Iron Chef #21 - Scallop Battle

Kyoko Kagata vs Iron Chef Chen Kenichi
Iron Chef 1994 Episode 11 - Overall episode #021 - March 20th, 1994

The Chairman pours out some sake to appease the spirits of fallen challengers, whose spectral forms haunt Kitchen Stadium with RF interference, open caviar tins, and all around bad vibes.

The spirits of the fallen challengers return to Mt. Fuji, where the ashes of their respective tall hats are dispersed on the grounds of the Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shinto shrine. Kitchen Stadium is, at last, cleansed. Despite these efforts, the overnight caviar pillaging remains an issue (looking at you, Judge Hirano).

This is the dawn of a new era. No longer is Iron Chef the all-male self-important fantasy camp of codenames, rituals, homilies, maxims, arcana, and secrecy akin to an Ivy League secret society. No, now it is the gender neutral self-important fantasy camp of codenames, rituals, homilies, maxims, arcana, and secrecy akin to a state school secret society. What a time to be alive!

Meet the Challenger:

Kyoko Kagata

Chef Kagata graduated Women's Nutritional College and worked at Tokyo's Royal Park Hotel under Executive Chef Mitsuo Shimamura at age 22 perfecting high-end French cuisine. At 23, Chef Kagata became the youngest winner of the England's Toque d'Or cooking competition. She is known for her craftsmanship of artistic terrines. Chef Kagata invented the terrinium, which is is a mostly self-sufficient terrine kept in a glass jar that has to be fed aspic every four days. It smells ghastly.

Tokyo’s Royal Park Hotel: where dreams are suspended in an aspic, steamed, and sliced into Kandinsky cross-sections.

Challenger Kagata’s Sizzle Reel:

"A mean green terrine with a duffel of truffles." - Dr. Seuss in a fever dream.

"Foie terrine, it would seem. I am sensing a theme." - Dr. Seuss heavily medicated.

"Terrine on a board? Good Lord, I abhor what is in store. Snores galore. I shall soar to the floor and restore nevermore." - Dr. Seuss, RIP.

Showdown:

The Chairman, a known lonely vampire, introduces the challenger as "Princess Kagata Kyoko" and offers her a rose. Chef Kagata is no fool, having brought her silver chef's knife if things get out of hand.

Chef Kagata gives nary a glance at the other two Iron Chefs as she selects Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi. She must have some inside information that Iron Chef Kenichi just burned 3,000 calories during the Wheat Battle, which was likely taped earlier today. If the Iron Chef can plate even a single dish without guzzling a liter of Eastroc, it will be a moral victory.

Title Card:

Challenger Kyoko Kagata vs Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi!

The Chairman’s Fit:

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

By day, the Chairman is a research assistant at Antartica's McMurdo Station. By night, he's an unlicensed safari guide (poacher). You need penguin down? He can get you penguin down. Ask for Dr. Happy Feet.

The Reveal:

Yesso sea scallops still in the shell! Native to the waters of northern Japan, these scallops take five years to reach this size. After battles wheat and tomato, the luxury is back!

On initial thought, the advantage has to be with Iron Chef Kenichi as Chinese cuisine is swimming in scallop dishes. He definitely has a stir fry and a raw dish in the works. I did a Google image search on "Scallop Terrine" and was horified by the results (think cottage cheese). That said, there are plenty of other French applications that showcase scallops, but they may not be traditional haute cuisine. Challenger Kagata's versatility will be the key to this battle. My hope is that either chef can show me what to do with all the other stuff in the scallop shell. The coral and skirt are good eating, now we get to see how they are prepared.

The challenger looks far more composed post-reveal than the Iron Chef, but I could say that about every Iron Chef Kenichi episode. The man does not exude confidence, even though he's a winner far more often than not.

Allez! Cuisine!:

Iron Chef Kenichi's bow is left hanging as challenger Kagata strides right by him. "Kids these days" remarks Judge Hirano from the green room as he eats another chicken wing, wipes his mouth with his sleeve, and discards the bones on the carpet.

In the Booth:

Play-by-Play Kenji Fukui (right) and Color Commentator Dr. Yukio Hattori (left) are joined by a special guest commentator, Judge Yuriko Ishida.

Fukui: Today's ingredient has over 200 eyes! Since we have only two eyes, what better way to illuminate the world around us than with a Fukui Corporation Scallop Lamp!
Dr. Hattori: Uh, Fukui?
Fukui: I know what you are asking Doc, and YES, it has a 135 degree range of motion with a durable polycarbonate construction. Never again leave that sudoku for sunrise!
Fukui: Not since it birthed Aphrodite, has the scallop been so immortalized as in this Fukui Corporation Scallop Lamp!
Judge Ishida: Where can I order the brand new limited edition oscillating Fukui Corporation Scallop Lamp?
Dr. Hattori: ...

The Battle:

Iron Chef Kenichi reaches behind the counter for a jar labeled "funk."

The challenger demonstrates the technique of popping scallops. Touch it, bring it, watch it, turn it, leave it, stop, format it.

It's not wok o' clock, but the Iron Chef has a wok filled with a gigaliter of oil that will need time to heat up. He also has a tower of steamers set up. These are two of his three favorite ways to get cookin'. The third is, of course, his patented step-back three pointer in the iso.

Challenger Kagata is not throwing away the scallop coral and skirts. Her courses are already significantly more interesting than I thought they would be. Royal Park Hotel has been imprisoning her in 1880's banquet dining.

The Iron Chef has hailed an uni boat. These sea urchin will be blended into a sauce. This indicates either uni noodles (a la Eric Ripert) or a thicc uni stir fry (a la Chen Kenichi). Either is a win.

The challenger is smashing scallops through a tamis. This train is headed to scallop mousseline town, population: everyone who wears a pocket watch.

The Iron Chef doesn't need no fancy tamis to mash some scallops. The back of his all purpose cleaver works just fine. Slice scallions? Edge of cleaver. Make ginger-garlic paste? Side of cleaver. Crack black pepper? Handle of cleaver. Sumi-e painting? Top of cleaver. Juggle? Multiple cleavers.

Challenger Kagata has caviar, relish, and black pepper mixed into a bowl of finely diced scallops and scallop skirts. Given the relish, this is going to be a scallop tartar. Kudos on the use of the scallop skirts, but this is not something I can replicate at home. I squandered my caviar budget on the live scallops.

The challenger's mother watches from behind a colander. You could say their relationship is... strained. 🥁

The Iron Chef mimics the challenger with scallops, cream, and eggs in a food processor. This explains why he had the steamers set up. All the signs for scallop mousse were there. The cream, the eggs, the steamer, the pocket watch.

The challenger user her vampire slaying knife to furiously mince some blanched parsley. This serves as both a plated compenent to a dish and a warning to the Chairman.

Judge Ishida: Is it normal for the judges to be asked what their blood type is?
Dr. Hattori: The Chairman insists on it.
Fukui: The Chairman also insists on saving you from exposure to the sun's harmful rays. You shall not want for natural sunlight henceforth when you purchase the *Fukui Corporation Scallop Lamp* today!
Judge Ishida: I’ll take twenty!

No slouch with the knife either, Iron Chef Kenichi makes fine cross-hatching slices 80% through each turnip and each scallop, keeping them attached at the base. The likelihood of these hedgehogs remaining presentable after cooking is lower than the Chairman's resting heart rate.

Unable to restrain herself, challenger Kagata has a foie gras flambé in brandy. To summarize, she has a dish with scallops and caviar, and another dish with scallops and foie gras. The lobsters in Kitchen Stadium are scurrying to hide behind the gold leaf.

The Iron Chef's scallop mousse heads to the steamer. It would be amazing if he cut this mousse into scallop shapes and served them back in the shell. *I present "Scallops" (scallops) / scallops.*

Rarely one to spend much time on garnishes, Iron Chef Kenichi makes a cresting cucumber wave for his raw scallop dish. You know Chaka Chen carves through waves like he does cucumbers, broski.

After the foie flambe, the challenger flambes scallops for the same dish. If she can incorporate brandy into a third dish, the Chairman has to dress like Winston Churchill for the remainder of the battle.

The Iron Chef's steamed scallop cakes are disappointingly cut into mere square blocks. It's like tofu, but at ten times the cost.

The challenger's tamis smashed scallop was whisked with eggs, cream, and caviar before and is spread onto some parchment paper and cooked like an omelet. This will likely wrap around the flambéed scallops and foie gras. If so, this is a wild dish. High effort, lots of technique, and very creative. It is too early to start the upset watch, but the potential is here.

It's wok o' clock for Iron Chef Kenichi. He's deep frying some scallops and quartered white mushrooms briefly to set before they get a proper stir fry. This is the "passing through oil" technique he uses prior to all his stir fries and MMA bouts.

What Iron Chef Kenichi loves most about wok o' clock is that it can be any time you want. Wok o' clock is a state of mind.

Challenger Kagata's scallop and caviar omelets are indeed filled with flambéed scallops and foie gras. If you ordered this at a restaurant, you would have to provide your car keys as collateral.

The Iron Chef's quick-fried scallops, mushrooms, and edamame are stir-fried in an uni sauce! That makes two scallop and uni dishes for the Iron Chef. Whereas the challenger has two scallop and caviar dishes. Don't try this at home. It would be financially ruinous.

With less than five minutes remaining, the challenger releases her third flambe on the scallop coral. In Kitchen Stadium it is customary, after the third brandy, to enjoy a fireside cigar while Judge Hirano itemizes in alphabetical order what is wrong with society today: Aardwolves (too much aard, not enough wolf), Abigail (she knows what she did), Absinthe (not brandy), Absorption rate of leading paper towel brand (conspiracy?) ....

The Iron Chef has a laugh at some comments he overheard from the booth, presumably questioning his surfing bonifides. Little do these barneys know, brah.

Iron Chef Kenichi has soy sauce, oyster sauce, and something reddish (doubanjiang and/or ketchup?) mixed together. This will hang ten on his cucumber wave scallop sashimi dish.

The Iron Chef solves the mystery of the scallop hedgehog serving it raw atop a scallop cake. Given the amount of time and effort spent on this dish, the results are underwhelming. *I present scallop on scallop.*

Challenger Kagata's scallop skirts, relish, and caviar are served as a tartar atop diced tomatoes and a parsley sauce. The upset watch is officially on.

The challenger takes a page out of the Iron Chef's playbook and unwraps her own uni boat to plate on the tartar. She'll head to judge's table with at least two formidable dishes. The Iron Chef has his work cut out for him. Given that this is likely the second episode he is filming today, he is running on fumes. Caiziyou oil fumes.

The Iron Chef manages a starch thickened stock of crab and parsley with the last amount of ATP in his muscles and pours it atop his hedgehogs before retreating to the walk-in freezer to dry heave.

The Judges’ Table(s):

Columnist Kotari Yuji (2 battles).
This is Judge Yuji's final appearance. He reached nirvana during the Tai Snapper battle thus he no longer desires earthly pleasures.

Actress Yuriko Ishida (2 battles).
This too is Judge Ishida's final appearance as she will be bitten by an unknown perpetrator and spend eternity sating her thirst for all things sanguine and shellfish; blood clams, mainly.

Food critic Asako Kishi (199 battles).
Judge Kishi ain't going nowhere. At least that's what her back tattoo says.

Dishes:

Challenger Kagata completes three dishes:

Challenger Kagata’s first dish:
Tartar de Saint-Jacques

This tartar is made of scallops, scallop skirts, relish, and caviar. It is topped with uni and parsley and served atop diced tomatoes encircled by a moat of parsley oil. It is luxurious and definitely more nouvelle cuisine than haute, much to her employer's chagrin (but to the delight of the judges).
Quick history note: Pilgrims used the scallop shell to symbolize their pilgrimage to Saint James' shrine in Galicia. Therefore Saint-Jacques equals scallops on pretentious menus. It's like if in the year 4000CE, ducks were called Jeeps because Jeep owners today carry rubber ducks. Language is weird. Almost as weird as Jeep owners.

Challenger Kagata’s second dish:
Coral Salad

This minimalistic dish was completed in less than two minutes. The scallops' coral got a quick sauté and flambé in brandy then served atop some mixed salad greens and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Though not a lot of work went into this plate, credit must be given to the challenger for having prepared the scallop coral (roe). When you have the opportunity to have live scallops, using just the adductor muscle seems wasteful. Also, scallop roe is delicious.

Challenger Kagata’s third dish:
Omelette de Saint-Jacques

This third course was a clinic and may well clinch the upset victory for the challenger over the Iron Chef. This is an omelet made out of a puree of scallops, eggs, cream and then mixed with caviar. The filling is a brandy flambé of scallops and foie gras. The sauce is black truffles, balsamic vinegar, and oil. Luxurious as it is creative and demonstrated a lot of technique, especially in cooking the omelet on parchment in a sauté pan. This is a dish worthy of an Iron Chef, or at least a victorious challenger. Iron Chef Kenichi has a large mountain of caviar to climb.

The judges unanimously give this dish effusive praise. Judge Yuji hasn't felt this alive since he was reincarnated as a Qing dynasty Pekingese seventeen vessels ago.

Iron Chef Kenichi completes three dishes:

Iron Chef Kenichi’s first dish:
Scallops with Soy Sauce

To elaborate on the concise humble name of this dish given by the Iron Chef, this is thin sliced raw scallops and scallop skirts over celery leaves and a cucumber wave garnish. I often criticize Iron Chef Kenichi's plating, but these fresh scallops swept to shore is splendid. The soy-based dipping sauce also includes oyster sauce.

Iron Chef Kenichi’s Second Dish:
Chrysanthemum Scallops with "Turnip" and Crab Sauce

The Iron Chef gets an "A" grade for effort, but the results were confounding. He spent a great deal of time concocting this “turnip” with scallop mousse, but ultimately it looks more like tofu. He then spent a great deal of knifework delicately crosshatching scallops into chrysanthemum flowers, only for them to fall apart and stick together irregularly. At the last minute the Iron Chef tried to save this by ladling a thickened soup of flaked crab and minced parsley over everything. If Iron Chef Kenichi is using parsley, things have gone awry.

Iron Chef Kenichi’s third dish:
Stir-Fried Scallops with Sea Urchin Sauce

On any other day, the Iron Chef could present this last course and walk straight to his ‘67' Jeepster Commando (go figure) knowing he is secure in the victory. Halved scallops, quartered white mushrooms, and edamame were giving a quick deep fry to set before being stir fried in a strained puree of uni. This is a ridiculous "only on Iron Chef" sort of dish that is nothing short of amazing. A strong case can be made that it is the "better bite" of the two competitor's last courses. This will make the judging all the more difficult. Two of the three judges today will not return to Iron Chef, secure in the knowledge they will never eat this well again.

Whose cuisine reigns supreme?!

Challenger Kagata accomplishes the rare feat of defeating an Iron Chef! It is difficult to call it an upset because she was dominant from the start. She put together her plan very quickly as demonstrated by having components for all three dishes within minutes. She was in constant communication with her sous chefs so was able to correct mistakes before they happened like tossing the omelets in the oven to finish browning. She displayed strong time management, only getting rushed by her coral salad. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, she expressed a lot of creativity by utilizing all parts of the scallop and incorporating the usual tropes of French Iron Chefs (foie gras, caviar, truffles) in a balanced and unique way.

Iron Chef Kenichi demonstrated his trademark endearing hustle. This was one of those episodes where he should have served two stir fries with the raw starter. His in-between dishes have been his weakness thus far in the early run of this series. Whether the steamed dish in the fugu episode, his soup in the squid episode, or his scallop-flower today, his results outside-the-wok have been mixed. That said, his performance today could have beaten most other challengers. Surprisingly the judges were not as lavish in their praise of his third dish as neither he nor I expected.

In defiance of her introduction, Chef Kagata is no terrine factory nor a "princess" to be gifted roses. She came here to take crowns. It is little wonder that the chef has gone on to open her own restaurant, Bistro Aoi in Tokyo, and authored two cookbooks. She will return for a rematch with Iron Chef Kenichi in four years (1998's veal battle).

Episode notes:

My favorite dish was the challenger's scallop omelet. Even without the foie gras and truffle sauce, it looked like the best dish today. It is something I would never make at home nor order in a restaurant. I'm glad I got to experience it through Iron Chef.
This was the first of four scallop battles, one of which will be dried scallops. Fukui Corporation’s Scallop Lamp will be here every episode.
The next episode is the twelfth of 1994, and 22nd overall - Battle Cheese!