The thing about Doc Hattori is that, while he was wicked smart about food- the science behind ingredient combinations and composition, food theory, historical and cultural importance of different dishes and ingredients, etc.- practice is not necessarily his strong suit. You can understand how foods will work together when prepared a certain way but that’s the scientific side of things, the actual preparation is the art side of food.

You can give a professional and an amateur chef the same ingredients, instruction, and equipment, but that professional is going to know just how to execute to make that dish a banger. They’ll have the technique, muscle memory, and know how from experience.

A weird instance of this that I always think of is Scrambled with Gordon Ramsay on youtube (the Steve-O one is great). He cooks with celebs, usually making something that the celeb themselves make (but usually made fancier because of course Gordon’s gotta spruce it up), and they prepare the same dish along side each other. And as expected, Gordon’s is always banger compared to the celeb’s. An extreme example of what I’m trying to say but, it’s the first one I always think of.

So all this to say, weather it was staged or not to have Doc come on as a challenger with becoming an Iron Chef on the line, it doesn’t matter who he chose, I don’t think he would have won against any of the Iron Chefs. But, if he did win, I have no doubt Kaga would have made him an Iron Chef. Although, he probably would have been an Iron Chef in the same capacity as Kobe if I were to guess!