OK OK so this all sounds simple yeah, ham
is ham right?
Most people, veggies excluded love a slice or two of ham.
You know the stuff, the succulent slices lying sultrily at the deli tempting
you to part with your hard earned or perhaps some of the supermarkets finest pre-packed
for your convenience. I’m not talking the reformed crap that you can get for £1
I’m think about the quality stuff that costs about £2-£3 for a couple of
slices.
What really amazes me is how
people will readily purchase the sliced stuff when cooking your own joint is
not only simple but so much cheaper
This recipe starts of with a
simple boiling process, with a few additions for flavour. Now you could eat it
at this point and boiled ham is great in its own right but roasting, ahhh
roasting, with the glaze gives that lovely sticky coating and renders the fat
down a little further, plus you can make an amazing sauce with the juices
Interested, the please read on
you don’t know what your missing
Ingredients
Gammon joint - smoked or
unsmoked its up to you
1 Onion peeled and halved
2 Carrots chopped into chunks
1 Stick of Celery chopped into
chunks
Couple of sprigs of Thyme
Cloves
Small bottle of quality dry cider
about £1.50 per bottle
1 apple halved
Honey
Good Dijon
Pepper corns
Water
Oh you might want to get some string, I'll explain later ...
Boil the ham
Remove the plastic from the
gammon but not the plastic ring that holds the meat together
Put the gammon in the pan
together with the Celery, carrots , apple, thyme, onion, a few pepper corns and
about 5 cloves
Fill with water enough so the
ham is covered
Bring the water to the boil
and simmer for about 90mins to two hours
Turn off the heat and leave in
the pan for about 30 mins
Glaze
Heat the oven to about 160 degrees
In a small pan put half a
bottle of cider a good dollop of honey and a couple of teaspoons of mustard
Bring to the boil and let it
reduce (keep boiling until most of the liquid has gone), by now you should have
something that resembles a syrup, you'll need to stir every now and then, if
the cider starts fizzing up to much turn the heat down a bit.
If it becomes so sticky that
you cant get your spoon out, just add a little water
Glazing and roasting
Remove the gammon from the pan
and take off plastic sleeve, if it starts to come apart you will need to tie it
up with string if you're not sure this link might help
Remove all but 5mm of the fat
and then, with a sharp knife, do diagonal scores across the fat so you get a diamond pattern
Stud the fat randomly with
cloves
Put the gammon in a small
roasting tin
And cover with some of the
glaze
Put the ham in the oven for
about an hour
Every 15 mins add more of the
glaze until there is None left, if the bottom of the roasting tin has become
dry add a little of the water so it loosens the bits at bottom.
Once the glaze has gone you
should have enough liquid in the bottom of the roasting tin(by adding water
every 15 mins if you need to) so that you can use a spoon to baste the gammon.
Remove
from the oven and let it rest for 20-30 mins.
You
can also deglaze the bottom of the pan with some Water/Cider/Wine and then add
cream to make a sauce if serving hot
