But beneath the hypey garnish, the cooking is deadly serious. Each week a challenger takes on one of Takeshi’s solemn stable of Iron Chefs. After an hour in which each whips up an array of dishes incorporating a surprise theme ingredient, judges mete out honor and shame. The Food Network’s “Iron Chef” episodes are mostly dubbed rather than subtitled, so fans of the original will miss the classic pants-on-fire Japanese voice track. But the drama still bubbles to the surface.
