Furu Ushi – dry aged Wagyu and Nebbiolo delivered to your door

Words by Richard Cornish
Images supplied

It’s not often an offer like this comes along. A kilo of dry-aged Furu Ushi (old cow) wagyu and a bottle of Moondarra Nebbiolo delivered to your door in metro Melbourne, Drouin, and Warragul for just $90.

To make the deal even sweeter, the pack is hand-delivered by one of Victoria’s food and wine greats – Neil Prentice from Moondarra Wines and Wagyu. A former punk, he poured chardonnay in a St Kilda footy vest at the Dog’s Bar in St Kilda when it first opened in 1989. He opened a sexy, funky bar/restaurant/club in The George, St Kilda building called the Birdcage specialising in sushi and textural white wines. Over the past 20 years, he has concentrated on developing his wagyu herd and vineyard on his farm at Moondarra in the foothills of Mount Baw Baw.

The Furu Ushi range of dry-aged beef from older cows has been a long time in the making. When Prentice’s breeding cows reached a point where they were too old to have calves, at around 10 years of age, they used to be sold off for pet food.

A crying shame in Neil’s eyes, he wanted to follow the Spanish Basque country tradition of nurturing older breeding cattle, turning them into prime steak. Although incredibly well cared for throughout their lives, the animals are fed on prime pastures and a little extra grain in their last weeks. Their meat is then dry-aged for 30 to 90 days, an essential step to tenderise the meat of older animals.

The beef is beautifully full-flavoured with the marbling you’d expect from wagyu, with intramuscular fat interlacing lovely ruby-red flesh. You will need a sharp steak knife, but it’s also juicy and deeply, earthily flavoursome. The cuts will vary from flatiron steak to ribeye to rump, depending on the aging process.

The Nebbiolo Neil has chosen to go with your steak is macerated on skins before fermentation retaining about a third as whole bunches. Neil ‘dances’ in the wine three or four times a day through ferment (more traditional winemakers call this pigeage) to extract colour and flavour. It is a delicious dry but aromatic medium-bodied wine that pairs beautifully with the beef grown on the same soil as the wine.


THE DETAILS

WHAT: Moondarra Furu Ushi old cow wagyu and Nebbiolo delivered to your door
WHEN: Until December 2021
MORE INFO: Email neil@moondarra.com.au

We wish to acknowledge the Gunaikurnai people as traditional owners of this land and to pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.

Regional ISO packs, delivery offerings & takeaway: Live List

Now that we are back in a lockdown (hopefully a short one) every hospitality business across Victoria has once again moved to only take-away or home delivery.

It takes some serious mental strength and resilience to fundamentally change a business on the fly like this and we wish all the business owners and their staff the best.

Below you will find a list of some of the take-away and delivery offerings from these businesses and we encourage you to do what you can to lend your support.

Now delivering: Regional businesses delivering into Melbourne during lockdown

With lockdown 2.0 dragging on, its good to know that regionally based businesses are willing to load up the van and head into town to bring all sorts of goodies to city-based residents stuck in lockdown.

Take a look at the list of those that are delivering into the city or suburbs and reach out to put an order in.

Now more than ever is the time to buy local ❤️

 

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Bringing the farm to you: Where to source the freshest in regional Victorian produce

There are a few key things getting us all through the livelong days as we seclude ourselves in isolation. Among those things are home deliveries. Whether we’ve ordered something on a whim from our favourite online store or decided to get takeaway for the umpteenth time, delivery services are definitely keeping many of us sane during COVID-19.

Many farmers have also opted to strengthen or initiate their online delivery services during the pandemic, joining forces with stores and businesses in a bid to distribute their produce more extensively.

Here, we provide you with a list of places delivering fresh fruit, vegetables and pantry staples direct to your door!

Heritage Farm Vegetable Boxes

Heritage Farm

Located in Moorooduc on the Mornington Peninsula, Heritage Farm delivers 100% organic vegetable boxes to certain Melbourne suburbs and various pick-up points. Each box is lovingly curated and harvested the morning of your delivery, and you can choose the size of your box and the option to add fruit, eggs and bread.

Find out more here

 


Eat Drink West

Eat Drink West

A celebration of the best in nutritional goodness, the Local Boxes by Eat Drink West are receptacles of pure dietary delight. With the option to choose regular or mini, these boxes include seasonal fruit and vegetables, milk, sourdough and eggs from farmers in Ballarat and surrounds. All products honour the Eat Drink West ethos of supporting western Victorian farmers and putting the finest seasonal produce under the spotlight.

Shop EDW here


Lancefield Providore

Lancefield Providore

Lancefield Providore prides itself on sourcing fresh, seasonal produce and providing good, old-fashioned customer service typical of a local greengrocer. A family-owned and operated business in the Macedon Ranges, the Providore delivers fruit, vegetables, and a range of grocery and speciality products to families and businesses in Lancefield and surrounding areas.

Discover the Providore


Nightingale Bros Produce Store

Nightingale Bros

With a picturesque orchard setting, the Nightingale Bros Produce Store brings the Alpine region’s best seasonal produce direct from the grower to you. Now offering delivery, you can stock up on family grown apples, chestnuts and persimmons, or select from a range of seasonal fruit and vegetables, locally made jams, relishes, gifts and goodies!

Get the goods delivered

 


Benton Rise Farm

Benton Rise Farm

With the option of choosing a box suited to your household and budget, Benton Rise Farm brings the best produce from the Mornington Peninsula direct to you. With boxes selling out super quickly, it’s a case of the early bird gets the worm, so make sure your orders are placed early in the week.

Place your order here

 


The Food Garden

The Food Garden

Sourcing from growers around central Victoria, The Food Garden has a whole range of options when it comes to the size and contents of its boxes. Choose either a one-off or recurring box with the flexibility to pick and choose what’s inside.

Shop The Food Garden

 

 


Somerset Heritage Boxes

Somerset Heritage

Sourced direct from Somerset Heritage Farm in Seymour, these boxes are filled with farm-fresh produce you have to taste to believe. Typically distributing their products through markets, the farm has now moved to online ordering for pick-up only in certain locations.

Order online here

 


Prom Coast Food Collective

Prom Coast Food CollectiveFormed from a group of South Gippsland and Bass Coast farmers, the monthly fruit and veg box delivery around South Gippsland has expanded to weekly deliveries to Melbourne and Mornington Peninsula.
As you would expect, there are also some fantastic dairy options from the likes of Tarago Valley Cheese and Gippsland Jersey.

Paddock to door: 7 places that deliver meat straight to you

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to evolve, we find ourselves getting sucked further and further into the self-isolation black hole. Restrictions on what we can and can’t do are getting more intense, and we’re all unsure when the light will shine again.

One thing is for sure – when it comes to grocery shopping, options that include home delivery are preferred, as more and more of us decide to stay within the confines of our four walls. That is, after all, the aim of the COVID game.

Enter, another game. The juicy, fresh, local, and tender kind. Delivered to you direct from the farm, ready to get fired up on the barby, grilled to perfection, or eaten up from the charcuterie board that accompanies your Netflix binge.

Here, we give you a list of some of the finest and freshest meat boxes available for delivery direct from Melbourne’s surrounding farms.

Game Keepers MeatCommon goods meat delivery melbourne

These guys dub themselves the meat and game specialists, and indeed they are. Chicken, beef, lamb bacon, kangaroo, rabbit  – you name it. Sourcing and producing their own meat, you can buy individual products, or opt for their boxes (they’ve got a special Easter pack right now, and even a charcuterie selection!).

Shop Game Keepers


Lakey Farm 

Lakey Farm Meat Boxes

With the option to choose from three meat parcels (lamb, beef, or mixed), Lakey Farm is all about pasture-raised, regeneratively farmed animals. Operating on a Community Supported Agriculture subscription, the farm maintains a focus on sustainable meat consumption, with each box containing all the usual variety of cuts across the animal (subject to availability). Still not sure, sign up for a one-month CSA subscription and give it a go!

Visit Lakey Farm


Buloke Farm 

Buloke Farm Meat Orders

Located in the Gippsland region, this family farm prides itself on exceptionally tender and lean grass-fed, dry-aged beef and lamb. The farm gives you the opportunity to buy in bulk direct from the farmer, saving you money in the long run and ensuring you have loads of meat on hand! Also, since the animals are 100% grass-fed and ethically treated, the meat is not only significantly lower in calories and cholesterol, but is super succulent!

Shop Buloke Farm


Simply Free Range

Simply Free Range Meat

Owned and operated by Koallah Farm in Camperdown, Simply Free Range is passionate about traditional, sustainable farming. With a diverse production that includes beef, lamb, pork, chicken and more, this family-owned and operated business has a plethora of products on offer through its online store which delivers all across Melbourne.

Shop online here


Sidonia Beef

Sidonia Beef Box

Delivered direct from Sam White’s 2000-acre family farm north of Kyneton, Sidonia Beef’s nose-to-tail box contains a selection of prime cuts and secondary cuts from the whole animal, ensuring there’s no waste. These boxes are super popular and only available seasonally though, so you need to keep an eye out for the next drop!

Keep an eye out


Wattle View Farm

Wattle View Farm Meat Boxes

Another Gippsland wonder, Wattle View is a family-owned farm focused on producing nutrient-rich, clean food in a sustainable way. Featuring a whole range of packs including beef, lamb, pork and smallgoods, the farm is currently offering free delivery in Victoria if you spend more than $150!

Visit Wattle View Farm

 


Mount Moriac Beef

Mount Moriac Beef Boxes

A slow cooking box, a beef box, a mini beef box, a sausage box, a premium steak box – Mount Moriac Beef has all the boxes! With the option to purchase once-off or go for an annual subscription, this south coast hinterland farm boasts tasty, tender and well-marbled Angus.

Shop Mount Moriac Beef