True North head chef Hannah Jukes on cooking with the day's catch, the enduring magic of the Kimberley and why the best meals are about much more than what's on the plate.

When Pierro founder Mike Peterkin and his partner, Veronica Cullity, travelled through the Kimberley aboard luxury adventure vessel True North, they discovered that the day's adventures often found their way onto the dinner table.

Fish caught that morning might appear on the evening menu. Mud crabs pulled from the mangroves are cracked open around a fire on the beach. A picnic might involve a helicopter flight to somewhere far beyond the reach of a road.

Behind these experiences is True North's head chef, Hannah Jukes, who oversees the challenge of feeding up to fifty guests and crew with a menu that shifts according to the boat's location, the day's catch and the ingredients available.

With her own long connection to Margaret River, Hannah shares an appreciation for exceptional produce, thoughtful cooking and good wine. Pierro wines feature on board, accompanying everything from freshly caught barramundi to special celebrations at sea.

We spoke with Hannah about cooking in remote places, the magic of the Kimberley and the role food and wine play in making a journey memorable.

How would you describe the dining experience on board True North?

There are three things we always come back to with the food: people, place and produce.

People are the interaction. The place is asking, where are we, and does the food make sense here? We might be somewhere incredibly remote in the Kimberley or miles out at sea. Then produce is about getting the best ingredients we can and using what we catch fresh wherever possible.

The fun part is when those things come together. Someone might catch a fish in the morning, the deck crew processes it that afternoon, and then I can go into the dining room that evening and thank that person for putting dinner on the table. Suddenly it's more than just a piece of fish.

So the menu really does follow the day?

Absolutely. If guests have been fishing, they come back so excited to tell everyone what they've caught. The deck crew will process the fish and ask what I want kept whole, what should be filleted and whether we want something for sashimi that afternoon.

I never like to overcomplicate really fresh seafood. If we have barramundi, we might light a fire at a heli picnic or beach drinks and cook it over the flame. Low and slow over the coals, it gets smoky and juicy and just falls apart.

That's what is so nice about it. The food becomes a continuation of what people have been doing all day.

What ingredients get you most excited in the Kimberley?

Fresh seafood and native flavours, definitely. And I love cooking over an open flame.

We sometimes forage with the naturalist on board too, for things like boab nut, samphire or green ants. Green ants taste almost like sherbet, so we might use them in a dessert. It can stretch people's food imagination a little.

But fresh fish is hard to beat.

Is there a dish that feels particularly True North?

There are a few. We do our own version of congee, which has become a real True North favourite. It's traditionally a Chinese rice porridge, but ours is infused with Asian flavours, with lemongrass, coriander, chilli, fish stock and lots of fresh fish. We'll serve it mid-morning after everyone has been out for an early swim. It just warms the soul. Returning guests really look forward to it.

And the mud crabs on the beach are pretty iconic. Everyone has been out pulling the pots, then we cook the crabs and take them to the beach with a big fire. Mud crab isn't glamorous to eat. There are shells everywhere, everyone is standing around the table cracking into them, and it's sweet and juicy and messy and amazing.

Is there a small pleasure or ritual on board that guests particularly appreciate?

I think it's the interaction and intimacy between the guests and the crew.

Guests come into the galley. They ask questions. If someone wants to know how we cooked a piece of fish, we'll show them. One of our chefs once ended up with about 12 people standing in the galley for an impromptu cooking demonstration.

At dinner we go out and talk about the meal and where things have come from. There are nights when we're really under the pump and haven't made it out straight away, and you'll hear, "Where's the chef?"

You're not usually sitting beside the chef who has just cooked your lunch, chatting to them while you eat it. On True North, that closeness is part of the experience.

What is it about the Kimberley that still gets you?

I'm obsessed with waterfalls. I never get sick of them.

The sunsets are wild. Sometimes you just head out the back of the boat and watch the sky light up. And you can never see everything in the Kimberley. There is always somewhere else.

That's probably part of why people return. Even for the crew, it never really wears off or becomes less special. There are places that very few people get to experience, and they still feel incredibly remote and untouched.

What does luxury mean in that setting?

For me, a lot of it is access. Being able to reach a place you otherwise might never see, but then coming back to a hot shower and everything being taken care of.

It's that feeling of never wanting for anything. You blink and something has been done for you.

And finally, how do you think about wine when you're putting a menu together?

We have quite a few Pierro wines on board. For me, Pierro Chardonnay and barramundi just work. You've got a bit more body and flavour in the fish, especially when it has that smoky richness from the fire.

LTC is something really fresh that I'd put with seafood, maybe a Spanish mackerel crudo or very simply grilled fish.

And LTCF is a bit of a crew favourite. When we have Amelia Park lamb on board, I like keeping the pairing Margaret River too. We'll marinate the lamb with saltbush, so you get those salty, savoury flavours with the wine.

Then there are the Vintage Reserves for those special moments. People are often celebrating something on board, whether it's an anniversary, a birthday or simply a particularly good day out on the water.

In 2027, True North will celebrate 40 years, marking four decades of pioneering a distinctly Australian approach to luxury small-ship exploration.

This interview originally appeared in the first edition of Pierro Press, our journal of stories from the vineyard and beyond.