The Next Iron Chef

Yes, yet another cooking show! I haven't really been watching much of the Food Network lately. Personally, I find that a lot of the shows are redundant because they show similar recipes and techniques each episode, and I think that many of the hosts follow a formula too closely. I mean, it's ok to have some structure to an episode, but a host should be as natural as they can as well. As a result, The Next Iron Chef, is one of the few cooking shows I've been watching lately.

I really like The Next Iron Chef because there are some fantastic big name chefs on it this season. My personal two favourite contestants *Spoiler* were Chuck Hughes and Marcus Samuelsson, but they have since been eliminated. I personally enjoy Hughe's rustic presentation-style although that seems to have played a role in his downfall. I held a lot of support for him because I enjoy his show "Chuck's Day Off", which really gets to the heart of what cooking is all about, cooking for other people. He's also a fellow Canadian, being from Montreal, and I thought it would be cool to have a Canadian Iron Chef. I'm really interested in Marcus Samuelsson's cooking style as well, because it's a mixture of his Ethiopian and Swedish heritage. The judges put his elimination down to the business of his dishes, but African cuisine, let alone Ethiopian cuisine, is so little known by even hardcore foodies that I wonder if the judges missed the boat with him entirely.

I truly enjoy all the remaining chefs as well; Chiarello, Zakarian, Guarnaschelli, and Falkner. All of them, save for Guarnaschelli, have been in the bottom two where they've participated in a cook-off challenge, but all have played valiantly. Personally, I think that Chef Zakarian and Chef Falkner are the real geniuses, however, as Zakarian's technique is constantly praised and Falkner continuously puts out interesting and original dishes. Souffle with Tuna Jerky? Who do you think is going to win The Next Iron Chef. Personally, I think Elizabeth Falkner might stand a chance.