Has Iron Chef - America changed the way you answer, "How do you like it?"

[El Puerco]

I am a big fan of Iron Chef - America and when I taste something great that a friend has made, I feel the need to discuss how the hint of cumin in the sauce was perfect or how well the bitterness of the chocolate complemented the sweet/tart taste of the raspberries. I find most people just expect me to say, "It's good." and shut up.

Does anyone else suffer from this?

[sagestrat]

My favorite line, if I remember it correctly, is:

"Wow, you can really taste the bitterness of the entrails."

[Phaedrus]

LOL, now that you mention it, I remember that line too.

[applehome]

...but, you can - especially with fish. If you ever taste nigai (bitter) while eating fugu - you have about 10 seconds to think about it... 9... 8...

[Ruth Lafler]

I always like it when the Japanese judges talk about how the chef "controlled the flavor" of some ingredient. For one thing, that strikes me as being very much a Japanese esthetic: not wanting anything to be too strong or out of control, and not something an American would say. But mostly, it seems like what they're really saying is that it doesn't taste as bad as they thought it would!

[melly]

Our favorite was when the secret ingredient was turkey..and the Japanese judges kept going on about how turkey is not flavorful and that it has a gamey taste. The cooks almost looked horrified when they saw the turkeys! Same with lamb..which they kept calling mutton no matter how old the sheep was.

[Ruth Lafler]

Yeah, I was specifically thinking of the lamb -- a lot of Japanese don't like lamb, and the fact that the lamb flavor was being controlled was obviously a plus to the judges. Which is funny, because I think American judges would be very much the same about fish -- they don't like their fish dishes to taste fishy (as a lot of Japanese food tastes to me)!

[Phaedrus]

My favorite line from Japanhese starlet:"This dish is ssooo sophisticated!!!"

I usually don't talk food with my friends that aren't of the Chowhound ilk, I just sit and watch them shovel the grub in their mouths and enjoy the freak show.

[melly]

Ditto..but it is so much fun to eat with chowhounds who do discuss what they are eating!

[wayne keyser]

(Using high-pitched Japanese starlet dubbed-by-heaven-knows-who voice...) "I like the texture."

It's a running joke around our house.

[ESNY]

My running joke is from the original Japanese episodes. Some ditzy actress was eating a piece of a molten lava cake type thing and she said (or better yet her voice-over said) in a really high pitched voice "It's so hooooootttt. I can't believe it so hot!!!"

[momjamin]

If you haven't seen "LEGO Chef," it's hysterical, particularly the "starlet's" comments at the judgment table: http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/460262

Back to the OP, yes, DH and I will make comments like that to each other, but not usually outside the family. Sometimes, though, I will get a little more specific than "it's good," as in, "very nice, it's hot but still flavorful" -- not quite the level of "hint of cumin."