather unforgivably at the beginning, that being an Iron Chef is "something that most chefs dream of becoming." C'mon. I mean, I know I'm writing this on The Food Network website but we all know the whole Iron Chef universe is a fabrication right? That the chairman is an actor? What? You didn't know that? Stop crying, I'm sorry! Ok, ok, there IS a chairman, there is a Santa, being an Iron Chef is something all chefs dream of becoming. You win.)
Where was I?
Oh yes, women chefs. It's a shame that the first chef to go was a woman-especially since women chefs have a harder time in the restaurant world than men. (For example, no female chef in New York has more than two stars from The New York Times). And isn't it a bit unfair that the challenge that sent her home was a challenge that most serious chefs would have trouble doing anyway? I mean it was a dessert challenge and don't most chefs have pastry chefs to make dessert? I've always heard that you're either a baker or a chef, but very rarely is a person both. That's because baking is very exact-measuring cups, tablespoons, etc-and most other cooking isn't. And I know an Iron Chef is supposed to be well-rounded, but I'd rather watch people compete at what they're best at than struggle to fake their way to the top.
Still, Chef Besh (who won) impressed me with his wild array of catfish desserts. A catfish and grape truffle? He showed his mettle and you could see that the single most important component to impressing these judges, who've probably tasted everything under the sun, is surprise. They were surprised and delighted by his food and that's why he won.
And so we conclude this blog post eager to see what'll happen next week. Will Chef Davie represent as the only woman remaining among the competitors? Will Chef Morou gouge out his eye (or someone else's) while cleaning an artichoke? Will the Chairman address me personally on camera, defend the reality of his existence, and challenge me to a duel?
Stay tuned!
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The Amateur Gourmet on The Next Iron Cheftag:blogs.foodnetwork.com,2007:/food/nic//74.16942007-09-12T19:54:35Z2007-09-13T22:25:20Zhttp://www.amateurgourmet.com/
The Next Iron Chef and immediately I realize why she's Iron Chef material and why I'm not.
"You have to be able to multi-task really well," she says. "You have to focus on what you're doing, you have to delegate responsibility, you have to talk to Alton while he's commentating and, on top of that, you have to be entertaining."
This is a woman who has a degree in fitness, a minor in nutrition, who has worked in several Michelin 3-star restaurants, and is the recent mother of two boys. I, on the other hand, have a cat named Lolita with a skin infection.
Maybe this is a good place to introduce myself. My name is Adam D. Roberts; I'm the author of the new book The Amateur Gourmet: How To Shop, Chop and Tablehop Like A Pro (Almost) as well as the website The Amateur Gourmet (www.amateurgourmet.com). As you can tell by the name of my book and my website, I am as far away from being an Iron Chef as a person can get. Why The Food Network thinks it's a good idea for me to blog about The Next Iron Chef is beyond me: perhaps they think that my naiveté makes me relatable to you, the average reader. That's right, average reader: The Food Network thinks we're naïve.
But fear not. Together we can parse the rocky terrain that lies ahead: together we will observe eight chefs from around the world compete to become The Next Iron Chef.
What am I looking for in the Next Iron Chef? I know what Cat Cora's looking for–"Someone who'll run their butt off in kitchen stadium," she declares–but here's what I'm looking for:
1. Someone very attractive;
2. Someone who's not afraid to use violence to get what they want;
3. A magician who will make things levitate just to throw off their opponent;
4. A diabetic vegetarian, just to make it interesting; and
5. A person with a really difficult to pronounce last name, so Alton will be stuck saying, "Chez Zwurrflieefq is making ice cream out of potatoes."
Chances are, though, that this criteria will matter little next to the criteria that makes Cat Cora such a stellar Iron Chef.
"I really like a challenge," she tells me. "Because of my height, because of my Mississippi accent, because I'm a woman, I'm always underestimated. And I like that–I think it's great: it works to my advantage."
Cat Cora is wildly driven, incredibly hard-working, and severely intelligent. She sets the bar by which all these wannabe Iron Chefs will be judged. And I'll be there along with you to watch the process unfold.
The premiere episode is on Sunday, October 7 at 9pm/8c and Cat Cora suggests watching it with a bunch of friends with some cocktails and some stuff on the grill.
"Or," she adds, "you can pick a secret ingredient and everyone can cook something with it."
"Though," she adds. "Most of my friends can't cook at my level."
Viewers, take note: don't invite Cat Cora to your Next Iron Chef party. Instead, invite an attractive diabetic vegetarian magician with a difficult last name whose prone to violence. Now that would be entertaining.
Until next time, here's to The Next Iron Chef!
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