The Iron Chef is one of my personal favorite TV shows. I enjoy watching the Food Network’s version of the show almost as much as I enjoyed watching the Japanese version. So this article caught my attention.

Robert Sietsema, of the Village Voice, attended a taping of the show without the Food Network’s prior knowledge, he spills the beans on the show in the article. He points out, that the sous-chefs do all the scurrying, and that they [sous-chefs] remake the dishes for judging which happens two hours after the fact.
He also points out that the chefs know the “secret ingredient” before the show.

I remember reading an article about the Japanese version of the show that stated that the chefs knew of the possible three ingredients, but not the actual one that would be used during the taping. So it doesn’t surprise me that the chefs on the American version know the ingredient before hand.

Actually none of this is a surprise, and that it won’t stop me from enjoying the show.

Links to the article below.

You be the judge.

Iron Chef “Bogus” Says Voice Critic Who Saw It Live: About a year ago, Village Voice restaurant critic Robert Sietsema attended a taping of Iron Chef America at the Food Network’s Chelsea studios. Thanks to a friend’s invite, the Food Network had no idea he was watching and waiting to blow the cover off the whole phony operation once the episode finally aired. Now Sietsema is here to report that the series is ‘more bogus than even I had imagined.’

How bogus is it? Well, for starters, what’s edited to look like ‘extreme urgency’ on TV, with chefs hustling to finish up to five dishes in under an hour, is in reality just ‘drones going about their appointed tasks with well-tested recipes.’ Sietsema confirms the chefs aren’t actually sweating it because they know what the ‘secret ingredient’ is going to be in advance and are thus able to plan out what they’re going to cook.

(Via Gothamist.)