Masaharu Morimoto

Masaharu Morimoto (森本正治 Morimoto Masaharu; born May 26, 1955 in Hiroshima, Japan) is a well-known Japanese chef, best-known as the third (and last) Iron Chef Japanese on the TV cooking show Iron Chef, and an Iron Chef on its spinoff, Iron Chef America. Morimoto's costume on Iron Chef is silver with red trim and a picture on the back of Japanese and American flags tied together in a sheaf, while on Iron Chef America he dons the standard blue Iron Chef outfit with white trim. In his professional life, to distinguish himself from his on-screen persona, Morimoto wears (purely aesthetic) glasses.

Iron Chef

Unlike his predecessor, Koumei Nakamura, Morimoto's introduction as an Iron Chef came with little fanfare, debuting the week following Nakamura's retirement battle against Yukio Hattori. He was chosen based on his style of cooking, which seemed to border on fusion cuisine, as well as his international experience.

Related Topics:
Koumei Nakamura - Yukio Hattori - Fusion cuisine

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Morimoto was initially reluctant to accept the title of Iron Chef, but did accept for fear of the show hiring someone else. Originally, he had planned to incorporate some of the dishes that he had routinely prepared in New York for Iron Chef, but had discovered that previous challengers and Iron Chefs had already made similar dishes. Ironically, he would be known as the Iron Chef whose dishes always seemed to come out of left field - a famous example is his Bell Pepper Sushi in a bell pepper battle in 1999.

Related Topics:
Bell pepper - 1999

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Morimoto was 16-9-1 on Iron Chef and 2-3 on Iron Chef America - the latter of which he was credited with 66 victories due to a typo. Surprisingly, Morimoto is 2-5 overall against other Iron Chefs, with both victories having to do with chef Bobby Flay - the first battle saw Flay as a challenger on the well-publicized New York Special, and the second in a tag battle in Battle of the Masters where Flay was his partner.

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