Rachael Ray Rises With Quick Cuisine

The Anti-Martha Cooking Style Is What's In

(AP)  Rachael Ray makes lousy coffee. She doesn't bake too well either. It's all the measuring. It clashes with her beat-the-clock cooking style.

"I can never remember if it's one heaping or two little or two big or whatever," she says.

As Food Network viewers know, Ray is all about speed — a dash of salt and a splash of E.V.O.O. (extra-virgin olive oil in Rachaelspeak) heaped with liberal dollops of personal anecdotes that have made her one of the most ubiquitous cooks in America.

Even a simple lunch in her Adirondack cabin is served with a hubbub. As her husband, mother and pit bull, Isaboo, sidle by in the surprisingly cramped kitchen, she nukes meat loaf with barbecue sauce in the microwave while nibbling on green beans. All the while, she stands and talks over plans to drive to Montreal for a photo shoot, stopping only a second to savor a forkful of her handiwork.

"Mmmm. That's good!"

At 37, Ray pretty much dominates the middlebrow culinary space between Wolfgang Puck and Chef Boyardee. Her quick and easy meals are perfect for guys trying to impress their dates and for working moms. Now she's preparing — surprise! — to speed things up. With a million-plus best seller, "Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats," her cooking shows and her new Every Day With Rachael Ray magazine, she is planning to edge out beyond the realm of Emeril and into Oprah territory with her own daytime talk show.

"You'll get to see the audience," she says of her new show, "not just me talking to my vegetables."

Ray's signature achievement remains "30 Minute Meals," the Food Network show in which she zips around a studio kitchen set chopping Swiss chard and frying flank steaks while taking timesaving shortcuts. Why soak black beans when you can save hours by buying them in a can?

That unpretentious style differentiates her from chefs that dazzle. Mario Batali makes goat cheese truffles; Ray makes turkey burgers. Anthony Bourdain checks out toasted ant eggs in Mexico; Ray polkas in Minnesota.

Her approachable style and toothy smile seem to wear well. Market Evaluations, Inc., which developed the "Q score" that companies consult to measure popularity, rated Ray No. 1 in likeability in a field of 22 recognized chefs.

Plus, her food is doable. Her cut carrots lack uniformity and her creations are occasionally burnt or crumbly.

"If you spent one day in a cooking school, you would most definitely see that I do not chop an onion correctly," she says, "but I get my jobs done fast. I'm not a chef. I don't cook like a chef."