Rokusaburo Michiba
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Rokusaburo Michiba | |
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| Born | 3 January 1931 Kaga, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan |
| Known for | Iron Chef |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | Japanese cuisine |
Current restaurant(s)
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Television show(s) | |
| Website | http://www.michiba.com/ |
Rokusaburo Michiba (道場 六三郎, Michiba Rokusaburō, born 3 January 1931) is a Japanese cuisine chef best known as the first Japanese Iron Chef on the television series Iron Chef. He was on the show from its inception in 1993 until his retirement on his 65th birthday, January 3, 1996. After his retirement as an Iron Chef, he made sporadic appearances on the show, and producers even dedicated a special 1996 tribute episode to him called "The Legend of Michiba".[citation needed]
Career as Iron Chef
[edit] | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (December 2020) |
Michiba was once considered a maverick for his philosophy of "There are no borders to ingredients", because he was, although primarily a Japanese Chef, Michiba was unafraid of incorporating so called "non-Japanese elements" by Traditionals into his dishes. In his first battle against Yousei Kobayakawa (French cuisine trained), Michiba was given a theme ingredient apparantly Foreign to Japanese cuisine: foie gras, in which Michiba won.
Michiba's trademark was "Inochi no Dashi" (命の出汁, いのちのだし or "Broth of Vigor"), a combination of katsuobushi, skipjack tuna shavings and edible kelp (konbu), which he used during almost every battle.
Awards and Records
[edit]Despite being the oldest of the Iron Chefs, he holds the Kitchen Stadium record for most dishes in a battle: 8 (Eight).
Hobbies
[edit]Michiba was also skilled in calligraphy, often using precious minutes, usually at the beginning of a battle, to write a menu. However, he did lose some battles because he forgot to write the menu, or wrote it at last moments. In a particular episode where his (Michiba's) sous-chef (assistant) challenged Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Michiba justified that he wrote from his (Morimoto's) menu to clarify what he wanted to present, and to inform his assistants so that they can know which ingredients to gather and prepare. Several challengers also wrote out their menus during their battle; commentators referred to this as "taking a page out of Iron Chef Michiba's book."[citation needed]
Illness and Retirement
[edit]Michiba's tenure was interrupted by an illness in mid-1995 that briefly hospitalized him, and afterwards, he began getting tired from the stress of appearing on the show and running his three restaurants: Poisson Rokusaburo in Akasaka, and Ginza Rokusan-tei and Kaishoku-Michiba in Ginza. Addition of a 4th Judge only worsened the Overtime Battles.
According to Takeshi Kaga, after his decision to retire, Rokusaburo Michiba vowed to recruit his successor himself. The show continued with just French Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai and Chinese Iron Chef Chen Kenichi for two months. Koumei Nakamura was appointed as his successor. "All my instincts told me he was the one," said Michiba. Initially, Nakamura refused, but later on, he accepted. Nakamura's first battle on March 1, 1996, against French chef Kiyoshi Suzuki. During the introduction of the theme ingredient of the day, Chairman Kaga stated that he wanted to choose foie gras unmistakably; because he wanted to re-live(/re-create) some of the magic of Michiba's first victory by using the same ingredient.
Michiba was also extremely supportive of Nakamura's successor, Masaharu Morimoto. Morimoto took Michiba's "No borders to ingredients" Philosophy to a different level. The show often referred to the relationship between Michiba and Morimoto as that between master and student, especially after an episode where Michiba flew to New York to visit Morimoto's restaurant, Nobu. So supportive of Morimoto was Michiba that, before his infamous New York battle with chef Bobby Flay, Michiba gave Morimoto a large box of Katsuobushi flakes with a hand-calligraphed message: "respect the old but seek out the new."[citation needed]
Subsequent appearances
[edit]Michiba made appearances throughout the 2012 revival ("Ryouri no Tetsujin Dream Match! World Iron Chef Live Battle Special")[citation needed] of Iron Chef through interviews with former assistant Kenichi Miyanaga, a seat on the tasting panel, and as a competitor against new Iron Chef Jun Kurogi.
Manga
[edit]The manga series Kandō Ō Retsuden featured a story about Michiba in volume 2, named "Michiba Rokusaburō Monogatari". It was Compiled by Yasuo Negishi, as illustrated by Yoshihiro Takahashi.[1]
External links
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Negishi, Yasuo; Yoshihiro Takahashi (15 July 1998). Kandō Ō Retsuden 2: Michiba Rokusaburō Monogatari. Japan: Shōnen Sunday Comics. pp. 101–190. ISBN 4-09-125412-8.
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