Iron Chef America 2013 (rant)

[ennuisans]

I was praying the "culinary curve ball" was a mistake they would only make once. Looks like it's here to stay. And the first dish fiasco. I know they want to keep the show fresh but this is bad.

And do they really want us to think they are coming up with their menus on the fly in a quick huddle?

(In their defense, it does give the judges a bit more airtime, but ugh. Ugh I say!)

[mugen]

Haha - it was obvious even in the first season that the menus had been created in advance - but I still love the huddles, because they're the often the only way of understanding what is happpening (i.e. what is ultimately going to be created) in the the ~40 minutes prior to plating of the dishes.

[pine time]

IIRC, read somewhere that the chefs have 3 different secret ingredients given to them ahead of time, but don't know until cooking which of the 3 will be revealed. Hence, they have menus and ingredients ready for all 3, only using one set. Correct, other CHs?

[paulj]

Something like that. Plus they may have to do 5 takes of the unveiling, which gives the chefs time to think, and may be even consult with their assistants. It's hard to know what exactly is being decided during the on-air huddle.

[sandylc]

I read that they do tell them the possible 3 ingredients in advance, and then the chefs plan their 3 possible menus and tell them what ingredients they would need for each. Then when the chefs arrive they see what ingredients were purchased and thus know slightly ahead of time what the "secret" ingredient will be.

[acgold7]

When we shot the "pilot week" of 4 episodes, they knew the night before it would be one of two possible ingredients and had two whole menus planned in advance.

[jjjrfoodie]

LOL.But you knew that.

Quick huddle is a new thing from last year so viewers get a glimpse into what is going on.

I still don't get it but I like old skool .jp IC.

As acgold notes, there is free range access to building your own pantry pre-show on both sides and 2 live ingredients and based upon the last BOH scenes they get 45 minutes to do a final menu planning (if not done before) between the two ingredients pre filming with the final known before. It's TV. LOL.

The acgold knows teh shiz I claim also as the truth.

I can attest.

[paulj]

None of that bothers me.