The secret ingredient

Alton Brown handles Iron Chefs and wannabes on the Food Network

INTERVIEW. As if Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto weren’t enough starpower for Kitchen Stadium, the Food Network premiered “The Next Iron Chef” last week in hopes of launching another (established) chef into superstardom. Smarty-pants, Atlanta-based “Iron Chef” commentator Alton Brown (whom many also know from his own geeky-cool show “Good Eats”) chatted with Metro about the new guard, the old guard and eating on the "Iron Chef" set.

What was the selection process like for “The Next Iron Chef”?
Getting the beginning eight contestants had a lot to do with looking at the chef community in the United States and looking at who wanted to do it, who had the time to do it and who had the ferocity to do it. There’s an athletic quality to this show and we needed someone who could tolerate that.

Are you happy with the candidates?
Very. My personal involvement in the series came out of seeing the list of candidates and realizing that these are the top people in their field. What makes this show different from other culinary reality shows is that these people are the crème de la crème of American chefs and getting to watch them work is … like watching Tiger Woods play golf. They make it look easy — it isn’t.

How do they compare to contestants on shows like “Top Chef”? On that show I don’t think they make it look easy — it’s hard work and that comes through.
For people on “Top Chef,” boiling water is hard work. What America watches it they think that’s what a chef is. My mom could outcook half the people on that show.

So is Mario’s departure a rumor?
I don’t know where that whole report came out of — he’s still on “Iron Chef America.”

You seem as busy as the cooks when do commentary on “Iron Chef.”
I’m getting a lot of information from a lot of different places. All I have to do is be a big funnel. I have to pay attention and I have to funnel information. The chefs have the tough jobs — they’re the storytellers, I’m just interpreting the story.

Do you eat the food they’re cooking during the show?
The only time I eat food on “Iron Chef America” is when Mario is competing because he always makes an extra plate for me.

So you’re a part of the old guard as far as the Food Network goes. You’re one of the few recognizable faces …
[Laughs.] It’s funny that I would be old guard. The network has changed and evolved and grown, the popularity has skyrocketed and I believe that’s due to the nature of the subject. We’re all unified by food experience. We all eat.

People say that the Food Network is about all personality. I don’t think it is — it’s about the food. It’s a subject without limits.

‘The Next Iron Chef’ airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on the Food Network