The Secret Ingredient

I don't know how long ago it was, but I got hooked on Iron Chef and then Iron Chef America. Not that I am keen to a lot of the dishes they make, mainly because I either don't like some of the ingredients or I just can't eat them. Sunday night has turned into my Food Network night.

I love to sit and watch the Iron Chefs wield their spatulas, knives, and other tools while they throw food into the blast chiller, steamer, blender, deep frier or other cooking device. Since I am not creative, especially when it comes to cooking, I get mesmerized just watching these chefs decide what ingredients to put together. They always use foods that I've never heard of before and would probably be too afraid to eat. While I love my sweets, there are so many foods I won't try.

There are times that I wonder about the secret. Who comes up with it and how? Here are some of the secret ingredients from past shows: Lobster, Fennel, Bacon, Eggplant, frozen peas (not just peas, but FROZEN peas), honey, chocolate, coconut, wild boar, lentils, puff pastry, onion, eggs, asparagus, goat cheese. The chefs are required to come up with 5 dishes that use and spotlight the secret ingredient. So how many things can you do to frozen peas, or honey, or even puff pastry to make you win this competition. I mean, honey is honey, frozen peas are frozen peas. They can use the secret ingredient to make the dish, but are they really making that ingredient "the star" as some judges so eloquently put it. I don't think so...I think this is more about the overall cooking technique and creativeness of the chef.

My favorite chefs are Masaharu Morimoto and Mario Batali. They both seem to be able to come up with original dishes that the judges always love. I've seen many a time where cocky "Mr. I'm the Best" Bobby Flay goes into his comfort zone and uses spices, spices and more spices to create his dishes. I've seen him do it on his Throwdown show. It's like he doesn't know what to do, so he says "I'll throw some chili powder or other "hot" spice in there and fool them into thinking it's original. There are times when I would love to be in the studio just to smell the cooking, because even though I wouldn't eat most of it, I bet the aromas are just amazing. Plus you can't gain weight by just smelling.