John Torode's ultimate ham, egg and chips
It's hard to beat gammon, egg and chips for a classic British dinner. So John’s in the kitchen putting his twist on this classic feel-good meal!
Ultimate ham, egg and chips
Serves: 4
Ingredients
For the ham:
1 large smoked gammon joint, approximately 1kg, rind on
50ml maple syrup
150g soft light brown sugar
50ml brandy
10ml cold water
50g Dijon mustard
100g apricot jam
12 whole cloves
For the potatoes:
1 kg Cyprus potatoes, or similar
1.5L vegetable oil
2 large sprigs rosemary
Salt for seasoning
For the fried eggs:
Olive oil (Pomace if possible, but not extra virgin)
4 eggs
For the mustard sauce:
200g Dijon mustard
200ml double cream
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160℃, gas mark 3.
2. Place the gammon, rind on, 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.
3. Place in the oven and cook for 1 hour, reducing the heat to 150℃ for the final 30 minutes.
4. Place the maple syrup and brown sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and slowly bring to the boil. Add the brandy and flame, followed by the water. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
5. Place the Dijon mustard and apricot jam in a bowl and mix. Pour in the cooled sugar brandy mix and stir to combine.
6. Carefully remove the gammon from the oven, beware of the steam! Cool the gammon fully, preferably overnight - gammon needs to be cooled properly otherwise when you take the string off it will fall apart.
7. When ready to eat, preheat the oven to 180℃, gas mark 4. Carefully remove the string and the rind from the cold ham with a sharp knife under, gently lifting it away from the fat - try to keep as much fat on the gammon to keep it moist.
8. 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.
9. Place a clove in the corner of each diamond.
10. Brush the ham well with the mustard sugar mixture and place the ham on a roasting tin on a cake rack or trivet, over 1 cup of water
11. Bake the ham for 30 minutes, basting every 10 minutes until golden.
12. Whilst the ham is baking, peel the potatoes and cut into cubes, slightly larger in size than a dice. Then wash and dry them.
13. Place the potatoes in a large skillet or heavy-bottomed frying pan. Cover the potatoes with vegetable oil and sprigs of rosemary.
14. Place over a medium heat and slowly fry for approximately 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so the potatoes gently bubble and turn golden brown. Be careful that the oil doesn’t get too hot or the potatoes will burn. If the oil is too cold the potatoes will not bubble.
15. Once cooked, drain the potatoes from the oil and season with salt to taste.
16. For the fried eggs, warm the olive oil in a frying pan. Crack in the eggs and cook until the edges are crispy, flip the egg depending on preference.
17. For the mustard sauce, place the mustard and double cream in a small pan and gently simmer for a few minutes.
18. To serve, slice the baked ham along with the golden potatoes, a fried egg and spoon over the mustard cream sauce.