Previously on Iron Wok Jan!
F-Forgive us, but...
Let's give that another go!
One more taste!
I need to taste it again!
What in the world did you make?
That can't just be ordinary mushroom soup!
I used some Strophariaceae​ and Cortinariaceae​.
Totally nontoxic... unless you combine them in a certain ratio,
which is when they produce hallucinogenic and stimulant effects.
Magic mushrooms, eh?
THIS IS FICTION WITH NO INTENTIONAL RESEMBLANCE TO ANY PERSONS, ORGANIZATIONS, OR OCCURRENCES.
OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE SOURCE MATERIAL, THERE MAY BE SCENES CONSIDERED OFFENSIVE TO MODERN SENSIBILITIES.
Careful now!
Right this way!
Okay, stop for now.
It's already pretty hot, so be careful.
What do they even need this huge griddle for?
Chief?!
Hot, hot, hot!
That's hot like the fires of hell...
Are they seriously gonna use this thing in the cooking contest?
You're a real piece of work.
I don't even see you as a fellow chef.
So I'm gonna take you down. My cooking's gonna toast you!
Look at what you did to the judges!
This is how they ended up after you fed them that druggie soup!
And you call yourself a chef?!
This is getting good.
The story tells itself.
Is all you care about winning?!
Don't you care about the people who eat your food?
I'll say it again! I won't stand for this!
I'll never accept it!
I'm Sawada Kei, the chef of flames,
and I'm going scorched earth on your evil ambitions!
You hear me, Akiyama?!
That was perfect.
Yeah! You tell him!
Don't let him get away with it!
Who's gonna stop him if not you, Sawada?!
Looks like they're into it.
What now, Akiyama? No one's on your side anymore.
Aw, he's made Jan out to be the bad guy!
I knew it.
Turned out just like how I figured.
He's got no chance if the judges and crowd both turn against him.
That Sawada boy is gonna kick his ass.
Time for you to be humiliated in front of a live audience!
COMPETITOR WAITING ROOM
You okay?
Your cheek is really swollen.
Thanks, man.
Can't believe Kiriko decked me like that...
What's wrong?
Gonna get some fresh air.
The tournament starts in 30, though.
I know. I won't be gone long.
That was a hell of a stunt you pulled back there.
I won't forget it.
Right back at you.
You cook anything like that again,
and you're gonna get a lot worse than a single slugging.
Because it's not cooking! You poisoned them!
Let go already!
You're a real dumbass.
What kinda chef injures their good hand?
It won't make a difference!
What kind of chef cooks with hallucinogenic mushrooms?!
We are now ready to begin
the first round of matches for the Chinese Chef Championship!
The scoring system will be distinct from the qualifiers!
We have ten judges, each of which can award up to ten points
for a grand total of one hundred!
It's that guy!
And moving forward, the audience will also be involved in the scoring!
A hundred of you can add one point to the score for an additional hundred points!
Just press the button to cast your vote for who you think has the better dish!
And now...
It's time for our first match! Here come our chefs!
From Roppongi's Kun Lun, it's Sawada Kei!
Sawada-kun!
You can do it, Sawada!
We're on your side!
And for his opponent...
We have Akiyama Jan from Gobancho's Chinese in Ginza!
You've got some nerve even showing up, you shameless freak!
You're a stain on the art of cooking!
Lose already, you dumbass!
I love it! I love it! Time for you to get humbled on national TV!
Let's see you lose so bad you disappear for good, Akiyama, you brat!
What the...?
Is this part of the show?
Sawada-kun! Here you are!
Go, go, go!
What in the world?!
A giant griddle?!
Are they going to be cooking with that?
Most likely.
It went up in seconds!
Sorry, Akiyama, but you're just cannon fodder.
No one can match me in the blazing heat from this griddle.
The theme of our first match is...
Beef! Our competitors will be making beef dishes!
Begin!
It's the first round of the Chinese Chef Championship!
And the theme for the first showdown is beef!
MATCH 1: BEEF DISHES
Hey, get a load of what Sawada picked out.
He's choosing all the most tender cuts.
The rump round is a cut from the rear end where the red meat flavor is richest.
RUMP
SIRLOIN
In the case of Wagyu beef, the sirloin is heavily marbled.
TENDERLOIN
And the tenderloin is especially soft and tender.
Any of these cuts would be perfect for steak.
RUMP ROUND, SIRLOIN, TENDERLOIN
That's right. I'm going to prepare the best cuts in the best fashion possible.
In comparison, Jan's cut of beef was...
Hey, he's grabbing shank!
Say what? He went for some of the toughest meat?!
SHANK
The shank!
An extremely stiff cut filled with tendons and well-developed muscles!
It's a poor choice for steak, but it's filled with collagen,
making it optimal for soup or stew.
Is this for real?
They're only picking ingredients and the outcome's already obvious.
How is shank going to stand up to rump or tenderloin?
Aw, come on, Jan! What're you doing?
Why would you pick such a cheap cut?
Right, Head Chef?
Now... it's showtime!
Look how fast he diced those onions!
Shall we dance?
Rockin' sauce!
What a showman!
Rockin' sauce?
Probably made from that onion base, right?
Look at those skewers!
They're so big!
Is this what the huge griddle was for?!
This Sawada fellow is really quite talented.
He's got a great eye for ingredient quality,
and he's both dexterous and speedy.
Before he cooked the meat,
he made sure to season it properly and massage the flavor in.
He even made sure to utilize the Chinese method of quick frying, too.
Look how he's cut the vegetables...
For all his fancy dancing, he still managed to slice them perfectly.
Might be a real hot dog when it comes to showin' off,
but he's a dedicated craftsman at his core.
He puts on a show as good as any performer I've encountered!
And now for the climax...
Fire!
That's awesome!
You go, fire dancer Sawada!
And now the finisher. My special sauce for aroma and flavor...
How's that, Akiyama?
Come on! What are you doing, Jan?!
Are you seriously making a starchy sauce this late in the game?!
There's no way you can beat Sawada's cooking with that! It's too plain!
Don't you think, Head Chef?!
Magic.
Akiyama cooking is supposed to be magic... or so I hear.
He may be casting a spell as we speak.
M-Magic?
The question is how many of the judges will realize the trick.
And that's time!
Please finish up and prepare for judging.
Here it is.
My dish, which hyped up the judges and the crowd to the max
with a show of fire and smoke!
Sawada Kei's unbeatable tie ban shao!
Even the most intensely heated iron wok
pales in comparison to the inferno of this giant griddle.
You lose, Akiyama Jan!
Well, it sure is fragrant.
The smoky sauce is giving the meat a great aroma.
Don't mind if I do...
Oh, that's fantastic!
You used smoke and flame to make a real work of art!
And the meat is so tender!
It's quite juicy.
This flashy dish matches your style, Sawada-kun.
Thank you very much.
But man...
Akiyama-kun, you're sweating up a storm.
You must've worked so hard on whatever dull dish you whipped up.
The only thing dull around here is you.
I made something that was worth all the sweat it took.
Something true to the soul of Chinese cooking.
Is that right?
MATCH 1: BEEF DISHES
Wh-What is this?
Where's that burst of applause comin' from?
With this dish...
I'm going to see if these judges know what they're doing.
S-Starchy sauce?!
That's the sound of adding starchy sauce to guoba?!
All right.
This is Akiyama-style guoba!
TAIJI GUOBA: CRISPY RICE WITH TWO COLORS OF STARCHY SAUCE
I think I'll call it taiji guoba!
Taiji, cosmic dualism,
manifests in Chinese cooking philosophy as a focus on balancing ying and yang!
It is symbolic of the nature of all creation and the universe itself!
Go on, eat up.
Wait, hey, what is that?
Guoba with meat and vegetable sauces.
Guoba?
Guoba is made by gently flattening cooked glutinous rice and then dehydrating it.
When fried in oil at a low temperature, it puffs up while remaining crispy.
And when you pour starchy sauce on freshly fried guoba,
the oil pops with a remarkable sound!
Normally, you'd cook the meat and vegetables together...
But it looks like he kept them separate.
That brown sauce is made with the gelatin-rich shank
and seasoned with doubanjiang, sake, and soy sauce.
The white one was made with four types of vegetables.
The asparagus was flash-fried to keep its vivid green color,
and there's thinly sliced carrots, celery, and shiitake mushrooms that were boiled.
It was seasoned with salt and pepper and thickened with potato starch.
Looks like he's made a sort of meat and veggie liang wei guoba.
Liang wei guoba?
But where does the magic come into it?
The judges will have to be the ones to figure that out.
Gotta say, for the two hours you worked on it, guoba ain't very exciting...
A rice dish, really?
The dual color scheme is rather innovative, I'd say.
Well, let's try it.
I see. It's got a very homey flavor.
But I have to say... it is somewhat plain.
Especially compared to Sawada-kun's dish.
His was downright glamorous, down to the exquisite ingredients he used.
This shank dish is good, but...
Kiss my ass, Akiyama!
I wanna see you beet red when you taste defeat!
Well, I should probably give it a try myself.
Guoba?
Did that dumbass seriously think he could win this tournament with a dish like this?
Wh-What the...? This flavor...!
Looks like you get it.
If nothing else, I guess your palate is first-rate.
Ain't that right, Otani-san?
What's this?
Is something the matter, Otani-san?
Listen up! Otani-sensei recommends comparing both dishes.
And do it blindfolded this time.
Blindfolded?
Th-This little shit...
Oh?
Well, now!
The flavor is coming through more clearly.
And if I'm not mistaken... Akiyama's is better!
Having your eyes covered helps you focus on the taste.
You get the crispy texture of the guoba
and the gelatinous flavor from the shank combining wonderfully.
And the vegetable sauce has a freshness that helps magnify it all.
I see!
That's exactly what I was thinking.
Whoa, hang on...
You really know your stuff, Otani-san!
Closing our eyes to "see" the flavor!
I'm just now noticing that there's another note in here...
Do you know what it is, Otani-san?
Go on...
Otani-sensei.
I-It's the oil, all right?
It's gotta be the scent of the oil he fried the guoba with...
The oil?
The scent of the oil, eh?
Why, I had no idea that oil alone could provide so much flavor.
You've really shown me the light here, Otani-sensei.
Guoba with starchy sauce is gonna be like a beef bowl or veggies on rice!
The rice absorbs the umami of the beef and vegetables, giving it fragrance!
It's obviously gonna be good!
I think I see the error of my ways.
There's more to providing a feast than just fancy food.
Sawada's cooking was indeed delicious.
He used the finest-quality meat and refined cooking techniques
to make excellent tie ban shao.
But the dish he crafted after inflaming the judges' expectations
was, from any angle, merely a feast!
Meanwhile, Jan used tough shank and ordinary vegetables
to create a plain dish like guoba. He used cheap ingredients,
but by sparing no effort, he created something
multiplying the potential of the ingredients severalfold!
And the result... was truly delicious!
TIANXIADIYI CAI: A FIRST-RATE DISH
You should get going, Kiriko. Your match is next, right?
Yeah.
B-But the score hasn't been announced yet...
The outcome's obvious. Akiyama won.
The fact that the judges aren't sure how to score it
shows that they're under his spell.
They feel his no-effort-spared approach embodies the soul of Chinese cooking.
Yeah, using cheap ingredients
but going all out to make sure they taste way better than they should...
That really is the soul of Chinese cooking.
But he made a damn fool of me again!
Even ended up roping me into a victory for himself!
Akiyama... like hell I'm letting you get away with this!
The soul of Chinese cooking...
I'm impressed with Akiyama.
Just how many tricks does he have up his sleeve?
The first match of our first round...
goes to Akiyama Jan from Gobancho's Chinese!
There is nothing that can outdo the soul of Chinese cooking!
AKIYAMA JAN PROCEEDS TO THE SECOND ROUND
Great work yesterday.
I was nervous for a while there, but you scored a big win!
Of course I did. Cooking is supposed to be a competition.
You wanna give this a try?
Can I?
A strong left arm makes for stronger cooking.
That's why I'm always training mine.
Don't overdo it, now.
'Kay...!
These scars... They're so lame. Hope no one ever sees them.
But at the same time, they're...
Who's there?! I'm using the shower!
Wait outside!
What the hell? You could at least answer...
Shit! My back!
Ow!
Kiriko, huh?
What do you want?
I-I still haven't accepted what you did in the prelims.
Yeah? I won the "legit" way in the first round though, didn't I?
Just the way you like it.
Since when do you know what I like?!
You...
saw my back, didn't you?
Yeah, I did.
What's with the scars? Who did that to you?
None of your business.
Besides, if you're that worried about me, maybe focus on healing yourself instead.
That sounds like none of your business!
And don't misunderstand. They're not scars.
What? They sure look like it to me.
You're wrong!
They're... the source of my confidence as a chef.
Me and my old man's obsession, carved into flesh!
EPISODE 6: THE SOUL OF CHINESE COOKING