Martha Stewart Criticizes Rachael Ray

Courtesy of INFDaily.com

Always the friend-maker, Stewart throws the cookbook at Ray.

Does it surprise you that Martha Stewart is a little bit...competitive? If you thought she was feisty before, wait till you see her first interview since spending five months in prison.

Martha Stewart sat down with Nightline recently (the interview airs Thursday) to reveal what she feels is the difference between her own philosophy and morning cooking talk show competitor Rachael Ray's.

Martha Stewart says Martha Stewart is better, of course.

In the interview, Stewart says that she's not interested in shortcuts -- teaching them or taking them -- in the kitchen. Rachael Ray, on the other hand, is a different story. Stewart says, "Well, to me, she professed that she could - cannot bake," Stewart says of Ray in the interview, airing Thursday. "She - just did a new cookbook which is just a re-edit of a lot of her old recipes ... and that's not good enough for me."

Is anything ever good enough for Martha Stewart? Well, yes: her own approach to cookbooks. Stewart says when she writes a cookbook, the product "is a unique and lasting thing - something that will really fulfill a need in someone's library." Rachael Ray, she says, is "different." Martha Stewart says Rachael Ray is more of a bubbly personality and an entertainer, where Stewart considers herself a "teacher."

How does Rachael Ray react? She actually agrees with Martha Stewart! "Her skill set is far beyond mine," Ray says. "That's simply the reality of it."

She continues, saying, "that doesn't mean that what I do isn't important too ... I really just think [Stewart's] being honest. She does have a better skill set than I do when it comes to producing a beautiful, perfect, high-quality meal."

The most shocking part of this dish? Rachael Ray says, "I'd rather eat Martha's than mine, too."

Was Martha Stewart always such a drinker of the Haterade? There was one time when she actually may have been kind of cool...