by Troy Rogers
After winning the second season title on the Food
Network series, The Next Iron Chef, chef and restaurant
owner, Jose Garces, takes his place among the
chef elite on The Iron Chef for Season 8 competition
on Sunday, January 17 at 9pm. Garces, an Ecuadorian
American chef from Chicago has been turning heads
and winning top awards in recent years, even defeating
Iron Chef Bobby Flay in 2008 to gain national
TV attention as one of the best chefs in America.
After becoming The Next Iron Chef, Jose Garces has proven himself to be an Iron Chef America and takes on fellow Iron Chef and challenger, Rachel Yang, on January 17 on the Food Network in his debut. Ahead of the latest clash of the culinary titans on Iron Chef America, we spent a few brief minutes with Jose Garces to learn how he feels coming off his win on The Next Iron Chef, what Garces needs to overcome, how the competition separates equally talented chefs, and how Jose Garces plans to stay undefeated as an full blown Iron Chef.
THE DEADBOLT: How does this compare to when you won The Next Iron Chef back in November?
JOSE GARCES: In terms of intensity - I guess I'm not going to get eliminated if I lose like I did in November [laughs]. But it was still pretty intense, because just carrying that title holds a certain amount of responsibility to win.
THE DEADBOLT: What secret ingredient do you fear most and why?
GARCES:
I'm a lover of food and in that I love most
ingredients. So there's nothing, really. If
I see something that is not in my wheelhouse,
I look at it as a challenge. But I feel like
I'm pretty knowledgeable about ingredients and
food, so there's not much out there that I would
say I dislike.
THE DEADBOLT: If both Iron Chefs are equal, what usually determines the winner?
GARCES: You know, I'm not sure I've seen that come up. I think taste does. If you're equal on originality and plating, then I would think the judges would have to come together on which chef had a better flavor.
THE DEADBOLT: It doesn't come down to presentation or anything?
GARCES: I don't know. I'm not certain that there's a criteria, like a deadlock criteria at this point.
THE DEADBOLT: How difficult will it be to continue undefeated as an Iron Chef, or is that next to impossible?
GARCES: [laughs] I think it might be pretty tough to be honest with you. But I look forward to the challenge and we'll see what happens.
