What is the Scrappy Gourmet?

First, a bit of background. I have worked with food in one aspect or another since, well, I could work. I cooked professionally for a while, but now I mostly just write about food and cook for the people I love. Writing is so much easier on the knees then cooking in a restaurant -- and doesn't carry quite so much of the rock star lifestyle with it. A few more years of being a chef and my liver likely would have jumped ship.

Being the type that is always hungry (if you know me, you know that I can put away an astonishing amount of food for a person my size) and also quite independent, I taught myself to cook at a young age with whatever I scrounged out of my parent's refrigerator. Whatever I scrounged out of my parent's refrigerator, mind you, was generally wholesome and delicious. I am fortunate to have grown up in a family where the kitchen was always full of good things. My family is all about food. We talk about lunch and dinner at the breakfast table. All of our gatherings center around enjoying life's gustatory pleasures.

So, food is something I mull over quite a bit. It's definitely part of my make up. I love its potential to cause such amazing reactions in people, if done right. I saw a really cool photo essay in Gourmet magazine that captured the looks on diners' faces as they enjoyed food cooked by some upper-echelon hot shot. Rarely do you see such expressions of raw ecstasy on peoples' faces -- food helps us let down our guard, settle in and let it all go.

So, with cooking and eating being such a central focus in my life for so long, it just feels natural and easy to whip up good food on the daily. Most people I talk to feel that this is not the case for them. Either they can't find the ideas, they don't have the time or know-how, or they've been intimidated by culinary cognoscenti into thinking that good food is tough stuff. It really doesn't have to be.

Therein lies the intended purpose of this blog -- to share what is easy for me, and should be easy for everyone else with a little bit of patience, intuition and confidence. Times are tough these days -- we are all aware of that. People are beginning to turn inward, focus on self and home, family and friends because these are the things that become most important when everything else seems so precarious. What a great time to learn how to cook well and on a tight budget. I'm sure I'll veer off on a tangent or two, but I'll try to stay focused. Oh, and why am I the Scrappy Gourmet? It comes from my doing crazy things like pulling shrimp shells out of the garbage to make shrimp butter, or taking home the picked over Thanksgiving turkey carcass to make stock. My parents jokingly call me the "trash police."

My first order of business is sharing something that has become routine for me -- making a silly amount of food out of one whole chicken. I've come to learn that many people find roasting a whole chicken to be intimidating, but it's really very simple and extremely rewarding. A large, local, organic fryer from your local whole foods market should run around $8. Brine it, truss it, roast it and you have at least a half dozen meals and a gallon of chicken stock...I'll get to the hows soon enough. Right now that big old bird is brining in the refrigerator, just waiting for me to pull it out and roast it to crispy perfection. Tomorrow, then.