7 lucky gods of Japan

bababardwan

zhen,

When I posted this thread I looked for a photo of the dish and couldn't find it. It was only last night so maybe it will still turn up on the masterchef website. There is video footage there but it takes quite a time to get to that part of the show as you have to start playing the whole episode and as far as I could see you weren't able to skip forward to the appropriate part and I didn't think anyone would have the patience or interest to wait 15-30 minutes to get to it. I will try and find some more information for you about it soon, but off the top of my head this chap Adam has quite an interesting story and has a very likeable persona to boot. He has some Asian ancestry and has been living in Japan for a few years ,so I think that's his preferred cuisine ...his preferred style of cooking. As I said it was meant to be his signature dish. If I forget ,remind me in a week or so when they may have posted some more stuff on the site.

bababardwan

ok zhen,

I said I'd get back to you. It looks like I can't find anything on google. This link will take you close to the photo in gallery 7 of the masterchef site ,but not directly to the photo ..for some reason it keeps going to the photo before or after. The dish I was referring to is shown in photo 42 but unfortunately not shown so clearly:

http://www.masterchef.com.au/episode-gallery-seven.htm?photoid=7480.htm

His discussion of the concept of this dish is shown at around 4m 20s here:

http://www.masterchef.com.au/video.htm?vxSiteId=f8066236-e138-457a-95f4-298ed80718f8&vxChannel=Full%20Episodes%20Complete&vxClipId=2729_773MC140710CR&vxBitrate=300&vxTemplate=MasterChef2010_IndexPlayer.swf&vxClickToPlay=true

..you need to click on "off site challenge ,wed 14th july to the right of the video player".

Adam is in the final tonight and I'm barracking for him. A great cook, and a really nice guy by all appearances. He grew up in Oz but has been living in Tokyo for the last 6 years and his cooking style is Asian.

bababardwan

on a subsequent episode it was awesome because chef Hiroyuki Sakai of Iron chef fame [ I guess he's famous in Japan particularly, right? ] made a guest appearance to help the judges. He seemed to be a particular inspiration to this Adam who's face lit up on the appearance of his hero. Some photos of his appearance are in that same gallery [photos 26,27, and 29]

zhenlijiang

Hi Baba thanks for the follow-up. Seems the videos aren't available to us here unfortunately but I saw the photo. Looks pretty! The seven lucky gods provided an auspicious, festive motif with room for variations under a common theme I guess. If it was as lovely to eat as that seems I'm sure the judges were impressed.

I'm not familiar with this show. So if you made it to the final, how many episodes would you have cooked in? These aren't professional cooks but people with day jobs whose dream it is to be owner/chef at their own place? It's a team competition in the initial stages (like Survivor?) is it? And sponsorship is your prize if you win?

Sakai is famous for being one of the first Iron Chefs I guess. We have so many celeb chefs (& owners of their own restaurants) I can't keep up with all of them, but the current generation are all in their mid-30s, sort of telegenic. Many more men than women. We have many so-called 料理研究家 who are women. Speaking of--glimpsed a picture of Maggie Beer in one of the episodes. I've had the privilege some years ago of enjoying some food she prepared in our office kitchen--yum! Such a warm and lovely lady.

Izakaya 居酒屋 can be great places to go for dinner if you're travelling in Japan too. They're relaxed, prices are reasonable and it just makes all kinds of our favorite Japanese dishes very accessible (plus non-Japanese stuff like fries/chips, to go with your beer). No "high cuisine", but you go to other places for that anyway. I hear the large chain places aren't half bad, but individually-owned local establishments have nice atmospheres that add to the pleasure. I'm sure Adam has something very nice in mind. Mmm I'm getting very hungry!