Sohla El-Waylly
Sohla El-Waylly is a chef, cookbook author, and cooking teacher sharing recipes, kitchen experiments, and the reasons behind them through Hot Dish and Sohla and Ham.
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Latest
Sohla’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus her backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
Knopf
YouTube
HISTORY
Babish Culinary UniverseOverview
- From
- Los Angeles, raised by Bengali parents
- Work
- Chef, recipe developer, author, and video host
- Training
- Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park
- Early restaurant
- Hail Mary, opened with Ham in Brooklyn in 2016
- Breakout
- Bon Appétit’s test kitchen videos, followed by Stump Sohla
- Now
- Hot Dish with Sohla and the Sohla and Ham YouTube channel
Mini bio
How it started.
Sohla grew up in Los Angeles, where her Bengali parents ran a Baskin-Robbins. She worked at chain restaurants before enrolling at the Culinary Institute of America in 2008, where she met Ham. After working in New York restaurant kitchens, they opened Hail Mary in Greenpoint in 2016.
Finding her audience.
When the restaurant closed, Sohla moved into food media, working at Serious Eats and Bon Appétit. Viewers got to know her through the test kitchen; in 2020 she spoke out about unequal treatment and pay, left its video team, and began Stump Sohla. The show gave her cooking instincts a playground of unusual constraints.
Teaching the why.
Start Here arrived in October 2023, bringing savory cooking and baking together in chapters organized around technique. It became a New York Times bestseller and won James Beard and IACP awards. Her screen work also includes Ancient Recipes with Sohla and judging The Big Brunch.
In her own kitchen.
Today, Hot Dish gives Sohla room to share the recipes she wants to cook in real time, while Sohla and Ham brings viewers into their home kitchen. Her newsletter bio says she is working on a second cookbook for fall 2027.
Creditschronological, newest first
Books
Video and television
- 2026Stand and Stir with SohlaHost, Sohla and Ham
- 2022The Big BrunchJudge alongside Dan Levy and Will Guidara
- 2021Ancient Recipes with SohlaHost and executive producer
- 2020Stump SohlaHost, Babish Culinary Universe
Restaurants
- 2016Hail MaryCo-owner with Ham El-Waylly
Awards
Quotes
I wanted my book to have the chill vibes of a friend teaching you how to cook.Sohla El-Waylly, TIME
On the approach behind Start Here, March 15, 2023. Source: https://time.com/6260881/sohla-el-waylly-cookbook-start-here/
Trivia
- Her family’s Baskin-Robbins connects her childhood to the ice cream she later made at Hail Mary.
- Thanksgiving was the first full meal her mother let her cook on her own.
- She shared test cakes with neighbors and local businesses while developing Start Here.
Find Sohla
Follow her recipes, kitchen notes, and home cooking with Ham.
Are you Sohla El-Waylly?
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