Last-minute Christmas cooking tips

If the ham resting in your fridge or pantry waiting to join the turkey on your plate tomorrow came from SuperValu, you might be interested to know a bit more about it.

Hampshire pork is the supermarket's premium range and it was developed in a project that set out to "identify and select a breed of pig that would produce a superior meat" for the Irish stores.

Oliver Carty, a pork-processing plant in Athlone, and Hermitage Genetics in Kilkenny, began work on the project in 2014, and the Hampshire breed was chosen after tests and field trials.

The Hampshire pigs are now raised for SuperValu on Luke Bogue’s farm in Co Cavan, and processed at McCarron Meats and Oliver Carty, before going on sale as cured ham and fresh pork.

The Signature Tastes glazed Hampshire ham on the bone (€60) can be bought either cooked or uncooked, but if you opt for the cooked one, you can still go the whole hog tomorrow, by following chef Kevin Dundon’s instructions to glaze it with brown sugar, chilli and mustard. The recipe is at supervalu.ie.

Breakfast treats

This week and next, most of us are grateful for any kitchen hacks and shortcuts we can get. So, on your last-minute provisions dash today, pop a few packs of these ingenious mini-breakfast bacon cups from M&S in the trolley, along with the extra lemons, cream and butter we’ll inevitably require over the next few days.

The cups are made of bacon, and the filling is scrambled egg, topped with mushroom and bacon – almost a full Irish, without the work. They cost €11.80 for 12, and the range also includes smoked salmon and scrambled egg mini-croissants (€10.50 for 10).

When Mella McAuley was working on adding to the range of flavours her Irish Butter Fudge comes in, salted caramel was top of the list. Caitlin Ruth, head chef at Deasy's in Clonakilty was consulted, and she advised on adding freshly made caramel to the fudge. O'Neill's Irish Atlantic Sea Salt was chosen for the salty addition, and a decadently good product was born.

Dark fudge

In addition, McAuley decided to make a dark chocolate fudge, and Valrhona cocoa went into the mix, with predictably good results. The bitterness of the cocoa provides a pefect foil for the sweetness of the fudge. These new additions bring to six the range of flavours she produces.

McAuley, makes her fudge in Clonakilty, Co Cork, and has been perfecting the art since she was 10. By the time she was 15, she was selling trays of it to her local sweet shop in Bantry. You’ll find Mella’s fudge, in 175g pouches and 48g bars, in speciality food shops, or from the online shop at mellasfudge.com