Chef Aleem: The Genius Behind 2 Chainz #MEALTIME Cookbook

YouGottaEatThis: You mentioned earlier that you used to own a restaurant. What are some of the similarities and differences between having your own restaurant and being a private/celebrity chef?

Chef Aleem: One of the main differences is the volume in other words it’s a lot less stressful in some ways working for a particular client as opposed to a restaurant because there’s a lot more preparations, a lot more hours involved, you’re responsible for employees. Those things and those stresses are a lot less when you’re working for a personal client. Then the flip side is if you have an especially active client it’s a lot of traveling, there’s a lot last minute decisions. And me I do a lot of touring so you know after you do a 7 – 8 week tour sometimes you’re ready to get off of the road and just recharge and get back to normal a bit. So like I said the main things are the overhead expenses, responsible for employees as opposed to one particular client. You’re just really catering to their needs, their likes/dislikes, and their personal schedules.

Teriyaki Salmon Recipe

YouGottaEatThis: The last sentence in the cookbook reads, “Take a minute to celebrate yourself, and celebrate the “Me Time” you were able to spend cooking these meals.” What are some of Chef Aleem’s favorite Me Time activities?

Chef Aleem: Poker, movies, traveling and spending time with my children/family.

YouGottaEatThis: Speaking of your family, they must be super proud of your tremendous work ethic and how it has paid off. They also probably love the fact that there is a professional chef in the family! Do you think your kids will follow in your footsteps to becoming a professional chef? Out of all of your recipes, what are some of your kid’s favorites?

Chef Aleem: My older son seems to have cooking aspirations or at least adding to a part of how he makes a living. My other two no, but my younger son usually helps me with a lot of my cooking jobs and my daughter helps me in my restaurant either on the server end or the cashier side. My daughter also sends me pictures of her cooking. But like I said my oldest, whose name is Shamir, has aspirations now of having a culinary background and the other two just want to know how to be able to cook.

They love my turkey spaghetti and meatballs. They love any kind of fish dish. I also do a lot of grilling like jerk BBQ chicken and they love that.

Behind the scenes: Chef Aleem Prepares Fried Chicken

YouGottaEatThis: In addition to your work with 2 Chainz, you also have some personal projects. You’re working on a project called “Well Done.” Can you tell us more about this exciting new endeavor? How was the concept formulated?

Chef Aleem: I always had an idea for something like this, a cooking show. I want to attract young people and people in general to the culinary world as a viable career choice. Before it becomes a last effort to do something, I want people to take it as a professional career choice and if you start it earlier enough you can end up making a decent living by the time you get to the age where a decent living is important.

I wanted to show people a little about me, introduce them to me and what I do. I also left the celebrity part of me out of the first version of the series. In the next versions we will have some of the people I work with like athletes and entertainers, but I wanted this first one to be a standalone, to show the concept, and to give people a background of me.

YouGottaEatThis: What are some of the things that you want to tell the world?

Chef Aleem: I’m humbled by the attention that I seem to be getting right now and hopefully I will live up to the hype. Secondly, look out for the Well Done series and get the 2 Chainz B.O.A.T.S. II: #METIME deluxe version (laughs). I’m also working on a non-profit here in Atlanta called “Cool Kids Cook” which is geared towards the young people. It’s teaching how to use culinary as a career choice. I want to teach them that if I can do it than they can do it too.

I’m just trying to work and leave a legacy for my kids to be proud of, live up to, and look up to.

Click the Next Page to view some of The #MEALTIME Cookbook recipes and to get a behind the scenes look of Chef Aleem’s preparations for the cookbook.