Iron Chef UK facts for kids

Iron Chef UK was a British cooking competition show. It was based on the popular Iron Chef series from Japan and Iron Chef America from the USA. The show was made by IWC Media and shown on Channel 4 in 2010. It brought exciting cooking battles to TV screens.

What is Iron Chef UK?

This cooking show aired in 2010, usually at 5 PM on weekdays. It was hosted by Olly Smith and Nick Nairn. The show featured four amazing professional chefs, known as the Iron Chefs. These were Tom Aikens, Martin Blunos, Sanjay Dwivedi, and Judy Joo.

How the Cooking Competition Worked

Just like the original Iron Chef shows, the cooking battles happened in a special place called Kitchen Stadium. A person called the Chairman oversaw all the challenges.

The competition had two main parts:

• Round 1: Appetizers
• Round 2: Main Courses

In each episode, two new chefs, called "challengers," competed against one of the Iron Chefs.

Appetizer Round Details

First, the challengers each made one appetizer dish. At the same time, the Iron Chef made two different appetizer dishes. After they finished cooking, judges tasted and scored all the dishes. The scores for the challenging team and the Iron Chef were then announced.

Main Course Round Details

Next, the same chefs returned to the kitchen for the main course round. The two challengers each prepared one main course dish. The Iron Chef also prepared two main course dishes. After this round, the judges tasted and scored these dishes too. The final results were then shared.

The show announced if the challenging team or the Iron Chef won the overall battle. They also highlighted the single best dish made by the challenging team. The challenger who made the best dish got to come back on the next Friday. They would then compete against the Iron Chef who had performed best that week.

How Dishes Were Scored

Dishes were scored out of 25 points. Here's how the points were given:

• 15 points for taste
• 5 points for design (how the dish looked)
• 5 points for originality (how creative the chef was with a special ingredient)

The very first episode of Iron Chef UK was shown on April 26, 2010. Liz Moore from Northern Ireland was the first challenger to reach the finals.

Where Was It Seen?

Iron Chef UK was not just popular in the United Kingdom. People in many other countries also watched the show. These countries included India, Finland, New Zealand, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Meet the Iron Chefs

Here's a look at how well the four Iron Chefs performed during the show: