Uncharted

Josh Feathers will be the first to say he has “a little bit of an uncommon connection to food.” Growing up in East Tennessee, he didn’t stand at his grandmother’s elbow as she stirred simmering pots or rolled out biscuits. He didn’t concoct childhood cake-making experiments or spend days watching Food TV reruns. Rather, his learning began outdoors on the hunt for rabbit, quail, turkey and deer.

“I learned how to butcher and take care of the game,” says the avid sportsman. He recalls days coming home with a “mixed bag” when hunting was less segmented in its seasons. And his earliest memory of the hunt? “We ate a lot of squirrels,” he says. “We would quarter them up and then fry them down in almost like a braise situation.” After separating the meat from bone and adding flour and milk, he might spoon it over biscuits like a sausage gravy.

Josh comes from Bristol in the upper eastern corner of the state, known as the birthplace of country music and home to the famed stock-car race. While his culinary journey would eventually lead him to Blackberry Farm – just a couple hours down the road from his hometown – his...