South Island Butcher Apprentice of the Year respects the knife

Oamaru apprentice butcher Justine Clark won the Anzco Foods Butcher Apprentice of the Year South Island regional competition on Saturday in Christchurch.

In her second year as an apprentice butcher, Oamaru's Justine Clark says it is important to "respect'' the knife.

The Anzco Foods South Island Butcher Apprentice of the Year said she had "a couple of good butchers'' to learn from at South Hill's New World Oamaru, but as far as knife skills for butchering went the key was not to be "scared of your knife''.

"That might sound a wee bit weird, but you need to use it in certain ways to create certain things - so just having a bit of respect for it but using it properly is definitely a skill,'' she said.

After her win at the Christchurch regionals at the weekend, Miss Clark, who is also a qualified chef, will be off to Auckland for the nationals in September.

On Saturday, she spent two hours breaking down a size 16 chicken, a boneless beef rump and a full pork loin into a display of products to secure the win.

"[Two hours] does sound like a lot of time - that's what I thought at the start - but it's not a lot of time to get everything done and make it look good, look sellable, because people buy with their eyes.''

She said she was "a bit surprised'' to win "but it's definitely boosted my confidence, knowing that I can do something - and I've done it well''.

"Being a chef is great, it's also really, really stressful,'' she said.

"Doing this sort of thing allows me to be creative and use some of my chefing skills without the stress side of it. Like, I make all the gourmet product that we have at the supermarket, they've allowed me to be creative and show off some skills like that without the stress behind it.''

New World Oamaru butchery manager Mike Todd said he was not at all surprised Miss Clark had been successful at the South Island regional competition.

"She worked pretty hard,'' he said.

"We're all pretty proud of her.''

Head judge Matt Grimes, who has had 13 years at the competition, said the skills on display were always improving and judging had become increasingly difficult.

"I'm really impressed with the craftsmanship and creativity on show today and I believe our industry is in very good hands.''

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz