Dotch Cooking Show

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The Dotch Cooking Show (どっちの料理ショー; dotch no ryori show) (April 17, 1997 - March 17, 2005) was a Japanese cooking show produced by Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation and How Full's known for its use of highest quality and most expensive food ingredients. The show is replaced by the New Dotch Cooking Show (新どっちの料理ショー; shin dotch no ryori show) (of more info is found below) from April 14, 2005.

1 Format
2 Attendants
3 The New Dotch Cooking Show
4 Airing time in JST
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Format

Each of the two hosts, Sekiguchi Hiroshi (関口宏) and Miyake Yuji (三宅裕司), chose a particular dish for the contest, and oversaw the dish's creation by his chef. For most of the show's run, Sekiguchi was in charge of the Red kitchen, and Miyake took the Yellow kitchen. In later episodes, the two dishes were pre-selected, and whichever meal Sekiguchi and Miyake prepared for his side was determined by a special dice throw. The competing dishes were typically from the category; an example of a typical "battle" would be miso ramen versus salt-and-butter ramen. Other battles have included miso-based dishes versus mayonnaise-based dishes, chocolate fondant cake versus fruit tart, and even tacos versus spring rolls.

The seven guests would be asked to choose which meal they would most like to eat. Unlike Iron Chef, where the judges would get to eat the food prepared by both chefs, only the guests who chose the winning dish were allowed to eat. There were three periods when the guests would vote; the first was when the dishes were announced, the second was after the "tasting time," and the third was after both dishes had been completed. Though Sekiguchi and Miyake would be allowed to taste the dishes in progress and describe what they had eaten (often in dramatic fashion), the guests were allowed only one "tasting time," where they got a sample of each kitchen's special ingredient, usually prepared in a manner similar to how it would be for the finished product. In the later episodes of the show, the tasting time was eliminated for all but one of the guests. The lucky guest, who was randomly chosen, would be allowed the samples as previously described, and would then have to describe what he or she had tasted to the other guests. As a result, he or she would be the only one asked to choose which dish he or she wanted during the second voting. This was done to increase the suspense for the TV audience and put the guests on the same level as the audience.

While the chefs were preparing their dishes, each side would reveal a special ingredient that they hoped would sway the guests to vote for their respective dishes. The special ingredients could be anything from the focus of the recipe, such as a meat or vegetable, to a sauce or flavoring component. Though most of the special ingredients were found in often remote areas of Japan, some came from outside of Japan, such as Mongolia, Korea, and even Scotland. In one unusual instance, the special ingredient was not a food item, but rather a granite bowl from Korea, used in the preparation of stone-cooked bibimba. Each kitchen's special assistant would go to where the special ingredient was grown/raised/manufactured/harvested and see how the special ingredient was obtained.

At the end of the show, the two hosts would declare in unison: "Honya no gojumon wa dotch?" ("Which one will you order for today?"; 今日の御注文はどっち？; "Dotch" (どっち) means "which one".) The guests would press a button (corresponding to which dish they chose) and the side with the most votes was declared the winner. The winning host would then ask the loser to withdraw (撤收). The losing host and his chef would then take away their losing dish, and the winning guests and host would then dine on their selection. The hungry losers were forced to watch the winners eat. At the very end of the show, the losing chef would typically be shown eating his dish alone, wondering why he did not win.

Since each side had to prepare food for eight people (seven guests and the winning host, in the event of a complete 7-0 victory; later 9 portions for seven guests, the winning host, and the assistant for the winning kitchen) and typically fewer than that number would actually get to eat, any food left over after the winners had eaten was usually consumed by the show's crew. Since each show usually took hours to film, the hunger expressed by the losing guests at the end was genuine.

[edit] Attendants

Sekiguchi's Kitchen
- Sekiguchi Hiroshi
- Sekiguchi's Assistant: Sosuke Sumitani (炭谷宗佑, an announcer at Nippon TV)
- Sekiguchi's Chef

Miyake's Kitchen
- Miyake Yuji
- Miyake's Assistant: Ken Shimizu (清水健, an announcer at Yomiuri TV)
- Miyake's Chef

Regular guest: Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (草彅剛)
6 other guests, usually famous Japanese entertainers or athletes.

The assistants reported, newscaster-style, on the obtaining of special ingredients. The chefs were hired from a pool of highly skilled cooks.

[edit] The New Dotch Cooking Show

The format of the show is basically the same, except that tasting time has been completely eliminated for the contestants (Sekiguchi and Miyake still get to taste the works in progress). The contestant roster was expanded from 7 to 11, with 4 celebrity contestants (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi still appears as a regular) and 7 contestants, called "Hara-Helicopters," drawn from a pool. Typically, the Hara-Helicopters are everyday Japanese citizens or gaijin, though some groups are distinctly categorized, e.g. schoolchildren, "idols," or restauranteurs. During the preparation of the meals, the celebrity contestants would be allowed to observe each chef's methods up close, and smell/feel (not taste) the various ingredients used, while the Hara-Helicopters would watch the action from their seats overlooking the stage. The series recently ended.