News: New Iron Chef America Frozen Meals

Photo Credit: Iron Chef America

The Iron Chef America brand is lending itself to a line of "A La Cuisine" home meal kits (the name seems to be a play on the Chairman's famous catch phrase, "Allez Cuisine"). The line currently features eight varieties: Mongolian Beef, Butter Chicken, Sesame Beef, Spicy Szechuan Chicken, Chicken Garam Masala, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Thai Green Curry Beef, and Mandarin Orange Beef. They're meant to serve four people and take about 12 minutes to prepare.

Each meal comes with 4 separate pouches containing meat, vegetables, sauce, and rice respectively. The meats are not pre-cooked and so the meals require some skillet work rather than just microwaving (although you do have to microwave the rice).

Here's an example of what the instructions to one of these looks like:

"STEP 1:
Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef; stir-fry 4 to 5 mins until lightly browned.

STEP 2:
Reduce heat to medium. Add sauce to skillet; heat to boiling. Cook 3 mins, stirring frequently.

STEP 3:
Add vegetables to skillet; stir-fry 3 to 4 mins until mixture is thoroughly cooked.

STEP 4:
While adding the vegetables to the skillet, place rice pouch in the microwave with seam side up. Heat on high for 3 min. The pouch should balloon up with steam pressure for at least 30 s. Do not puncture the bag during these 30 s. Allow time for steam to vent, tear or cut open pouch and empty contents. CAUTION: HOT!

STEP 5:
Prepare a bed of rice on platter or plate and top with your amazing creation. SERVE IMMEDIATELY."

The meals are available in both the US and Cananda and a line of hors d'oeurves are in the works.

It looks like the line is named "A La Cuisine" because "Allez Cuisine" is already taken by a different line of food featuring the Chairman, but not the Iron Chef brand.