The Fine Line Between Niwatori And Namatori

Air Date: 04/26/2003

Contestants: Manabe Kaori (真鍋かをり), Yoshino Sayaka (吉野さやか), Hamaguchi Junko (浜口順子)

Guest Judges: Ishida Junichi (石田純一)

Theme Ingredient/Recipes:
Chicken (Fukushima region)/ Curry Chicken Udon

Recap: This was a relatively light episode, as there was only one dish to prepare and it's a pretty common one in Japan (there are many variations of curry udon and rice throughout the series). That being said, it still didn't prevent one contestant from running into an issue.

Junko ended up faring pretty well, considering that she didn't have any idea of how to carve up the chicken. She also added some different sauces to her curry which gave her finished dish a very odd look, but it ended up tasting pretty good overall.

Sayaka went at this dish like a pro, having no issue cutting up the bird or making a very tasty curry. She was very excited by her success and because of this leapt up the ranking board.

Kaori ran into major issues, beginning first with the carving, then essentially running out of time and not being able to cook the chicken thoroughly. Her dish was essentially half-cooked, which resulted in a few trips to the bucket and a 5 on the wrinkle-meter.

Ranking ( out of 116 ):
Manabe Kaori: 80 -> 83
Yoshino Sayaka: 79 -> 20
Hamaguchi Junko: 63 (new entry)