Hearst Cooking Up Magazine for Food Network

What's in the oven at Hearst? In recent weeks, the magazine giant has been staffing up for a secret development project, picking off editors from the Reader's Digest-owned Every Day with Rachael Ray. But for what?

According to a well-placed source, the project in question is a new food magazine to be published in partnership with the Food Network. Like previous TV-to-print adaptations Hearst has housed -- ESPN The Magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine and the ill-fated Lifetime -- the title would carry the Food Network's brand and be published as a joint venture, in this case between Hearst and Scripps, which owns the channel.

Asked about that, a Hearst spokeswoman said, "I can tell you that we are at a very early development stage on a concept in consultation with The Food Network. Any speculation about specifics at this point would be premature."

Will this one be a hit like O or a bust like Lifetime? The source, noting that Hearst is not the first publisher Scripps approached with the idea, predicts the latter. The problem is that the network's personalities aren't an automatic part of the package. And of course Ray, possibly the network's biggest star, has her own magazine, as does Paula Deen. "All you really get is the logo," says the source.