The Worst Dish Carla Hall Ever Ate On Baking Championship
While experiences may vary, one thing is for sure if you are a celebrity chef who spends their days hosting and judging food-based television shows, writing cookbooks, running restaurant kitchens, and making appearances to talk about all of the above: you are going to try a lot of different dishes. Carla Hall went from being a "Top Chef" contestant to being on the other side of the equation, trying competitors' creations on different TV programs. Few people know better, then, what it's like to take a bite of both incredibly delicious foods and incredibly not-delicious foods.
In 2017, Bon Appetit asked Hall what the top five best meals she had ever had were. We can only imagine how tough it was for someone with Hall's career and culinary passion to choose, but she waxed poetic about the likes of a "cereal"-type dessert at a Michigan restaurant and mushroom risotto at a woman named Bumble's home in Scotland. Now, we are learning something on the opposite end of the tasty spectrum about Hall's experiences. Insider has been running a "From the Judging Table" series, where the judges from our favorite cooking and baking competition shows spill the behind-the-scenes beans. They recently asked judges about the best and worst things they have ever eaten from contestants, and Hall revealed one decidedly odd combo she had the misfortune of having to sample.
Three delicious ingredients don't always guarantee a great flavor combo
Carla Hall co-hosts and is a judge on the Food Network's Halloween edition of its seasonal "Baking Championship" series. It stands to reason that the challenges on "Halloween Baking Championship" might reveal some, well... scary dishes, and Hall indeed got the creeps from one particular contestant's offering that perhaps was a little too ambitious when it came to combining ingredients.
"One [contestant] decided to do peppermint, orange, and chocolate," Hall told Insider. That does, in fact, sound like a chaotic crash of flavors. Hall pointed out the missed opportunities in sticking to just two of those elements. "Orange and chocolate? Great. Chocolate and peppermint? Great. Orange and peppermint? No," Hall said. In case you are having a hard time imagining what this trio could have tasted like, Hall nailed the perfect comparison — something many of us can unfortunately relate to on rushed mornings. "You have given me toothpaste and I have forgotten I brushed my teeth and drank orange juice. Medicinal and yucky."
Don't feel too bad for Hall, though. She also gets to enjoy some wonderful dishes judging "Halloween Baking Championship." Her favorite, she revealed to Insider, had to do with happy memories. Demonstrating how important nostalgia and our own emotional connections with food can be, Hall enjoyed a rum cake that her fellow judges found too soggy. She loved it because it reminded her of past Bahamas vacations. We hope Hall gets a lot more rum cake moments and far fewer chocolate-orange-peppermint moments.