Chef Kelly English Featured in New Cookbook, “Wild Abundance”

Chef Kelly English is one of the nine regional chefs featured in a new cookbook called “Wild Abundance,” which celebrates the food and camaraderie of hunting camps. The regional chefs, including English, Alex Grisanti, and Karen Carrier, each went to a hunting lodge and prepared meals with the club cook. The recipes in the book come from the chefs and the cooks.

English was committed as soon as he was asked. He has hunted for years, though not necessarily in lodges as lavish as some in the book.

“My dad’s hunting camp was actually a renovated school bus,” the Louisiana native said. “But we loved it. My parents have an old picture of me when I was about 2, holding up two of my dad’s ducks and biting one on the beak.”

For the book, he cooked at Menasha Hunting & Fishing Club near Turrell, Ark., with club cook Rebecca Sims (he adapted her corn cakes for a dish on the menu at Restaurant Iris).

“Throughout this region, hunting is kind of passed down from generation to generation,” said English, one of many Memphis chefs committed to buying locally. “And it is the ultimate farm-to-table experience.”

To learn more about this coobook, visit www.wildabundancecookbook.com