Early Life

Scott Peacock was born and grew up in Hartford, Alabama

Hartford, Alabama

Hartford is a city in Geneva County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Dothan, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2000 census the population was 2,369.-Geography:Hartford is located at .According to the U.S...

. Southern Cooking and Gulf Coast seafood were his earliest culinary influences. Food was picked, cooked, and eaten fresh. He also developed a love for French cooking

French cuisine

French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...

 through Julia Child

Julia Child

Julia Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which...

's popular television series and decided to pursue a career as a chef.

Career

Peacock began his career as pastry chef

Pastry chef

A pastry chef or pâtissier is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods...

 at Tallahassee’s The Golden Pheasant. From there he moved to the Georgia governor’s mansion where he worked for two governors over four years. A trip home to Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 for his grandmother’s funeral led to a bite of lemon chess pie

Chess pie

Chess pie is a particularly sugary dessert characteristic of Southern U.S. cuisine. According to James Beard's American Cookery chess pie was brought from England originally, and was found in New England as well as Virginia...

, brought over by a family friend, which reawakened his interest in traditional Southern cooking. Shortly thereafter, a national magazine planned to feature one of his menus, and he sought the advice of the doyenne of Southern cooking, Edna Lewis

Edna Lewis

Edna Lewis was an African-American chef and author best known for her books on traditional Southern cuisine.-Early life and career:...

, an African-American chef who moved to New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 from Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 and had become a legend in culinary circles. Miss Lewis advised Peacock to cook something Southern. Thus began not only a successful redefinition of Southern cuisine, but a lasting friendship and collaboration.

Following his years at the governor’s mansion, Scott Peacock became the founding chef of Atlanta’s Horseradish Grill. From there he moved to Watershed restaurant, also in Atlanta, which was co-owned by Emily Saliers

Emily Saliers

Emily Saliers is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Indigo Girls. Saliers plays lead guitar as well as banjo, piano, mandolin, ukulele, bouzouki and many other instruments.-Background:...

 of the Indigo Girls

Indigo Girls

The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...

, and others. He left Watershed in 2010 to devote his time to writing

Writing

Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...

 and documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

.

Collaboration with Edna Lewis

Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis first met in the late 1980s. Their mutual devotion to and appreciation of Southern cooking led to a deep bond. 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, Georgia

Decatur is a city in, and county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. With a population of 19,335 in the 2010 census, the city is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple zip codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name...

 home. As Peacock remarked, “She’s my best friend. The least of what I’ve learned from her has to do with cooking.”

Publications and Awards

Scott Peacock’s recipes have appeared in a number of publications including: USA Today

USA Today

USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

, Atlanta Magazine

Atlanta (magazine)

Atlanta is an award-winning monthly general-interest magazine based in Atlanta, Georgia and owned by Emmis Publishing, a division of Emmis Communications...

, Cooking Light, Southern Living

Southern Living

Southern Living is a widely read lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in the Southern United States featuring recipes, house plans, and information about Southern culture and travel...

, The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, Bon Appétit

Bon Appétit

Bon Appétit describes itself as "a food and entertaining magazine" and is published monthly. Named after the French phrase for "Enjoy your meal", it was started by M. Frank Jones in Kansas City in 1956...

, Wine Spectator

Wine Spectator

Wine Spectator is a lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertainment pieces...

, Food & Wine

Food & Wine

Food & Wine is a monthly magazine published by American Express Publishing. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and seasonal/holiday content and has been credited by The New York...

, and Gourmet

Gourmet (magazine)

Gourmet magazine was a monthly publication of Condé Nast and the first U.S. magazine devoted to food and wine. Founded by Earle R. MacAusland and first published in 1941, Gourmet also covered "good living" on a wider scale....

.

The James Beard Foundation

James Beard Foundation

The James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...

 awarded Scott Peacock "Best Chef in the Southeast" in May of 2007.

Since February 2009 Scott Peacock has been a contributing editor

Contributing editor

A contributing editor is a magazine job title that varies in responsibilities. Most often, a contributing editor is a freelancer who has proven ability and readership draw. The contributing editor regularly contributes articles to the publication but does not actually edit articles, and the title...

 and columnist

Columnist

A columnist is a journalist 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....

 for Better Homes and Gardens

Better Homes and Gardens (magazine)

Better Homes and Gardens is the fourth best selling magazine in the United States. The editor in Chief is Gayle Butler. Better Homes and Gardens focuses on interests regarding homes, cooking, gardening, crafts, healthy living, decorating, and entertaining. The magazine is published 12 times per...

magazine.