'Iron Chef' Secrets Revealed

July 25, 2008— -- "Iron Chef America," one of the most popular food shows in history, is part cooking show, part reality TV and part steel cage match. That irreverant mix has millions of viewers tuning in every week to see elite chefs throw down in Food Network's hallowed cooking ground: Kitchen Stadium.

"Nightline" was allowed behind the scenes to discover the secrets that make "Iron Chef" so palatable.

The premise of the show is fairly simple: start with the best chefs, the "Iron Chefs," then add a guest chef who challenges one of the regulars. What follows is a duel -- a race to make five dishes in just one hour.

The twist, and there is always a twist, is the secret ingredient, revealed at the start of each battle.

Sometimes it's a hearty protein, like fish or Kobe beef, and other times it's a vegetable, or even a root such as ginger. Regardless, the chefs must incorporate the theme ingredient into each dish, even the dessert -- which explains the corn and sea urchin custard and trout ice cream served during past challenges.

This degree of culinary competition is not an American invention. The original Kitchen Stadium was in Japan.

"This is, I think, more of an athletic event," said Alton Brown, "Iron Chef" master of ceremonies. "The original was more of a 'Godzilla' movie. You know, it had such strange pomp and circumstance. And the food was just sometimes plain revolting. I think the first I ever saw an original 'Iron Chef' episode was on a Japanese station in San Francisco, and I remember they had live eels. And they skinned the eels. This one guy nailed its head to a cutting board and skinned it while it was alive."

It takes an army of people and supplies to get it all just right. One hundred and twenty-seven crew members and 10 cameras dodge about in the stadium. There are thousands of feet of cable and 160 moving lights. Then there are the deluxe kitchens and the overstuffed pantries stocked with 800 pounds of food for each episode, everything from the basics to the bizarre.