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Introducing exceptional salami from Colin and Sally’s Organic Farm

Words by Richard Cornish 
Images Supplied

Out in the green rolling hills at Dollar, between Mirboo North in the Strzelecki Ranges and Foster in South Gippsland, is a farm where Sally Ruljancich and Colin Trudgen raise their Angus cattle and Wiltshire Horn / Poll Dorset cross sheep.

They have been instrumental in the direct-from-farm movement in that part of the world for over a decade and are known for the exceptionally flavoursome lamb and beef. Ethics are essential to their operation from caring for country, soil regeneration, flock and herd health, and community care.

“In some farming models breeding cows and ewes are bred into the ground,” says Sally.

They are not cared for. All our animals are looked after throughout their life. Traditionally, old breeders are in bad conditions and sent to the market where there is not much return.

But because Colin and Sally look after their ‘girls’ so well, they are in such good condition when they are no longer able to breed that they still have high-value meat. “And I had always wanted to make small goods,” says Sally.

This is where champion salume maker Robbie De Palma comes in. The 7th generation Sydney small goods maker is a perfectionist. “He made it clear he would not take any trim,” says Sally. “He told us that salami is not a dumping ground for old, cheap meat,” she says. Colin and Sally sent their best rump and topside to the Padstow-based De Palma. “Beef is quite lean, so we also sent up back fat from the pigs raised by our friends at Amber Creek Farm,” says Sally.

Robbie De Palma is a traditionalist and uses the bare minimum of ingredients to make the salami. The meat is ground, mixed with fermenting culture, salt and pepper, then stuffed into natural skins. The salami is allowed to ferment at a reasonably warm temperature until the lactic acid bacteria produce enough acid to stop the bad bugs from getting hold. The salami is then slowly air-dried for weeks, preserving the salami.

The result is a great-tasting salami where the beef does the talking with a lovely hit of salt, a rich mushroom note from the naturally occurring beneficial mould on the outside, and a clean lactic acid tang. Slice fine and enjoy with crusty bread and a glass of wine from Dirty Three or Waratah Hills in South Gippsland. The salami is joined by beef bresaola (sold out) and in three months’ time, lamb culatello – salted and air-dried muscles from the hind leg.

THE DETAILS
WHAT: Exceptionally good salami from South Gippsland
WHERE: Online from Prom Coast Food Collective, or instore at Stella’s Pantry and Leongatha Health Food
WHEN: Now and June 22 for the culatello
MORE INFO: colinandsallys.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.

Empty Shelves: Farmers’ Markets Vs Super Markets

Words by Richard Cornish

Chris Hains stands in the middle of the Castlemaine Farmers Market. Around him are stalls stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables, lamb, pork, goat, cereals, cheese, nuts, oil and other fresh produce. ‘We have no supply issue here at the farmers market,’ he says.

Chris is the manager of the Castlemaine and Bendigo Farmers’ Markets and sits on the board of Victorian Farmers’ Markets Association. In the light of recent empty shelves in supermarkets he and his team posted images of trestle tables groaning with freshly picked bounty to highlight the fact that farmers’ markets and other small and diverse food distribution systems have not been affected by COVID. The spread of the highly contagious omicron COVID virus has meant staff in large food production facilities, distribution centres, transport businesses and supermarkets themselves have been home recovering or isolating as close contacts.

‘We have a food supply system that is organised around a small number of stakeholders, such as supermarkets and fast food businesses with labour hire companies sitting behind them,’ says Dr. Kelly Donati, Senior Lecturer Food Systems and Gastronomy William Angliss Institute.

‘It is an unjust and inflexible system based on a casualised workforce. When it is confronted with problems beyond its control – like a pandemic or natural disaster it cracks under pressure,’ she explains.

Dr. Kelly points to the Brisbane floods when food supply through supermarkets failed yet smaller suppliers could make it through the flooded melee to feed people. ‘We need to have a more diverse food distribution system that includes more local green grocers, community supported agriculture, veggie box schemes, and of course, farmers’ markets,’ says Kelly. ‘They are responsive to change and rejig their businesses rapidly and constantly. There has been a big shift to these during COVID and more people are using these diverse systems.’

‘We are making all our markets weekly,’ says Miranda Sharp from Melbourne Farmers’ Market. ‘It is important for food sovereignty (to have a) network of alternative food systems. So it was obvious that we had to open Abbottsford and Carlton farmers markets weekly,’ she says. ‘They have fallen in line with our Alphington and Coburg weekly markets. It brings certainty to the local community that there will be a market every week and farmers have the certainty of weekly distribution of their produce.’ Abbottsford and Carlton farmers’ markets will run weekly from February.

Back in Castlemaine Chris points out to one of the stallholders, Colin from Blackwood Orchards in Harcourt. ‘He picked those cherries early this morning, put them on the back of his ute and will sell out in a few hours,’ says Chris. ‘That is 10km of food miles and the cherries are picked for ripeness, and not so they can sit in a truck and be driven a 1000 km from Young in NSW, stored in a coolstore and then sit on a supermarket shelf.’

When asked about the idea that farmers’ markets are more costly than supermarkets, Chris Googles the price of cherries. ‘Six dollars and fifty cents for 300g at the supermarket,’ says Chris. ‘Our mate Colin sells them for $14 a kilogram in a paper bag. Fruit and veg in season is cheaper, tastier and will last longer if you buy from a farmers’ market over the supermarket.’

When it comes to meat and chicken Chris says that small farmers can’t compete on the economy of scale, but he argues that meat from an ethically raised flock or herd is better for the animals, the land and for the taste and texture of the final product. ‘That said, COVID has ripped through the abattoirs and really affected their capacity. The smaller beef and lamb farmers are the first to get bumped so some of our stallholders have been affected to a degree. But there is still plenty of fresh food to fill the fridge not just in Bendigo or Castlemaine but all the other farmers markets around the state.’

View a list of upcoming regional markets here.

Deep in the Weeds network expands with The Producers food podcast

Words by Amanda Kennedy
Images Supplied

The Covid crisis has forced some to pull back while others have been inspired to take a risk. Co-founders at Deep in the Weeds network, Anthony Huckstep and Rob Locke fall into the latter camp, adding a fifth podcast to their growing stable. Along with hosts Dani Valent and John Susman, they bring experience and a unique perspective to food and drink journalism.

Podcasting, with its ability to connect to niche audiences in a very direct and intimate manner, makes a natural pairing to the fertile ground that is the Australian food industry. The team started with the eponymous Deep in the Weeds podcast in March 2020, giving voice to hospo workers during the Covid pandemic.

In July 2020 came: Dirty Linen with host Dani Valent bringing her journalist’s eye to hard-to-talk issues such as mental health, racism and misogyny and more; and The Crackling, a food podcast featuring conversations with chefs, producers and butchers primarily focusing on pork. July 2021 saw Fishtales, a seafood podcast showcase ‘below the surface’ stories from all parts of the seafood industry around the world.

The fifth and newest is food podcast The Producers which shares stories from the heart of our food system: the producers, farmers, growers and makers.  While only two episodes have currently been released, the guest list is surely endless.

It’s a fundamental given that we all eat but it is only recently that we’ve begun to realise the essential role food, and food industry workers, play in our lives. Whether they be a person who grows our food or a person who stacks supermarket shelves, we’ve all become a lot more cognisant of their vital part in the system.

As food systems were put under a lot more stress in the last two years, a number of newsletters, social media accounts and podcasts have stepped up to highlight the inequalities in the existing system. The more conversation there is around how food gets from the ground (or water) to our plate, the greater the chance that we will start to appreciate the actual cost and effort involved.

If nothing else, the lockdown sourdough craze taught us that a $7 sourdough loaf was actually a pretty good deal.

THE DETAILS

WHAT: The Producers podcast
WHERE: Wherever you listen to good podcasts
MORE INFO: Deep in the Weeds Network

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

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.

Movida tour of the High-Country

The Victorian High-country is full of a diverse range of small-scale farms supplying a regular supply of quality produce to Melbourne.

We invited key chefs and sommeliers from Movida group to tour the region with the aim of sourcing new ingredients for their restaurants.