The Best TV Shows on Food Network

Host Alton Brown explores the origins of ingredients, decodes culinary customs and presents food and equipment trends. Punctuated by unusual interludes, simple preparations and unconventional discussions, he'll bring you food in its finest and funniest form.

Features one competitor per episode who enters Bobby's secret kitchen to compete against professional chefs in three head-to-head rounds. If the competitor can out-cook the titans and earn more points, they take home the cash prize.

Pairs of professional bakers compete to create spellbinding edible showpieces on the actual sets where the Harry Potter films were made.

The world's greatest culinary artists come together to compete for the prestigious title of Iron Chef America in this Alton Brown-hosted series. Catch all the yummy intensity on the Food Network.

Hosts and judges Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli will lead eight talented kid bakers through challenges designed to find the most-impressive and creative young baker. In each challenge the contestants, ranging in age from 10 to 13, will be tested on their baking skills and originality as they whip up delectable desserts, including creative cakes, mouthwatering cookies and pastries.

Food Network's most ambitious and grueling culinary competition to date. Featuring 24 talented and fearless chefs who take on 24 food challenges in 24 consecutive, non-stop hours, the 24-hour competition takes the chefs to the extreme, demanding they display the skills, creativity and stamina needed to be an elite chef. At the end of the 24 hours, there can be only one true master left standing.

Host Guy Fieri gathers the world's greatest chefs for the most-intense culinary competition ever held. Emotions run high in the single-elimination, sudden-death bracket tournament as the competitors face off in head-to-head battles to stay alive. As the pressure mounts, shocking surprises unfold both inside and outside the arena. All the chefs have the talent and skill to walk away with the ultimate championship title in food, but only one will win the Tournament of Champions.

Host Guy Fieri takes a cross-country road trip to visit some of America's classic "greasy spoon" restaurants — diners, drive-ins and dives — that have been doing it right for decades.

Chef Robert Irvine tries to turn around restaurants across America that are facing an impending demise if things don't improve. With a $10,000 budget and two days to work, Irvine uses his creativity and resourcefulness to turn the eatery's fortunes around.

12 to 16 contestants with poor cooking skills are taken through an eight-week culinary boot camp, to earn a cash prize of $25,000. The recruits are trained on the various basic cooking techniques including: baking, knife skills, temperature, seasoning and preparation. The final challenge is to cook a restaurant quality three-course meal for three food critics.

Iron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the original Japanese program, the program is a culinary game show. In each episode, a new challenger chef competes against one of the resident "Iron Chefs" in a one-hour cooking competition based on a secret ingredient or ingredients, and sometimes theme. The show is presented as a successor to the original Iron Chef, as opposed to being a remake. The Chairman is portrayed by actor and martial artist Mark Dacascos, who is introduced as the nephew of the original Japanese chairman Takeshi Kaga. The commentary is provided solely by Alton Brown, & Kevin Brauch is the floor reporter. The music is written by composer Craig Marks, who released the soundtrack titled "Iron Chef America & The Next Iron Chef" by the end of 2010. In addition, regular ICA judge and Chopped host Ted Allen provided additional floor commentary for two special battles: Battle First Thanksgiving and Battle White House Produce.

A high energy, fast paced cooking competition that challenges four up-and-coming chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal. After each course, a contestant gets “chopped” by our panel of esteemed culinary luminaries until the last man or woman left standing claims victory.

Cake decorators, sugar artists and pumpkin carving experts battle it out as they create Halloween-themed edible displays. The last team to scare off the competition will take home a $50,000 grand prize.

Two talented chefs go head-to-head for the chance to Beat Bobby Flay. To get to Bobby the chefs must first face off against each other, creating a spectacular dish with a secret ingredient of Bobby's choice. Judges Alex Guarnaschelli and Jeff Mauro know Bobby's strengths and his weaknesses. Their goal: Pick the chef who has the skills to take down Bobby Flay in his own arena. The winning chef gets to challenge Bobby with his or her surprise signature dish. If Bobby goes down, the winner can tell the world, "I beat Bobby Flay!"

Guy Fieri sends four talented chefs running through the aisles in a high stakes, high skills, grocery store cooking competition. The chefs are hit by real-world challenges like finding workarounds when all the essential ingredients are suddenly "out-of-stock" or having to create a masterpiece when you can only cook with "5 items or less" or on a $10 budget. In the end, the food does the talking, as the last chef standing has the chance to make some serious dough!

Barefoot Contessa is an American cooking show that premiered November 30, 2002 on Food Network. The show is hosted by celebrity chef Ina Garten. Each episode features Garten assembling dishes of varying complexity. Though her specialty is French cuisine, she occasionally prepares American, Asian, British and Italian foods. Her show also gives tips on decorating and entertaining.

Cooking competition following upcoming chefs, and the winner gets to host their own show!

Spend a fun and food-filled morning in The Kitchen with hosts Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee, Jeff Mauro, Marcela Valladolid, and Geoffrey Zakarian. From simple supper ideas, food trend discussions, and family meal tips to trivia games and viewer questions, they'll cover all things fun in food.

What happens in the food world when a bad employee starts to take down an otherwise thriving establishment or when restaurant owners suspect someone of not doing their job appropriately? They call in the Mystery Diners. These undercover operatives go into restaurants, bars and food service establishments with hidden cameras to find out what's really going on when the boss isn't around.

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay challenges cooks renowned for a specific dish or type of cooking to a cook-off of their signature dish. At the beginning of each show, Flay receives – via bicycle messenger – a package detailing the chef he is to compete against as well as the dish. Examples of opponents include a skilled chili maker or a famous wedding cake designer. After practicing and preparing the item in question, Flay shows up for a surprise competition. During the competition, both chefs prepare their particular version of the dish, and both are then evaluated by local judges to determine a winner.