Let your fingers do the shopping. Hugo Arnold orders in some seasonal favourites by phone and web.
SMOKED FISH
Smoked salmon is one of the must-have ingredients. We produce some of the best in the world, and it is the easiest item to have delivered. Smokeries to consider are Aran Salmon, www.aransalmon.com; Burren Smokehouse, www.burrensmokehouse.ie; Clarke's Salmon Smokery, www.clarkes.ie; Connemara Smokehouse, www.smokehouse.ie; Dunns Seafare, www.dunns.ie; Hederman Belvelly Smokehouse, (021-4811089); Irish Oak Fine Foods, www.theirishsmokehouse.com; Kinvara Smoked Salmon, www.kinvarasmokedsalmon.com; Ummera Smoked Products, www.ummera.com; and Woodcock Smokery, (028-36232). In addition to smoked salmon, fresh fish and shellfish can also be delivered directly by Wrights of Howth, at www.wrightsofhowth.com (01-8323937).
POULTRY
Free Range bronze turkeys are available from Gerard and Paula Lalor (046-9737021), gerardlalor@yahoo.com. Thornhill has oven-ready ducks and free-range geese - Kenneth Moffitt (071-9853044), thornhillfarm@eircom.net; Wild Irish Game supply wild ducks - Michael and Jane Healy (0404-46773), wigltd@eircom.net; Skeaghanore supplies Peking ducks - Helena and Eugene Hickey, Ballydehob, Cork (028-37428); Anthony and Noreen Buckley of Aherla in Cork supply free-range Cornhill slow-matured chickens, bronze turkeys and Whittaker geese, along with ducks (021-7331119); Tony O'Regan, Mallow, Cork supplies free-range geese (022-22561); Nora Ahern, Midleton, Co Cork supplies ducks, geese and turkeys (021-4632354); while Dan Ahern's Organic Farm supplies chickens, turkeys and frozen beef (021-4631058); Lakeview Organic Farm Gardens supplies certified bronze turkeys (046-9242480); as does Orla Salley (01-2818178). My own Christmas ducks and goose have been ordered from Mrs McNally, who runs a stall at Leopardstown Farmers' Market held on Fridays. Details of further suppliers from the Irish Poultry Processors' Association (061-388930)
PUDDINGS AND CAKES
If you've already made your Christmas cake and pudding, you can cruise confidently past this section, but for many of us the fact that there are really very good puddings out there is something of a relief. The following is a small selection:
My Own food products in Tipperary (051-640489), myown@eircom.net, www.myownfoods.com, sends its produce globally and does gluten-free versions. Good quality puddings are also available from The Scullery in Tullamore (0506-22566), sculleryfinefoods@eircom.net; Mileeven Fine Foods, Kilkenny (051-643368), mileeven@indigo.ie, www.mileevenfinefoods.com; Westcove Confectionery in Kerry (066-9475479); Cannaboe Confectionery in Leitrim (071-9644778), www.cacamilis.com; Jim Tynan's Kitchen and Foodhall, Portlaoise (0502-62061); and my own favourite, Peter Ward's Country Choice in Nenagh (067-32596).
And to go with that pudding many favour the traditional brandy butter. Mileeven Fine Foods (contact details above) also make Baileys Butter, Orange Liqueur butter, and other flavoured butters. My Own (contact details above) also has a ranger of butters, as does The Scullery (contact details above).
For other, less traditional desserts, try Couverture in Dublin (01-4737774) and Glenilen Farm in Cork for cheesecakes and mousses (028-31179).
FRUIT AND VEG
Absolutely Organic (01-4600467) is slowly extending its range throughout the Dublin area and will deliver fruit and vegetables to your door. Given these take up as much bulk as they do in shopping bags, it's a service worth considering. For a gift or for your own fruit bowl in the kitchen perhaps, www.fruition.ie offers a countrywide service.
STAPLES
Supermarket shopping has lurched into the 21st century, and it is now easy to avoid most of the dull items which inevitably fill not just the trolley but the car, too. Log on to www.superquinn.ie or www.buy4now.ie for Superquinn and www.tesco.ie for two of the better sites. Pettitts don't offer an on-line ordering service, but they do offer a free delivery service from each store, www.pettitts.ie, as do many local grocers.
GIFTS
Certain food products can go worldwide. You get a scant flavour of what is on offer in Cavistons at www.cavistons.com, but ordering needs to be done over the phone. They are happy to mail produce to you if you call 01-2809120. Fish, oils, vinegars, cheese, and an impressive range of pastas, biscuits and other dried goods, not to mention their smoked salmon.
By far the best source for all things gustatory from France is Terroirs in Donnybrook, Dublin, www.terroirs.ie. From pâté to chocolate to mustards, pretty much all of their produce is a far cry from run-of-the-mill.
CHOCOLATES
Chocolates are the easiest mail order items to secure, both for yourself and as presents: Aine's Chocolates, www.aineschocolates.com; Bizzy Lizzy, (061-925995); Butlers www.butlerschocolates.com; Celtic Chocolates, (046-9557077); Chez Emily Chocolates, www.chezemily.ie; Cocoa Bean Handmade Chocolates, www.cocoabeanchocolates.com; Cocoa Tree, (091-792184); Corrigan Gaetani Toffee Manufacturers, (087-2701472); Divine Chocolates, (046-9432899); Druid Chocolates, www.druidchocolate.ie; Flair Confectionery, (021-4347781); Gallwey's of Waterford, www.gallweys.com; Lily O'Briens, www.lilyobriens.ie; Lir Chocolates, www.lirchocolates.ie; Man of Aran Fudge, (086-2566542); O'Conaill Chocolates, (021-4373407); Skelligs Chocolate, (066-9479119); Wicklow Fine Foods, www.wicklowfinefoods.com; and Wildes Irish Handmade Chocolates, (061-922080)
CHEESE
Unfortunately, Sheridan's has decided against doing mail order this year, which is a shame for all of you in search of good Irish farmhouse cheese. However, www.fromage.com will send you fantastic and perfectly ripe cheese from France via FedEx.
MEAT
Spiced beef and hams, both useful if you are catering for numbers, are available from James McGeough Butchers in Galway, which offers air-dried smoked lamb, air-dried smoked beef, and smoked ham (091-552351); Malone Food Products in Monaghan has Irish stout-cured beef, Irish whiskey salami and cured ham (042-9745102); Gubbeen Smokehouse in Cork for smoked salami, bacon, ham and sausages (028-27824); and free-range pork in Cork for pork, hams, bacon and rashers (023-48474).
MARKETS
Most of the food markets will run right up to Christmas. The Farmleigh Food Market at Farmleigh Estate, Phoenix Park, Castleknock, Dublin runs for the first three Saturdays and Sundays of December. A list farmers markets is available on www.bordbia.ie.