On the Friday before Labor Day weekend, Peter Henry is working on an oil-and-salt-cured eggplant at Scratch & Co., the farm-to-fork restaurant in Troy Hill where he’s just been named interim executive chef. Along with fermenting, pickling, and smoking, Chef Henry is also a big fan of curing. “It makes the eggplant luscious and fatty,” he says. He’ll pair the eggplant with split-pea purée and Pennsylvania mushrooms for Eggplant Santorini, a new addition to the menu. Instead of tossing out the mushroom ends, he will dehydrate them, grind them into a powder, and fold them into an umami aioli for Scratch’s tavern burger. “We try to use what other people would throw away,” says Chef Henry.
New Chef Peter Henry Brings Sustainable Culinary Innovation to Scratch & Co.
Chef Henry’s arrival at Scratch, which has been owned by Don Mahaney since 2015, seemed almost a foregone conclusion in Pittsburgh’s close-knit culinary community. A California transplant who moved to the city in 2020, Chef Henry’s belief in sustainability, hyper-local sourcing, and low-waste cooking gained attention during his two years at Cafe Momentum, a downtown restaurant that employs and mentors young people involved in the criminal justice system. He helped the Dallas-based concept restaurant launch its second location in Pittsburgh, teaching the chefs-in-training about cooking, produce, sourcing, and how to maximize perishable ingredients. He also emailed 200 Pennsylvania farmers to learn what they were growing and when.
That same commitment to Pennsylvania agriculture was already central to Scratch when Chef Henry met Mahaney, and the two realized they saw food—and the community around it—in much the same way. At Scratch, local sourcing means everything used in the kitchen comes from within a 90-minute drive whenever possible. “It’s our only focus,” says Chef Henry.
Inside Scratch & Co.’s Seasonal Menu
The menu is already reflecting Chef Henry’s approach to seasonality and simplicity. Take the short rib hash at brunch, which uses local Thoma Meat Market beef with golden potatoes, Spanish onion, and a poached egg. The dish’s real flex is the bordelaise, which starts with 70 quarts of liquid and gets slow-simmered over three days down to six quarts. “It’s just reduced, reduced, reduced,” says Chef Henry. At dinner, short rib from the same supplier gets paired with grits made from popcorn. He pops Stutzman Farms’ corn, cooks it with mirepoix, white wine, and cream, then purées it into a buttered-popcorn cream that he uses to cook the grits.
For Chef Henry and Scratch, the real test comes when the calendar turns. As autumn gives way to winter, the menu will need to lean into colder-month staples, like pumpkin, beets, sunchokes, rutabaga, turnips, and parsnips. The same commitment to local sourcing also dictates what doesn’t make it on the menu. “The one food we will never serve is seafood. There’s no ocean near us,” says Chef Henry. “But we will serve trout, because we have a beautiful trout farm near us, and beautiful rivers.”
While you wait to visit Chef Peter Henry, try out one of Scratch and Co.’s signature mocktail recipes at home.
About the Author
Kathleen Renda is TABLE Magazine’s Online Content Strategist and a contributor covering design, trends, and lifestyle. A veteran journalist with more than two decades at national titles including Martha Stewart Living, House Beautiful, and HGTV Magazine, she was part of the Budget Living team that won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence. She’s interviewed names like Chip and Joanna Gaines and Nate Berkus, and ghostwritten two bestselling interior design books, including Thom Filicia Style. More at kathleenrenda.com.
Photo Courtesy of Scratch & Co.
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