originally posted — October 2009

Alton Brown Dishes Season 2 Of "The Next Iron Chef" ... And Why A Jellyfish Is Not Good Eats

By Lori Acken

How hard is that for you? Has there ever been a time when you've found yourself stymied as to what to talk about?

No. Because I don't play from flavor. I might draw comparisons to what something tastes like if I think there is a really good analogy, but you won't often hear me talk about what something tastes like other than very broad strokes of astringency, bitterness, tartness, sweetness, fattiness — tactile, one-word qualities. But I won't go beyond that, because it's too subjective.

Some of the contestants have already done battle on Iron Chef America — unfair advantage?

Nooooooo. You could compete on Iron Chef America three times and still not be prepared in any way shape or form for Next Iron Chef. Because the challenges on Next Iron Chef are very cerebral. They're very philosophical, in fact. It's not just about competing against someone, with a clock.

Alton Brown watches over Next Iron Chef Iron Chef America is simple. There's an ingredient. There's another chef. And there's sixty minutes. That's simple compared to what Next Iron Chef put them through. They've really gotta explore who they are. There was a lot of culinary soul-searching.

What do you think is the single most difficult part of competing on The Next Iron Chef?

Any time that you have to manifest on a plate a complex ideal — or a series of ideals — that's difficult. Because you could have a perfectly crystalline idea in your head of how to express your particular attitude on a ... subject. I don't want to be specific because I don't want to give away what some of the tests are.

Let's just say that some of these things are very plastic from a concept standpoint — very open to interpretation. So you run a risk when you try to translate that onto a plate. This has happened several times during a competition, where they just ... missed. They come up with an idea that is going to speak for them, translate for them, and it misses by a few degrees with the judges.

Well, a few degrees is enough.

It's like that game Telephone where you've got something and you're trying to pass it on ... you're tryin' to whisper it. That's what happens a lot in Next Iron Chef. Very complex thoughts being translated into food and then using that food to tell that story to the judge. Well, now it's not just a matter of whether it's good or it's bad, is it? Now it's a communication tool. And that's hard. That's verrrrrrrrrrrry hard.

In the end, it's about communication and I think that if there is a theme to the food on Next Iron Chef, it is about the communication of ideas. And ideals. And that ain't easy.

It's not just about "someone made something that tastes good." All of these people make stuff that tastes good. No one makes things that taste bad or they wouldn't be there.

When you've got a sum total of three diners to impress, rather hundreds of people every night in your restaurant, do your odds of impressing the majority get tougher?

Well, I'm there to taste the food, also, to keep that balanced. I don't vote. But I do eat all the food, so that if I see one of the judges who's heading off into "not the right place," I'm there to rein 'em back in.

I'm the mediator. If somebody says they taste "blah blah blah" and I'm like, "No, that ain't right," I speak my mind on that. I don't vote but I do ... influence.

I mean, they can vote however they want, but when you're talking about feeding three people over and over and over again, I do think it's important that there's a referee.

And I'd imagine that, after a while, the judges may develop an overall impression of someone and their food style and maybe need to cleanse their mental palate?

I'm the mental sorbet! I'm here to provide intermezzo.

And once again, you're flying around the globe to do so ...

Last time on Next Iron Chef, a lot of the American footage was shot at the Culinary Institute of America. This time we decided that the challenges were such that we really wanted to have a more neutral-feeling ground, so we actually built a new kitchen on a soundstage in Los Angeles. And it's obviously a soundstage. It's really just like a hangar with a kitchen in the middle of it.

And we based a majority of the tests there in that kitchen — which I was really glad for, because it removed a lot of extraneous nonsense from the show. And then we're in Tokyo for the rest of the time. And then finally, of course, in New York in the end, in the Iron Chef Stadium. In Kitchen Stadium.

When you say it removes some of the nonsense, are you concerned that it's going to become more about the spectacle and less about the food?

I think, in this case, the challenges that these chefs are going through are very detailed-oriented. They're veeeery cerebral. And I think that we needed a different background for that to unfold. We were out and about plenty. There was more location shooting on this — even in Los Angeles — than we had before. There are field trips — but we always came back to the same place to cook. And I like that. I think the viewers are going to like that because the special things that are happening there will actually come into a crisper focus.

And by the way? Most of the tests that are on Next Iron Chef — people who are on Iron Chef America wouldn't be able to survive them. I mean, it's worse. It's much, much harder. Much harder.

Matter of fact, I was actually concerned that by the time the two finalists made it to kitchen stadium, that it would be too much of a cakewalk. Compared to what they to through to get there? That the final battle itself is would be "Oh! Secret ingredient? Sixty minutes. No problem. That's nothin'! You're not setting us on fire. You're not gluing our eyelids shut. Of course we didn't actually do that, but mentally and emotionally it was kinda like that...

Next: Soooo ... can you give me something of an example of one of those tests?

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