What secret ingredient would you like to see on Iron Chef America?

[ipsedixit]

Personally, the sadistic side of me would like to see Spam as the secret ingredient.

Have one big table full of canned Spam when the secret ingredient is revealed by the Chairman.

A close runner-up I'd like to see is durian. 5 courses of durian. Yowza.

[Morton the Mousse]

Offal. Was hoping they would do it when Cosentino competed, but instead they gave him garlic (yawn).

[Norcal2050]

Hey you guys at Iron Chef, do you look at this site?
herbs provinciale interests me. They would be a good secret ingredient.
Then continue with spice and herb combinations from around the world.
Just imagine India, North Africa, Central America

[Miss Needle]

American cheese. I remember the episode of Top Chef Season 2 where they had to make something with these five ingredients including American cheese. It seemed that all the chefs were OK with the other ingredients but couldn't really figure out what to do with the cheese.

Battle Durian would be fun to watch. I generally only see plain durian, durian ice cream and durian shakes. it would be interesting to see how else it could be incorporated. I once had a durian chocolate souffle cake that I found pretty revolting.

[Ralphie_in_Boston]

I agree about Durian fruit, I'd love to see that. Especially with that female judge who leans in and snorts the food before tasting it. Get a whiff of this, lady.

As for American cheese, I'm turned off from the idea ever since witnessing (with disgust) Paula Deen rolling up her Chocklit Cheeze Bawls (with velveeta...yech) during the episode when she was teamed with Cat Cora.

I personally would like to see Anchovies as the secret ingredient. And if they've done that already....someone let me know!

[uptown jimmy]

Hilarious. You mean the plus-size woman?

Jeffrey would pronounce Durian "inedible", or "not really food", and for once he'd be right.

I bet the Japanese lady would pronounce every Durian dish "greasy" or "oily".
It's always "a little greasy" or "too oily" for her. Creepy. But riveting.

[beelzebozo]

american cheese freaks out chefs because it's already too perfect to make better.

[Ralphie_in_Boston]

Yeah....that *must* be it. :^)

Same deal for spam.

Oh, and vienna sausages too LOL

[aelph]

asafoetida plant

[limster]

Tea. Sometimes used as a traditional ingredient, but also allows room for creativity.

[melly]

They have used tea.

[easily amused]

Thought the following might prove to lend themselves to some interesting dishes:

Mangosteen
Vanilla
Passionfruit
They could be used in both main course and dessert presentations... Oh the possibilities.!

[joeyz]

Spam would actually be more palatable to me than the Cranberry ingredient they used for the Giadia/Rachel Ray Battle. If Morimoto was the IC I'm sure he could do some good Okinawa-inspired dishes.

[sommrluv]

Have they done Coffee?

It seems familiar enough to me that they might have....that's my first thought...I'd like to dwell on it. LOL

Iron Chef is like my guilty food network pleasure.

[ipsedixit]

I believe coffee bean was the ingredient on a recent episode with Cora.

[sibeats]

Yup, it was coffee in the Cora v. Ken Oringer battle...and it was my favorite battle ever!

[scoopG]

Hard to top Durian, Tea, American Cheese, Anchovies or Spam, but perhaps.....

Raisins or
Wheat Thin Crackers or
Jello?

There's always room for Jello!

[Sam Fujisaka]

1. A set of (at least 6) Indian, Ethiopian, or Middle Eastern spices
2. The head of a cow, pig, or goat
3. Squirrel
4. Sun dried pig fat
5. Chicken feet
6. Pig's blood
7. Cheap roe from something like carp
8. Andean amaranth
9. Amazonian camu camu

[Father Kitchen]

Sam you are a man of both substance and style. Me, I'd like to see termites.

[ipsedixit]

Can you imagine big vats of pig blood being unveiled by the chairman?

How utterly delicious ...

[Sam Fujisaka]

Thank you. I don't mean to sound like a pompous jackass; but these are things that I think I can manage and sometimes wonder how others do.

[scoopG]

Great list Sam! Perhaps, along that same vein....

Burweed
Rat Plum (or Buckthorn Fruit)
Preserved Eggs
Jellyfish

[jlafler]

On the original Iron Chef they did natto once. Morimoto used Coke in one of his dishes, shocking the audience and presenters.

[Phaedrus]

Yeah, that whole battle looked nasty.

[Bob W]

I once read a great quote from one of the regular judges on the original IC about how the secret ingredient can be hit or miss for the judges: "Sometimes you get homard lobsters, and sometimes you get natto."

[melly]

Sam..or rattlesnake!

[cook52]

all these recomendations should be used when Andrew Zimmerman, the guy from Bizzare Foods is the challenger chef

[Leper]

Tripe. I love Menudo, but most Americans won't go near Tripe which is eaten worldwide. (The Italians have some really great recipes.) And, in response, I would love to see the judge's faces as each dish is presented to them...

[rumgum]

oooo, that's a good one. I love tripe.

[Minger]

I'm so glad Karine Bakhoum is gone so I don't have to see the narrow biases on her face.

[Phaedrus]

I can't stand her, how is she gone?

[rumgum]

Didn't she just judge Battle Tomato? Or was that an old episode?

[Minger]

I saw Battle Goat w/ Jose Andres without Karine and thought she was gone. But then I realized it was a rerun.

[jmckee]

A favorite exchange:

Karine: "You like it because it's FRIED Jeffrey."
Steingarten: "You like it because it's FOOD, Karine."

[AMFM]

LOL

[Phaedrus]

C'est magnifique!

[Phaedrus]

OK
Something smelly:
Smelly tofu.

Something bland
iceberg lettuce

Something artificial
Cheez whiz

Something weird
Mad Dog 20/20.

[alkapal]

oooooohhhh, MD 20/20! nectar of the winos.

[jmckee]

That sounds like the wedding rule, "Something borrowed, something blue..." in hell.

[jlafler]

Ooh, have they ever done yams? Real yams, not sweet potatoes: the kind that grow to be the size of baseball bats.

[YoDuh]

Live mammal!

Flay chasing a cow, Batali after a chicken, ... :-)

Bad YoDuh! Sit!

Locavore: Def. "Crazy about eating"

[sommrluv]

LOL!

Or an electric eel.

[jlafler]

Yeah, they get their seafood alive sometimes, why not a chicken?

[beelzebozo]

have they done a peanut butter challenge?

[Blueicus]

There was a peanut battle with Lynn Crawford vs. Flay. It included peanut butter.

[yankeefan]

Terrific question!

Im dying to see them use and cook with/pair with beer and give them some good craft beers (not the macro garbage) hey, they did coffee, why not BEER? that would be awesome.

others Id like:
squid/octopus
tempeh
habanero
oh yeah, Beer

good suggestions here: Id like to also see vanilla and yams

[Blueicus]

The Morimoto/Donna rematch featured squid. Also, there was a chile pepper battle between Love and Morimoto.

[Ralphie_in_Boston]

yeah and I thought the chili pepper battle was hugely unfair to morimoto. Alton in his narration said that only one type of pepper grows in Japan, so Morimoto had to taste them all to see which ones were hotter. I think he bit into a habanero, ouch.

Then they pair him up against a chef with a cowboy hat---gee I wonder if that guy has cooked with chili peppers before?

Also unfair was the battle with Mario batali.....and the ingredient was fennel! His opponent didn't stand a chance, LOL

[jlafler]

Oddly enough, on the Japanese Iron Chef, the chef working with an unfamiliar ingredient often won, probably because it forced him to become creative and gave him a sympathy edge with the judges.

[CucumberBoy]

>>only one type of pepper grows in Japan, so Morimoto had to taste them all<<

It looked to me like Morimoto-san ate the tip of a good old jalapeno; I could be wrong.

However, there was no mistaking his discomfort mere seconds after chewing the pepper in question; he gasped, removed the offending item from his Iron Mouth(tm) then started to reach for a bottle of water before coughing a total Looney Tunes-style fire-cough. You could literally see the vapor coming from his gaping mouth while his eyes watered tears of the Buddah.

Always the consummate professional, Morimoto-san had the wherewithal to turn his head away from the food while he coughed..

Seriously, the cough was so exaggerated as to be funny in that Jerry Lewis way, although I felt bad for the guy because 1) he's my favorite IC, and 2) it looked like it hurt.

-cb-

[alkapal]

stone ground grits! hah! deal with THAT!

[miss_bennet]

I'd like to see leftovers as the secret ingredient.

You know, when you have one lonely piece of BBQ chicken, a bowl of soup, some cooked rice and spaghetti in the fridge. Iron Chef Flay: what do you do? My family callls it "tastefully presenting for a second time."

Perhaps more realistically, I'd love to see vanilla.

[chef chicklet]

LeftoversI like that! Great Idea!
I'd like to think I'm the queen of gourmet garbage!

I'm wishing they'd do chilis - dried and fresh. See them make sauces, tamales, rellenos, soups and all. If they've done it, DARN I missed it!

[Phaedrus]

How about just Habanero's. The judges would be screaming uncle while running to the bathroom as judging ends.

[chef chicklet]

LOL! ya know I've been pretty quiet about how annoying some of those judges are. I don't like hate them just find them on the pretenious side and sort of silly so I think you're idea would be perfect for, Karine, Andrew and the lady that thinks everything is "oily". oh yeah and the food blogger, seems not much was good to her. Of course I watch just to get annoyed.

[jmckee]

Sounds like the kitchen challenge on The Splendid Table. I like the idea.

[jujuthomas]

One of the guys who helped out on my grandfather's farm when I was a kid called it "mustgo". LOL.

[jlafler]

In the vein of stinky, sticky theme ingredients, what about gorgonzola?

[newhavener07]

Scrapple, velveeta and Uncle Ben's rice. Wait, Top Chef's already done that challenge!

[dave_c]

Battle Rocky Mountain Oyster

[Phaedrus]

LOL. Nice!!

I can just picture the secret ingredient table piled high with all kinds of animal genitalia as the chefs race up to grab at them: small ones, big ones, heavy ones, etc. Some of the chefs will usually start off tasting the raw ingredients as they bring the secret ingredient to their work area to ascertain freshness, I doubt that will happen in this challenge.

[Blueicus]

I'd pay good money to watch "Battle Pizzle"

[dave_c]

Okay... I looked up the word Pizzle.
Now I realize the Bully Sticks I've been giving my dogs are pizzle! All this time I thought they were just beef tendons.

Learn something new everyday!

Another battle that would be interesting is Battle Chicken/Duck Feet. Maybe kind of boring compared to all the other recommendations. lol :-D

[JiyoHappy]

Battle Rocky mountain oysters, with chefs Paula Deen and Cat Cora. The chairman asking the chefs (with a straight face) to come up with succulent variations ...and then asking the chefs (with a straight face) to explain their strategies ...Alton Brown describing the cooking techniques and how they affect the secret ingredient....

[jhopp217]

I would like to see something for different taste buds
Sweet - Maple Syrup
Bitter - Beer
Salty - fleur de sel
Sour - Lemon (maybe sounds boring, but I love lemon flavored everything)

[misnatalie]

Mint, unless they have already done it.
Acai Berry

Then a few hard ones like marmite or scrapple or velveeta.

[rumgum]

Battle FUGU! But that would just be mean.

[beteez]

From the graduate Battle Kimodo Dragon.

[jhopp217]

You mean the Freshman, right?

[beteez]

correct

[Phaedrus]

I just read that some guy has developed a non-poisonous Fugu, so they can cheat now.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Not some guy, but a research program that feeds fugu food that doesn't create the toxin. Resisted by the Japanese fugu economic mafia that wants to maintain the macho bullshit high risk and even higher cost thrill. The delicacy of realy fugu liver is now accessable.

[Veggo]

Baked trigger fish livers could make a freight train take a dirt road. For my initiation in Cozumel as an "hermano" I was required to eat a dozen of them, with my 13 brothers laughing uncontrollably. Said to be healthy and has connections with mayan virility. Incredibly oily and pungent.

[Phaedrus]

There you go, directly from Sam the Man.

[Morton the Mousse]

I wonder if a divergence from the fugu's natural diet will have any impact on the flavor of the liver.

[moh]

I always like to see the live seafood battles. I am imagining a live large catfish battle, you know, the ones that are really big <5 feet? they'd have to grab them by the mouth and pull them out of the tank.

Also: Huitlacoche!

Have they already done Coca-cola?

Chitlins...

[alkapal]

uh, moh? this huitlacoche? http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/...

[moh]

Dang, Alkapal, that is a hilarious link! I particularly like his reworking of the Goya brand can of Huitlacoche...

I must say, I have never seen it naked out of a can like that... Pretty scary... Which would in my eyes make it a perfect Iron Chef America secret ingredient! Part of what made the original Iron Chef so much fun was the wild and wacky ingredients. Natto battle remains my favorite to this day. (Not that it makes me want to eat Natto in any way, I'm still a little scared to try it. That being said, I have tentatively planned a date to try my first natto soonish).

[Richard 16]

How about a theme like ice cream?

Plantains
Edible flowers
Buckwheat
Mirin
Orange concentrate
Have they done pomegranates?
Vanilla
Sardines? (They did a small fish but I don't remember what...)
Tongues
Cucumbers

[alkapal]

just used orange juice concentrate with teriyaki country style pork ribs. a little goes a long way, shall i say.....

[JiyoHappy]

I'd like to see Okra on IC

[mack184]

After all these choices, I think I'd like to see the secret ingredient be...
Jeffrey Steingarten

[Phaedrus]

OOooh, cannibalism. I like it!

[Bob Loblaw]

I dunno... i just got a strange (and otherwise unrelated) email about eating placenta. but perhaps this post has crossed that 'line'.

[alkapal]

"i think this dish is a little too fatty...."

[Blueicus]

Hahaha, brilliant idea. And serve a side of Katayama (Ms. Too Oily) and all the judges can go "This dish is too lean".

[uptown jimmy]

Hilarious.

"Is a little too greasy."

"Is so oily."

[YoDuh]

Alton: "Welcome back to Battle Long Pork Judges.
It looks like the challenger is breaking out the
dreaded ice cream machine though it seems
he needs a bigger door for his Jeffreeze to work.
Even if he can manage the stuffing, it may not be edible.
Meanwhile chef Morimoto is sniffing the thin slices
of his traditional Katayama confit. No doubt a homage
to his early lean years of serving judges."

All seriousness aside, it would be very entertaining if one
episode had the "judges" cook and the real IC's were the
real judges. "Welcome back to Battle Dihydrogen Monoxide".

Bad YoDuh! Sit!

[alkapal]

me no want "jeffreeze".

[KenWritez]

Can I get bacon with my Jeffreeze?

[uptown jimmy]

Bacon is too oily. Is a little greasy.

[KenWritez]

"I feel this Jeffricasee has so much going on on the plate. The Karin tartare looked wonderful with the edible flowers, but was too greasy and didn't relate to the Jeffrey at all. The sparkler distracted me and my Joel McHale was sour and overcooked. The Jeffricasee's crispy coating stood up well, though, and it was perfectly seasoned, even if a little too oily."

[Heyteacher]

Avocado or tofu!

[chicgail]

Tofu is a good idea, but maybe broaden it to include other soy products such as edemame, miso, soy milk, fermented bean curd. An obvious choice to compete would be IC Morimoto, but it might be fun to see Bobby Flay in the hotseat.

They'd never do it, but I love to fantasize about processed cheese -- American cheese slices, Velveeta, CheezWhiz, etc. Sorry my evil side coming out.

[emerilcantcook]

I am thinking about canned tuna, if it is not done already so. Whomever turns up that ice cream machine and makes a "edible" sorbet should win in this case...Katrina Markoff (the Vosges lady) should be the judge, in case someone comes up something like a candied tuna white chocolate black pepper creation.

I know it is suggested above, but marmite might be interesting and tough...

Did they do kimchi?

On a prettier note (again suggested above), edible flowers such as rose petals and violets could work well both for savory and sweet (think rose petal quail from Like Water for Chocolate). In any case, the sorbet will unquestionably better than canned tuna one :P

[yankeefan]

up for getting thread going again when watching a recent episode.

how about eggplant? thats a food that really stretches across cuisines and I personally would like a little Alton description of the different types.

[KenWritez]

Battle Velveeta!
Not Morimoto as the IC, tho--that'd be too cruel.

Battle M&Ms!

Battle Coldcuts? As long as they promise *not* to fire up the ice cream maker....

Exotic stuff is okay, but I want to see some battles featuring ingredients I have or can get at my local grocery store or farmers' market.

Ooooh, Battle Tri-tip! Man, I'd pay to see that one!

[Firegoat]

Battle hot dogs?

[KenWritez]

I believe ICA is ready for this new horizon in secret foods. Anyone can make outstanding dishes with $800 per lb toro tuna or exotic fungi, but real creativity lies in elevating the humble to the sublime, just as a great composer oes with a simple country melody when he transforms it into the backbone of an entire symphonic piece.

Yes! The sun will shine brightly on the ICA studios once again as the doors are flung open and the fusty air of exclusivity dissipates in the warm, scented breezes of commonality!

[Phaedrus]

Jerry Seinfeld replaces Alton as the emcee,

"The secret ingredient is.......NOTHING!"

[ipsedixit]

ROTFLMAO

[alkapal]

you missed rachel ray's battle "hot dog" with judge gordon ramsay? too funny (in a sick way)! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uBNE7...

[Firegoat]

lol, no I didn't miss it. I was horribly disgusted by it.... that inspired my post :)

[KenWritez]

I turned it off after a minute. It was horrible. Just freakin' horrible.

[LabRat]

How bout..

Battle Canned Food!

No fresh ingredients allowed, the alternate title could be "A glimpse at LabRat's childhood"!

[starlady]

Battle Pickles!!!

I'd be interested to see battle cucumber.

[uptown jimmy]

That's a nice idea.

I also liked the eggplant idea. Challenging, but potentially delicious, and with established approaches from many parts of the world.

[overresearched]

Hot Dogs
Coca-Cola
Ritz Crackers
Fritos

[sgordon]

Laetiporus Sulphureus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus

[grant.cook]

Two ways to play it.. rocky mountain oysters, or bones..

[Evilbanana11]

Battle human.

[billieboy]

It's been done already

http://www.dangerouslogic.com/battlel...

[Fritter]

Luffa.

[nemis]

Pork Belly!!
David Chang Vs Symon

[karaiko]

well in the episodes i saw i might consider if the show would use foods from asia mainly Philippine foods:
1. the purple yams ("UBE")
2. Durian Fruit
3. Banana heart
4. dare i say it....BABY FOOD lol
5. Aloe Vera...don't know if its edible but what the heck!
6. "LAING"
7 "Sileng Labuyo"
so far that's what i would choose but give me a few more hours before i can think of anything else
OOOOOOOoooooooo Philippine "TUYO" would be nice too maybe even "Bagoong" think of it 5 courses with aromas like that!

[Sam Fujisaka]

Gusto ko ang paksiw ng musang o sawa (vinegar and garlic cooked civit cat or snake). Mas masarap ang tinapa kaysa ang tuyo (the dried fish is much better than the salted).

Welcome to chowhound

[alkapal]

aloe vera is a funny choice, because, it's a natural "laxative," and therefore the chef who presented first would win by default. no judge would make it to the second chef's dishes.

[Phaedrus]

I LIKE it.

Lets have Katrine Bakoum, Katie Lee Joel, and Akiko Katayama as judges.

[alkapal]

now THAT's a creative concept, right there! see who could last the longest..... before an anguished look of maximum gastrointestinal discomfort marred their otherwise lovely faces, and they sprinted off set, clutching their bowels before they exploded.

[KenWritez]

Akiko: "It's too oi--AIEEEE! GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

[Cinnamon]

What about where the ingredient they must use is cadaverine, or, some mass of an ingredient that's unidentifiable, whose origin is only revealed to the chefs at the end. Or, they must make their dishes with 'love'?

[downtownfoodie]

Moderators, please please please delete Cinnamon's last suggestion...it's too close to Valentine's day and I would hate to have to stop watching the show because they finally completed the American bastardization of the much better Japanese version by following the vomit-inducing suggestion of making all the dishes with LOVE, lol

[misnatalie]

marshmallow peeps

[AngelSanctuary]

I'm so with you with durian, I will like to be a judge for that episode!