Iron Chef: The Official Book

Rating:
Summary: This book will win the people's ovation and fame forever!
Review: "If my memory serves me right"...This book is a MUST HAVE for any Iron Chef fan. This book has not just Chairman Kaga's top favorite recipes, but it also has scores from all of the battles, interviews from all of the Iron Chefs, Previous and present, restaurant guide from many other famous chefs including the Iron Chefs,Bobby Flay (Morimoto's challenger in the NY Battle)and many more. So, "Who's cuzine will reign supreme?" Find out in Iron Chef The Official Book!

Rating:
Summary: Allez Cuisine!
Review: "Iron Chef" is one of the few Food Network TV shows that I really enjoy watching. So I am thrilled to get "Iron Chef: The Official Book." This almost 300-page book is like a fancy souvenir program that one would get for a Broadway show or for a baseball team. It is supposed to be a literal translation from Japanese of the Iron Chef book that came out in Japan last year. While it does contain recipes, including Chairman Kaga's "top ten favorites," it is not really a cookbook. It is an entertaining collector's item, similar to the Sopranos or the WWF coffeetable books. I have watched "Iron Chef" for years, and I still learned a lot from this book, especially about previous Iron Chefs and their Challengers.

Rating:
Summary: This book will win the people's ovation and fame forever!
Review: "If my memory serves me right"...This book is a MUST HAVE for any Iron Chef fan. This book has not just Chairman Kaga's top favorite recipes, but it also has scores from all of the battles, interviews from all of the Iron Chefs, Previous and present, restaurant guide from many other famous chefs including the Iron Chefs,Bobby Flay (Morimoto's challenger in the NY Battle)and many more. So, "Who's cuzine will reign supreme?" Find out in Iron Chef The Official Book!

Rating:
Summary: Allez Cuisine!
Review: "Iron Chef" is one of the few Food Network TV shows that I really enjoy watching. So I am thrilled to get "Iron Chef: The Official Book." This almost 300-page book is like a fancy souvenir program that one would get for a Broadway show or for a baseball team. It is supposed to be a literal translation from Japanese of the Iron Chef book that came out in Japan last year. While it does contain recipes, including Chairman Kaga's "top ten favorites," it is not really a cookbook. It is an entertaining collector's item, similar to the Sopranos or the WWF coffeetable books. I have watched "Iron Chef" for years, and I still learned a lot from this book, especially about previous Iron Chefs and their Challengers.

Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile, but could've been better
Review: (In the spirit of full disclosure, I should confess that I've become something of an Iron Chef fanatic. Somewhere along the line, the kitsch factor disappeared and the show began to represent all things good about humanity to me. And so, my inclination is to affirm all things related to Iron Chef.)

The book's introduction states that it will be "at times informative, at times even bizarre." While the book is indeed fairly informative, it hardly ever gets bizarre. The book largely lacks the pizzazz that makes the television show initially captivating.

On the other hand, Iron Chef: The Official Book is well put together, looks good, and has fairly interesting features. (I especially liked the listings of Iron Chef and challenger-operated restaurants. If only I had the money...) I also enjoyed the so-called interviews with the Iron Chefs (they're more like mini-testimonials); in fact, the book led to me the conclusion that my favorite Iron Chef is Rokusaburo Michiba.

Like many of the other reviewers have indicated, this book will be appreciated by Iron Chef fans despite its shortcomings.

Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile, but could've been better
Review: (In the spirit of full disclosure, I should confess that I've become something of an Iron Chef fanatic. Somewhere along the line, the kitsch factor disappeared and the show began to represent all things good about humanity to me. And so, my inclination is to affirm all things related to Iron Chef.)

The book's introduction states that it will be "at times informative, at times even bizarre." While the book is indeed fairly informative, it hardly ever gets bizarre. The book largely lacks the pizzazz that makes the television show initially captivating.

On the other hand, Iron Chef: The Official Book is well put together, looks good, and has fairly interesting features. (I especially liked the listings of Iron Chef and challenger-operated restaurants. If only I had the money...) I also enjoyed the so-called interviews with the Iron Chefs (they're more like mini-testimonials); in fact, the book led to me the conclusion that my favorite Iron Chef is Rokusaburo Michiba.

Like many of the other reviewers have indicated, this book will be appreciated by Iron Chef fans despite its shortcomings.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly entertaining and informative
Review: As a huge fan of the television show, I knew I had to acquire the book. I personally found the this book to be informative and entertaining. I didn't know that there were a total of 3 different Japanese Iron Chefs. Michiba I knew but I wasn't aware of Nakamura. Nor did I know anything about the first French Iron Chef Ishinabe. I would love to see the older episodes of the cult television series. I was quite impressed to see that there were even recipes of various dishes that were made. I just have to wonder how on earth those dishes could be translated on to paper since they were created right off the heads of the Iron Chefs and the challengers. That couldn't have been very easy. I also enjoyed reading the comments from food critic Asako Kishi in particular since she was like one of the key judges on the show. It could not have been easy to try to describe the dishes without using the word "good" and be more expressive in judging the food. I would have loved if the book had mentioned like the other judges like Shinichiro Kurimoto, Tenmei Kanou, Kazuko Saiki and other judges that came in to judge the dishes on the show. Oh well no one's perfect. I'm content with what I have read overall so I can't really complain.

Rating:
Summary: Ummm...is that it?
Review: First of all, I do like this book, but there's just not enough to it. It's a ncie, quick sketch of the best show on television. And that's the trouble, it's just a sketch. There should be more recipes, more photos and - most importantly - more of Chairman Kaga. That said, it's still a good little book and no Iron Chef fan should be without it.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book!
Review: For new watchers, or long time fans, this is a wondeful book. I really enjoyed the indepth photos and recipies. The interviews gave me insights to the show that I didn't have before. Do yourself a favor and buy this book!

Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: Good small glossy table book. Too bad there were only a few recipes from the challengers. I really wanted some of the Iron Chef concoctions.

Looked through this once and never again. Nice package though.