Choice Bites 8.15.2012

Even though the next season doesn't premiere until November 4th, the Food Network has already released the names of the participants in the Next Iron Chef competition. As with Project Runway and Top Chef, it's an all-star season of sorts, with seven losers from past seasons coming back to compete once again (Nate Appleman, Amanda Freitag, Eric Greenspan, Jehangir Mehta, Elizabeth Falkner, Alex Guarnaschelli and Spike Mendelsohn). There will all be two first-timers to the contest - former Top Chef Masterstestant Tim Love, and the annoying Marcel Vigneron.

Taking another page from the Top Chef book, there will be a tenth competitor who will first battle it out online before joining the ranks. Among them are former Iron Chef wannabes Duskie Estes and Robert Trevino, plus newcomers Lee Ann Wong (Top Chef season 1, plus various shows on Food Network) and "renowned competition chef" Madison Cowan, who won the first season of Chopped Champions and bested Jose Garces on Iron Chef America, as well as participated in the BBC series, No Kitchen Required.

Don't know about you, but I think the web series sounds more interesting than the tv series. I'd love to see either Lee Ann or Madison win the whole thing and become the next Iron Chef. What do you think?

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Speaking of Top Chef...it's looking more and more like the next season of Top Chef will be Top Chef Pacific Northwest. Not only have Tom, Padma, and the gang been spotted in Seattle, but I also received an email with a tip that they were spotted on a Vancouver-to-Alaska cruise. Apparently the cast and crew left the ship in Juneau, where, presumably, they had another challenge. Hopefully none of the reality-show-whoring Palins will be making an appearance.

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I won't be going back to Chik-fil-A anytime soon, so this recipe for a home-made version of their sandwiches might come in handy. However, I have read before that they marinated their chicken in pickle juice, which is what gives it its je ne sais quois.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Choice Bites 4.20.11

According to Eater, this October, two-time former Top Cheftestant Spike Mendelsohn will be competing for the title of Next Iron Chef, along with Anne Burrell, Alex Guarnaschelli, Michael Chiarello, Elizabeth Faulkner, Chuck Hughes, Beau McMillan, Robert Irvine, Geoffrey Zakarian, and Marcus Samuelsson. Considering the caliber of his competition, that takes some balls. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he doesn't win.

The Chicago Tribune has a list of the top ten food television shows you should be watching, which includes Top Chef Masters. Do you agree with any/some/all of them?

If you're intimidated by dim sum, Serious Eats has a handy guide to eating and ordering here.

For those who missed it, the Sun's Richard Gorelick reported that Gino's first Baltimore location will be in Towson at the Maryland Executive Park near the intersection of Joppa and La Salle roads. Look for a July opening.

Have you seen this one? Some loon was eating jelly beans and thought he saw bride-to-be Kate Middleton on one of them. What to do? He claims he'll offer it on eBay with a starting bid of £500.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

The Next Iron Chef Season 3 Premiere

Season Three of the Next Iron Chef premieres this Sunday, October 3rd at 9pm ET/PT. I love all things Iron Chef, so I'll definitely be parked in front of the TV that evening. Go Ming Tsai!

“Ingenuity”
In the season three premiere of The Next Iron Chef, 10 of the country’s best chefs arrive in Los Angeles to compete for the chance to join the most elite culinary society: the Iron Chefs. Host Alton Brown greets them with a test of ingenuity, the first of seven tests each focused on an important Iron Chef attribute. With bread as the Secret Ingredient Challenge, the chefs must create sandwiches that represent their personalities. Next, the threat of elimination looms in the Chairman’s Challenge as the chefs find themselves cooking on a beach each with the one ingredient they would want to have if stranded on a desert island. The competition heats up, and the judges send the first contender home.

The Next Iron Chef

Did you catch the new intro on Iron Chef this week? No Batali - finally. (He hasn't been on for at least a season.) Time for the Food Network to choose a new IC to join the ranks of Morimoto, Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, and Cat Cora. Starting Sunday, October 3, TFN will be airing The Next Iron Chef, featuring 10 competitors battling it out for the title. It's interesting that several of them were featured in the most recent episodes of ICA (Brad Farmerie and Jehangir Mehta come to mind). Which came first - the individual battles, or their selection for the competition?

I'm thinking Amanda Freitag, left, already a FNHo, is going to take this one. But I could be wrong. Not that it's happened before....

We will be spared annoying pissant squabbling between Michael Ruhlman/Andrew Knowlton. This time the judges are Jeffrey Steingarten, Anya Fernald, and Donatella Arpaia, who hopefully will keep bitching and moaning to a minimum.

For more info on the show, check out the Food Network site.