DukesHill has an alternative for your Christmas Feasting: DukesHill's Special Edition Candied Orange Glazed Ham

DukesHill, one of the UK's foremost artisan ham producers, has produced a special edition DukesHill Candied Orange Glazed Ham (whole min 4kg £125, half min 2kg £80) for Christmas. 

Made using time-honoured curing techniques, this unique festive ham is a delectable alternative to turkey for the big day, the perfect centerpiece for a Boxing Day feast, and as a filling for pies and sandwiches to see you through the entire festive season.

DukesHill's Candied Orange Glazed Ham is an utterly delicious honey-glazed Wltshire ham, topped with sliced candied oranges.  

Handmade using DukesHill's traditional Wiltshire cure, the ham spends almost a week maturing in DukesHill's own special recipe brine.

Unlike other curing processes, DukesHill adds a delightful touch of unrefined brown sugar to their brine recipe to add a subtle and mild sweetness.

The ham is then air-dried for a further week to mature and remove any excess moisture before being steam-cooked for 12 hours, allowing the fat to render and soften to provide a buttery texture.  

Once cooked the ham is then carefully inspected, hand-skinned and trimmed, then topped with a honey glaze and sliced oranges. 

The resulting ham has a lovely mild taste and a moist texture, complimented by a sweet orange & honey flavour. Obviously ideal for Christmastime feasting.

From its humble beginnings in a converted Shropshire cowshed back in the 1980s, DukesHill is renowned for its traditionally cured ham and handmade artisan produce that's sourced from like-minded producers who share their commitment to quality and craftsmanship.  

Their Wiltshire ham is sold in Selfridges, Harrods and Fortnum & Mason, and supplied to iconic London hotels like The Ritz and The Goring.  

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Celebrating Christmas with DukesHill's Award-Winning Bacon: A Cut Above the Rest

As the festive season approaches, thoughts of twinkling lights, decorated trees, and sumptuous feasts fill our minds. Christmas is a time for indulgence, a time to gather with loved ones and savour the best that life has to offer. 

When it comes to food, nothing quite epitomises the joy of Christmas like a hearty breakfast or a decadent brunch, and there’s no better way to elevate these festive meals than with DukesHill's award-winning bacon.

Why DukesHill Bacon?

Shropshire-based DukesHill is synonymous with quality. Renowned for their artisanal approach and commitment to traditional curing methods, DukesHill's bacon stands out as a cut above the rest. Their dedication to using only the finest British pork, combined with a meticulous curing process that can take up to two weeks, ensures that each slice of bacon is bursting with rich, smoky flavour. 

The result is a product that has won numerous awards and, more importantly, the hearts of those who value exceptional food.

Festive Breakfast Ideas

Christmas morning is one of the most magical moments of the year, and starting it with a luxurious breakfast can set the tone for the day. Here are a few ideas on how to incorporate DukesHill bacon into your festive breakfast:

1. The Ultimate Full English

No Christmas morning is complete without a full English breakfast. Crisp up some slices of DukesHill smoked back bacon and serve them alongside free-range eggs, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, and sausages. Add some black pudding, baked beans, and toast, and you’ve got a breakfast fit for a king.

2. Bacon and Egg Muffins

For a more portable option, consider making bacon and egg muffins. Line a muffin tin with slices of DukesHill streaky bacon, crack an egg into each, and bake until the eggs are set. These little parcels of joy are perfect for those who want a hearty breakfast without too much fuss.

3. Maple-Glazed Bacon Pancakes

For a sweet and savoury twist, try maple-glazed bacon pancakes. Fry up some DukesHill streaky bacon until it’s crispy, then drizzle with pure maple syrup. Stack the bacon between fluffy pancakes, and you’ve got a breakfast that’s sure to impress.

A Bacon-Infused Christmas Dinner

Bacon isn’t just for breakfast – it can also play a starring role in your Christmas dinner. Here are a few ways to incorporate DukesHill bacon into your festive feast:

1. Bacon-Wrapped Turkey

Elevate your turkey by wrapping it in DukesHill streaky bacon before roasting. The bacon will add flavour and keep the turkey moist, creating a show-stopping centrepiece for your Christmas table.

2. Bacon-Wrapped Chipolatas

No Christmas dinner is complete without pigs in blankets. Wrap DukesHill chipolatas in streaky bacon and roast until golden and crispy. These little morsels are a favourite for both young and old, and they’re incredibly easy to make.

3. Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Even Brussels sprouts can be made delicious with the addition of DukesHill bacon. Sauté chopped bacon until crispy, then toss with roasted Brussels sprouts for a side dish that’s bursting with flavour.

Bacon as a Christmas Gift

For the food lovers in your life, consider giving the gift of DukesHill bacon this Christmas. Whether it’s part of a gourmet hamper or a stand-alone present, a selection of DukesHill's finest cuts is sure to be appreciated. After all, what could be better than receiving the gift of exceptional food?

In Conclusion

DukesHill's award-winning bacon is more than just an ingredient – it’s an experience. Its rich flavour and superior quality make it the perfect addition to your Christmas celebrations, whether you’re serving it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. This festive season, elevate your meals and create unforgettable moments with DukesHill bacon – a true cut above the rest.

https://www.dukeshill.co.uk/collections/bacon

Have a very merry Luxurious Festive Feast to Remember with DukesHill's Christmas Collection

Have yourself a luxurious Christmas this year with the very best in festive food from artisan food producer, fine food supplier and Royal Warrant holder, DukesHill.

Established in 1985 in the glorious Shropshire countryside curing hamsusing time-honoured traditional techniques, the DukesHill's range has since grown and is renowned for championing artisan producers whose skilled use of unique and traditional methods create outstanding food and flavours.

With an uncompromising commitment to sourcing and creating the very best in British produce, with the highest regard for animal welfare, DukesHill's Christmas collection has a quality that is second to none.

2023 Christmas Highlights 

Cranberry Glazed Ham with Pork & Cranberry Stuffing - Half ham, £82 (min 2kg), Whole ham, £130 (min 4kg)

As justifiably proud Royal Warrant holders, DukesHill are undeniable experts in curing the finest of hams. This season their special edition Christmas Ham is the Cranberry Glazed Ham, generously stuffed with Pork & Cranberry Stuffing. 

Using their traditional Wiltshire Cure, the hams spend time maturing in DukesHill's own-recipe brine to which a touch of unrefined brown sugar is added for a subtle sweet flavour. The hams are then air dried for a further week, stuffed by hand with pork & cranberry stuffing and steam cooked for 12 hours, allowing the fat to render and soften, giving a delicious buttery texture. 

Once cooked the hams are trimmed, coated in a cranberry glaze and finished off in glazing ovens, producing hams with a moist texture and mild flavour with a delightful hint of cranberry. This special festive ham will make for a fine centre-piece for your Christmas table.

DukesHill Free Range Bronze Turkey - Prices from £90, Various sizes are available 

The traditional choice for a Christmas Day feast, DukesHill's free range bronze turkeys taste outstanding. Reared especially for DukesHill in the Kent countryside by highly experienced third-generation farmers who have been rearing turkeys for forty years, their turkeys roam freely in grassy paddocks and meadows and are fed a natural cereal-based diet.

Christmas Pudding - £14.50 (454g)

Handmade for in excess of 30 years by the DukesHill team as part of an annual tradition, their rich Christmas Pudding uses butter instead of suet for a much cleaner finish on the palate and combines the rich flavours of the finest French Brandy, succulent vine fruits, cherries, fresh free-range eggs, carrot, mixed spice and candied orange for a wonderfully moist pudding whose secret family recipe has been passed down through the generations.

St Clements Mince Pies - £13.50 (6 x 80g)

Created following repeated customer requests and incorporating classic Christmas flavours, DukesHill's handmade all-butter pastry St Clements Mince Pies are full of mincemeat soaked in a rich, warming brandy and balanced with a delicate citrus edge from extra St Clements orange and lemon peel. 

Pigs In Blankets Kit - £12 (750g)

With plenty of dry-cured streaky bacon and traditional pork cocktail sausages, this easy kit will make 24 tasty 'piggies'. A Christmas must-have.

Condiments For Christmas

DukesHill's condiments are the very best finishing touches to any festive feast.

Created specially for DukesHill by an artisan food producer in the Yorkshire Dales who foregoes pectins, additives and preservatives, Boxing Day Chutney (£4.50 198g jar) is a handmade dark, rich and fruity chutney containing cranberries, English Bramley apples, ale and a special Christmas blend of 11 spices that tastes wonderful with any leftover ham or turkey and is essential for any cheese board. 

Also from the same producer is handmade Proper Piccalilli (£4.50 198g jar, £11.50 575g Kilner jar) which combines crunchy cucumber, cauliflower, courgette, red and green peppers, Lincolnshire onions and juicy tomatoes with a sweet, tangy mustard sauce and pairs perfectly with DukesHill's cured hams or cheese. 

Cranberry Sauce with Port (£4.50, 198g) combines cranberries and port with a hint of citrus fruit and tastes delicious with turkey, roast goose or baked ham.

Brandy Butter - from £4.50

Serve a spoonful of this creamy, warming brandy butter onto DukesHill's Christmas Pudding or a St Clement's Mince Pie and indulge yourself.

The full DukesHill Christmas range will be available from the end of next month, 31st September at: dukeshill.co.uk 

Eat, Drink and Be Merry With a Luxury Christmas Hamper from DukesHill

Justifiably famed for stupendously awesome artisanal luxury hampers including its hamper like no other, the Truly Magnificent, priced at £895, DukesHill has a standout collection available for this Christmas.

Filled to the very brim with the finest artisan food and drink, DukesHill's luxury hamper collection celebrates the very best of Britain's artisan producers - including their own expertly cured hams that carry a Royal Warrant awarded by Queen Elizabeth II, creating hampers of quality, taste and exceptional provenance to gift or enjoy this Christmas.

Christmas Hamper Highlights

Truly Magnificent Hamper - £895

39 items, 2 x 20” wicker hampers with leather straps

The Truly Magnificent Hamper certainly does live up to its luxurious name. Thirty nine individual items are nestled across not one but two wicker hampers creating a Christmas classic. 

At its very heart is a boneless Large St George's Ham, cured by DukesHill's experts and baked with a spiced orange, cinnamon, mace and clove glaze, closely followed by a whole sliced side of superior oak traditionally Smoked Salmon. 

Included is a fine selection of artisan cheeses, chutneys, crackers, sables and a duck liver pâté with Cointreau along with a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie, crafted and baked exclusively for DukesHill.

There are, of course, some delightful sweet treats, including DukesHill's Extra Large Christmas Pudding and a selection of handmade artisan mince pies unique to DukesHill: St Clements, Classic and Almond-topped flavours to add to your feast.  

You'll also discover Peaches in Brandy, handmade Scottish Shortbread direct from Loch Lomond, Turkish Delight, and for chocolate lovers, Blonde Chocolate Coffee & Caramelised Hazelnut Mendiants, Dark Chocolate Roasted Almond & Ginger Mendiants, an Extra Large Chocolate Selection box, Chocolate Covered Pecans and Milk Chocolate Covered Honeycomb that's made in small batches using real honey and the finest Colombian milk chocolate. A selection of fine wines and champagne complete this gourmet journey in a hamper.

It's A Wonderful Life - £195

14 items, 20” wicker hamper with leather straps

A carefully curated selection of the very best that's available from of DukesHill, It's A Wonderful Life pulls out all the stops this season with DukesHill's legendary boneless Wiltshire Ham and signature traditional Oak Smoked Salmon.  

Seasonal savouries include Isle of Mull Cheddar, Cote Hill Blue Cheese, Boxing Day Chutney, Scottish Oatcakes, Parmesan & Pistachio Sables and DukesHill's exclusive Pork Rillettes, made by slowly cooking pork belly with peppers, spices and Espelette pepper. A Family Christmas Pudding, Classic Mince Pies, handmade Scottish Shortbread, Milk Chocolate Honeycomb and Grandad's Light Fruit Cake Loaf made with almonds, butter, cherries, vine fruits and mixed spice are the sweet picks on offer, alongside a bottle of Tanners creamy, biscuity Cava Brut to toast the season.

Bah! Humbug - £95

12 items, 14” wicker hamper with leather straps

However, please rest assured that there's certainly nothing Scrooge-like about the Bah! Humbug hamper with its Honey Baked Baby Ham cured by DukesHill's very own experts, Sliced Oak Smoked Salmon and Pork Rillettes, exclusive to DukesHill and made by slowly cooking pork belly with peppers, spices and Espelette pepper. 

Also included is Barbers Black Waxed Cheddar to try with a spoonful of Fig Chutney, a jar of Cocktail Nuts, DukesHill's moist and rich Christmas Pudding, a mini classic Panettone, handmade Scottish shortbread from Loch Lomond, Milk Chocolate Crunchy Biscuit & Caramelised Pecan Mendiants, Milk Chocolate Honeycomb and a festive Gingerbread Blonde Chocolate bar.

The Chocolatier's Collection Hamper - £95

7 Items • 14” Wicker Basket with Leather Straps

Exquisitely and beautifully presented, this chocolate lover's dream contains an ingenious hot chocolate shaker to enjoy the most velvety smooth hot chocolate at home, along with three bags of artisan chocolate; milk chocolate drops, indulgent dark chocolate orange flakes and delicious blonde chocolate flakes. 

This exceptional collection also boasts a box of 16 beautifully hand decorated special Christmas truffles produced by artisan chocolatiers, alongside two bars of luxury-tasting chocolate in the most delicious flavours: Pistachio & Cranberry Chocolate and Marmalade Dark Chocolate.

Deck The Halls Hamper - £60 

7 Items • 14” Wicker basket with leather straps

A DukesHill artisan tasting experience in a hamper, this contains a carefully selected collection of the very best handmade and British produced products including a delicious Fig Chutney, Parmesan & Pistachio Sablés, Classic Panettone, a tin of melt-in-the-mouth Scottish Shortbread handmade in Loch Lomond, a festive tasting Gingerbread Blonde Chocolate Bar, DukesHill's family recipe Christmas Pudding, and a 75cl bottle of a biscuit, creamy cava Brut from Tanners.

(EDITOR: This reminds me. My wife and I need to pop in to Tanners to sort out our Christmas wine order, as Tanners are our local wine merchants.)

To learn more and to place your orders please visit DukesHill's website https://www.dukeshillham.co.uk

Luxury Christmas Gifting from DukesHill

Seeking out highest-quality gifts for friends and family this Christmas? Then look no further! Because luxury artisan food supplier and Royal Warrant holder DukesHill has Christmas gifting wrapped up for all fine food lovers.

Highlights for the festive season include two new indulgent chocolate products, Luxury Christmas Truffles and the Luxury Hot Chocolate Gift Box containing the secret to making the smoothest, most velvety hot chocolate, and DukesHill's Whisky Cask Cider Savoury Hamper, the perfect companion on a bracing Boxing Day or New Year's Day walk this winter. 

Full of the finest food and flavours, DukesHill's Christmas collection celebrates the very best artisan producers creating gifts of quality, taste and exceptional provenance.

Whisky Cask Cider Savoury Hamper - £70

10 items 14” wicker hamper with leather straps 

The perfect gift for all whisky, cider and cheese lovers, this hamper is beautifully presented in a leather-strapped DukesHill wicker basket. In it you'll find the very best savoury selection from Isle of Mull cheddar cheese to the finest charcuterie including bresaola, sliced lomo, porchetta and pastrami, Fig Chutney, Multi Seed Crackers and three bottles of Whisky Cask Cider. Matured for six months in single malt scotch whisky casks, this smooth, dry cider is handcrafted in small batches using real fruit that produces warm notes of vanilla, oak and honey.

Luxury Hot Chocolate Gift Box - £45

The Luxury Hot Chocolate Gift Box is a stylish Christmas gift, containing delicious artisan chocolate and an ingenious Hot Chocolate Shaker - the secret to making the smoothest, most velvety hot chocolate. Shaking creates the right amount of friction to perfectly bind chocolate to warm milk or water which can't be achieved with stirring alone. By shaking a hot liquid in an airtight container, the air inside the container heats and expands, causing a hot chocolate taste explosion. This ingenious, can't-live-without hot chocolate shaker has a lid that pops to accommodate the increased pressure as the air expands. A chic gift box to give, it also contains two bags of artisan chocolates, Milk Chocolate Drops and Dark Chocolate Orange, for the very best tasting hot chocolate.

Luxury Christmas Truffles - £25 (160g)

Box of 16 truffles

Beautifully presented in a box tied with a striking red ribbon, this selection of handmade artisan chocolate truffles come in stylish Christmas colours of red, white and green. Delicious and decadent, they're made fresh using milk, dark and white chocolate, cream, butter, real fruits, herbs and spices.

Port & Stilton Gift Box - £50 

A classic combination, this elegant DukesHill gift box has the finest handmade Blue Stilton Cheese from Cropwell Bishop Creamery, potted in a striking cream and red ceramic jar. It's paired with a 75ml bottle of Tanners Patrono Fine Ruby Port Fonesca.

Traditional Scottish Shortbread - £14.50 (475g), £21 (725g)

Presented in a beautiful floral keepsake tin and handmade in Loch Lomond exclusively for DukesHill, this traditional all-butter Scottish Shortbread uses the finest possible ingredients resulting in a delicious melt-in-the-mouth, crumbly texture.  A delicious and thoughtful gift idea when visiting family or friends this Christmas.

The DukesHill Christmas gift range will be available from 31st September at: dukeshill.co.uk 

An advance preview of the DukesHill Christmas brochure 2023 will be available to view from 14th September. 

Instagram: @dukeshill