Ham It Up!
Ham El-Waylly—the chef, girl-dad, and new cookbook author—is today's guest on Radio Cherry Bombe
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Give Ham El-Waylly a crisp Canada Dry seltzer first thing in the morning, and what can’t he do?
“You want to feel it in your brain, in your nostrils,” said Ham, a seltzer connoisseur.
Ham showed up to our Rockefeller Center podcast studio in a blushing pink shirt. “It matches my eyes,” he pointed out. It did, beautifully. Ham is zany and sweet and authentically charming, and we’re so happy his first cookbook is finally here—and it matches his personality completely: Hello, Home Cooking
This week on Radio Cherry Bombe, the Strange Delight chef and partner, girl-dad, and husband to Cherry Bombe cover star Sohla El-Waylly, tells us about his upbringing in Doha, Qatar, where his childhood meals were a mix of flavors from his Bolivian mother and Egyptian father. You can see those sides of him in recipes like his puffy Cheese Empanadas and Refried Butter Bean Tacos (turning ful medames into refried beans—yum).
After watching lots of Yan Can Cook, Ham set his mind on becoming a fine-dining chef and made his way to New York. Along the way, he was catering a meal for Martha Stewart, who requested more tortilla chips to build a feeling of abundance on her tablescape. Ham ferried back and forth from the restaurant to the event with more and more chips.
Afterwards, “her assistant came out, grabbed me, and was like, ‘Come here. Martha would like to meet you,’” he told us, “And then my heart dropped. I was nervous. My palms were sweaty.” But all she wanted was to sincerely thank him for his hard work, something caterers rarely hear. She gave him a signed book, and now Ham is a Martha fan for life. Aren’t we all?
Notes to self
Rewatch Chef, Ham’s favorite food movie
Pick up nacho cheese-flavored Bugles to snack on while watching
Notice beauty in the mundane, like a well-tied stack of cardboard boxes on the curbside
Repeat Ham’s morning mantra: “I try and start my day by telling myself that you are not a loser today, you will win.”
Keep up with Ham and Sohla’s “pretend press tour” for Hello, Home Cooking
Ham’s mayo replacer
Ham uses this Tahini and Silken Tofu Dip exactly like mayonnaise. Funny enough, he didn’t even like tahini as a kid—but thankfully, he grew to love it. Otherwise, we might never have gotten this fab recipe from his new cookbook.
Other recipes we can’t wait to make from Hello, Home Cooking:
Masa Waffles (aka Masaffles) — you prep the batter overnight for a deeper flavor and crisp, fluffy texture
Cod with Soy and Sake — want to drink this simple sauce of sake, soy sauce, butter, lemon, parsley, and capers
Frito Ganache Tart — more Frito crusts in our future, please
More Radio Cherry Bombe
🎧 The Coolest Lady In Food, Ruthie Rogers Of The River Cafe In London
🎧 Life, Love & How To Peel Garlic With Goodstory’s Lydia Keating And Hot Side’s Max Baroni
🎧 Our Favorite Spice Girl, Sana Javeri Kadri Of Diaspora Spice Co., Is Now A Cookbook Author
🎧 The Perfect Pizza With Cookbook Author Colu Henry
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