Iron Chef #13 - Egg Battle

1994 was a bygone era when eggs were considered a humble ingredient and didn’t cost a dollar each.

Challenger Jun Hoshino vs Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba
Iron Chef 1994 Episode 3 - Overall episode #013 - January 23rd, 1994

The Chairman is deep in thought, combing his mental rolodex for the right challenger. The Iron Chefs have won 9-of-12 battles so far, so you know what we need? A *less* formidable challenger.

The Chairman is struck by the image of a throng of salarymen marching though Kitchen Stadium. Yes, that's it! To be accepted by the people, I must defeat the people's champion. This calls for a celebration!

Why should I let them eat cake when I can have it all for myself?

The Chairman in his infinite, never to be questioned wisdom, has decided to pit three home cooks against each other for the right to lose to an Iron Chef.
"You've done it again, Kaga."

Play from Home Tournament

Challenger #1

Tetsuchu Kawabe - Director of Development

Wok cooking asparagus in his home kitchen and making it look... well... not easy.

Crab legs in a thick soup with rice vermicelli noodles.

Beef and broken noodle stir fry. I don’t think the broken lo-mein noodles were intentional.

De-constructed crab rangoon by way of a taco salad.

Challenger #2

Shigemasa Kuroki - Security Management Director

He murdered that savory mushroom soufflé (in a good way).

Beautiful tuna tataki with some unfortunate saucing and garnishes.

An especially luminous roasted vegetable stew. Is that a Cipollini onion or a celestial object?

Challenger #3

Jun Hoshino - High School Biology Teacher

His Kakiage Curry Beef Donburi was featured in a printed publication.

Lamb Donabe with root vegetables. Looks scrumptious.

Verdict

Challenger #1 - Tetsuchu Kawabe. Messy dishes, clean look. Points for the Guinness sweater.
Challenger #2 - Shigemasa Kuroki. A man with a lot of techniques, and a lot of tools. I think we know what "security" he does (information extraction).
Challenger #3 - Jun Hoshino. All wonderful dishes. Let the Biology teacher compete!

Unsurprisingly, Biology teacher Jun Hoshino wins the right to battle an Iron Chef in Kitchen Stadium!

Today’s battle is a throwback to the play-in days of the first half of Season 1 (1993). This proved too time consuming for the often pre-selected challenger to advance to the battle. This tournament was a battle between three home cooks, ensuring one would advance to the battle an Iron Chef.

Does this mean certain defeat of the challenger at the hands of the Iron Chef? Yes. That doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun along the way.

Meet the Challenger:

Jun Hoshino

Challenger Hoshino’s Portfolio:

Awwwwww. No dishes are going to beat that. Am I going to have to root against an Iron Chef today? Yes, yes I am.

Challenger Hoshino’s Cut-Scene:

You are inside your home, Jun. Where your family sleeps. Take the flames down a notch. That's just irresponsible.

Pre-Battle Interview:

Like ends meet. Like time with my family. Etc.

Showdown:

The Chairman gently requests that challenger Hoshino to select an Iron Chef to battle, rather than his usual bellowed demand. The challenger authoritatively picks Iron Chef Japanese Michiba, who is glancing at his producer like "do... do I destroy him?"

Tale of the Tape:

Challenger Jun Hoshino vs Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba!

The Chairman’s Fit:

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

The Chairman, whose thoughts on "the rabble" are well known, is symbolically dressed as Marie Antoinette during her flight to Varennes, an ill conceived attempt at both counter-revolution and escape from the guillotine. The Chairman intends to change that history today.

The Reveal:

Chicken eggs to be exact. Great choice of a theme ingredient for a battle involving a home cook and a kaiseke master. If we don't get a rolled omelet today, I will be hurt. You can already count on two chawanmushis. Both chefs are unsurprised because the Chairman has been rattling off "tamago" wordplay for the past 30-seconds.

The Chairman’s Wisdom:

"The best seasoning for egg is air."

Truth. Whip it real good.

The Chairman gives us a montage while we ponder his wisdom.
1. The traditional old streets of 1950's Osaka, which may actually be a screenshot from Nishikata: The End of Summer (1961).
2. A steaming brick of a tamagoyaki omelet.
3. Omelet in a pan.
4. Eggs having air whipped into it with chopsticks.
5. Brown chicken eggs in a nest.
Profound.

Allez! Cuisine!:

Challenger Hoshinro wastes no time, beating the Iron Chef to the pass. Also, he is very tall. That long stride length will be an asset today.

In the Booth:

Play-by-Play Kenji Fukui (right) and Color Commentator Dr. Yukio Hattori (left).

Fukui: Do you think the Chairman selected eggs as the theme ingredient because it was accessible to home cooks?
Dr. Hattori: That, and his plans to use the unused ones to egg the principal's car. *points to crudely drawn plans in crayon on construction paper*
Fukui: Egg-celent!

The Battle:

Iron Chef Michiba will not be the only one coursing out his menu on paper. Our Challenger channels his biology teacher experience and grabs a pencil and paper. He may just be behind on grading homework. “It’s photosynthesis, not photo-syphilis. Nice try, Keith. B+."

Iron Chef Michiba goes for his more classy and impractical traditional parchment and ink. We have a battle of scholars today. Michiba's scroll reads "Tempura, Chawanmushi, Tamagoyaki, Tamago Nigiri, Caviar????" You could have guessed that. “Classy and Impractical” is also the name of Iron Chef Michiba’s cookbook.

Jun Hoshino's wife looks on from the Kitchen Stadium gallery. This is already the third of eleven cuts to her this battle. Just another reminder that Iron Chefs are married to the life. Who's the real winner?

Iron Chef Michiba, fresh off the pork episode loss, cannot wait to start utilizing seafood again (much to this spiny lobster's chagrin).

The lobster tail meat is being expertly extracted, likely for a sashimi. I've cut my thumb open on the lobster shell doing this exact same thing. Karma. Well, karma and lack of a giant deba knife.

Home-cook Hoshino has an egg and flour in a bowl. While he’s not going to risk hand-made noodles, he will attempt hand-made fried dumplings.

Iron Chef Michiba begins poaching eggs likely to be stored in a water bath until he needs them until nearer to the end of competition. He is the best at time management of all the Iron Chefs. These little tricks are why.

Challenger Hoshino is not the quickest with the knife, which is to be expected. These bell-peps will not go into a rolled omelet but the hand-made dumpling.

Challenger Hoshino, our tallest Chef to have yet graced kitchen stadium, is cutting at thigh level. That cannot be good for the back (nor cutting speed).

Iron Chef Michiba has many eggs on a boil. I'd love it if Rokusabura the Rebel just served a soft-boiled egg in a pewter pedestal egg cup as his opening course. The Chairman would be into it.

Egg drop soup from the challenger! I should have seen that coming. Great idea. He can take it off the heat now and not deal with again until service. I’m starting to think we will not get a chawanmushi from either chef.

Challenger Hoshino also gives some eggs a soft-boil. Is he going to peel those himself with those tennis-racket hands or give his sous chef something to do for a few valuable minutes? Both. It's all hands of all sizes on deck to dispatch these shells.

Rolled omelet alert! Iron Chef Michiba is giving it try in a round skillet. I figured if any Iron Chef had a dedicated tamagoyaki pan, it would’ve been Rokusaburo Michiba.

Sideline reporter Ohta: How do you think your husband is doing today and do you think he can defeat the Iron Chef?
Tomoko Hoshino: Jun is doing eggs-quisitely. When he's not scrambled, he's hard to beat. He's a real egg-head and hatched a plan today. I don't think the Iron Chef is all he's cracked up to be. I think Jun can poach the victory from him.
Ohta: This is eggs-hausting.

At the halfway point of the battle, Iron Chef Michiba has ladled grated daikons into hot oil. This is new. He takes it off the heat immediately, adds shiitakes, and sets it aside until time to plate.

Challenger Hoshino's dough has rested about 10 minutes and now he has divided it to make very large round wrappers.

Good technique demonstrated by the challenger, constantly rotating the dough as he applies pressure. He is definitely in a hurry, as only 25 minutes remain to get these filled, cooked, and plated. This could be an eggroll given the size of the wrapper, but he hasn’t squared off the corners yet.

Iron Chef Michiba has some components being plated. A perfectly boiled egg yolk with the mayonnaise to mimic the rightfully discarded egg whites (the blister-wrap of food). It is topped with caviar because this is Iron Chef Michiba and he cannot help himself. Fun presentation, but I don't want to eat that. Sour cream (or creme fraiche or Mexican crema) would’ve been a better option than unadulterated mayonnaise.

The Challenger's gyoza (or egg roll) will contain a farce of eggs, ground beef, scallions, and bell peppers as the filling. Breakfast gyoza (or egg roll). He did say he can come up with ideas no professional would. I love it.

Simple half moon fold on the gyoza. Those bear-paws can palm a Volkswagen, but are not made to pleat a dumpling.

Challenger Hoshino's chunky dumplings get a deep fry. This is no longer a breakfast gyoza, it is a breakfast calzone. This is what Paul Bunyan ate each morning while deforesting North America.

Iron Chef Michiba's rolled omelet is sliced and looking nice. It gets plated into a bowl, indicating a broth is forthcoming. Watch out for that spiny lobster sashimi as well.

The Challenger prepares scrambled eggs in potato cups. This is asking for some cheese and bacon, but this is also Iron Chef so….

Challenger Hoshino sauteeing spinach to accompany the scrambled eggs and potato. He is becoming increasingly aggravated at these Lilliputian utensils and cookware. The Chairman may as well give him an EZ-Bake Oven.

The iron chef is serving the lobster raw atop the tamagoyaki. That's our Michiba! *Michiba theme song plays* (it's ODB's "Shimmy Shimmy Ya").

Iron Chef Michiba's grated daikon and mushroom concoction gets a little soy and mirin. This will be strained and ladled over the tamagoyaki and lobster.

The Challenger grabs plates with four minutes remaining. More importantly there is an entire pig in the pantry leftover from the season premiere, confirming these maniacs film three episodes a day.

Iron Chef Michiba is in garnish-mode with three minutes remaining. Yuzu zest. Never idle, Michiba zests yuzu on the train, zests yuzu while pretending to listen to producers, zests yuzu while zesting yuzu, etc.

Hoshino: See this spinach?
Sous Chef: Yes.
Hoshino: Spinacia oleracea. Wind pollinated.
Sous Chef: Okay...
Hoshino: That will be on the final exam.

A soy-based broth is ladled around Iron Chef Michiba's poached egg. This is a simple but assuredly delicious dish that took him all of five minutes to make. This confirms three dishes from the Iron Chef.

Challenger Hoshino snuck some large raw oysters into what I thought was an egg drop soup, but is now looking brothier. I am not complaining. This will be served cold.

Iron Chef Michiba does make a tempura after all! This bowl has tamagoyaki, lobster sashimi, and mushroom and asparagus tempura. This dish may seem like an hour worth of work itself, but all these components cook very quickly. Michiba’s time management shines yet again.

The Challenger has apparently seen an episode or two of Iron Chef before and tops his scrambled eggs with caviar in the final seconds of the battle. The Chairman will be pleased.

The Judges’ Table(s):

Kimono designer Kiyohijo (4 battles).
The succinct Judge Kiyohoji left a Yelp review for McDonalds Shinjuku Station that read "yes. it is food. stars."

Actress Mitsuko Ishii (7 battles).
Judge Ishii asks if you are going to finish your lunch after she has already begun eating it.

Food historian Masaaki Hirano (42 battles).
The Century Egg of people. Equal parts salty and ashy, but 100% funky. Get down.

Dishes:

Challenger Hoshino completes three dishes.

Challenger Hoshino’s first dish:
Potato Centerpiece

The challenger lux'd his scrambled egg in a potato dish with some caviar. Normally caviar is flung about Kitchen Stadium with little rhyme or reason, but I think it works here. Caviar complements potatoes well, and will bring some salt to both the potato and the eggs. Hello sautéed spinach. I see you. The judges aren't going to eat you, but I appreciate you. One oishi from Judge Ishii.

Hoshino: What came first, the chicken or the egg? The egg. Hatched from the genetic ancestor of the chicken.
Judges: *uproarious laughter*
Hoshino: That wasn't a joke.

Challenger Hoshino’s second dish:
Cold Shellfish Soup with Eggs

A brothier and again, lux'd, version of an egg soup. We saw the challenger utilize the egg-drop technique and then immediately put the pot of soup in an ice bath. At some point, additional broth was added. Raw oysters are always great, but why stop there? Crab meat or lobster is crucial when going toe-to-toe with Iron Chef Michiba. Mixed reaction from the judges.

Challenger Hoshino’s third dish:
Breakfast Gyoza

These calzone sized deep-fried gyoza were made from scratch and topped with a hollandaise sauce. Hustle points awarded. The filling is ground beef, scrambled eggs, scallions, and red bell peppers. They are a bit unweildy and could've been limited to one per plate. The execution was a bit heavy-handed.

Judge Ishii requests a circular saw to portion her gyoza.

Iron Chef Michiba completes three dishes:

Iron Chef Michiba’s first dish:
Kasumi Egg

A perfectly medium-boiled egg yolk served atop a leafy green, adjacent to a broccoli floret, and heaping dollop of mayonnaise, and topped with caviar. This is more art than food. I don't know how to eat this. I don't know if I'm *supposed* to eat this. I'll take the Challenger's scrambled egg, potato, and caviar dish over the Iron Chef's starter, please. The sheer quantity of mayonnaise is off-putting. Like previously mentioned, sour cream would also look like egg whites and pair better with the caviar. The Judges are not enthralled. Challenger Hoshino’s potato, scrambled eggs, and caviar is the better opening dish.

Iron Chef Michiba’s Second Dish:
Poached Egg with Eggplant

I didn't catch any eggplant utilized by the Iron Chef, but presumably there is a disc on which the poached egg rests. More tongue-in-cheek wordplay from the Rebel. That said, this looks great. There is a light soy broth at the bottom of the bowl that when mixed with the runny yolk, would make the eggplant wonderful. Advantage goes to the Iron Chefs second egg-on-egg dish over the Challenger's soup. Tie ballgame.

Iron Chef Michiba’s third dish:
Tamagoyaki

At last, a tamgoyaki, and quite possibly the fanciest tamagoyaki ever plated. This is egg-ceptional (sorry). Let's run down the components, each of which could have stood alone as its own dish. Tamagoyaki rolled-omelette with chives. That was the technique I wanted to see demonstrated, and I was not disappointed. Lobster sashimi (lightly cooked in the dashima / kelp-broth). Lobster and eggs are great complements, and the Iron Chef is a sashimi master. Mushroom and chives tempura. The Iron Chef demonstrated critical time management getting these tempura clusters to hold together during the last minute deep fry. If they fell apart, he'd have nothing to top this dish (and it would still be great). The third dish must go to the Iron Chef.
Let's check in with Judge Ishii.

Judge Ishii is not alone. All three judges approve, making the Iron Chef the favorite to win.

Whose cuisine reigns supreme?!

Iron Chef Rokusaburo Michiba!
Not much of a surprise, but still, give the man his flowers.

Who knows eggs better than an Iron Chef? A biology teacher.

Challenger Hoshino gets an 'A' for effort, but passed his final exam with a C+. He should still be proud going toe-to-toe with not only a professional chef, but Iron Chef Michiba, in particular. I hope the challenger received some exposure for his work today and it benefited him and his family in the long-run. Jun Hoshino was very fun to root for.

Iron Chef Michiba is not going to win many personality contests, but he does win cooking contests with regularity. The Iron Chef was coming off his first loss (pork battle) and reigned in his approach today with his usual myriad of components distributed among just three composed dishes. The last dish in particular (tamagoyaki, tempura, sashimi, and dashi) was Iron Chef Michiba in a bowl.

Episode notes:

My favorite dish was the Michiba Tamagoyaki Bowl. I would not be able to make that in an hour and will never try. I will however try to make tamagoyaki in a skillet and trim the edges like the Iron Chef demonstrated.
Not one chawanmushi today. This is why I don't gamble.
This is the first of four chicken egg battles. Oddly enough all four feature the designated Iron Chef Japanese. You know the Iron Chef French would want a piece of that battle.
The next episode is the fourth of 1994, and 14th overall - Battle Tai Snapper.