The name Jock Zonfrillo might be relatively unknown in India, as yet. But if you have ever been to Adelaide, you might have heard of him being referred to as the ‘Mad Max of Foraging’.
A champion for indigenous ingredients in Australia, the Scottish-Italian chef has on occasion spoken of a rather simple-minded dream – “that one day, people would refer to native ingredients in Australia simply as Australian ingredients”.
Of course, until recently, the maverick chef had no idea that he would soon have his own brush with stardom, as a host of one of the world’s most popular cooking shows - MasterChef Australia. Excerpts:
What are your favourite indigenous ingredients?
My favourite ingredients change a lot, as the seasons change. Also, it changes depending on the weather. You know, if it’s a sunny day, I feel like using different ingredients.
I was doing a residency in Sydney when it was spring, and we were using a miso (made of a native Australian nut rather than soybean) that I’d made back in January 2017.
Because of how miso works when you ferment it, you usually make it in the summertime, when it’s warm and fermentation starts, and then it goes through autumn time to cool down.
And in winter, the fermentation pretty much stops, and it develops that rich flavour, and then spring comes around again. So we did our fermentation process for over two years. Now in the spring, the product is coming alive again. We’re starting to use the miso in different ways, because it has come of age, in a way. It has this deep, intense flavour and complexity, it’s incredible. Right now, it’s one of my favourite ingredients.
What it was like to work under Marco Pierre White?
Marco is a really great mentor. He was almost like a father figure at that time in my career, when I needed it the most. Being in a different country, I was away from my family and friends – and he was amazing. As a figure, he is a little intimidating, but once you get to know him, he’s the warmest, most caring, kindest chef that I’ve worked for.Chef Zonfrillo will be one of the new judges in MasterChef Australia’s Season 12, 2020.
Never say die, Zonfrillo
Zonfrillo was 11 when he started working in his first kitchen in Glasgow, washing dishes. One night, a chef had a motorcycle accident. The head chef asked Zonfrillo to pitch in on the vegetable station. He cut a deal: He’d say yes if there was a pay rise, and they promised that he’d never wash a dish again.
At 15, he was homeless, broke and desperate for a job. At 17, he was fired from a one-star Michelin restaurant in Chester, North-West England. What made it even worse, for an impressionable teen, was that he was told that he would never work in hospitality again.