'The Next Iron Chef': Technique trumps creativity

"The Next Iron Chef" is Chef Jose Garces.

In the end, Garces' technique -- though bland at times -- beat out Chef Jehangir Mehta's unquestionable creativity.

For this finale, the judging panel added Iron Chefs Michael Symon, Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto, weighing in on who should join their stable of "cooking giants" who defend their titles in Kitchen Stadium on Food Network's "Iron Chef."

The cheftestants were given 60 minutes to make a five-course feast that represents America's melting pot. The secret ingredient was ribs and racks of all sorts, including buffalo, pork and beef.

Chef Garces played it safe, an approach that seemed to impress the fellow Iron Chefs. But it turned off the judges, who have presided over the competitions that led up to tonight's showdown, including food critic Jeffrey Steingarten.

At times, the competition seemed less about Garces versus Mehta and more about Steingarden versus the Iron Chef judges.

Steingarden appeared to be trying to shame the Iron Chefs into voting for Chef Mehta by accusing them of playing it safe as well. He said like Garces because he cooked like them. "I would not pay for that food, and if any of you would, I have a bridge going to Brooklyn that I would like to sell you," he said.
 
Chefs Mehta and Garces are radically different in their cooking style yet well matched. They both won three challenges apiece during the course of the competition, which this season was set in Los Angeles and Japan.

Mehta was back at the ice cream again, making an avocado version that made nearly everyone swoon. But he also made a pork burger that was, well, raw. And it was served along with raw French fries. Chef Morimoto told Chef Mehta that he had tried to do too much -- it would have been better to focus on one dish and execute it perfectly.

On the other side of the spectrum, Chef Garces did just that, executing everything nearly perfectly. (The exception being a mouthful of cartilage that one of the judges got biting into his carnitas taco). But on balance, Garces' dish were kinda safe and boring, according to some of the judges.

The judging panel was left with a difficult decision: What talent should the reward most? Perfect execution, without a lot of flash? Or creative genius that sometimes fall short? Chef Symon asked this provocative question: "If you're creative and you fail, are you creative? Or are you a failure?"

It was a bit of an exaggeration, of course -- Mehta is not a failure by any stretch. But his culinary high points -- which may have surpassed anyone else in the competition -- were followed by comparable lows. Said one judge: "He can hit a high point ... but can't execute a French fry well."

It was enough to hand victory to Garces.

So what did you think? Did the right chef win?

-- Rene Lynch 
 

Comments

[sarabi s]

Steingarden's snide and disrespectful behavior
thoughout the series seriously dimmed the pleasure of watching new Iron Chef but not enuf to dissuade me from watching the talented chefs. However, I will not watch another show with him as judge.I do thing the most talented chef won.

[Mary]

I don't know if they picked the right person. I never tasted there food!

[Suncatcher]

Hooray for the Iron Chefs for not letting 'Judge' Jeffrey Steingarden bully them into voting for Mr. Mehta! Steingarden made it clear from the start his boy was Mehta. He was disrespectful of his colleagues and the contestants from the very first show, butting heads with the ladies as if they were chopped liver. Kudos to Chef Donatella for having the cumquats to stand up to the curmudgeon! Worse, how dare he slam the opinions of the reigning Iron Chefs on their experienced observations - and knowing who they wanted to work with in the future? It was very apparent that the little weasel Mehta did not fit in - and the chefs knew it. Jeffrey needs to retire. Soon.
PS - Mr. Chairman, if you thought Jeffrey would make the viewers tune in to this year's competition, you were sadly mistaken. He detracted heavily from the show - made me tune out more than half the time. I can get a headache on my own - with no help from Jeffrey.

[Cynthia Thomas]

The wrong chef chef won. I liked both of them, but I do feel they selected someone that cook in the same style they did. I think Jehangir should becoem an iron chef also. Right is Right.

[Paul]

Besh should've won in '07 (Symon is a joke) and Mehta should've won in '09.

As an aside, I think this show jumped the shark with the "umami" episode. That was the longest Kikkoman commercial I've ever seen. (It was great seeing Good Eats a day later where Alton dismissed "umami" as "smoke and mirrors" marketing hype. http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/good-eats-s13e12p2-pantry-raid-xii-turning-japanese/597539315 )

[Mary Thelma]

Rene, what you have not mentioned here and what most of the people have failed to notice is the fact that the show’s theme was “Imagination”! If they had acknowledged that then it would have just changed the judging rules and that would have evidently led to Chef Mehta’s win because his preparations were closest to the theme. The other objection that the ICs had about him was about his technique. They felt his technique lacked finesse. But my argument is that Chef Mehta would not have been able to make it to the top two if he did not have a superb technique. So I feel Chef Mehta was the deserving winner but lost out because of a silly poll taking exercise which is a completely wrong way to judge especially when half the panel is biased!

[Carol M.]

I'm not a big fan of what food has become. All the focus on so called "creativity" and "innovation". What about FLAVOR and TECHNIQUE. For me, doing something and doing it WELL is more important. If I go into a restaurant and am served something that's "creative", but falls short I'm going to be disappointed. On the other hand something that shows skill and mastery of technique and most of all mastery of flavors THAT is whats more important.

Chef Symon said it, "If you're creative and you fail, are you creative? Or are you a failure?"

I agree that statement is extreme, but I am in the same mindset. What's creativity if you cannot execute.

[J. Jones]

I am thrilled that Jose is the winner!!!!!! I followed the show each week and though a one point I wasn't one hundred percent sold ,in the end excellent choice !!!! Why to go Philly boy,proud of you

[Tom]

Symon did not call Mehta a failure but he was making an important point. In ICA and Chopped chefs who serve up something overdone or practically uncooked often do not get the nod. While Mehta made some remarkable dishes the flowers were silly distractions. How many times in these shows has a judge held up something and asked "Am I supposed to eat this?"
For those who critcized Garces dishes in the final round you seem to forget that the meal had to address the melting pot of American food and did not put the same premium on creativity that earlier rounds did. In this sense, Garces stuck closer to the instructions. I can recall all of his dishes which I can't say of Mehta's. His avocado ice cream/beef tartare dish is memorable but how does it relate to American melting pot cuisine?
Personally, I was pulling for Freitag. And I was happy to see Appleman go. I found his greediness in the kitchen and his fabricated stories to the judges to be reprehensible. While Steingarten's snootiness is occasionally funny, his tendency to put down women does not sit well.
As an afterword to the show I found cookbooks in my public library by Garces and Appleman. I actually like Appleman's better with a more rustic feel to it. The Garces book had a lot of seafood which I'm not partial to and it had some ingrediants that I might have trouble finding

[Faz]

It amazes me that two of the best chefs, Freitag and McMullen get knocked out in the final four and then Garces wins with some of the lamest finale food I've seen on competition TV. The guy's technique may be great but his food hardly ever wowed at any point in the competition. Come on, this is TV! We can't taste the food so the wow factor has to be there. While I didn't think either of the two finalists was Iron Chef material, if I had to choose between the two Mehta easily gets my vote. Garces would put half the audience to sleep.

[cookbook review]

I feel sorry for Chef Mehta in a way, given that his background is pastry, his "sous chefs" also probably have pastry backgrounds, and likely weren't the best choices for Iron Chef competition. Hence, the raw turkey burgers and less than completely done french fries. Not that that completely absolves Chef Mehta of making less than great choices in the first place, much less CHECKING everything that goes out under his name, but it probably would have helped.

Personally, it didn't seem like either of them EARNED the Iron Chef title that day.

But I suspect that regardless who may or may not deserve it, there's a bigger problem for the Iron Chef franchise: Chef Garces could be the greatest chef on the planet for all I know, but he's deadly dull, and completely lacking in charisma. Nearly 100 percent of the American public will never taste his food, but they watch shows like IC as much for the competition and entertainment as anything else. Batali's not dull, Bobby Flay may have as many haters as fans, but he's not boring, Cora isn't boring and she's pretty to boot, Morimoto barely speaks English but he can still crack jokes and show his personality. His predecessor, Chef Symon, is gregarious, outgoing, a bit silly, has charisma, and loads of personality.

Chef Garces may be a great chef and a great guy, but he just comes across as deadly, unrelentingly boring. I can't see myself tuning in to watch him cook.

[Margarita Santos]

I wished Chef Mehta was the winner. He cooked wonderful dishes and he is very creative. In Iron Chef Show the dishes are judged by Plating, Taste and Originality( this for me counts as creativity).

Chef Garces seems to be an arrogant, proud and egocentric person. He wanted to win no matter what.

The wrong chef won the competition.

[Bugs]

Unfortunately, Chef Garces didn't deserve the win... i trust Jeffrey's palette (remember he's eaten everything) and if he thought Chef Garces was boring, there's no doubt about it... Chef Mehta is such a spirited guy with the best temperament.. His dishes are so out of the box and thoughtful... anybody can make something boring and expected perfectly, coz you've done it a million times... but it takes real balls and nerve to make something novel and enterprising...
Chef Mehta is my hero! I heart Chef Mehta.... he may not have the title, but in all our minds we knew who the better chef was!