Exploring WA Forests with Chef Jesse Blake

“Shadowing [Jesse] Blake for the morning is a fascinating exercise. Despite his bulging diary, the New Zealand-born chef has made the time to drive from Perth to the south-west (and back) for a day to check in with growers in the region. Why? He doesn’t want to let them or any of the guests at his Winter’s Night Truffle Kerfuffle dinner down,” Max Veenhuyzen writes for online magazine Broadsheet.

“In an age when so many chefs at ‘special events’ are happy to email recipes and leave the heavy lifting to others, Blake is going all-out for his dinner and really – and we mean really – taking a close look at what’s available in the south-west.

“A collaborative truffle-infused cheese. Beef aged in peated whisky. Bread fine-tuned with a local baker. These are just some of the things guests can expect to taste at Blake’s Saturday night event. The sensitive new age chef is even making his own crockery for the dinner.

“Blake will also be appearing at other festival events including a cooking class at Chef’s Cabin.”

Truffle Kerfuffle is a weekend long festival of food and wine in the heart of Australian truffle country: Manjimup, Western Australia. 2017 is the 7th annual Truffle Kerfuffle and will take place 23-25 June.

Blake was sous chef at Melbourne’s Cumulus Inc under lauded head chef Andrew McConnell. He is now head chef at Perth’s Petition.

Original article by Max Veenhuyzen, Broadsheet, June 14, 2017.

Photo by Rebecca Mansell.