Scott Peacock (born 1963) is a

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a k ...

of American Southern cuisine.

Early life

Scott Peacock was born and grew up in

Hartford, Alabama Hartford is a city in Geneva County, Alabama, United States. It incorporated in 1896. It is part of the Dothan, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2020 census the population was 2,651, up from 2,624 in 2010. Geography Hartford is loc ...

Southern Cooking The cuisine of the Southern United States encompasses diverse food traditions of several regions, including Tidewater, Appalachian, Lowcountry, Cajun, Creole, and Floribbean cuisine. In recent history, elements of Southern cuisine have spread ...

and

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Missis ...

seafood were his earliest

culinary Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs ...

influences.{{cite web , url=http://www.sptimes.com/2003/10/30/Festivalofreading/A_tale_of_two_chefs.shtml , title=St. Petersburg Times: A Tale of Two Chefs , author=Janet K. Keeler , date=30 October 2003 , publisher=St. Petersburg Times , accessdate=14 June 2011 Food was picked, cooked, and eaten fresh. He also developed a love for

French cooking French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...

through

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, ...

's popular television series{{cite web , url=http://www.starchefs.com/features/watershed_scott_peacock/html/index.shtml , title=Chef Scott Peacock, Watershed - Decatur, GA on StarChefs.com , author=Tejal Rao , date=October 2007 , accessdate=14 June 2011 and decided to pursue a career as a chef.

Career

Peacock began his career as

pastry chef A pastry chef or pâtissier (; the French female version of the word is pâtissière ), is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods. They are employed in large hotels, b ...

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

’s The Golden Pheasant. From there he moved to the Georgia governor’s mansion where he worked for two

governors A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

over four years. After that, he started

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

’s Horseradish Grill. From there he moved to Watershed restaurant, also in Atlanta. He left Watershed in 2010 to devote his time to

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...

and

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

. Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis first met in the late 1980s, and together they wrote ''The Gift of Southern Cooking'' (Knopf, 2003). Lewis spent the last six years of her life living at Peacock’s

Decatur, Georgia Decatur is a city in, and the county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, which is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 census, the municipality is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple ZIP Codes ...

, home. After leaving his Watershed restaurant in 2010, Peacock moved to

Marion, Alabama Marion is a city in, and the county seat of, Perry County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 3,686, up 4.8% over 2000. First known as Muckle Ridge, the city was renamed for a hero of the American Revolut ...

, where he renovated the kitchen of an antebellum mansion, known as Reverie.

Publications and awards

The

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...

awarded Scott Peacock "Best Chef in the Southeast" in May 2007.{{citation needed, date=July 2020 Since February 2009 Scott Peacock has been a

contributing editor A contributing editor is a newspaper, magazine or online job title that varies in its responsibilities. Often, but not always, a contributing editor is a "high-end" freelancer, consultant, or expert who has proven ability and has readership d ...

and

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short ess ...

for '' Better Homes and Gardens'' magazine. In 2018, '' Food and Wine'' named Peacock's fried chicken recipe as one of the "40 best recipes ever published".{{Cite web, url=https://www.foodandwine.com/cooking-techniques/fw-40-best-ever-recipes, title=The 40 Best-Ever Recipes from Food & Wine, website=Food & Wine, language=en, access-date=2019-12-09

References

{{Reflist {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Peacock, Scott Living people 1963 births People from Hartford, Alabama Chefs from Alabama American male chefs