is a Food Network reality based cooking television series created by Michael Krupat, produced by Daniel Kay, and hosted by Ted Allen. In each episode, four chefs compete. The show is divided into three rounds: Appetizer, Entrée and Dessert. In each round, the chefs are given a basket containing between three and five ingredients, and the dish each competitor prepares must contain each of those ingredients. Generally speaking, the ingredients are ones which are not commonly prepared together. For example, in "Yucca, Watermelon, Tortillas," the episode which aired on February 10, 2009, the appetizer course boxes contained watermelon, canned sardines, pepper jack cheese, and zucchini. The competitors are also given access to a pantry and refrigerator stocked with a wide variety of other ingredients. Each round has a time limit: twenty minutes for the Appetizer round (thirty minutes in some season one episodes), and thirty minutes for the Entrée and Dessert rounds (one episode gave the chefs forty-five minutes in the entrée round to allow them to handle a whole twelve-pound turkey; another gave the chefs fifty minutes in the dessert round). The chefs must cook their dishes and have them plated before time runs out. After each round, the judges critique the dishes based on presentation, taste, and creativity. The judges then decide which chef is "chopped," who is then eliminated from the competition. Thus, by the dessert round, only two chefs remain. When deciding the winner, the judges consider not only the dessert course, but the entire meal presented by each chef as a whole. The winner receives $10,000.

Starring:

Ted Allen, Alex Guarnaschelli, Marcus Samuelsson, Jeff Mauro, Geoffrey Zakarian, Scott Conant, Amanda Freitag, Aarón Sánchez, Maneet Chauhan, Chris Santos, Zac Young, 9 more, Marc Murphy, Joseph "JJ" Johnson, David Guas, Stuart O'Keeffe, Tiffani Faison, Jason Kieffer, Adam Sobel, Angie Mar, James Briscione

Genre:

Food