There has been talk in the past few months that several staff members of Every Day with Rachael Ray were being hired by another company to fill up slots for a competing magazine. Now it looks like those rumors might be true.

Portfolio is reporting that Hearst and Scripps are going to team up with Food Network to create a new food and lifestyle magazine based on the network. This is still in the planning stages, so it's not clear what TV personalities (if any) will be involved and what format/frequency the magazine would take, though obviously Rachael Ray won't be involved.

So...would you read a Food Network magazine, or do you think the network has changed so much that it wouldn't have anything you'd be interested in?

Guess that means we'll only be able to catch the Italian chef on his new show touring Spain with Gwyneth Paltrow on PBS this fall.

Either that, or in person at one of his bazillion Italian-themed restaurants in New York, Los Angeles (Mozza!), and Las Vegas.

We had a bit of a debate over whether the McDonald's ad that flashed on screen during an episode of Iron Chef America was the Food Network's attempt at subliminal advertising or simply a very poorly edited piece of filming. It turns out, according to a statement released by the network, that it was just a glitch.

A network spokesman said, "It was a technical error on our part and not a subliminal message as suggested by a Web site running the slow-motion playback. It has been corrected for all future airings [of that episode]." A McDonald's spokesman said, "We don't do subliminal advertising."

Those excuses are both weak. Every product placement in a movie or TV show is certainly near enough to subliminal advertising (a McD's cup in the hand of a background extra, etc) that denying it seems ridiculous. And for the Network to have aired a split-second clip in the middle of footage from another show is so unlikely that it is far easier to believe the network intended it to air. It's also possible that they just have a poorly trained staff, but an actual technical glitch? Probably not.

These days, advertising tends to be on a very obvious (superliminal) level. By this, I mean that most broadcasters make no effort to conceal the fact that they're being paid (or compensated in some way) to promote a product. The show Top Chef, for example, frequently refers to the "Kenmore kitchen" provided by its sponsors and repeatedly uses brand names from other companies. This type of advertising really gets a brand name out into the public arena, but some still believe that sneakier tactics are in order to get the public to try their products and would prefer to use subliminal advertising than superliminal, believing that the subconscious mind has a greater impact on human behavior.

This YouTube video clip reveals an example of subliminal advertising that a viewer found on the Food Network during a broadcast of Iron Chef America. The ad, which is for McDonald's, is only about one frame of film long, but is still noticeable to the conscious mind as a red flash on the screen.

Of course, it could have been a broadcasting glitch and not a purposefully placed advertisement. But that might just be what they want you to think....

[via something awful - thanks, Berkana!]

In January, the Food Network will be debuting a new reality show called Dinner: Impossible. The show features chef Robert Irvine, who has cooked for the British royal family and four US presidents, and his two sous chefs (both named George), all of whom are put into strange situations in which they have to prepare gourmet food while overcoming various obstacles. By obstacles, we're not referring to any Indiana Jones-like traps, but more along the lines of extremely unusual working conditions. For example, one episode will feature the chefs having to shop for and prep dinner for 150, to be served on a train - assuming that they don't get left at the station. Another will feature the chefs cooking with 18th century equipment and utensils, also on a tight timeline. Essentially, the chefs will not know where they are going, where they will be working or who they will be cooking for before they arrive and will have to cook the best food they can in the circumstances. Perhaps the only downside is that, unlike Top Chef, which also features some somewhat extreme cooking situations, no one will be voted off on this show so the only thing that really will keep the chefs motivated is their own desire to beat the odds.

Warning: The post below contains spoilers, so if you TiVo'd last night's "Iron Chef America" and don't want to know who won, I suggest you stop reading now.

Last night, the oddest battle in the history of Kitchen Stadium took place, a battle of the Food Network All-Stars that pit Mario Batali and Rachael Ray against Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis. The theme ingredient was cranberries. It seemed to take Rachael and Mario several minutes to find their groove, with Rachael seeming to get flustered and Mario looking a little impatient, although the pair seemed to have the dishes they would do divided up already. It looked like things started out very smoothly for Bobby and Giada, on the other hand, who both appeared focused. As time wore on, however, Rachael adapted more and more to the kitchen and the pressure of the time began to affect Giada's performance. Bobby did his usual good work, but unfortunately, the judges weren't as impressed with Giada's plates as they were with Rachael's -- although it probably didn't hurt that Mario bribed them all with cranberry Bellini's halfway through the competition!

From the fact that both women seemed a bit stressed out at the end of the cooking period, it seems as though neither would be eager to return to the stadium. If the Food Network is thinking of doing another All-Star battle, however, how about Ina Garten vs. Paula Deen?

At the beginning of the year, we mentioned that a special celebrity chef episode of Iron Chef America would be airing in fall and it looks like the week has finally arrived! This Sunday's episode of Iron Chef America will feature both Rachael Ray and Giada de Laurentiis, pairing Rachael with Mario Batali and Giada with Bobby Flay, in what is sure to be an interesting showdown, to say the least.

Who will win the battle of food network personalities? Rachael is primarily self taught and most of her cooking experience comes from actually teaching others to cook, aside from a stint as the chef at Cowan & Lobel market in Albany, New York. Giada, on the other hand, studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and worked at several well-known restaurants, including Spago in Los Angeles, before starting a catering company. This isn't to say that all professionally trained chefs will do better than home schooled ones, but it is the really high-end, innovative dishes that "wow" the judges on ICA and it seems like Giada would be more likely to turn them out than Rachael. Bobby and Mario will have a big part in this two, of course, so based on previous episodes and the personalities of all four "Food Network All-Star" participants, I'm rooting for Bobby's team.

Up until now, I always assumed that "domestic goddess" referred to someone who was exceptionally good at "domestic" things, primarily cooking. Their food looked and tasted better than anything anyone else was making. They weren't professionals, but they were as good as. But it seems that the term may have changed meanings and, instead of referring to someone who has goddess-like domestic skills, it might now refer to someone who is a goddess and happens to be able to cook, too. This new application of "domestic goddess" is applied to women like Giada de Laurentiis, Sandra Lee, Cat Cora and perhaps even Rachael Ray.

If part, or perhaps all, of the audience is watching the host, not the food, is this a good direction for food TV to be heading in? For al the interest in cooking shows, does it just come down to whether you look good in an apron or not? Check out Details' sexpots in the kitchen slide show and decide for yourself.

We watched season two of the Next Food Network Star and saw Guy Fieri win, landing himself a new show on the network, and before him, Dan and Steve were a success. The Food Network is now casting for season three of the popular reality show, with another six-episode program up for grabs.

To apply, you have to meet the eligibility guidelines and submit a 3-minute tape (or DVD) showing that you have the things they are looking for: cooking ability, personality and teaching skills. The deadline for submissions is October 27th, 2006 and the show will film a few months later.

Now, I'm sure that they're going to do their best to choose the best candidate for the show out of all the contestants, but given the nature of reality TV and the fact that all of the previous winners have been men, it seems likely that a woman might have a slight advantage in this season's competition. Encourage your friends to apply - there's nothing to lose by doing so. And speaking of which, maybe I should make a video while I'm at it...

The Food Network loves Paula Deen and they are about to do what they always do with their favorite stars -Rachael Ray, Emeril, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown - and give her a new show. Paula's Cooking Party is an hour-long prime time show staring Paula, a kitchen and a live studio audience. The network describes it as a "non-stop rollercoaster of food, fun, stories, recipes and surprises" and it will have far less emphasis on straight cooking instruction, which her current show is based around. Well, that and butter, anyway.

Deen, 59, just recently became a grandmother, so it is something of a surprise that the network is opting to promote her when they have been trying to attract a younger audience. Granted, Paula's show and her specials have attracted the some of the largest tv audiences on the network, but is "Paula unplugged" going to attract viewers? And when one of the early episodes featured Paula "trying on a young audience member's stilettos, telling jokes and staging a live crab race," will it keep viewers accustomed to seeing her cook satisfied?

The show premiers September 29th, so we'll just have to wait until then to find out.

With the FoodNetwork turning into a veritable carnival of nonsense, I've had to turn to other networks to get my usual food entertainment fix. There's Tony Bourdain's No Reservations, among some other food-related shows, on the Discovery Channel, a few on HGTV, and of course, PBS. This fall, PBS adds another show to its food programming with Diary of a Foodie.

Ruth Reichl, along with fellow editors from Gourmet will host the show, which will "look at the world, food first." The show's team will travel the globe to meet new people, discover exotic ingredients, and highlight global food trends, then bring it back into their own kitchens. It sounds like a kinder, gentler version of Tony Bourdain.

The series premiere will air Saturday, October 7th, and the show's full website will launch on September 22 with more information.

While the camera work on the show Throwdown with Bobby Flay tries to make all the contestants look shocked when Flay challenges them, I suspect that all of them would accept the challenge even if they knew about it in advance. Some, like this week's contestant, Cindy Reed Wilkins, would definitely take him up because even though Flay is a chef with decades of professional experience under his belt, she has a room full of prestigious trophies that say her chili is one of the best Texas-style chilis in the world. And as she said, you have to be competitive to be great.

The chili cookoff was interesting because it introduced the viewer to the world of cooking competition chilis, which are made according to strict rules (In fact, the rule that contestants aren't allowed to fire guns or use pyrotechnics during the compettitions just seems downright unfair) that would not be known to the average home cook. Wilkins provided some great tips on how to make a competition chili, from what kind of ingredients to use to how big to cut the chunks of beef (3/8-in.).

Cindy faced off against Flay in front of her family and a whole group of friends from the competition chili circuit. And whose chili reigned supreme after the throwdown, which was judged by professional chili judges?

As much as I thought Rocco DiSpirito was hot, and as much as I religiously watched the show "The Restaurant," I didn't think Rocco would ever have the balls to return to television after it turned out to be a complete fiasco.

I guess I was wrong. Rocco has balls. He is filming a pilot for a new reality tv show called "Rocco." In the show, Chef DiSpirito "will reportedly act as a culinary therapist on the new series, solving ordinary people's problems through the use of food."

Well, you didn't think he was going to actually cook, did you?

Giada de Laurentiis came from a big family, and they would all get together on Sundays as she was growing up. The dinner table would be packed not with 8 or 10 people, but with 15, 20 or even more. To feed that many hungry people, everyone in her family relied on relatively simply Italian fare that could feed a crowd, and Giada carries that same feeling over into Giada's Family Dinners. The recipes in the book are easy to read and well-presented, making it suitable for experienced and novice cooks alike. There are dishes that even picky eaters will enjoy, like Chicken Carbonara and Ravioli with Creamy Tomato sauce, because the book is not about the super-gourmet dishes that will only be appreciated by culinary experts. Most are scaled to produce quite a lot of food, so you might want to experiment with freezing leftovers or simply plan to get lunches for a few days when you make a big batch of pasta or soup. The desserts, however, you'll want to eat right away; it's hard enough to wait until the end of the meal to dig into desserts like Chocolate Pizza and Nectarine and Blueberry Crisp .