Rocket is the beef and lamb brand of Taylor Preston, a Wellington meat business at 131 Centennial Highway in Ngauranga, in the gorge just north of the city. Its range is mostly ready-to-cook: beef burgers, mince and saucy beef balls, which the brand sells with its Rocket Fuel Sauce, first made in 1989. Lamb products include braised lamb pieces in a rosemary and mint sauce, and lamb shanks braised low and slow in a tomato gravy. The meat is 100% New Zealand beef and lamb, grass-fed on pastures in the Wairarapa, Manawatu, Rangitikei and southern Hawke's Bay.
Taylor Preston was founded in 1991 by three New Zealand families. The Prestons have been master butchers in Wellington for more than 100 years, and the Taylor and Grace families have farmed for almost two centuries. The products are sold through supermarkets and Four Square stores, so most people buy Rocket from a shelf rather than from the Ngauranga site itself.
Our pick in Wellington for a quick mince or burger night made with local beef and lamb.