If you want to see this magazine in the making, you can do it right from the sidewalk on East 19th Street in New York City: Food Network's test kitchen, on the ground floor, has floor-to-ceiling windows, so anyone passing by can see our recipes in the works. On any given day it's a flurry of activity, with food processors whirring, sauces simmering and teams of recipe developers creating and testing their latest dishes. The magazine's culinary team, led by test kitchen director Steve Jackson, produces more than 50 recipes for every issue, while other chefs crank out content for foodnetwork.com, shows and social media. The space is also home to several studios, so star chefs drop by on the regular. Take a look around...

Every recipe for the magazine is tested multiple times, by multiple people. One chef creates the dish and another will "cross-test" it, meaning they prepare the recipe as it's written to see if there are any issues. Do the instructions make sense? Is the seasoning OK? Does the recipe require too many pans? Will it photograph well? The answers help inform the next round of testing.

Test kitchen chefs plate their dishes like a home cook would, with simple bowls and garnishes. Then they gather around for a tasting. This can mean eating pasta at 10 a.m. or having Thanksgiving turkey in August!

Chefs find inspiration at the on-site library, home to thousands of cookbooks. The collection includes books on global cuisines, a vintage section, books by Food Network stars and shelves devoted to specific sweets, like doughnuts and ice cream.

Recipe developers need to grill year-round, rain or shine (or snow!), but doing that outside would be impossible in downtown Manhattan. Here, Young Sun Huh cooks veggies on a special indoor grill. All the grilled recipes in the August/September 2024 issue were tested here!