The Cookbook Creative is excited to announce that we’ll be publishing Chef Jeffrey Schlissel's new memoir and cookbook later this year!

We first interviewed the undisputed Kingpin of the Bacon Cartel in the spring of 2023 and were impressed with his willingness to tackle any subject – even the most controversial ones.

We just shared the full interview in our latest podcast episode, with a Q&A excerpt below. We look forward to talking with Chef Jeffrey again when it’s time for his book launch!

Q: Jeffrey, you bring your whole self to everything you do. And there's nothing you won't talk about, including mental health in the culinary industry

A: I talk about mental health because when I was 18 and I tried to complete suicide, I had nobody to turn to. But ultimately, I did get the help I needed and I want to be there for others. We need to shine the light and talk about mental health in our industry. We’re near the top in drug and alcohol abuse.

Q: And now you’re working on a book to help shine that light.

A: My book not only has recipes but talks about my food addiction. When I was researching the food addiction, my therapist told me: “You’re battling a billion-dollar industry that wants to put you on a diet - not to fix you.” Food issues, food addictions, anorexia, and bulimia are some of the biggest mental health crises in the United States.

Q: You talk about food addiction and you also talk about suicide.

A: Every single day, every 26 seconds, somewhere in the world, someone's attempting suicide. In 2018, we lost one of the greatest voices, one of the greatest storytellers in the culinary tradition, Chef Bourdain. There will be no one ever to replace him in our lifetime or maybe ever, but I feel that what he did for the culinary scene in modern times is what Julia Childs did for me as a child.

Q: What tips do you have for people who are struggling with food addictions?

A: Sometimes I sit down at the end of the day and realize, “Oh. I didn’t eat today.” That's not good. Your metabolism slows down. It's very important that we need to eat. The second thing is, when you're eating, if you’re in the industry and you’re like me, I usually stand up and shovel it in. We have a saying in the industry: eat it now, taste it later. Those are things we need to stop. We're, we're amplifying the issues if we don’t sit down at the table, like a normal person, and eat. I'll even put my fork down and I'll push my plate to the side. I'll take a sip of my drink and just take a breath. That was the first thing that helped.

The second thing that helped was telling that fat kid inside me to shut up - that he was no longer in charge. I wanted to take that power away from that kid.

Q: You mentioned that the restaurant industry is all about super-sized meals. Do you want to comment on that?

A: McDonald's, you know, has supersized meals; 7-11 has a series of Big Gulp sodas that range up to 50 ounces.

I think we need to stop this because we have an obligation to our guests as chefs, to give them the right portions. We need to change the mindset of what's going on in the United States.

Q: What's your favorite dish to make? I can’t wait to see what recipes will make it into your book.

A: I do a bourbon infused bacon jerk sandwich, a BLT, but we called it The Jerk. We added red onion slivers, very thin red onions, with the romaine and fresh tomatoes. And then we had aji verde on it - a Peruvian Sauce that just has so much complexity to it. We served it on a brioche bread and it was stellar.

Q: You’re involved in with a podcast, too, right?

A: Yes, it’s called the Walk-in Talk podcast with Carl Fiadini and you can get it on Spotify or anywhere you get podcasts. We also have a YouTube channel, because we’ll set up live in a hotel or a restaurant while we're doing it. And you can see the videos from behind the scenes.

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We think Chef Jeffrey’s book is going to give everyone a lot of behind-the-scenes insights into who Jeffrey is and how other people might use what he’s learned as they face their own addictions and mental health challenges.

Plus, he’ll have some exceptional recipes that everyone will want to try.

Here's a sneak preview of one of his recipes from the book. This one's super easy, fast, and very tasty!

Fig Glazed Pork Chop

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 1

Ingredients:

1 each pork chop, center cut loin chop about 2" thickness

1 Tablespoon fig jam

1 teaspoon sweet chili sauce

Directions:

1) Mix the fig jam with the sweet chili sauce. Mix until combined.

2) Season your pork chop with salt and pepper Cook the pork chop until the internal temperature has reached about 130 degrees. Let rest for ten minutes to achieve 140. Just as your pork chops are nearing that 130 temperature mark, add the fig glaze on top.

Serve and enjoy!