• Is this the ultimate comfort food?
• How Boston chef Ken Oringer beat Cat Cora on Iron Chef America.
• A look at the SideSwipe spatula mixer blade.
• The right way to hard boil eggs.
• Are doughnuts really Canadian?
• What the heck is a mash cone?
• Restaurant reviews: Persephone and Rizelli Cafe.
• This week's recipes: Bean and Cheese Burrito, Beets with Yogurt, Yellow Rice, Cauliflower and Cilantro Soup with Brown Butter, and Chicken Salad.

I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to Food Network's Iron Chef America. I never got into the original show. I didn't know any of the chefs, the translation of the narration was odd, and they cooked way too much fish, octopus, and other seafood (not a big fan). But I like the U.S. version. It has Mario Batali and Cat Cora and is hosted by Alton Brown and has Jeffrey Steingarten as a judge, so what's not to like?

Tonight is a big show, as Jamie Oliver appears for the first time and goes up against veteran Batali. It airs at 10pm Eastern and is followed by the premiere of Oliver's new show Jamie At Home.

Last month, Kristin over at TV Squad told you about Jamie Oliver's new Food Network show, Jamie At Home, which premieres on January 6 at 10pm. Now comes word that Oliver will appear on Iron Chef America to battle veteran chef Mario Batali. The episode will air on the same night, just before Oliver's new series debuts. It will be his first appearance on the show.

This is good news. Oliver deserves another cooking show. He was on Martha Stewart's show recently and really won over the crowd with his fast cooking technique and personality (even if he did, I believe, exhaust Martha a bit, and that's not easy to do). He even had a woman in the audience help him with the meal he was making. I'm not sure if the new show will have a studio audience, but he could be good in front of one.

Food Network Iron chef Cat Cora is going to chat on Zagat.com live at 2pm today. You can submit questions here (and as of right now there aren't many questions so there's a good chance yours will be answered, so head on over).

Cora is the Iron Chef I don't know much about. The only place I've seen her is Iron Chef America, and I didn't know her background or that she was mentored by Julia Child (!), so I'll be checking in on the chat today.

• Add some autumn vegetables to your salads.
• An interview with Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.
• The service at a new Boston steakhouse gets a thumbs down.
• Red Sox slugger David Ortiz loves barbecue!
• What's your favorite chocolate dessert?
• This week's recipes: Black Bean Soup with Cumin and Tomatoes, Honey Wheat-Germ Whole Wheat Bread, Tofu and Spicy Pork Sauce with Crispy Fried Rice, Carmelized Sweet Potatoes, and Pasta Frittata.

Guess that means we'll only be able to catch the Italian chef on his new show touring Spain with Gwyneth Paltrow on PBS this fall.

Either that, or in person at one of his bazillion Italian-themed restaurants in New York, Los Angeles (Mozza!), and Las Vegas.

Warning: The post below contains spoilers, so if you TiVo'd last night's "Iron Chef America" and don't want to know who won, I suggest you stop reading now.

Last night, the oddest battle in the history of Kitchen Stadium took place, a battle of the Food Network All-Stars that pit Mario Batali and Rachael Ray against Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis. The theme ingredient was cranberries. It seemed to take Rachael and Mario several minutes to find their groove, with Rachael seeming to get flustered and Mario looking a little impatient, although the pair seemed to have the dishes they would do divided up already. It looked like things started out very smoothly for Bobby and Giada, on the other hand, who both appeared focused. As time wore on, however, Rachael adapted more and more to the kitchen and the pressure of the time began to affect Giada's performance. Bobby did his usual good work, but unfortunately, the judges weren't as impressed with Giada's plates as they were with Rachael's -- although it probably didn't hurt that Mario bribed them all with cranberry Bellini's halfway through the competition!

From the fact that both women seemed a bit stressed out at the end of the cooking period, it seems as though neither would be eager to return to the stadium. If the Food Network is thinking of doing another All-Star battle, however, how about Ina Garten vs. Paula Deen?

Some of us love the Food Network. Some of us want to hate it, but can't. I am of the latter group. I want to ban the channel from my television for some of the things they have done to my viewing pleasure (Iron Chef! Bring back Iron Chef!), but I can't. I just can't do it because there are a few things that still capture my attention:

1. I love watching Michael Chiarello throw together some seriously delicious looking Napa-terranean meals; better yet, I love watching him stroll through the vineyard in his jeans, caressing his grapes. (Oh my, did I blog that second part out loud?!?!)
2. Tyler Florence is hot. I'd like to be Tyler's Ultimate.
3. There is a rumor that the original Iron Chef is coming back (it is on the schedule at 4 am right now). Not confirmed, but a rumor is better than nothing.
4. Paula Deen's food scares my fat cells, but she is too adorable when she is cooking with her sons.
5. Alton Brown is good eats. 
6. They will have Nigella Lawson some time this year
7. By some glorious semi-homemade alignment of the stars, every time I turn the television on, Sandra Lee is not scheduled (unfortunately, Rachael Ray is, but that's a different post).
8. Even though I am not a fan of Giada de Lauentiis, I like her taste in kitchens and clothes.

Perhaps you don't drink as much caffeine as I do, so you are able to fall asleep at a decent hour, say 10:00 PM. If that's the case, then you probably haven't noticed that the usual 11:00 PM broadcast of the original Japanese Iron Chef has disappeared from the Food Network.

I have looked all over the web for information, but nothing has turned up as to why. Only that it's gone.

Now I am not going to sugar-coat my distaste for the new Iron Chef America. Sure, I love that Alton Brown in the host, and the old Chairman Kaga's "nephew" is pretty hot when he does all that martial artistry, but I am not particularly fond of the show. Sure, I realize that the original Japanese version was completely contrived, but at least they pretended like it truly was a challenge. On Iron Chef America, it's just so...boring. And what happened to ingredients that would flop around on the stage like live eel, and creations like...seabass mousse?

At least the Food Network replaced the 11:00 time slot with Good Eats, which other than Paula Deen is just about the only thing I can watch now, but is little consolation for the loss of the brocade caped, leather glove-clad, Liberace of a Chairman, Kaga.