Do you remember several years ago
when the Food Network was still in its infancy?
Celebrity chefs were still kind of a novelty. And a quirky little food competition made the
leap from Japan to the States to find that it was absolutely loved by American
audiences. Then years later after the
original had run its course Food Network tried to revive it with the American version. Well, what if I told you, you
could still have that beloved show, only in your own Kitchen Stadium. What I am talking about is an Iron Chef
Party. This is a potluck dinner party
that combines all the elements of eating interesting food, having people cook
"competitively", and just a great excuse for a social gathering.
Let me start with some of the ground
rules. The point of the Iron Chef party,
much like the show, is centered on a main ingredient. The person hosting the party is considered to
be the Chairman and thus they choose the ingredient. In the case of couples it is usually considered
that they are both hosting and therefore co-Chairperson, especially if they are
married or living together. The
ingredient is chosen anywhere from a couple of nights beforehand up to a week
but not much more than that. You still
want a little bit of an element of surprise.
Once the ingredient is chosen all
the participants prepare a dish using said ingredient. The day of the event, everyone, including the
chairman, brings their dish to the host's place and shares with everyone
else. Now people can bring their dish
already prepared or, if the host is willing and able, people can finish
prepping at the host's locale. This
proves to be useful for hot entrees or side dishes.
Once everyone has shared their dish
there is a vote to decided the best dish.
The chairman/host is not in the running since he or she was the one to
decide the ingredient in the first place.
How you vote is entirely up to you.
Secret ballot using slips of paper and pens works well. At one such gathering a friend of mine who is
technologically inclined set up a Google doc and had us all vote electronically
via email. Yeah, that is way over my
head too.
After the voting is concluded the
winner is announced to the adulation of his peers. What do you get when you win an Iron Chef
party? Bragging rights, a point of pride
or whatever you would like to give out.
My group of friends have made an Iron Chef hat that is passed around
when someone wins. That person keeps the
hat until the next Iron Chef party and if someone else wins, they get the
hat.
So, how do you get started? Easy, you just declare an Iron Chef
party. You can do this via email or in
person or however you would like. The
idea is to try to get together as many people as possible. In the case of an Iron Chef party the more
the merrier is a good mantra. No good
potluck parties ever had only a few people.
Let me give you this one piece of advice. When you are preparing your dishes, keep in
mind that you are not giving everyone a full portion. We have learned this the hard way over
time. If you have 12 people coming over
and everyone is preparing food to feed 12 people... Well that is a lot of food. All anyone really needs is a taste.
And what
about those people who can't cook for whatever reason? We have built into our Iron Chef parties what
we call wine passes. Can't cook because
you will be stuck at work until party time?
Bring a bottle of wine! Can't
cook because all you know how to make is toast and you burn that? Bring wine!
Just keep in mind that this is a potluck and you do not want more wine
than food or having just a couple of
people feeding everyone else. One time
the host decided to challenge everyone to bring a complimentary bottle of wine
with each dish. We ended up with 13
bottles of wine and 11 participants!
When you decide to throw an Iron
Chef party here are some suggestions for you.
Like with any party pick a time that will accommodate the most number of
people. It's no fun if no one can make
your party. Also keep in mind that there
will be large amounts of food and possibly beverage. That is why I like to have mine on Fridays or
Saturdays. The best ingredients are
usually ones that are very versatile.
You want to have a wide range of foods from appetizers , to entrees, to
even desserts. Some of the ingredients
we have used have been wine, beer, goat cheese, honey, lime, zucchini, just to
name a few.
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