When he was a little boy growing up in Sewanee, Tennessee, Kris Stubblefield would sit on a stool and stir pots full of simmering food for his mom.
By the time he was in middle school, he had a ritual of cooking a recipe from “The James Beard Cookbook” every Friday night. Then, when he was old enough to work, he got a job as a cook at Shenanigans, a gathering spot for students attending the nearby University of the South.
Today, Stubblefield, 37, is one of the international faces of cast iron cooking. At the sprawling Lodge Manufacturing Co. plant in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, his title is simply “chef.” His wife, Masey is a fifth-generation relative of the Lodge company founder, Joseph Lodge.
After attending Georgtown College in Georgetown, Kentucky, Stubblefield worked in real estate in Washington D.C. for a time before he and his wife decided to come home to Tennessee about a decade ago.