Iron Chef #18 - Oyster Battle

Shokr shucks shellfish by the sea shore!

Guy Shokr vs Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai
Iron Chef 1994 Episode 8 - Overall episode #018 - February 27th, 1994

The Chairman receives some devastating news. Iron Chef French, Yutaka Ishibabe, has opted for early retirement despite the Chairman not matching his 401K. This comes as little surprise to the viewer as the languid chef has not yet appeared this season. He is still hibernating through winter in his den.

The Chairman reflects on Iron Chef Ishinabe's five battles. There was the time he plated a single dish in the Salmon battle and won. The numerous marathons of idly scratching his nose. The way he'd manage to poach a whole chicken in every battle regardless of the theme ingredient. I'll always remember him for the time he made two different bundt cakes in the banana episode. Iron Chef Ishinabe, your Richard Karn vibe will be missed.

The man. The myth. The legend. Iron Chef Itchy-nabe.

Worry not. Iron Chef Yutaka "The Artist" Ishinabe will return as a special guest challenger in three more battles. However like Boudin ceding to Monet in France, there is a new artist in town. This artist will become a Kitchen Stadium legend and arguably the greatest Iron Chef in history.

Enter Hiroyuki Sakai, the new Iron Chef French! Known as the "Delacroix" of French cuisine, a reference to French artist Eugene Delacroix. Sakai would live up to his nickname with artistic colorful plates dripping with nudity butter.

Iron Chef Sakai’s Sizzle Reel:

A sliced pear put back together. This is wizardry. A particular school of sorcery where one transmogrifies things into the same thing but, you know, less alive. Mogrification, if you will.

More transmogrification wizardry. A cucumber weaved into a Chinese finger trap. *Note:* like "Chinese Checkers" and "Chinese Water Torture," the "Chinese Finger Trap" is not of Chinese origin. It is the result of the West wielding orientalism with all the tact Paula Deen wields Antebellum culture.

A terrine. Also the flag of Tranmogrivania.

"Senecio" a cubist painting by Paul Klee in 1922. I'm sorry, it is actually “Scallop Crudo” by chef Hiroyuki Sakai in 1994.

Meet the Challenger:

Guy Shokr

Not all Kitsune are tricksters, but this one had all the signs of being one.

Challenger Shokr’s Sizzle Reel:

Terrine depicting the smiley face with sunglasses emoji. 😎.

Grilled bacon wrapped scallops. Also a Venn-diagram of church, state, and the Chairman. Notice that they do not intersect. When you are in Kitchen Stadium, the other two can't save you.

Roast veal shank with tourned carrots, broccoli, and crown of asparagus. Dibs on the bone marrow.

In what has become standard for challenger entrances, the chef is flanked by servers carrying empty plates in slow-motion. If this were the WWE, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" would be blaring through the speakers.

Showdown:

In a classic power move, the Chairman lets the handshake ferment into something funky.

Challenger Shokr has the privilege of being Iron Chef Sakai's first casualty.

Title Card:

Challenger Guy Shokr vs Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai!

The Chairman’s Fit:

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

Today the Chairman is the Chaplain of Paisley Park.

The Reveal:

Giant palm-sized Japanese oysters at that. These are the types generally sold as street food across East Asia. It will be interesting to see these utilized in a fine dining format. These French cuisine chefs should be very familiar with the smaller Belon oysters and be able to get into their respective bags.

The Chairman’s Wisdom:

“Don't hand over the oyster liqueur to the gods.”

Wise words. Don't pour out any oyster juice to the homies.

Allez! Cuisine!:

A cautious approach from both the Iron Chef and the Challenger, as if each French chef was expecting the other to dash to the truffles first.

In the Booth:

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

Fukui: Challenger Shokr works his craft near the 400 year old Nagaoya Castle.
Dr. Hattori: The castle has survived earthquakes, World War 2 air raids, and the perpetual shadow of Himeji Castle. Shucking incredible.
Fukui: Right you are, Doc!

The Battle:

Iron Chef Sakai begins by shucking these burly bivalves into a bowl.

Despite this being his first battle, the Iron Chef knows the importance of time management and allows his sous chef to assist in handling the main ingredient. This is a level of trust rarely demonstrated by the other Iron Chefs who normally treat sous chefs like Skyrim companions. Hold my gear, don't get in the way, and only speak when spoken to.

Challenger Shokr is going to deny me a "Challenger Shucker" pun, resorting instead to baking these oysters open.

"I was happier in Paris" Mrs. Shokr reminisces from the pantry.

The Lil' Shokrs, on the other hand, are loving this. "Papa, make a champagne mignonette!", "Yes Papa, vanquish these shuckboys!"

Challenger Shokr has onions, bell peppers, and glace de viande (concentrated demi glace) cooking down into a sauce. This seems heavy for oysters, but he brought glace de viande with him so he is darn well going to use it.

Done shucking around, Iron Chef Sakai freaks a leek.

Dr. Shokr gets surgical, cutting around the oyster bellies. "Dr. Shokr" is definitely the name of a Pokemon gym leader.

Iron Chef Sakai is blanching chrysanthemum greens which will be blitzed with glace de volaille (chicken version of glace de viande) into a a green soup.

Challenger Shokr's oyster bellies are wrapped with bacon. I should have seen this coming. Presented with Wembanyama oysters, the playbook really opens up.

The Iron Chef is making a shallow-fried potatoes galette or a two-dimensional potatoes anna.

Dr. Shokr has a hypodermic needle filled with truffle juice that he is using to inject the bacon-wrapped oyster bellies. What a strange sentence.

Challenger Shokr's brown sauce reduction gets two sticks of butter and a handful of shaved truffles. *Now* this is a French battle.

The Delacroix is arranging his potato galette artfully before they hit the broiler. "Sphincter de Pomme de Terre" (1994).

Sideline Reporter Ohta: How was your trip to Kitchen Stadium?
Mrs. Shokr: We had to drive, as airport security frowned upon pockets full of hypodermic needles and loose gelatinized meat stock. Fascists.

The Iron Chef is also wrapping oysters, but using leeks instead of bacon. I know which I'd prefer. Bacon knows who I'm talking about.

The challenger's truffle-butter-meat stock sauce has reduced to the consistency of toothpaste. Can it be saved?

Yes, yes it can. This is now a truffle, butter, demi glace, and red wine sauce. It may as well be wearing a beret.

Iron Chef Sakai has cylindrical molds filled with oysters, chives, and sliced sea scallops. This probably will not get a cook, so it will be riveting to see if these slippery Jenga towers manage to stay upright when unmolded.

Challenger Shokr picked up a thing or two in his years in Japan. Here he has daikon radish wraps for his baked oysters. These will be topped with another daikon slice and become low-carb sliders.

The Iron Chef's leek-wrapped oysters get a quick pan roast in butter. Calculating the Iron Chef's use of butter across his 87 battles, the total figure comes to: One Moogolplex kilograms.

I could try this galette flip 100 times, and I would fail 100 times (burning myself with oil splatter 33 of those times). Iron Chef Sakai is a wizard.

Okay, I feel better now. The Iron Chef is not a wizard, just a human with a big hat.

Challenger Shokr's injected and wrapped oysters are done sautéing (in butter) and are looking lovely. I'm expecting this cacophony of flavors to be plated with his cacophony sauce (sauce cacophonie).

The Iron Chef repurposes his potato galette ring by plating it armadillo on the leek-wrapped oyster. Good recovery. First dish complete.

The Iron Chef dunks unadorned oysters into his chrysanthemum greens soup. Second dish complete.

The Iron Chef is also using mayo-cream sauce to paint a UPC onto a zebra plate. If you scan the UPC, it rings up *French Quench*, the bottled version of this sauce to be use as a post-workout beverage.

Defying gravity and texture, Iron Chef Sakai's slippery oyster and scallop towers not only stay upright, but support a toupee of caviar. Third dish complete. With less than five minutes remaining, the challenger has yet to finish plating any dish.

Challenger Shokr's daikon-oyster sliders get a quick bake and are his first dish to hit the plate. His second (and final) dish would get a splatter of sauce in the final seconds with the finesse of a cement truck.

The Judges’ Table(s):

Lower House member, writer Shinichiro Kurimoto (109 battles).
Judge Kurimoto contends that oysters are a raplodisiac, inducing passion whenever rhymed. Cloister... Cloister... Cloister... I don't think it is working.

Actress Mai Kitajima (9 battles).
Judge Kitajima always carries a shucking knife in her purse.

Rosanjin Scholar Masaaki Hirano (42 battles).
Judge Hirano, like the pea crabs stowing away in his oysters, is a kleptoparasite. He lives in Kitchen Stadium and feeds off the bounty it provides.

Dishes:

Challenger Shokr completes two dishes:

Challenger Shokr’s first dish:
Oyster and Radish Ravioli with Yuzu-Butter Sauce

This daikon and oyster slider is termed a "ravioli" by the challenger. Whatever we call it, it is a baked oyster sandwiched between two thin sheets of daikon radish and topped with a yuzu-butter sauce. The citrus of the yuzu should go well with the daikon-oyster ravioli. The cucumbers have gathered around to observe the ravioli, but they are neither helping nor hurting this dish.

Challenger Shokr’s second dish:
Bacon-Wrapped Oysters with Truffle Flavor

This is a wild dish that checks almost every Iron Chef trope. Giant oyster bellies wrapped with bacon, injected with truffle juice, and pan roasted in butter. After that, the oyster-bundles are adorned in a sauce of butter, truffles, glace de viande, red wine, and more truffles. This is a dish for the person that hates oysters but loves truffles. The presentation, however, is tragic. It looks like cowboy coffee was spilled on breakfast. This is the judges favorite offering by the challenger, but no Oishis were awarded. A strong debut from Iron Chef Sakai will result in a decisive victory for the home team.

Iron Chef Sakai completes three dishes:

Iron Chef Sakai’s first dish:
Cold Oyster and Scallop Circle

#Oysters #Scallops #Caviar #NotACircle. This leaning tower ended up toppling. In retrospect, these weren't the most architecturally sound ingredients. This is a hefty cold starter with no expense spared. This is pure judge fuel.

Iron Chef Sakai’s Second Dish:
Chrysanthemum Soup with Oysters

Vibrant soup of chrysanthemum greens blended with a reduced chicken stock and strained. In the middle is an oyster and another sea scallop with another creamy drizzle. This may be too similar to the first dish. An effective Iron Chef strategy is to produce an additional dish utilizing the components of others. This brings more to the judges table and saves time by having the mise en place already done. The judges will determine if the chrysanthemum greens are enough to set it apart. The judges appear to be split, with Judge Hirano loving the dish and Judge Kitajima giving it a pass.

Iron Chef Sakai’s third dish:
Roasted Leek-Wrapped Oyster with Balsamic

Pan-roasted oyster wrapped in leeks, atop more leeks. Atop all that? The rescued pan fried potatoes. Leeks, potatoes, and oysters brings the thought of a creamy colonial era stew, the likes Martha Custis and George Washington would share during a Williamsburg social. Iron Chef Sakai has brought this dish to the future! By future, I mean the 19th century instead of the 18th. He replaces the cream with a brown sauce, uses a plate instead of a bowl, and literally elevates the ingredients. Judge Hirano, born in the 19th century, ate the whole thing!

Judge Hirano joins the clean plate club.

Whose cuisine reigns supreme?!

Iron Chef Sakai's debut was expectedly great. Everyone who competes in Kitchen Stadium is a good chef, but not all good chefs are elastic enough to bend their cuisine into the format. The Iron Chef handled the format masterfully. He displayed good time management, recycling components of one dish to make another. He utilized his sous chefs, going as far as to trust them with handling the theme ingredient. He introduced Japanese ingredients like chrysanthemum greens into his French cuisine. There is little surprise that Iron Chef Sakai would retire as arguably the greatest Iron Chef of all.

Challenger Shokr's performance was admirable. If creativity was the only judging criteria, he would have won with his two inventive dishes. He was organized, communicative, and remained calm and pleasant throughout the battle without a single insult hurled to a sous chef or obstructionist camera man. I expected ferocity from a French chef. Maybe it's the brigade de cuisine's military influence. Maybe it's the 18-inch hat. Regardless, I hope Dr. Shokr is out there today injecting truffle juice into all manner of proteins.

Episode notes:

My favorite dish was challenger Shokr's bacon wrapped oyster injected with truffle juice. He had me at the bacon wrapped giant oyster belly. The truffle juice was icing on the cake (or truffle in the oyster). I admire the food cost of the sauce, but it wouldn't be necessary, as I'd one-bite this chonk.
This is the first of four oyster battles, three of which will feature Iron Chef Sakai.
The next episode is the ninth of 1994, and 19th overall - Battle Wheat Flour!