Tyson Cole And Secrets Of Iron Chef America

Sushi News: 

The packed audience at the Slammo (South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse) was delighted to witness Uchi's Tyson Cole take on Chef Masaharu Morimoto on Episode 7, Season 6 of Iron Chef America last month. Though Cole lost, 49 to 42, it really wasn't about the winning. These were two culinary masters in their element (the secret ingredient was ginger) and the results were spectacular.

In true Alamo style, the broadcast of the episode was interspersed with revealing locally-taped segments where Tyson talked about his experiences on the show. A few things Tyson pointed out:

  • The Iron Chef America announcer indicates that Tyson has "picked Matsomoro as his challenger," Tyson says that the show's producers make that decision, not him. In other words, it's a small lie.
  • Despite appearing otherwise, the food Tyson and Matsomoro prepare in front of the cameras is not the food served to the judges at the end of the episode. The actual food served to the judges is prepared later (off-camera) by Tyson and Matsomoro.
  • Contestants are given a list of three ingredients weeks before they show up to compete, but only one of those ingredients will be the secret ingredient. So, Tyson had to practice three different food preparations, one featuring each ingredient. Tyson thinks that the Iron Chef (in this case, Matsomoro), gets to know what the secret ingredient is beforehand (a significant advantage).
  • Tyson wished that Ted Allen (food critic on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) had been one of the judges on this episode because, Tyson noted, "for some reason, gay men love my food."

Sure, Tyson lost on Iron Chef, but with Uchi grossing upwards of $100,000 per week, we think he'll be ok.