Scraps: Parts Uneaten

Joel motors into Motown–Detroit, Michigan–and joins forces with celebrity chef, Max Hardy, to come up with a dinner using ingredients most home cooks toss in the waste bin. After spending the morning milking goats, our chefs head to one of Detroit’s urban farms, learning how these agriculture centers are re-growing communities and creating local sustainable food systems. Using their Motor City scraps, Joel and Max flip the iconic Detroit style pizza on its head, creating a retooled version of the city’s most beloved food. Can they convince the ultimate ‘za experts–kids–that a version with ingredients saved from the trash is even better than the original?

Joel strums his way into to Music City U.S.A–Nashville, Tennessee–and teams up with recent James Beard Best Chef Southwest winner, Tandy Wilson, to create a menu with food usually tossed in the trash. Our chefs venture outside the city to the lush pastures and rolling hills of the nearby farmland to try their hands as a chicken farmers, and source some slimy chicken hearts, livers, and gizzards–ingredients most home cooks throw away. With giblets in hand, Joel and Tandy tread on Southern holy ground–retooling the legendary Meat & Three in a scrappy way. Can they win over the heart and soul of Nashville–up-and-coming musicians–and get Music City to sing a different tune about food waste?

Joel gallops into the Derby City–Louisville, Kentucky–and pairs up with three-time James Beard semi-finalist, Anthony Lamas, to create a menu with food usually tossed in the trash. Their search for scrappy ingredients takes them to a watermelon farm to learn the untold secrets of melon harvesting, and behind the counter in a classic ice cream scoop shop. With rinds and peels in hand, Joel and Anthony create a new version of southern BBQ. But can they convince the most sophisticated and discriminating taste buds in the Bluegrass State–local bourbon experts and sommeliers–that their scrappy dinner is the winning bet?

Joel lands on the gorgeous Atlantic coastline in Connecticut to meet up with Jacques P pin, one of the world’s most celebrated chefs. Jacques has spent decades educating home cooks about proper technique, while his recipes have inspired chefs around the world. Now he’s on his latest mission: Cuisine Economique, or how home cooking with quality ingredients doesn’t have to break the bank! The secret: you just need to get a little scrappy. Joel and Jacques spend the day at the beach and orchards gathering scraps, and use these often-tossed-away-ingredients to create an unbelievable dinner menu. But what will happen when our chefs host a dinner party with recipes made from things like fish bait and crushed fruit? Will P pin’s toughest critics–his closest friends and family–be wowed by the food, and convinced to join the food waste movement?

Joel turns up in Beantown–Boston, Massachusetts–to join culinary forces with James Beard Award winner, Jamie Bissonnette. The native Bostonian is salty about food waste, and ready to prove the power of scraps by creating a dinner menu with ingredients most home cooks toss in the trash. After sourcing some fish heads at a fisherman’s wharf and stale flat beer at a local brewery, the two chefs attempt to turn these out-of-the-box ingredients into an unforgettable meal. But can they convince the world’s most finicky eaters–sorority sisters from a nearby college–that cooking is even more delicious when you get scrappy?

Joel breezes his way toward the rolling farmland and quaint shores of Lake Champlain in Vermont, reuniting with his culinary mentor, Sally Hiebert. The food waste champion and season one co-host has returned with even more scrappy tips and tricks up her sleeve. After receiving a hands-on lesson in the art of “cheddaring” and digging through the dirt of a pastoral farm, Joel and Sally find themselves with some unusual scraps–squash guts and whey. Can the chefs transform these ingredients into a gourmet dinner menu? And more importantly, can they win over the pickiest of picky eaters–teenage high schoolers–and get them to hop on the Scraps bandwagon?