Cooking Time!

Hello and welcome to what at this moment, appears to be the only English-language blog covering the popular Japanese TV show, 'Ai no Epuron/Apron of Love'. I've been a fan of the show for over a year now and spent a lot of that time looking not only for episodes, but any English sites that were covering it. While there seems to be a healthy community of fans outside of Japan, there really isn't anyplace for them to get together and talk about the show. The goal of this blog is to not only cover the new episodes as they are released, but also go back into the past and provide screencaps and recaps of past episodes as well.

I should say right off the bat that Japanese is not my native language, nor is a secondary one to any extent. So please excuse any translation errors or other misinterpretations. At some stage I plan on trying to translate the Wikipedia page for the show that exists, as well as adding recipe information as well. But for right now, just getting the names right is pretty much taxing my limits.

Please let me know what you think and if you have any additional info or corrections for the episode recaps, please post them in the comments section for that episode.

Thanks

Idol Chef

Ai No Apron Info

'Ai no Epuron' or the 'Apron of Love' is a variety/cooking TV series seen on Japan's Asahi National Broadcasting network and hosted by Shigeru Joushima (of the rock group Tokio). It is also referred to as Ai-Epu.

Summary

'Apron of Love' is a cooking show loosely based on 'Iron Chef'. Over the course of the series, female celebrities compete against each other to be the Top Apron. They are known as the 'Apron Girls' and their dishes are judged by male celebrities and the hosts, with the results appearing on the Ranking Board.

Each episode opens with the 'Apron Girls' being told what the theme ingredient will be for that episode, as well as which dishes they are expected to prepare. Relying only on the cooking utensils and vast array of unlabeled ingredients that they have been given, they must recreate these dishes to the best of their abilities. This often results in unexpected and hilarious results, both from the 'Apron Girls' and the celebrity judges and hosts.

From time to time there will be a role-reversal of sorts, where male celebrities do the cooking and are judged by female celebrities. They are referred to as 'Apron Boys'. Certain special episodes will occasionally air where the 'Apron Girls' and 'Apron Boys' compete against each other head to head.

Since the show is produced by the same company that did 'The Iron Chef', oftentimes you will see members of that show's announcing and judging team appear as judges. (ex: Yukio Hattori, Asako Kishi, and Toshirou Kandagawa)

Joushima ends every episode with the show's catchphrase. "Cooking is love, and if done with love, Love is O.K.!'

Episode Outline

Introduction Of The Theme Ingredient: One or more ingredients are introduced as the VIP or Theme Ingredient for the episode. It is sometimes related to special events that may be occurring or an ingredient that recently came into season. (Example: Christmas dishes during the holidays, Chocolate for Valentine's Day, etc). Along with the ingredients, the contestants are shown video of what the completed dish or dishes should look like.

Cooking Time: Usually 45 minutes, but sometimes it is extended to 50 minutes for certain dishes. They are not given any recipes and nothing in the kitchen is identified or has labels. This causes mass confusion as the 'Apron Girls' try to figure out what is salt versus sugar, or baking powder versus baking soda, etc. Occasionally, the theme ingredient may even be left out of the dish that is being prepared, or prepared incorrectly (ie: fish that aren't gutted properly or cooked whole).

Tasting Time: The celebrity judges (usually two), the chairman (Joushima, aka Leader), his assistant and the commentator, taste and comment on each of the dishes in that order. Joushima is known for trying to eat the largest portions, not matter how bad the dish. The commentator (usually a former 'Iron Chef' cast member), will give cooking advice. Joushima's assistant, Emi Takeuchi, is also known as 'Miss Wrinkle' amongst some circles. She became famous for the furrowing of her brow when tasting especially bad dishes, which the production staff began to highlight by displaying a 'Wrinkle Meter' which ranked the dish from 1 to 10 on that scale (10 being the worst).

When the show first aired, if a dish was especially bad, anyone could leave the stage to use the 'Ai no Bucket' or 'Bucket of Love' to spit the food out. When the show moved from its original late-night timeslot to prime-time, it was decided that the 'Bucket of Love' was not the best way to refer to this means of escape from whatever they were eating. Instead it is now considered 'Etiquette Time' and shows a brief video of how the dish should look if prepared correctly.

Judgement Time: The celebrity judges for the show do the final ranking on the Ranking Board. The board is divided into three sections. Top Apron, Middle Apron, and Lower Apron. There is one section at the very top for Special Apron rankings. The judges take a nameplate for each 'Apron Girl' and place it on the board, this stays there until their next appearance on the show where it is moved based on their performance on that show.

As the series progressed, the judges began to feel that the Lower Apron wasn't low enough. This resulted in them placing nameplates below the Lower Apron section of the Ranking Board. Overtime, judges began to try and outdo themselves in ranking the worst dishes. This led to nameplates being places further and further away from the Ranking Board. Nameplates have been placed in trash bins, restrooms, parking lots, and sewer drains. In the current series (the third), there have been occasions where the nameplates have completely left studio grounds, having been given to people passing by on the street outside the studio. Inoue Waka, Yingling of Joy Toy, and Aoki Sayaka have all had their nameplates disposed of in this way. In the history of the show, Yingling's has travelled the furthest from the Ranking Board.

Currently, there are five 'Apron Girls' who reside in the 'Special Apron' section of the Ranking Board.

The 'Iron Rule': During the episode that aired on 11/2/2005, the 'Iron Rule' was introduced. If anyone has participated in over 50 Cooking Battles (throughout the entire course of the series) and has failed to even once place in the 'Special Apron' Ranking, they can no longer compete as an 'Apron Girl'. Currently, there are two contestants who have passed the halfway mark without scoring a 'Special Apron' ranking. Yingling of Joytoy currently has appeared in 28 episodes, while Sugita Kaoru (音無美紀子) has appeared in 43 episodes. Note: Specials are not included in the count, as they are scored differently and do not have an impact on the 'Ranking Board' rankings.

At this time, only one contestant has triggered the 'Iron Rule'. Isono Kiriko (磯野貴理子) retired on 11/2/2005 to great fanfare on the show, only to reappear the following week as a regular member of the Judging team. Currently she is an added judge, and has not taken over any of the current judges positions.

Trophy and Dish Washing: Beginning with the episode that aired on April 19th, 2006, a new tradition was started. This tradition features both a reward and a punishment. In each episode, the competitor who scores highest on the Ranking Board, will receive a special Ai no Apron Trophy. However, any competitors who fail to make the Ranking Board (not scoring as a Special, Top, Middle, or Bottom Epu) will have to clean all the dishes used during the filming of the show. The first Ai-Epu awarded with this trophy was Asaji Youko (浅茅陽子). The first two who ended up washing dishes were Yingling (インリン) and Yoshiyuki Kazuko (吉行和子).

Cast

Chairman: Joushima Shigeru (城島茂)
Assistant: Takeuchi Emi (武内絵美)
Honorary Judge: Isono Kiriko (磯野貴理子)
Commentators: Hattori Yukio (服部幸應)
Kishi Asako (岸朝子)
Kandagawa Toshirou (神田川俊郎)
Chin Kenichi (陳建一)
Kobayashi Katsuyo (小林カツ代)
Kentarou (ケンタロウ)
Sakai Hiroyuki (坂井宏行)
Kataoka Mamoru (片岡護)
Narrator: Shinji