Iron Chef #10 - Chicken Battle

Challenger Jacques Borie vs Iron Chef French Yutaka Ishinabe
Iron Chef 1993 Episode 10 - Overall episode #010 - December 19th, 1993

‘Twas a week before Christmas, when all through the kitchen
Not a chef was smiling, because the secret ingredient was chicken.

There are no Christmas truces in Kitchen Stadium.

Joyeux Noel! This will be an all French battle. Whose Reveillon will reign supreme?

Challenger Jacques Borie is an M.O.F. (Money Over Foie) recipient. This gold medal is awarded by the President of France to the nation's best craftsmen. Previous winners include chefs Joel Robuchon, Andre Soltner, and Paul Bocuse.

Quick note: I was able to find this episode after all, however the quality is even worse than usual. Sharp mid-90’s resolution will return with episode #11. My apologies to your eyeballs.

The undefeated Iron Chef Ishinabe faces a Christmas Boss-Battle against French MOF Jacques Borie. The Chefs will have ample opportunity for creativity as they proceed to each black-truffle-bomb a chicken.. Both chefs black truffle the theme ingredient in various ways. Black truffles over the chicken. Black truffles under the chicken. Even black truffles inside the chicken. Challenger Borie takes this approach to its nadir by serving a dish with black truffles and no chicken. Maniacs, all of them.

Throw another stack of small-bills in the fireplace and thank Santa for your truffle pig, Julius. It’s the season finale: battle chicken (but really battle truffles)!

Meet the Challenger:

Jacques Borie

Grand Chef of L'osler in Ginza, Tokyo. Chef Borie Began apprenticing at age 14 in France. Worked at Hotel de Crillon in Paris. He moved to Japan at age 23 and worked at Hotel Okura Tokyo. After 13 years, Chef Borie received the M.O.F. award at age 36. He operates numerous French restaurants in Japan.
Chef Borie prefers to be addressed as Chef Borie MOF, or simply Truff Daddy.

Same hat. True story. It’s where he stashes his truffles.

Challenger Borie’s Portfolio:

Potentially carrot soup with no pixels, like I asked.

If you view Chef Borie’s dishes with a sepia filter, they will look the exact same.
Slice of foie gras terrine. It is safe to say we are not going to depart from classic French cuisine. A dash of turmeric in the carrot soup is as wild as it is going to get.

Challenger Borie’s Cut-Scenes:

Slicing truffles. Foreshadowing the next 37-minutes of runtime.

Challenger Borie may know a thing or two about cookware but he don’t know nothin’ about this pan.

Servers with pretend dishes following an empty-handed chef storming into the dining room? This must be a boss battle. We last saw this entrance two episodes ago (#008 - Crab) in the conclusion of the Cantonese ladder match.

Pre-Game Quote:

A humble approach from Challenger Borie. He does not guarantee victory, merely stating twice that he's getting an "A" for effort. To which Iron Chef Ishinabe replied "I'm going to use one technique, which is a nap around the 20-minute mark."

Showdown:

Surprisingly, Iron Chef Ishinabe is not pre-selected for this French Christmas battle. Challenger Borie has free reign to select, for example, Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi if he so wishes. He does not, regrettably sparing us from Christmas Chili Prawns.
Back to back episodes for the torpid undefeated Iron Chef Ishinabe, who is normally hibernating this time of year.

Tale of the Tape:

Challenger Jacques Borie vs Iron Chef French Yutaka Ishinabe!

The Chairman’s Fit:

Speaking of the Chairman's fit, I'm glad you asked

Today the Chairman is dressed as his former alias, DB Cooper, complete with life jacket, winter gloves, parachute, and flotation neck roll.

The Reveal:

The Chairman unveils whole chickens, to the delight of Iron Chef Ishinabe, who spent half of the Daikon episode on chicken. He is hoping there are some leftovers remaining in the Kitchen Stadium fridge. Challenger Borie is amused and relieved that the secret ingredient wasn't jellyfish.

Given that it is a Christmas special, a whole roast chicken comes to mind, however the one hour time limit makes that dish unlikely. We’ll see one side address the time limitation with pressure cooking, while the other side addresses it by cooking only boneless skinless chicken breasts (the elevator music of food). The time management demonstrated by both chefs is masterful.

The Chairman's Wisdom:

N/A

There is no wisdom from the chairman today regarding chicken, because well... nothing more profound than an anti-joke has ever been uttered about chicken.

Allez! Cuisine!:

Play-by-play commentator Fukui specifically mentions the "leisurely pace" out of the gate. Battle chicken starting true to form.

In the Booth:

Fukui: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Kitajima: To get to the other side?
Doc: To escape the Chairman's clutches. I saw it myself.
Fukui: Right you are, Doc. He is as spry as he is maniacal.

The Battle:

Iron Chef Ishinabe spelunks poultry cavern.

Challenger Borie reduces a whole chicken down to boneless skinless chicken breasts, which Doc comments is "not interesting or dynamic enough for a show like this." Truth. We're not meal-prepping protein bowls. This is Iron Chef!

Iron Chef Ishinabe slices a C-note worth of black truffles to tuck beneath the skin of a whole chicken. Amazing.

Challenger Borie also utilizes a bounty of black truffles. Chairman Kaga gestures a breast-stroke to discreetly inform the server that he would like a separate check.

Iron Chef Ishinabe trusses the truffled chicken. A classic Truff-N-Truss. This confirms a whole chicken dish from the Iron Chef. Time will be tight to cook a whole bird.

Challenger Borie cut the chicken breast into cutlets, brushed them with egg yolks and chopped parsley, and dredged them in black truffles. "Truffling the cutlet" is the French version of the "lipstick on a pig" idiom.

Pressure cooker to the rescue. Iron Chef Ishinabe has his whole truffled chicken, pork belly, thyme, bay leaves, carrots, daikons, and morels in it. This will give him a hearty stock, "poached" chicken, and room to breathe.
No signs yet of a second dish from the Iron Chef, but now he has the time to figure one out.

Fukui comments "It's not even halfway through here and he's having a little bit of touch. He'll be in a festive mood today." Fukui is the best.

Iron Chef Ishinabe removes the truffled chicken from the pressure cooker with his bare hands. The stock will continue to reduce further, as will the nerves on his fingertips

With his first dish squared away, Iron Chef Ishinabe begins breaking down a second chicken.

Chef Borie has egg yolks, heavy cream, and truffle juice being whisked in a mixing bowl. He may as well be humming La Marseillaise simultaneously.

The chicken battle has turned into a black truffle battle. Iron Chef Ishinabe throws a few more big-faces in a blender for good measure. This will go into the chicken and pork stock. The Chairman excuses himself to the restroom, bringing his coat and keys with him.

Challenger Borie ladles his truffled eggs into a teacups for a steam treatment. There is no chicken in this mousse. You had one job.

Challenger Borie pan-fries the truffled cutlets in butter with 15-minutes remaining. The truffles improbably do not fall off. Great time management and technique from the challenger, who gave the coated cutlets a brief freeze prior to cooking for increased adhesion.

With 10-minutes remaining, both Chefs proceed with a scramble drill. Iron Chef Ishinabe has yuzu, wasabi, soy sauce, and blanched chicken leg meat ready for a salad. These are surprisingly Japanese flavors from the Iron Chef French.

Challenger Borie uses his remaining time to complete a traditional stuffing. Truffles? Truffles.

Iron Chef Ishinabe's Truff-N-Truss is plated as his centerpiece, rightfully so.

Challenger Borie's truffled cutlets are sliced and plated on the truffle stuffing. The plate itself is not made of truffles, as far as I am aware. Missed opportunity.

Iron Chef Ishinabe surrounds the bird with tourned vegetables and morels leftover from the same dish he did in the Daikon episode.

That Knife Life:

Challenger Borie planks a carrot. Okay, there was not a lot of interesting knife skills this episode.

The Judges’ Table(s):

Novelist and Governor of Nagano Yasuo Tanaka (1 battle).
Name a topic and Judge Tanaka can seamlessly weave a lengthy simile comparing said topic to a specific nationality of a woman in a specific state of undress. Not a great dinner guest.

Actress Mai Kitajima (9 battles).
Came here to eat, judge, and do commentary. She's coming for your job, Chairman.

Food historian Masaaki Hirano (42 battles).
Pockets-full-o-truffles. Also his handle on eBay.

Dishes:

Challenger Borie completes two dishes.

Challenger Borie’s first dish:
Fresh Truffle Royale

A French truffle-flavored steamed mousse.
Judge Kitajima was the first to correctly predict a chawanmushi and she loves Chef Borie's take on it.
Judge Tanaka delivers a Djokovic backhand "It would be perfect for relatively older people."
Judge Hirano, a relatively older person, remarks "Incredible taste."
Unfortunately, this dish cannot be taken into account by the judges as it doesn't contain any chicken. Challenger Borie would have been better served by plating a $100 bill in an envelope, but then we would have been deprived of this wonderful exchange:

Judge Hirano: The flavor really lingers in your mouth.
Chef Borie: Thank you….

Challenger Borie’s second dish:
Chicken Breast Etuve, Truffle Flavor with Vegetables

Challenger Borie's elevated chicken cutlet. He made cutlets (broken down from a whole chicken) and pressed minced truffles onto one side with egg yolks and parsley. The cutlets were briefly chilled, sautéed in butter, and plated on a mirepoix-truffle stuffing and a truffle-cream sauce. In a battle where both Chefs were determined to out-truffle each other, Chef Borie out-truffled physics. This dish is an absolute hit with the judges.
Judge Kitajima "I know this is chicken, but not the chicken I'm used to eating" as it was "juicy and very tasty." I get it. Some prepared chicken is neither juicy nor very tasty.
Judge Hirano: "I was able to observe this the whole cooking process. You handle the ingredients with great care." Later calling this dish the "greatest chicken" and how he was "moved by the way it was prepared." Highest praise from the shaman himself, who was only just getting started.
Chef Borie is the favorite unless Iron Chef Ishinabe can pull more truffles out of that chicken. Chef Borie does have one last challenge. Due to the double-length runtime, we receive longer feedback from the judges. Thus Chef Borie must endure three classic judge reactions that we'll see plenty of in the future.
1. Pretentious Prose
2. Friendly Fire
3. Meandering Hirano.

1. Pretentious Prose.
Judge Tanaka has some thoughts on this dish being "Like a mysterious French lady who doesn't really reveal herself, even though you've seen her ... many times." Chef Borie has no response to this. Nobody has a response to this.

2. Friendly Fire
Judge Kitajima: I would love to try making this at home, too.
Chef Borie: ... (am I being mocked?)

3. Meandering Hirano
After already calling this dish the “greatest chicken,” Judge Hirano comes back for seconds.
"Food always represents the history of that country. This dish speaks of France itself. I saw the history of France in both of his dishes. These days, I see so many chefs creating dishes that are so twisted or overdone. This one, like I said before, is so pure, and straightforward, and innocent. I've eaten many dishes and compared them, but I take my hat off to a dish like this which is very very good. Really. I'm sorry I'm repeating myself so many times, but this is incredible. Just hard to describe. Flavors keep coming out, you know? Chasing you... and not letting you go."
Haunting.

Iron Chef Ishinabe completes two dishes:

Iron Chef Ishinabe’s first dish:
Chicken Salad

Iron Chef Ishinabe's scramble drill dish completed in about twelve minutes. Blanched chicken leg meat flavored with ginger, wasabi, soy sauce, and yuzu dressing. Remembering that it is a Christmas episode, Ishinabe claims the salad is constructed to resemble a Christmas tree. It does not, unless a boabab was feeling festive.
Between the challenger's irrelevant first dish and the Iron Chef's irrelevant first dish, the edge must go to the Iron Chef for actually including chicken.
Iron Chef Ishinabe broke out of his stodgy French cocotte and used some Japanese ingredients. Unfortunately he phrased it pretentiously, saying "I wanted to make chicken easier for japanese people to understand." That is not going to win points with the judges, who are (let me check)... right. Japanese people.
The Judges come right back with 1, 2, 3 combo (Pretentious Prose, Friendly Fire, and Meandering Hirano).

1. Pretentious Prose
Judge Tanaka continues his fixation, "This one is like a Japanese lady, a model showing us her white and silky skin." Iron Chef Ishinabe has no response to this. Nobody has a response to this.
It should be noted this is Judge (and later Mayor) Tanaka's first and last episode.

2. Friendly Fire
Judge Kitajima: It's Japanese, but not too Japanese somehow.
Judge Kitajima: Is this root of honeywort? [It is!] The ingredients are all Japanese. How come the finish is Western flavor? I'm puzzled.
It is safe to to say that Judge Kitajima was not thrilled with Iron Chef Ishinabe's chicken for dummies comment, and is having some fun with it. She can identify root of honeywort. Don't talk down to her.

3. Meandering Hirano
Judge Hirano: I think I've been fortunate enough to be on the tasting panel whenever Ishinabe-san has been cooking so far. He is so skilled at creating a story in his dishes... and today, in a subtle way, chicken is quite a weak ingredient in flavor, you know? Not that powerful so I think it is important to pick the right seasonings to flavor it... and he tried not to overcook the chicken, as Tanaka mentioned. Trying to maintain the natural flavor of the chicken. The chicken is just lightly broiled, boiled. This alone is a very good dish. I appreciate his talent.
Translation: Thanks for not putting truffles in this one.

Iron Chef Ishinabe’s Second Dish:
Chicken Demi-deuil

The Iron Chef's centerpiece. A whole chicken with truffles tucked under the skin and lightly stewed in court-bouillon and bacon. Stewed vegetables and truffles and a sauce of cream, chicken broth, and more truffles. An impressive feat in an hour.
You may remember an un-truffled version of this dish when it was presented as "Radish Pot au Feu" in the Daikon episode. The Chairman will not be fooled. Iron Chef Ishinabe's undefeated record is in serious jeopardy.

Judge Kitajima with an Oishi. "Delicious. I love this.... Perfect for Christmas in the woods." Which is coincidentally where Iron Chef Ishinabe's den is located.
There might be hope for the Iron Chef yet.

Judge Hirano dashes those hopes immediately. "One drawback about this dish is lack of maturity in flavor, in my opinion. It's good but I don't see the usual depth you have in your dishes that you usually inspire me with.... You held back too much..."

Do you think Judge Hirano is hinting at something?

Whose cuisine reigns supreme?!

Challenger Borie!
Chef Borie was gracious in victory, acknowledging the win with a nod and proceeding to stand arm-in-arm with Iron Chef Ishinabe. No gloating on Christmas.

Battle Chicken was a tough loss for Iron Chef Ishinabe. He found himself in good position after the challenger's first dish was deemed ineligible. Unfortunately for the Iron Chef, the Judges were absolutely floored by Chef Borie's second dish (truffle cutlets). Ishinabe could have plated several more dishes and still would not have secured victory. This will end Iron Chef Ishinabe's undefeated reign, which lasted an impressive four battles.

This cannot be described as a chicken battle. Dollar-for-dollar this was a Périgord truffle battle. Pound-for-pound it might be, too. We'll have to wait until episode 26, the first of two truffle battles, to see this many truffles plated again. Kitchen Stadium is going to smell like feet for weeks.

Iron Chef Ishinabe will carry this as his only loss. He'll take a Gronk-year to semi-retire and think of new ways to pressure cook whole chickens. We'll see him return as a commentator before getting back in the game as a chef when the Chairman calls in his debts.

Episode notes:

My favorite dish was challenger Borie’s Chicken Breast Etuve. Getting the truffles to adhere perfectly to a chicken breast is impressive. No truffles were wasted during the filming of this episode.
This is the first of two chicken battles, the next also being a season finale (1995’s Iron Chef vs Iron Chef battle).
The next episode is the 1994 premiere, episode #011 - Pork, and also a return to the usual image quality..