Scott Conant

If you look at something, look at my

buddy Scott Conant, who loves nothing more than to cook the leg of a young goat, a cabrito.

He does a long, long, long roast of that.

And it's a red meat.

Thank you.

So tonight is the premiere of season two of Food Network's Best Baker in America, and, uh, Scott Conant is the host, and then you, Jason "Lord Honey" Smith, and Marcela Valladolid are the judges, right? And there will also be a rotating third judge.

Is that right?

That's correct.

It's not like you just went at the regular places, you know, that you would eat.

You know, it's like the time when Eric and I drove to Atlanta and we went to Scott Conant's restaurant.

And it was amazing.

And we still talk about it to this day, you know, just what an amazing experience it was and how great the waitstaff was and the food was delicious.

So Karen got into Roger Conant through his celebrity chef descendant.

And I always had in my mind, knowing in 2026 Salem was turning 400, wouldn't it be cool to bring Scott Conant to Salem?

To be part of Salem Food at 400, a festival Karen organized as part of Salem's 400th anniversary celebrations, which featured activities in PEM's historic houses.

But what really started to make this all come together in a very unique way was when I began to learn more about the founder of Salem, Roger Conan.

I've always understood him to be a peacemaker.

But it was through conversations with local historians, et cetera, and doing my own research that I began to really get a fuller picture about who he was.

To further her understanding of this man who lived 400 years ago, Karen invited Scott Conant, the 13th generation direct descendant to Roger Conant, to come to Salem last summer.

While in Salem, Scott and his family got to see the centuries-old Conant Family Bible, which is part of Pem's Phillips Library collection.