Choice Bites 8.15.2012

Even though the next season doesn't premiere until November 4th, the Food Network has already released the names of the participants in the Next Iron Chef competition. As with Project Runway and Top Chef, it's an all-star season of sorts, with seven losers from past seasons coming back to compete once again (Nate Appleman, Amanda Freitag, Eric Greenspan, Jehangir Mehta, Elizabeth Falkner, Alex Guarnaschelli and Spike Mendelsohn). There will all be two first-timers to the contest - former Top Chef Masterstestant Tim Love, and the annoying Marcel Vigneron.

Taking another page from the Top Chef book, there will be a tenth competitor who will first battle it out online before joining the ranks. Among them are former Iron Chef wannabes Duskie Estes and Robert Trevino, plus newcomers Lee Ann Wong (Top Chef season 1, plus various shows on Food Network) and "renowned competition chef" Madison Cowan, who won the first season of Chopped Champions and bested Jose Garces on Iron Chef America, as well as participated in the BBC series, No Kitchen Required.

Don't know about you, but I think the web series sounds more interesting than the tv series. I'd love to see either Lee Ann or Madison win the whole thing and become the next Iron Chef. What do you think?

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Speaking of Top Chef...it's looking more and more like the next season of Top Chef will be Top Chef Pacific Northwest. Not only have Tom, Padma, and the gang been spotted in Seattle, but I also received an email with a tip that they were spotted on a Vancouver-to-Alaska cruise. Apparently the cast and crew left the ship in Juneau, where, presumably, they had another challenge. Hopefully none of the reality-show-whoring Palins will be making an appearance.

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I won't be going back to Chik-fil-A anytime soon, so this recipe for a home-made version of their sandwiches might come in handy. However, I have read before that they marinated their chicken in pickle juice, which is what gives it its je ne sais quois.

Posted on Minxeats.com.