Chef Sohla El-Waylly, during a taping of the 'Stump Sohla' series with Andrew Rea, founder of the Binging with Babish network. AP Photo
Chef Sohla El-Waylly, during a taping of the 'Stump Sohla' series with Andrew Rea, founder of the Binging with Babish network. AP Photo
Chef Sohla El-Waylly, during a taping of the 'Stump Sohla' series with Andrew Rea, founder of the Binging with Babish network. AP Photo
Chef Sohla El-Waylly, during a taping of the 'Stump Sohla' series with Andrew Rea, founder of the Binging with Babish network. AP Photo

Who is Sohla El-Waylly? The chef making her mark on the Babish Culinary Universe


Panna Munyal
  • English
  • Arabic

Sohla El-Waylly is immensely personable. The chef and YouTube star is not only credited with having an encyclopedic knowledge of all things culinary, but she also makes the most unusual of recipes fun to watch; the more bizarre, the more brilliant, in fact.

Married to Egyptian-Bolivian chef Hamish El-Waylly, Sohla was brought up in Los Angeles by Bengali parents, who owned a Baskin-Robbins store. Her own culinary journey led her from working in Michelin-starred Atera to opening a restaurant called Hail Mary with her husband, before moving on to Bon Appetit magazine as assistant food editor and, since September, hosting her own YouTube show, Stump Sohla.

Stump Sohla

Stump Sohla is part of the Babish Culinary Universe YouTube channel (formerly Binging with Babish, best known as the show that recreated the Moist Maker sandwich from Friends). Stump Sohla, as its name suggests, requires Sohla to cook a meal with a twist.

The caper in question is decided by a gameshow-style spinning wheel, peppered with bizarre requirements, such as “Make it sad”, “Serve on fire”, “Astronaut food” and “[Prepare it] one-handed”.

This is cooking that’s meant to be watched, not learnt. There are only so many guests who’ll be left at a dinner party that serves beetle-stuffed candy (from the “Make it scary” Halloween episode) or pasta slow-cooked over an open flame (from the “18th-century” Mac & Cheese episode). And immensely watchable it is. Sohla’s tongue-in-cheek delivery combined with her incontestable culinary know-how and twisted recipes are internet gold.

Even if you don't recreate these specific dishes at home, Sohla shares cooking tips and ingredient trivia useful to the novice chef, all with her trademark bone-dry humour. For instance, "Gelatin does not need much heat to dissolve, so ensure it doesn't get over the boiling point, because then it can deactivate...", she explains, adding with a poker face, "and then it will die."

The show is part of a 10-episode contract, but that figure is likely to go up given its popularity.

The 'Bon Appetit' setback

Having joined as assistant food editor at Conde Nast's Bon Appetit magazine last August, Sohla quickly became the go-to person for its Test Kitchen YouTube show. However, she left the role within a year amid a flurry of accusations – from racial discrimination to being underpaid and over experienced.

Multiple fan-made videos prove that Sohla basically ran the whole show, at least behind the scenes, despite often being relegated to the background in the actual episodes and not being paid for them.

Bon Appetit's loss is Babish's gain, though, as the four Slump Sohla episodes released so far have raked up an average of two million views each.

What’s next for Sohla?

Stump Sohla aside, Sohla is guest-judging culinary shows, including Dishmantled. She has written the first of her Off-Script with Sohla weekly columns for Food52.com (titled Chicken & Rice, however the heck you want), and she is also working on a cookbook.

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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest

Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.

Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.

Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.

Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.

Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.

Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia

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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

MATCH INFO

Liverpool 2 (Van Dijk 18', 24')

Brighton 1 (Dunk 79')

Red card: Alisson (Liverpool)

'The Sky is Everywhere'

Director:Josephine Decker

Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon

Rating:2/5

How do Sim card scams work?

Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.

They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards by claiming to be the victim, often pretending their phone has been lost or stolen in order to secure a new Sim.

They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.

The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.

THE BIG MATCH

Arsenal v Manchester City,

Sunday, Emirates Stadium, 6.30pm

What is hepatitis?

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.

There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.

Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.

People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.

There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.

The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.

 

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now

RACE CARD

6.30pm: Baniyas Group 2 (PA) Dh 97,500 (Dirt) 1,400m.

7.05pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m

7.40pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,400m

8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,400m

8.50pm Rated Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,600m

9.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh 95,000 (D) 1,200m

10pm Handicap (TB) Dh 85,000 (D) 2,000m

BMW M5 specs

Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor

Power: 727hp

Torque: 1,000Nm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh650,000

Result

Arsenal 4
Monreal (51'), Ramsey (82'), Lacazette 85', 89')

West Ham United 1
Arnautovic (64')

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

PRO BASH

Thursday’s fixtures

6pm: Hyderabad Nawabs v Pakhtoon Warriors

10pm: Lahore Sikandars v Pakhtoon Blasters

Teams

Chennai Knights, Lahore Sikandars, Pakhtoon Blasters, Abu Dhabi Stars, Abu Dhabi Dragons, Pakhtoon Warriors and Hyderabad Nawabs.

Squad rules

All teams consist of 15-player squads that include those contracted in the diamond (3), platinum (2) and gold (2) categories, plus eight free to sign team members.

Tournament rules

The matches are of 25 over-a-side with an 8-over power play in which only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Teams play in a single round robin league followed by the semi-finals and final. The league toppers will feature in the semi-final eliminator.

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Bombshell

Director: Jay Roach

Stars: Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie 

Four out of five stars 

THE BIO

Occupation: Specialised chief medical laboratory technologist

Age: 78

Favourite destination: Always Al Ain “Dar Al Zain”

Hobbies: his work  - “ the thing which I am most passionate for and which occupied all my time in the morning and evening from 1963 to 2019”

Other hobbies: football

Favorite football club: Al Ain Sports Club

 

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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RACE CARD

6.30pm Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,200

7.05pm Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m

7.40pm Maiden Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m

8.15pm Handicap Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m

8.50pm Handicap Dh175,000 (D) 1,400m

9.25pm Handicap Dh175,000 (D) 2,000m

 

The National selections:

6.30pm Underwriter

7.05pm Rayig

7.40pm Torno Subito

8.15pm Talento Puma

8.50pm Etisalat

9.25pm Gundogdu