841: Carla Hall Doesn’t Need a Holiday to Bake Something Special

This Is TASTE

Chef Carla Hall joins host Eliza Barbanel to discuss her debut baking cookbook, 'Carla Bakes: Sweet, Savory, and From the Heart.' The conver

Key takeaways

Carla Hall's cookbook aims to make seasonal recipes like gingerbread accessible year-round.
Using cold butter in frosting can create a more stable and effective result for cupcakes.
Hall recommends always blind baking pie crusts to avoid doughy, undercooked textures.
The cookbook features innovative savory items including chicken pot pie Pop-Tarts and grits brulee.
Hall emphasizes that successful baking requires a balance between technical confidence and 'heart.'

Main topics

Carla Bakes cookbook features
Baking techniques and tips
Culinary career history

Notable quotes

I don't want you to wait for a holiday to do.

Conclusion

The episode offers a heartwarming look at the artistry and technical p

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:07) But there's so many things in the book that I don't want you to wait for a holiday to do. I don't want you to wait for Christmas to make gingerbread cookies. So I sort of blur the lines when you would make the thing, which is why I made my gingerbread people black with braids. Because I could. Speaker 2 (0:30) This is Taste. I'm your host, Eliza Barbanel. Speaker 2 (0:35) Everybody loves Carla Hall. Carla Hall is a chef and TV host who has appeared on many of our favorite food programs over the years, from Bravo's Top Chef to Fox's Next Level Baker. Her latest cookbook is also her first baking book, Carla Bakes, Sweet, Savory, and From the Heart. Today on the show, Carla stops by the studio to chat about all things baking and what makes this book so special. Speaker 2 (1:02) Carla Hall, this is Taste. Thank you for coming on the podcast. It's so great to be back. Yeah, thank you for coming back again onto the podcast and to talk about baking, which is such a fun topic. And to start, I have to ask if you've had any good baked goods recently. Speaker 1 (1:17) Well, oh my gosh. So at my book signing last night, a woman and I... It's in that bag. She brought me some cinnamon rolls from my recipe on Chewed Up, and she had milled her own flour. Wow. And they're delicious. And it's funny. I was eating some. I was so hungry this morning. And I was thinking, wow, this milled flour, it's just a little sturdier, you know? And it's really nice and nutty. And I just want to give her a shout out. I'll get the name in a minute. But people bring me things all the time. So that is the latest and greatest thing that I had. Is the cinnamon rolls. Do you feel like when Speaker 2 (1:57) people bring you the baked goods, do you try to eat them in front of them? Or do they want feedback or it's for later? Sometimes they do. Yeah. Speaker 1 (2:05) Sometimes they want feedback. And I say, do you want me to be honest? Do you want constructive feedback? And if they say yes, I'm like, OK. Speaker 1 (2:15) You said that you wanted feedback and I will eat it and I will give them feedback as if I'm on a show. That Speaker 2 (2:21) must be the thrill of a lifetime, though, to be critiqued by a Carla Hall live and in person. Speaker 1 (2:25) Yeah. Yeah. I mean, people people are up for it. And I think people are up to learning. They don't necessarily want me to praise it. And I will do a positive sandwich. I will never trash anybody's thing. But I think the fact that they. want constructive feedback, I feel like, hey, I'd love to give it to you. Speaker 2 (2:43) Right. I think that's the right way to approach it. And milling your own flour, I would never even. Consider doing that. Is that something that you've done? Speaker 1 (2:50) Okay. I was thinking about this when I was eating the cinnamon roll. I want one of those. The tabletop. The tabletop flour miller. And I have threatened to get it several times and I haven't gotten it. And then I just reminded myself that I do want one. I do. I mean, especially where our food is today. And I was also checking to see how my body feels. I think. My body processes that flour very differently than the processed flour. So, yes, I'm back on the flour mill. Speaker 2 (3:24) Well, I think now that we've talked about it, we're speaking it into existence. Maybe you'll come home and there will be one waiting for you. Hello, Speaker 1 (3:30) Matthew. Do you know where to get that thing? Speaker 2 (3:34) Do you have room for it in your kitchen, I guess, is the real question. I just Speaker 1 (3:37) cleaned out some space. Speaker 2 (3:38) I can Speaker 1 (3:39) throw out some other stuff. Speaker 2 (3:40) You knew something was going to come in that you needed room for. Speaker 1 (3:43) I'm in that season. I'm getting things ready for buy nothing. I'm getting rid of things so I can pull in some other Speaker 2 (3:50) equipment. Well, we're already talking about baking a little bit, but this is your first baking cookbook, which I think is so special. And I'm wondering if you could tell me about... why you wanted to make a baking cookbook, why this was the right time for it. Speaker 1 (4:04) I've wanted to do a baking book for a while, even before Soul Food. Soul Food came out in 2018, so I started working on it in 2016. So that's how long I've wanted to do a baking book. I think this is the right time because I now have a lot of the baking shows under my belt. I have Chasing Flavor under my belt. I've done The Cookie Company. So I have all of these things that I have done. And I'm 62 and I have the bucket of efforts. So my projects now are absolutely things that I want to do. And I know how to share that. What shall I say? Tell people this is what I want to do. Speaker 2 (4:51) It's a good time Speaker 1 (4:52) for it. Yeah, it's a really good time for it. And I was having a lot of fun with this because I didn't have to do a book, but I felt like the book was in me. Do you know Speaker 2 (5:00) what Speaker 1 (5:00) I mean? Speaker 2 (5:00) I think reading the book, it makes so much sense. Like not only your background as a recipe developer, as a chef, as a caterer with the cookie company, I learned about that you used to be an accountant. I was like, oh, okay, like math brain, like weights and measures. Do you feel like that serves you well? 100%. Speaker 1 (5:16) That, I also have Virgo in my chart, so very exacting. What's your chart? Can we? I am Taurus with a Gemini rising and a Virgo. What moon? Moon. Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:30) I feel safe having baking recipes from somebody with that chart. Speaker 1 (5:34) Thank you. Speaker 1 (5:36) As a nervous Speaker 2 (5:37) baker, the Virgo placement is what I need to see. I Speaker 1 (5:40) feel very sane. Also, I think for me, because I've taught a lot, I've taught at Sur La Table, I've taught at other recreational baking classes. And whenever I'm doing a recipe, I'm hearing the students or the people who take the classes. And I'm trying to... put myself in the kitchen with you. Speaker 2 (6:01) And Speaker 1 (6:01) then there are some recipes that I really wanted to teach myself to do. And so, and they took a couple tries. And so I'm also sharing that, you know, and I think wanting someone to have a great experience colors the way that I will teach you how to do it. Speaker 2 (6:23) I like that. How would you describe your kind of baking style? Speaker 1 (6:28) I would say I don't want it to be precious, but I want it to be pretty. Pretty, not precious. And when I say that, I want it to look good. I like straight edges, but I also want to be able to throw it together. You know, I really want the thing to. There's some simple things. So every chapter, for instance, every chapter starts with a very simple recipe. And as you get to the last recipe, it's a little more involved. It's not necessarily difficult, but it has components. And so I think if you're somebody who just wants to look at the book and, hey, just want something quick, then you look at those first few recipes. And I think that if you want a weekend project, the weekend baking warrior, then you're going to do some of those recipes that are at the bottom of the list. And I wanted to give people a point of view of how to work through the book. Now, if you want to change things up a little bit, I want you to go to the last chapter, which I call like the jewelry. You can like, you know, change your jam, change your chocolate or whatever and make it your own. Speaker 2 (7:36) Something I enjoyed reading in the book was just how much you look for the point of view of the baker when you're judging baked goods. Do you feel like there are any recipes in the book that really showcase your point of view as a baker? I think probably all of them. Speaker 1 (7:51) All of them. Well, Speaker 2 (7:52) the Speaker 1 (7:53) very vanilla cupcakes are in there because I want you to have a go-to recipe if you want to make cupcakes and the frosting. The frosting is made with cold butter. And I had a. Speaker 1 (8:06) food stylists do this recipe for a photo shoot that I had. And she was like, oh my Speaker 2 (8:12) God, Speaker 1 (8:12) the cold butter in the frosting. I'm like, yeah, right. And I'm not saying that I came up with that. Years ago, when I was looking for a frosting and I had a lot of failures in frosting, I was like, I just need a stabilized frosting. And I found that using the cold butter made a huge difference. And so I'm like, I think people need to know this. More people need to know. About cold butter. About the cold butter. And I