SHOWSTOPPER MAIN
Christmas guests will love this sweet and sticky ham joint
Serves 10-12 Prep 20 mins plus cooling Cook 3¾ hrs when cooked
3kg boneless gammon joint, smoked
or unsmoked
2 litres ginger beer
1 onion, quartered
2 clementines, halved horizontally 20 cloves
3 bay leaves, plus a few extra to
decorate (optional)
2 tbsp English mustard
4 tbsp ginger syrup, plus 3-4 balls stem
ginger from the same jar, thinly sliced
1 Put the gammon joint in a deep saucepan (if tied, leave it as it is). Pour over the ginger beer and add the onion, clementine, 5 of the cloves and the bay leaves. Top with enough water to just cover the gammon. Bring to a gentle bubble, cover with foil and cook for 2 hrs, topping up with water if you need to. 2 Remove the ham from its cooking liquid using large tongs and leave to cool for 10 mins until cool enough to handle.
3 Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
Cut off the rind, leaving a thin layer of fat on the ham, then score the fat in a diamond pattern. Put the gammon in a roasting tin. Mix the mustard and ginger syrup together and brush about half over the ham. Stuff slices of ginger into the crevices of the scored fat and stud with the remaining cloves.
4 Bake for 20 mins, then brush with the remaining glaze and bake for another 1 hr until bronzed. Cover with foil during cooking if the glaze starts to catch. Transfer the ham to a serving platter for carving, and arrange the clementine halves and extra bay leaves, if using, around the platter to decorate.
Serve the ham warm or cold. Will keep in the fridge for five days.
PER SERVING (12) 398 kcals, fat 22g, saturates 7g, carbs 8g, sugars 7g, fibre none, protein 42g, salt 5.5g