“Cooking at home is the most difficult thing. It is like the hardest restaurant job you can have,” says accomplished chef Ham El-Waylly. “You are the dishwasher. You are the prep cook. No one’s helping you.” El-Waylly, an industry friend of mine, recently published his debut cookbook, Hello, Home Cooking, which features approachable recipes made with easy-to-find ingredients. We’ve seen this before, haven’t we? But the way in which these regular-degular ingredients are combined—and the stories that tag along—could only come from him.
Each recipe zigs where you expect it to zag. Cinnamon toast cereal is reimagined with pita, butter, and brown sugar. Chewy Bolivian cuñapes are shaken up with the aromatic flavors of garlic bread. Bessara, an Egyptian fava bean spread, is revamped with frozen edamame.
And the narrative is a riot. We learn quickly that El-Waylly loves entertainment wrestling, video games, and can do Will Smith’s handshake from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He grew up pretending he was on the set of Seinfeld. He favors graphic tees, and not being the life of the party.
I caught up with El-Waylly to talk about the challenges of home cooking, his all-time favorite snacks, and the joy of fresh pita.
Shilpa Uskokovic: What are the differences between the mindset of a professional and home cook?
Ham El-Waylly: At a restaurant you develop a menu once, maybe change it up seasonally, but for the most part, there's a framework. You don’t need to think, What am I going to cook today? You look at your menu, and then you just make it—that’s it. But at home, I cannot feed my daughter the same thing every day. She will not eat it. I don't want to eat it. No one wants to eat it. Each meal needs to be exciting, easy, healthy, and affordable. So I think, like, home cooks need to get their flowers.
Do you think a home cook could benefit from thinking like a restaurant cook?
When you go to a restaurant, you’re like, Oh, this tastes delicious. And that’s because restaurants pursue flavor relentlessly. We could all benefit from that attitude at home. Add a little bit more salt to your home food, a little more sugar, take that sear a little further than you normally would—that is the key to flavor. People always say, “I want to be a better home cook, give me a recipe.” It's not just the recipe that’s gonna make you a better home cook, it’s all of the general habits around cooking. The habits of seasoning, tasting, knowing how to adjust your heat, using the right pans. That’ll do more for your home cooking than any recipe ever will.
This book is so well designed. Did you always have a clear idea for the visuals?
I love vintage cookbooks, and I really wanted mine to feel like one of those old Betty Crocker books. They’re not overly explanatory or detailed so there are still aspects of learning, exploring, and fun. I wanted this whole book to feel nostalgic, like it could have been published ages ago. And that was all reflected in the plateware choices: lots of florals, grandma-style plates, lots of lace, and lots of fabric.
In the book, you have a whole chapter dedicated to snacks and dips. What are your favorite snacks?
Young Ham grew up on Fritos. My mom was very strict with the snacks we had at home during the school year. I needed to buy ones I wanted on my own and smuggle them into the house. We never had potato chips at home, but for some reason, we did have Fritos. My mom believed that corn was healthier than potatoes, so it made the cut. A handful of Fritos thrown into the toaster oven with a slice of cheese on top was my first experiment with nachos. As an adult, Harvest Snaps White Cheddar snap pea snacks have become one of my favorites. And Bugles. Bugles are very disrespected these days. They are well seasoned, crisp, and the shape makes them perfect for dipping. What more do you need?
You have a recipe in the book for Soba Sharkaseya, a fusion of Egyptian chicken sharkaseya and Japanese soba. This is just one example of you having fun, pulling from different influences, rather than prescribing a formulaic approach to cooking. Who or what influenced that cooking ethos?
My mom was a very adventurous cook, and she was very open to cultures and trying new things. From Santa Cruz, Bolivia, she moved around a lot: to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for college, Washington, DC, where she met my dad, then Doha, Qatar, where I grew up. Throughout all those journeys, she always collected recipes from people around her. Her signature icebreaker at parties was, “So, what’s your favorite thing to cook?” And then she’d come home and try it. Being exposed to so many different foods from many different cultures made me appreciate their similarities and put them together where they made sense.
Many homecooking books are geared towards efficiency. Yours isn’t shy about project cooking. Why do you think project cooking is important for the home cook?
I want people to open up this book any time of the year, any day of the week, and find something to make from it. So in between all the easier, quicker recipes, I sprinkle in a few bigger ones because home cooks should feel a sense of accomplishment. When you cook at home, so much of it feels like a chore. There’s nothing wrong with breaking out of that monotony and having a little fun sometimes. I want this to be a book people have fun with.
In the recipe for Kinda Shish Tawook Spread, why did you feel compelled to include instructions for homemade pita in an otherwise quick recipe?
I just love a freshly baked pita. I think everyone needs to experience that at least once. And when you see a pita pop up in front of your eyes, it’s like, Oh man! You just feel your heart get big.