Ham Christmas Special

I love ham. It’s my favourite Christmas meat, and I loved cooked in anything, My favourite version is with cider and a cranberry glace.

Ingredients:

1 gammon joint

2l apple cider

1 white onion

1 apple – I like pink apples for this, type Fuji

3 bay leaves

½ teaspoon cloves

1 cinnamon stick

4 tablespoons of melted butter

1 cup cranberries, fresh or dried and soaked in sherry

3 tablespoons of sherry

½ cup brown light sugar

 Prop the gammon in a large saucepan and fill it up with the cider. Add the apple and the onion, quartered and with their skin still on. Add the spices and the cinnamon and bring to boil for 1 up to 2 hours, according to the size of your ham.

Take the meat out and let it cool on a rack, collecting the juices from underneath. Fish out the onion and the apple.

Put the onion and the apple through the food processor, and put the pulp in a saucepan with the butter, sherry and cranberries. Let it brown, then add the sugar and keep on high heat until it starts to caramelise (about 3 minutes).

Cut the fat off the gammon – it should be soft and melt off the meat. Leave as much as you like, I prefer to leave a small slice but you can be fanatical and get rid of every little bit if you like. Draw a criss-cross pattern on the fat with a knife (you can stick some extra cloves in if you like, but I never bother).

Cover with the glaze and prop in the preheated oven at 180°C for 20-25 minutes.

This is perfect with mashed potatoes and roasted leeks, or some boiled carrots and rice. 

Also, check out my other recipe for ham.