John Torode's baked glazed mustard and apricot ham
It's a Christmas staple, and the perfect alternative if you’re tired of turkey or bored of beef. Easy to prepare and big enough to feed the masses, a ham is the ideal dish for family celebrations over the festive period. And who better to give a masterclass for perfecting the dish than John Torode?
Serves: 10-15
Ingredients
You will need: 1 large baking tray, 1 medium heavy based pan brush
1 large ham on the bone, approx 6-8 kg 12 whole cloves300g soft brown sugar100mls maple syrup200g apricot jam 100mls brandy 100g Dijon mustard
Preheat the oven to 160oc
Method
Place the leg of ham, rind on (smoked ham) in the pan on a cake rack or trivet and pour in 2 cups of warm water, cover the whole thing tightly with greaseproof paper and then wrap in foil. Place in the oven and cook for 3 hours reducing the heat to 150 for the last hour.
In a solid based pan place the maple syrup and the brown sugar and bring to the boil add the brandy and flame , add 20 ml water. Remove from the heat and leave to cool
In a bowl mix the mustard the apricot jam
Mix the cooled sugar mix with the apricot mustard
Remove the ham from the oven and carefully open, beware the steam now remove the rind from the ham by placing a sharp knife under it at the opposite end to the knuckle bone, gently lifting it away from the fat, try to keep as much fat on the leg so that it will stay moist and protect it.
Decorate the ham by scoring the fat with a knife to make large diamond shapes, taking the knife from one corner to the other perpendicularly. And repeating the process on the other side, then making incisions 4 cm apart parallel to the first two. Place a clove in the corner of each diamond.
Brush with the sugar mixture pushing it in well
Place the ham bake in the roasting tin on a trivet, over the water
Turn the oven up to 180oc
Bake the ham for 60 minutes basting every 20 minutes until well coloured.Serve hot or cold.