If you're in the mood for something other than turkey this year, or you're planning a more help-yourself approach to your Christmas meal, Nigella Lawson's Aromatic Christmas Ham may be just the thing for you.
The following comes from Nigella Christmas (see book review) and has been republished with the permission of the publisher. (American measurements have been added in brackets.)
Says Nigella: "There’s no absolute need to have a cold Christmas ham on a welcome table, but there are few sights more seasonally cheering. I like to have some of the sweet, salty pink meat carved, and some still clove-studded and gorgeously whole, as a joint, on a wooden board. Obviously, it is fabulous hot, too."
She recommends eating the ham with chutney (that spicy Indian condiment), e.g. a shop-bought mango chutney and/or English mustard.
Serves approximately 10.
Aromatic Christmas Ham Ingredients
- 6.5kg smoked gammon, with knuckle bone (14 lb uncooked ham)
- 250ml red wine (1 cup)
- water to cover
- 1 large onion, halved
- 2 cloves garlic (unpeeled)
- 1 head fennel, halved
- 2 star anise
- 1 x 15ml tablespoon coriander seed
- 1 x 15ml tablespoon fennel seed
- 1 x 15ml tablespoon mixed peppercorns
Aromatic Christmas Ham Glaze:
- approx. 20 whole cloves
- 4 x 15ml tablespoons cranberry or redcurrant jelly
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon red wine vinegar
Aromatic Christmas Ham Preparation:
- Put all the ingredients, except those for the glaze, into a large pan, on the stove but off the heat, adding water until the ham is covered.
- Turn on the heat and bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and partially cover the pan. Cook for about 3 1/2 hours. (This may not seem long for a big joint, but as it will carry oncooking as it cools, and this is going to be eaten cold, I don’t want it overcooked. Nor do you.)
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 (400F). Lift the ham gently out of the hot liquid, sit it on a board and let it cool slightly, not too much but just so that you can touch it without burning yourself.
- With a sharp knife, strip off the rind, and a little of the fat layer if it’s very thick, but leave a thin layer of fat. I love this work: it is peculiarly gratifying seeing the hot blubbery fat slither off. Use the same knife to score a diamond pattern in the remaining fat on the ham, in lines about 2cm apart. Stud the points of each diamond with a clove.
- Put the cranberry or redcurrant jelly, cinnamon, paprika and red wine vinegar into a little saucepan and whisk together over a high heat, bringing it to the boil. Let the pan bubble away, for about 5 minutes, so that the glaze reduces to a syrupy consistency that will coat the fat on the ham.
- Now sit the ham in a roasting tin lined with foil, as the sugar in the glaze will burn in the oven as it drips off. Pour the glaze over the diamond-studded ham, then put it in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the glazed fat has caught and burnished. Take the ham out of the oven and sit it on a wooden board to cool (2–3 hours) before you carve it.
Aromatic Christmas Ham Make Ahead Tip:
- Cook the ham, loosely cover in a 'tent' of foil and keep chilled for up to 1 week.
Karin Engelbrecht - My love of fine food is larger than Africa, where I was born and raised. I left South Africa for an adventure in Amsterdam in 1996 as a ...
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