What’s in Carla Hall’s Fridge?
Among other things, a lot of chowchow
By Carrie Solomon and Adrian Moore
This Q&A with Carla Hall is an excerpt from Chefs’ Fridges: More Than 35 World-Renowned Cooks Reveal What They Eat at Home, released in May and the second book from the authors, following Inside Chefs’ Fridges, Europe.
Heated: You seem to do a lot of batch cooking.
Carla Hall: For our Thanksgiving and Christmas, we always have collard greens and chowchow, which is a pickle relish. I grew up eating chowchow. The first time I had to make chowchow was for an event. So I thought if I’m making it for them, then I’m making it for myself as well. I must have made 30 pounds of chowchow when I only needed 10 pounds for the event. So I gave lots of it away. Since it’s a pickle, it doesn’t go bad — it only gets better.
How do you eat your chowchow?
I eat the chowchow on everything — on eggs for breakfast, hot dogs, tortilla chips, on everything. I like chowchow so much I basically use the other food like a spoon. I love sour. I love pickles.
Something we’d never find in your fridge?
Honestly even if I had canned cranberry sauce in there, if I want it and I’m buying it, it’s OK. I can’t be food-shamed.
