Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Fritz.
Hi Jeff, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello my name is Jeff Fritz and I’m a recently retired Air Force member. I currently live in Ellicott city Maryland with my wife and three sons. My cooking and business story started while I was active-duty Air Force stationed in Phoenix Arizona in 2006. I signed up to go to automotive school and prior to the class start date the school canceled the program. I knew I loved working with my hands and being creative since I had worked in several trades over the years to include wood working. After the school canceled my class I had to figure out what I was going to do. I spoke with some guys at work about it and they mentioned another sergeant we worked with taught at a local culinary school. I met up with him later that week and one thing lead to another and I found myself taking my first culinary class and changing my life. The time I spent in culinary school was some of the best of my life. I found out very quickly how passionate I was about food and the creativity that I could express through different cuisines. In addition to the passion I met so many great chef’s and friends while in school. The school week was grueling with most days being about 20 hours long. It was hard on my family but in the end we could see the light at the end of the tunnel and what it could mean for all of us. After graduation I was a trained and certified cook (not a chef yet) and I took advantage of this training while being active duty still. Each new state and country that I was stationed in I sought out places to cook or teach cooking at while there. I have had the pleasure to cook in Canada assisting two different college culinary programs and while in the States I have cooked at various restaurants, cooking schools, a Michelin star restaurant, and in numerous cooking competitions. All these different experiences over my career crafted me into the chef/owner I am today.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it has not been a smooth road. From the start my military leadership was not supportive of me taking classes which forced me into 20-hour plus days five days a week for two years while I earned my associates degree. Military life created many of the challenges I faced as we moved 9 times and lived in 11 different homes in three countries during my 21 years. Each new location meant that I was forced to start over and cultivate new relationships with schools, restaurants, and farmers. There was a lot of good that came from this as I met so many amazing chefs and friends along the way. Plus, I was introduced to different cuisines, cooking styles, with each person I met I realized they had different experiences and loved to share them. One thing in my life is that I was never great in school, much of it had to do with the fact that I had a bit of a dyslexia problem. This issue made it hard for me to comprehend things fast in addition to slowing me down considerably when reading. A simple chapter in a book could take me all night to read vs my wife who can read a whole book in a day. But, as I mentioned before I found a strong passion in food and was eager to learn everything I could. This made the challenge of reading much easier as I enjoyed absorbing the food history and differences in cuisines from around the world. I also learned that I learn better from verbal instruction and then repeating it myself. This reenforced the material for me and help me succeed in the kitchen. With all the learning issues I still had the military side of my life to deal with which at times was very tough with long hours, deployments, and work trips around the country and world. It was hard to cook consistently and build upon the skills I had learned since it took time at each place to meet people and earn the trust of a chef so I could work I the kitchen. In the end I think that overall, these challenges have shaped who I am as a chef and allowed me to find my voice through the different types of cuisine that I love to cook.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The work that I do is as a Chef/Owner of SilverWolf Private Assistance LLC and the Chef Fritz brand spices is a bit unique. I’m one of only a few chefs that uses open fire cooking mediums and melds them with both ancient and modern techniques to create unique dishes for my events. My company hosts live fire dining experiences for guests at pop-up locations around Maryland, DC, Virginia. Each of these custom events showcase the majority of the dishes cooked using both ancient and modern cooking techniques over open fire. In addition to the dining experience we use each event as a way to support several different veteran and first responder organizations with a portion of our proceeds going to them. As a veteran I do my best to give back to my brothers and sisters in arms when I can. My Chef partner Mike Edwards and I also look to support groups like the Wounded Warrior Project, the USO, The Warrior Retreat at Bull Run and other Wounded Warriors organizations.
The way in which we cook is was something unique but is becoming a growing trend with high end restaurants around the world. We love the fire and smoke and use that to add to our flavor profiles for the meals and events we create. The fact that we also utilize both ancient and modern techniques is not something you see in many restaurant out there. Some Michelin star chefs like Chef Mallmann and Hastie are doing this style and I have learned a great deal from their cookbooks and shows. But, even they are not combining these techniques and styles that we are. Lastly, and most importantly we are using locally sourced products from farms, vineyards around us. Farms like Liberty Delight Farms in Reisterstown Maryland provide us with much of the proteins we use while others provide us with vegetables and fruits, microgreens and more. We call our style Farm to Fire Cuisine.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I have several mentors, family, and teammates that have helped me get to where I am today. The first and foremost is my family, my wife Faith and my three sons Zander, Gavin, and Nikolai. Anytime I try something new in the kitchen they are one of the first to try it. They always provide me with feedback. Every day they support me in our business and without them I would have a hard time finding the energy to create new things and work as hard as I do. My teammates Mike Edwards and his wife Chef Chrissie Edwards and their family are partners in most everything that we do and the events couldn’t happen without them. Their creativity, incite, and planning of the events that we do are instrumental and I couldn’t do it without them. My mentors are the Chef Team of David and Rachel Knickrehm, they took me aside early on and put me on the right path to success. They introduced me to other mentors like Chef Ray Duey master carver and food network award winner. Other people like my partners at Liberty Delight Farms Lauren Taylor and Shane Hughes have pushed me to think outside the box and use the best local ingredients and products. They have been supportive since we met, and I love working with them and supporting their farm in Reisterstown Maryland. Chef Amy Riolo, the master of the Mediterranean diet/life style has helped me with so much from starting my cooking guide that I hope to have out this year to teaching me from the Italian family perspective on one of my favorite cuisines Italian. She has been so amazing and I thank her for everything she has done for me and I wish her more success in the coming years as she has her 13th cookbook coming out soon. There have been so many great people that I have met over the years while in the military it’s hard to name them all, but one last shout out to my Shed Team family from The Shed BBQ and Blues in Ocean Springs MS, Brad and Brooke have shown me the world of BBQ and the amazing family that comes with it! The rest of the team Rob, Amy, Russ, George, Fred, Buggy, Buddy, Big Mike, Robyn, and Scotty you all have been amazing and helped me so much through my transition from Military life into civilian life and become family to us, thank you all.
Pricing:
- Spices $12.00 plus shipping
- Private Chef Dinners see Chefjefffritz.com and email for pricing
- See my website under events for upcoming Open Fire Benefits for 2023, next event will post in March for later this year. Tickets prices vary but normally start around $125
Contact Info:
- Website: Chefjefffritz.com
- Instagram: @Chef_jeff_fritz
- Facebook: Chef Jeff Fritz
Image Credits
Jonathan Guzman of Guzman Multimedia, LLC
