Neils gift to the world

Every now and then a product or piece of produce comes along and just blows me out of the water. I’m glad to say I’m far on dry land after trying Neil Prentice’s Wagu Bresaola. Fed on grass, these gorgeous cows are treated like gods and taken very well care of. It really shows that a happy animal makes bloody tasty meat.
I was recently given some… and by “some” I mean 2 whole kilograms of happiness (of which I only have about 10 slices left).

 I really love breasola when done right but often find it a little tough and underwhelming and the last few tastes of bresaola I had that stand out above the rest was at Cutler & co., Cumulus Inc., Church St. Enoteca and Osteria la Passione. In a desperate search to find that happy spot again I looked far and wide, coming close but never reaching that same flavour and texture.
Until now.

I was searching for the happy place but have ascended to heaven.
Not only does Neil’s Bresaola taste as good, it pretty much picks up all other bresaola’s and kicks their arses like chuck Norris at your average bad guy convention.
The beauty of this bresaola is the melt in the mouth texture. It sits (and I know this is a massive call) on par with Jamon Iberico, which is the greatest cured meat on earth. That’s right I went there.
It’s that melt in the mouth fat which, when simply touched, leaks its sexy wagu fat and shines as bright as the sun.

The taste was nothing but a gorgeous salty, creamy, beefy flavour and a mouth feel that coats the palate like a rich parfait, or big red but delicate like a pinot and leaves you wanting more and more.

The best way to eat it: slice it very thin, let it come to room temperature and eat plain. It needs nothing else, savour it in its entire glory. However, if you wish to, grate some fresh Horseradish (please don’t use jarred horseradish as it doesn’t even come close) but other than that let it be.
Sit back and bask in the glory that is the perfect bresaola.    Well maybe The only improvement that can be made is a cheeky glass of Neils own wine or if you really want to raise the bar maybe some Barolo.

Eat or die,

Mat

Current music: Bad brains: The regulator

Drinking: Mauro Veglio – Dolcetto d’alba 09- top drop.

if this isnt a endorsment i don't know what is

full disclosure:
I was not paid for this, it was simply that i love this and i want everyone too as well

read more about Neils great products here

go bug Neil for some here

A quick bite.

On Monday I was in need of a place where I could get a quick and tasty meal(we had about a hr spare) in the St Kilda area with Danielle recently after we ventured up to golden fields and then discovered it was sadly closed. Despite our disappointment we managed we to pick ourselves up and head a little bit down the road to the much hyped New Market Hotel. Sadly I haven’t had the best experience with hyped up Mexican inspired food in Melbourne so I was a little on the sceptical side. Lucky for us , it was awesome and rocked our socks off. The service was casual but still professional and the fit out was also very cool. The food reflected the vibe of the place, fun and casual with a bit charm and was a great example of some smart cooking. We didn’t have long so we could only order a few dishes.

We started with 

 Morcilla & chicharones bocadillos, sunny side quail eggs, piquillo peppers & crispy jamon $14

 Loved this combo of pork, pork and more pork, throw in a quail egg and between some bread you cant go wrong.mmm crackling 

Soft tacos with wood roasted bone marrow, chimichurri & ranchero style brisket $16

In a corny movie style moment, “you had me at bone marrow” this taco was my favourite of the 2. The rich bone marrow topped with a cleansing chimichurri and melt in your mouth brisket, wrap it in a taco shell, whats not to love

Soft shell crab tacos with guacamole, shaved fennel, spicy corn & tomatillo salsa $17

I go weak at the knees for soft shell crab and this is one example that had me crippled. Crispy crab banging guac and moreish sauce.

BBQ Corn on the cob with chilli & queso fresco $6 ea

 

A great little side some BBQ corn on the cob it was juicy sweet and a little spicy, maybe a little too spicy for danielle as she instantly turned a little red. Shes such a wuss. 

Well I can happily say that Newmarket hotel lives up to the hype and I will be returning to eat my way through the whole menu.

Mat.

Any other recommendations for mexican in Melbourne?
I have had a few banging tacos from The Table recently as well but more on that later

black gold at St Ali

I’m the first to admit that I may have a slight weakness for truffles, actually a massive weakness. It’s that sexy heady aroma that brings me to my knees ,like smelling a good burgundy I could sniff it for a few hrs before even consuming maybe even concocting some sought of bucket to head truffle sniffing device which I guess would be great on trams or the peak hour train instead of smelling the armpit of everyone around me I’m in sniffing heaven. 

Ms paint at its best. It’s like chroming but for rich people

So needless to say that when I heard Melbourne fringe food festival will be hosting a truffle dinner and it will be cooked by none other than Matt Wilkinson I wanted in.

It was unlike most truffle dinners I have been too because it had a range of different truffles from varying states(nsw,tas,w.a). It started off with baskets filled with truffles being passed around so we could really smell the difference between states. The nsw was a lot less on the nose compared to the massive aroma of the W.A where the Tassie somewhat sat in-between these two but still packed a bit of a punch and would have no problem chowing down on these bad boys. Matt comes out and gives a little informative talk about truffles and a little story then shortly after an overwhelming aroma starts to fill the room and then the fungi high kicks in and for once I actually know what’s going on unlike most fungal highs I have had J.  A sexy little number of polenta,prawn,crab and a very generous amount of Tassie is micro planed across the whole dish, it’s a sexy yet incredibly complex group of flavours I loved the creamy polenta and the occasional contrast of the seafood in mouth but the truffle can still shine and become the hero of the dish rather then something floating along in the back needless to say each bite was sex in the mouth and I was having multiple orgasms (brb need to change pants). 

Up next was a tasty little dish of purple congo potato and some other potato I forget, capocolo ,golden deep fried but still runny quail egg(I think otherwise that’s some tiny fucking eggs)rocket pulled from matts garden that morning, tarragon emulsion and of course NSW shaved truffle.

Another simple tasty dish where the ingredients just spoke for themselves ,I loved the NSW truffle it had in my opinion the most flavour of all the truffles when eaten but maybe the weakest nose.

And now on to my favourite dish of the night also the most simple : One week WA truffle infused Brie de meaux, toasted sourdough

It’s just by simply cutting a big arse wheel of brie in half, slicing a shitload of W.A truffle put the other top on, leave for a week and serve.

Oh yeah look at that, its begging to be dug into, The reason why I loved this so much is it really took on the truffle flavour and because it the W.A truffles It had a huge aroma. Plus well its good brie and good quality bread what’s not to like, plus I had pinot so life was pretty sweet.

Last but not least we had a truffle taste test, it was conducted with scrambled eggs(easily one of the best things to do with truffles) and we all had to guess which piece was from which state. Sadly there was no prize for guessing them all correct as this truffle tragic had done.

My memory now is kind of fading on me as if I have consumed a bit of burgundy  currently but I think it went, W.A,NSW,TAS

Overall though I had a great night drink some tasty wine from Holly’s Garden, had great conversation and caught up with some old blogger friends.  Rumour has it that another truffle dinner is coming up the 14 or 15^th of July you better be quick though as this dinner sold out in about a day. Check  http://www.fringefoodfestival.com.au/ for details.

Returning soon.....

love Jess