Michelin star Josh Emett introduces 'Cut'

Cut by Josh Emett, Random House, $65

Michelin-star chef Josh Emett is a down-to-earth Kiwi. Born and bred in the Waikato,
Emett has worked in top restaurants around the world alongside the likes of Gordon
Ramsay. He's returned to his roots and has recently released a cookbook, Cut. Emett tells his story

My book Cut has its roots in my childhood in rural Waikato, New Zealand, against the backdrop of Mt Pirongia. My experiences of country life on my grandparents' Ngahinapouri dairy farm, where I was born, are vivid memories - not least because of the enormous freezer filled with home-killed meat of every imaginable cut that helped satisfy healthy outdoor appetites.

I couldn't resist the succulent fillet steak, handmade sausages, corned beef, traditional roast dinners and my mother's crisp mince pies, Irish stews and beef stroganoff.

In 1976 our family of six (including one spoiled golden labrador) moved down the road a bit to our own property, where my parents set up a beef, sheep and maize farm. The dairy cows, Muscovy ducks, turkeys and pigs, as well as the black sheep Dad reared for the local spinners to weave their magic, gave way to Friesian bulls, a small flock of merino sheep, crops, several farm dogs and a cat.

Peach, plum, apple, quince, walnut and citrus trees, along with raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries and vegetables, offered an abundance of produce that would be cooked and either frozen or preserved. Jellies, jams and jars upon jars of fruit, pickles and relishes lined the walk-in pantry. Meal times were important for my family, especially breakfast and dinner, where views were aired and stories told. The television was always turned off at dinner time and music played regularly.

With my own children, a similar routine is followed - at meal times we talk about the day and try new foods. The idea that food is both comforting and fun has currency with Helen and me; both of us have come from families who relished cooking and eating.

Mum tells me I was at the kitchen bench "helping" from the time I could climb on to a stool, and when Nana Emett gave me my first cookbook at age 13 it set me on the path of following recipes, experimenting with flavours and learning to use produce that was plentiful and seasonal.

Baking was something that I did often and was encouraged to do by both Mum and Dad, probably to keep me out of trouble more than anything else. I have a very sweet tooth so, naturally, I took easily to baking all manner of cakes and slices, and I kept my brother and sister very well-fed.

The Waipa River, which ran the length of the farm, and the "home farm" gullies, were where I honed my skills with a gun and a knife, taking interested steps towards preparing and eating what I'd hunted. Duck shooting and fishing with my grandfather, father and extended family was an important ritual. I clearly remember the excitement every duck-shooting season when Uncle Bert came up our driveway in his old Vanguard with a dinghy strapped precariously to the roof, guns, a dog, a pocketful of jelly beans, and a retort of: "Whose father are you?", which would leave us kids gazing at him totally perplexed. He was a good shot and an even better storyteller.

As a teenager, I was excited by hunting and fishing in the Waikato region and beyond, with my initial thoughts about what I wanted do in life focused on being a ranger. Roaming the bush or, at the very least, doing something that involved the great outdoors was uppermost in my mind.

So it was a sharp turn of events that led me, after qualifying as a chef in Hamilton, to spend the next 20 years of my life between Auckland, London, New York, Los Angeles and Melbourne working indoors and standing for ridiculously long hours under artificial light at stainless-steel kitchen benches in often hot and cramped conditions.

The outdoors, it has to be said, became a distant memory. There was an upside, of course; I'd trained as a chef because food was a magnet that I couldn't ignore, and the idea of a job that was transportable around the world (all you needed was a good set of knives and a solid work ethic) held appeal to the travelling spirit inside me.

Before long I was in some of the most innovative (but testing) kitchens in the world.

This cookbook has been a long time in the making. Although this collection of recipes and notes has been built up over more than 20 years, the genesis of this subject - meat - goes back to life on the farm, where the animal in the paddock had a direct correlation to the food prepared in our kitchen and what enticed our palates.