Iron Chef is a Japanese television program produced by FujiTV. The original Japanese title is "Ironmen of Cooking". It began airing on October 10, 1993 as a half-hour show, and after 23 episodes was expanded to a one-hour format. The show ended September 24, 1999, but had television specials until 2002. The series had over 300 episodes.

The program has an eccentric flavor, even for a game show. Its host is the flamboyant Takeshi Kaga , known on the show as Chairman Kaga . Its extravagant production values are highlighted with well informed commentary made by two regular commentators and two guest commentators (who serve also as judges). The commentary is enlightening and allows the viewer to see what is happening in the kitchen, and also serves as entertainment as friendly banter is shared among the four speakers.

The English name Iron Chef comes from the show itself: Kaga would use this transliteration of the Japanese title when summoning his chefs at the beginning of the battle.

While always a success in Japan, Iron Chef became a surprise cult favorite in the United States when it was picked up by the Food Network and dubbed in English. Much of the U.S. appeal was due to the dubbing, which gave the show a campy charm that evoked Chinese kung fu movies of the 1970s. Audiences also found amusing some of the over-the-top culinary concoctions regularly featured on the show. In one episode devoted to asparagus, Iron Chef Morimoto boasted that he used over $1000 worth of lobster (which he then discarded) simply to flavor his asparagus. In another episode, Iron Chef Sakai made sturgeon roe ice cream (which was pronounced inedible by the panel).

The story behind Iron Chef was that an eccentric gourmet authority (Chairman Kaga) had specially constructed a cooking arena called "Kitchen Stadium" in his castle where visiting chefs would compete against his Gourmet Academy, led by his three (later four) Iron Chefs. Chairman Kaga himself is a showpiece in flamboyant, heavily decorated coats and jackets.

On each show, a challenger, typically a famous chef from Japan or elsewhere, is pitted against one of the Iron Chefs (with each Iron Chef specializing in a different kind of cuisine – Japanese, Chinese, French, and later Italian). Although challengers appear to have the freedom to choose which Iron Chef they face, the matchups are determined well beforehand.

Originally, challengers vied with each other in preliminary "battles" to earn the right to face an Iron Chef in a 90-minute competition, and should a challenger win twice against Iron Chefs, the challenger would be given the title of "Honorary Iron Chef." However, this format proved unpopular, and the preliminary round was scrapped and the main contest was reduced to the more familiar 60 minutes. The awarding of honorary Iron Chef titles was also discontinued, although this was a moot point as few challengers ever defeated two Iron Chefs in separate contests. Therefore, anyone who beat an Iron Chef had to settle for, according to the English version's introduction, "...the people's ovation and fame forever."

In each episode, chefs have one hour to cook a multicourse meal around a theme ingredient that must be present in each dish. The chefs are given a short list of possible themes beforehand, allowing the producers of the show to get any necessary ingredients that may be needed. The chefs compete to "best express the unique qualities of the theme ingredient." In rare cases has the format changed – angler fish battles were typically 75 minutes in length, and noodle battles had the Iron Chef stop after 50 minutes of cooking, only to resume after the challenger's dishes were tasted so that the noodles could be served right after cooking.

Featured ingredients tend toward the exotic and expensive. Many theme ingredients reflect the Japanese origin of the show – river eel, tofu, udon – though ingredients more familiar in the West, such as bell peppers, summer corn, peaches, are spotlighted as well. There are no specific requirements to the number of dishes that may be made – some challengers have finished only a single dish, and some challengers have finished as many as eight (although four is the typical number).

Each chef is also given two assistants, who are supposedly students of the Gourmet Academy (in reality, they are students of the Hattori Nutrition College). If the challenger does not speak Japanese, students who can speak in the challenger's native language are sometimes provided. (Most notably Ron Siegel's assistants did not speak English).

Throughout the cook-off, running commentary is made by two "sports-casters" in a booth and one floor reporter. The commentators may discuss the style of cooking, culinary traditions and unusual food preparation. Since time is of the essence, descriptions of the ingredients and cooking methods are conveyed to the audience by the floor reporter.

At the end of one hour, a panel of three (later expanded to four and, later still, five) judges, of which typically one is a professional critic, tastes the dishes and judges them based on taste, presentation, and originality. Each chef may be awarded up to 20 points by each judge, with ten given for taste and five each for presentation and originality. The chef with the plurality of judges in support (not necessarily the chef with the greatest score) wins the competition.

. In the case of a deadlock (as was possible during the era of the four-judge panel), first place is awarded to the chef with the greater number of points. On the rare occasions that the scores were also tied, an immediate "overtime battle" was held to determine the winner. The chefs are given 30 minutes to prepare dishes with a different key ingredient, making do with what remains of their pantry or items that were previously prepared for the main battle but later discarded. The overtime battles are aired as a separate episode. On one occasion, the overtime battle itself resulted in a tie, prompting Chairman Kaga to declare both the Iron Chef and challenger winners. - Wikipedia