The menu: check out Joe McNamee's guide to making Christmas hampers

The Menu, Joe McNamee, dons his Santy suit once more and unveils his annual guide to shopping for the Christmas table, most of it to be sourced from the farmers’ markets, supplemented with a trip to Cork’s iconic English Market, and a few other select establishments.

This year, The Menu is opting for several of Woodside Farm ham hocks to make a delicious terrine and instead of turkey, will be serving up a pair of superb Ballycotton Free Range Chickens and a fine cut of Irish beef sourced from a local, independent craft butcher.

Any others also considering a swerve away from the traditional could well plump for some of Martin O’Leary’s splendid organic Beara lamb.