LOOKING for the best festive recipe for your baked ham this Christmas? The Land has put together this guide for you.
Glazed ham - brandy orange marmalade glaze
You'll need:
- 1 x 8 to 9 kilogram, full leg ham on bone
- 1 x 500g jar orange marmalade jam
- 6 x oranges
- Whole cloves
- 2 x tablespoon heaped brown sugar
- 1 x cup brandy
Jonathan Sankey, Pastoral Smallgoods Waterloo
Method:
- Skin ham and score fat in a diamond shaped pattern, be careful not to slice to deep
- Put jam, brown sugar, and brandy in a saucepan and over a medium to low heat bring to a boil stirring until sauce thickens
- Brush ham with glaze
- Peel oranges and slice thinly. Arrange orange slices on glazed ham making sure you overlap each slice half as they will shrink
- Secure orange slices with whole cloves
- Brush orange slices with glaze
- Put ham in a large roasting pan on a rack and bake at low heat 150c for one and a half hours glazing every half hour
- Lower heat to 120 degrees and turn pan
- Cook a further hour basting or until ham is ready
Tips on how to choose and keep your Christmas ham from the experts
How to choose the best ham:
1. Look for a natural meaty texture: avoid the wet or rubbery.
2. Choose a ham with a good smoky flavour. Ask to taste it.
3. Look for smooth, even skin and even colouring. If the knuckle is sunken, it's overcooked. If the rind if buckled or uneven, it's a sign of dryness.
4. Hams 10-12kg are most likely to have the best flavour and texture due to age of the pig.
5. For the best results, opt for fresh Australian pork rather than hams made in Australia from frozen imported meat
Tips from Fleischmeister and master butcher, Horst Schurger.
Ham carving instructions:
1. Place the ham rind side up. Run a small, sharp knife under the rind at the end of the ham (opposite end to hock) and all the way down each side of the ham, to about halfway up towards the hock.
To peel the skin off, slide your fingers under the rind, carefully pulling it back, while making sure it comes off in one piece.
This is important as the rind will be laid back over the ham for storage.
2. Once the rind is removed, run the tip of the knife around the small bone at the opposite end to the hock.
This will free the meat from the bone to make for easy slicing
3. Holding the hock in one hand, begin to slice on a slight angle towards the opposite end, slicing down to the bone
If the ham slices do not fall away, re-run the knife around the bone.
4. Continue to slice, as you get further up the ham, continue to loosen the meat from the bone with the tip of the knife.
5. To keep your ham fresh, fold rind back over the exposed surface, place in a ham bag and store in the fridge.
Australian Pork
Storing ham:
Dip your ham bag (linen tea towel) in a solution of 2 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of vinegar.
Squeeze out excess moisture and place ham in the bag.
Store in coolest part of fridge (below 4°C). Leg ham on the bone should last for up to 3 weeks.
Rinse and re-dip your Ham Bag in water and vinegar solution every 3 days, or as needed.
Australian Pork
How ham is made:
1. The pork is cured. During this step the pork is immersed in a brine, sometimes with other ingredients added for flavour.
It is usually submerged for two or more days.
2. The next step is smoking. This gives the rind a brown colour and adds flavour to the ham and also helps with preservation.