Iron Chef: Behind the Battle

Whether alone or as a team, Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Michael Symon had never lost while competing in The Chairman's annual turkey day showdowns. In this Battle Thanksgiving Feast, the invincible Iron Chefs Flay and Symon reteamed to continue their march toward Iron Chef Thanksgiving dominance, taking on Iron Chefs Marc Forgione and Jose Garces.

In Kitchen Stadium, another Thanksgiving means another secret ingredient altar filled with a bounty of seasonal offerings. It also means another teaming of Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Michael Symon, who continued to hold tight to their title as "Kings of the Thanksgiving Hill." The theme for this battle blended modern and historic Thanksgiving culinary traditions, and Chefs Flay and Symon took on two of the Chairman's finest, Iron Chefs Geoffrey Zakarian and Alex Guarnaschelli.

The Chairman may believe his Iron Chefs can vanquish any challenger who enters Kitchen Stadium, but ask any Iron Chef and they will tell you that there is at least one battle that almost killed them. For Iron Chef Bobby Flay, Battle Buffalo threatened to be his undoing. Immense buffalo ribs and loins were difficult to break down, and the Iron Chef faced off against a competitive challenger in the legendary chef Rick Bayless. In the end, a slim one-point difference was the margin of victory for Iron Chef Flay.

When the Chairman presents a live ingredient on the Kitchen Stadium altar, he changes the dynamic of the battle and elevates the degree of culinary difficulty. Chefs Jamie Oliver and Mario Batali had to catch their cobia, dispatch it and then prepare five wildly different dishes. And when an Iron Chef with one of the highest winning percentages went head-to-head with one of the best-known chefs on the planet, Battle Cobia became an instant classic.

The toughest Kitchen Stadium battles often involve satisfying the Chairman's demand for both sweet and savory dishes. When the secret ingredient was eggnog, things got even tougher for Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto. Add in thousands of pounds of ice blocks that had to be carved into icy serving vessels and all the elements were in place for one of the Chairman's frostiest holiday celebrations.

The holidays descended upon Kitchen Stadium for one of the Chairman's most memorable holiday parties. That year, he wrapped up just about the best gift a loyal viewer can receive -- fruitcake! Oh ... why the frowns? Witness what an Iron Chef can do when presented with a magnificent fruitcake for the ages. Alton Brown's very own fruitcake was the secret ingredient that Iron Chefs Masaharu Morimoto and Michael Symon used to create holiday culinary magic in this legendary battle.

Alton Brown called it the "most amazing battle in Iron Chef history." Challenger John Fraser came to Kitchen Stadium without sous chefs, so Michael Symon kicked his out as well. Putting out five Iron Chef-quality dishes in one hour with no help nearly killed Iron Chef Symon, but not only did he finish on time -- he won the battle.

Once an Iron Chef, always an Iron Chef. If the Chairman welcomes you into the most elite culinary club in the world, you're a member for life. Iron Chef Wolfgang Puck may have appeared in only one battle in Kitchen Stadium, but he staked his claim by taking eggs to places only Iron Chefs can imagine when he battled Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.

Alton Brown often refers to Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto as a modern-day descendant of Poseidon. There is no chef (Iron or otherwise) who knows their way around ocean seafood like Morimoto-san. Paiche, however, is a primordial beast from the Amazon. The King of the Sea brought his array of unusual ingredients and techniques to this Kitchen Stadium fish battle as he faced off against Chef Justin Bogle and the River Monster from South America.

Blend together one American Iron Chef, one 80-pound mortadella sausage and a singular focus on upholding the honor of America's Kitchen Stadium against UK Iron Chef Judy Joo. Stir everything and cook for exactly 60 minutes. The result: Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli's most challenging battle ever in Kitchen Stadium.