The Resiliant Carla Hall

Celebrity chefs come anf go. Carla Hall isnlt one of them. She;s here in a big way, promoting and highlighting Southern cooking> With it she brings fun into cooking classic Southern recipes.

Regular  contributor Kim Severson wrote about Ms Hall in  today's New Yorm Times Wednesday Food section. Ms. Hall came to prominence on the short lived The Chew which also starred Mario Batali, Michael Symon and Daphne Oz. However she was also a contestant on the 2008 season of Top Chef where she was known as "Kooky Carla".  She was originally from Nashville although Washington DC is now her home.Her earliest days pointed her into theater where she could dance and move her long limbs. She followed her sister to Howard University and wound up as the onlyAfrocan american in a white acocunting firm in Tampa. She went into modeling after doing such in the Tampa Bay area. Being in Paris with fellow Black models, they made their family recipes at Sunday suppers. This gave her an epiphany . She came back to the States and enrolled in L'Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda Maryland. She later cooked in washing hotel restiarants and began her own catering company. her husband  Matthew Lyons,a D.C. lawyer was watching Top Chef when he relaized his bubbly wife would be ao good match on the show . The rest is history.

Ms. Hall is now everywhere. Her new show Chasing Flavor" will be seen.It's done in the same vein as Anthony Bourdain's  travel influenced shows, The show which has aired this month on Max has Ms Hall travelling to such diverse countries as Ghana, Turkey and Italy. Dishes will be parsed and interpreted, as she explores their histories and their impact on American cuisine. Ms. Hall also has a  great line of kitchen ware and foodstuffs on QVC. Home chefs can buy everything from sausage to cornebread and cake mixes to name a few. There is also her recipe book ,Carla Hall's Soul Food :Celebration and Everyday that she cowrote with another Food Section contributor Genevieve Ko. She even made Dorito croquettes for the Super Bowl's Taste of the NFL event. There will be a onewoman show pllanned for Broadway too. There is also a recipe included for her Granny's five flavor pound cake.It's a rich old fashioned scratch cake with a pound of everything. The f ive flavors come from the vanilla, rum coconut;  lemon and almond extracts. It's the perfect cake for the Spring holidays.

Carla Hall is everywhere these days. watch her on Max for interesting trips. Buy her products to enhance the kitchen. Try her recipes. They are as vibrant and interesting  as she is.