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Fusion cook loves to experiment

For 3 recipes from Jeff Bush, pick up a copy of IN Property Magazine from our offices, or view the online magazine.

Perth chef Jeff Bush believes anyone can cook if they are given the right skills. He shares his story and offers some mouth-watering creations for you to try at home.

For Jeff Bush, cooking has always been about intuition and imagination. He rarely measures anything when creating dishes, preferring to use his experience and knowledge of the ingredients he’s working with.

"I’m very much a fusion person," says the 27-year-old chef. "I like to mix everything. Even if it’s something like a steak, I’ll add something unexpected to give a twist on an old theme. Rather than having a signature dish like many chefs, experimenting tends to be my speciality. I love the idea of making something out of nothing."

After honing his skills in a string of well-known Perth eateries and cooking seriously since he was 13, Jeff is now in charge of the food which comes out of the kitchen at The Raffles Hotel’s downstairs Lounge Bar.

Known to many as Jeff the Chef, he loves to eat out around Perth, constantly exploring the creative visions of other chefs.

The father of one has plenty to thank his nana for because she was the first person who engendered in him a love for cooking. It might also just run in this family as his young son is already showing an interest in the culinary arts and Jeff’s great grandfather was a master chef in Europe in the late 1800’s who later gained a Michelin star and cooked for royalty.

The avid cyclist and bonsai collector says Perth is a perfect place to take advantage of creating gluten-free food, use organic produce and seek out the freshest ingredients available.

Jeff also runs custom-made group and individual classes in his own south-of-the-river kitchen. People come to him wanting to learn everything from kitchen knife skills to the tricks of cooking a whole fish, healthy family meals or the most economical way to stock your pantry and fridge.

"Anyone can cook as long as they are shown properly how to do it," says Jeff. "Understanding plus a little knowledge of the chemistry of how things go together will help you cook better. Once people know the basic principles of cookery they don’t have to be tied to a recipe and are free to explore."

Like every chef, Jeff’s ultimate goal is to have a restaurant of his own, which will double as a cooking school.

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