Rachael Ray is the chef who can’t make coffee. The petite brunette with a raspy voice says she can never remember baking instructions and looks more like the host of a “what to wear” shopping show than one about cooking. But looks can be deceiving; this so-perky-you’ll-want-to-lock-her-in-the-freezer chef can cook up a storm using common grocery-store ingredients and eyeballed measurements. Known for her folksy recipes and penchant for made-up terms, Ray won America’s overworked, strapped-for-time heart with her “30-minute meal” concept and tendency to cover her mistakes by adding more olive oil (sorry, we mean E.V.O.O.).
In 2001 a Food Network executive heard Ray on an upstate New York radio show. Within a week, she had appeared on the Today show and signed a $360,000 contract. Eight years, four TV shows, 16 cookbooks and one magazine later, Rachael Ray has yummo-ed and delish-ed her way into culinary history.