COOKED HAM

Until recently, I imagined that cooking ham was complicated, which is why most of us buy hams readycooked and glazed at Christmas, then revert to shop-bought, pre-sliced stuff for the rest of the year. So it was a revelation when I discovered how easy it is to cook and how many things you can do with it for many days afterwards.

Preparation 2 hours 40 minutes Cooking 2 hours 40 minutes Serves 4

1 GAMMON JOINT (SMOKED OR UNSMOKED, ON OR OFF THE BONE, IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE TO THE WAY YOU COOK IT) YOUR CHOICE OF LIQUID (I LIKE CIDER, BUT APPLE JUICE AND WATER BOTH WORK, TOO)

1 ONION, CUT INTO QUARTERS

A FEW PEPPERCORNS

2 BAY LEAVES

A GLAZE (MAPLE SYRUP, CHILLI JAM OR MARMALADE ALL WORK)

1 Weigh your gammon and calculate how long you need to cook it for (20 minutes per 450g, plus an extra 20 minutes). You’ll need to boil it for half that time and roast it for the other half. For instance, a 1.35kg gammon needs to cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes, boiled for 40 minutes, then roasted for 40 minutes.

2 Put the gammon in its pot and add liquid to cover it. Don’t worry if your pan isn’t quite big enough to allow this to happen. You can just turn the gammon halfway through the cooking process.

3 Throw in the onion, a few peppercorns and the bay leaves, then bring the liquid to the boil and let your gammon simmer. 4 Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan oven) gas mark 4. 5 When it’s had its time, lift the ham out of the liquid and put it in a foil-lined roasting tin.

6 Remove the skin from the top of the meat, leaving the layer of fat beneath it. Score the fat in a diamond pattern, then cover with foil and put in the oven.

7 Remove the foil covering 20 minutes before the ham is ready and brush it with your glaze (if using jam or jelly, warm it so it is runny).

8 Return the joint to the oven and leave to cook for its remaining time uncovered.

9 It’s now ready – hot, straight from the oven. Serve. (I usually have it with mashed butternut squash and steamed Savoy cabbage).