What is it?
James Whelan Butchers Pancetta Lattice (€7.99/220-250g).
What’s good about it?
One of Santa’s little Christmas dinner helpers from James Whelan Butchers, this sturdy lattice of pancetta is designed to be popped on top of your turkey before it goes into the oven. The pancetta will protect the delicate breast meat and help to prevent it from drying out in the oven. It will do the same job as rashers of streaky bacon, but better.
What’s in it?
The lattice is hand-made with dry cured Tipperary bacon. There is lots of fat in the streaky bacon, which has juniper berries in the cure, along with nutmeg, garlic, bay leaf and thyme.
How do I use it?
It comes ready to use, just open the pack and lift the lattice off its festive gold tray and lash it on to the bird, draping it across the top.
‘Our daughter is almost 40 and moving out soon, but she has told her son that he can stay with us’
Irish Times readers pick Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These as the best Irish book of the 21st century
‘I grew up in an apartment in another country. I bought an apartment in Dublin and had to get out after a year’
Adolescence: Five truths about our teenage boys we need to address urgently
Where can I get it?
It is available online from JamesWhelanButchers.com, for national delivery, and also from James Whelan Butchers at Dunnes Stores, and can be ordered for collection on a date of your choice.
Anything else?
The Christmas trimmings selection at JW Butchers also includes pigs in blankets, and a generous big pouch of ready-to-use stuffing made with breadcrumbs, onions, herbs and Irish butter.
Send your Shelf Help product suggestions to marieclaire.digby@irishtimes.com