Chen Kenichi

Because of his long tenure, Chen fought more battles than any of the other Iron Chefs, at 92 battles. He won 67, lost 22, and tied 3.[3] He also enjoyed a run of 14 consecutive victories, the longest of any Iron Chef. His most memorable dish was chili prawns.

Despite his excellent record on the show, Chen often appeared endearingly surprised and relieved at victory. Arguably, his win over Japanese-Italian-French "fusion"-style chef Juinichi Itoh in the yogurt battle exemplifies this. He was also remarkable for his frequent tasting of food, frequently dipping his ladle into steaming concoctions for sampling, only to place the same ladle back in the food. The commentators to the show referred to this practice in humor as Chen's "eating".

Memorable matches

Among Chen's more memorable matches was one with challenger Dominique Corby of the Tour d'Argent, where, after the main battle (with foie gras as the theme ingredient) was fought to a tie, the overtime battle (with asparagus as the theme) also resulted in a tie—the only time that such an outcome occurred in the series. Rather than have Chen and Corby fight a second overtime battle, Chairman Kaga, the show's host decreed that both contestants were the winners, effectively calling the battle a draw.

As with other Iron Chefs, Chen "feuded" with a warring faction that acknowledged the worthiness of his culinary caliber who were determined to take him down. In his case, he battled with the chefs of Heichinrou restaurant in Yokohama, defeating two of their members before finally losing to their head chef in an overtime battle.

• Takashi Saito (not to be confused with
  the baseball player), top apprentice of Chen Kenmin
  and coach of Chen Kenichi. Chen beat his tutor in a prawn battle. Saito re-created Kenmin's original prawns in chili sauce, while Kenichi created his father's modern version of the dish (canapé style with ketchup).
• Junichi Itoh had one of the most interesting cooking styles in the world. He began practicing French cooking at age 18 and left for France at the age of 28 to further his culinary skills. However, Itoh left for Italy three years later and joined Enoteca Pincchiori, the same place where Iron Chef Italian
  yoghurt
  . Itoh was smiling while Chen was under great pressure. However, according to Kishi's comments at the end, all of Itoh's dishes used the yoghurt as a supporting ingredient instead of the main focus of the dish. This resulted in all four judges voting for Chen. This was quite a surprise to Chen, who pointed to himself in disbelief.
• Katsuyo Kobayashi was the show's second female challenger and a popular TV chef in her own right, hosting Kyo no ryori (Today's cooking) on NHK. She allowed Chairman Kaga to choose the Iron Chef for her and he gleefully chose Chen, who had previously lost to Kitchen Stadium's first female challenger, Kyoko Kagata. At one point during the battle, in which potatoes were the theme ingredient, Kobayashi paid a brief visit to Chen's station to observe his cooking, which he wasn't very pleased about. Chen ultimately lost to Kobayashi, with the judges commenting that his potatoes tended to be undercooked or underplayed.

Outside Iron Chef

Chen was an avid baseball fan and stated that it would have been his choice to go professional but opted not to.^{[citation needed]}

Outside of Iron Chef, Chen was also an active restauranteur. He operated the Shisen Hanten (四川飯店, lit. "

According to Minken Kigyo, the company Chen established and was the former CEO, Chen died of interstitial lung disease on 11 March 2023, at age 67.^[4]

See also

• Chinese people in Japan

References

External links

• Iron Chef Battle Database (in English)
• Szechwan Restaurant in Japanese