The Christmas centrepiece.
Why you should cook this
The Christmas centrepiece. Sticky, sweet-savoury, sliced thin, eaten cold for the next four days. The glaze is honey, brown sugar, dijon, and orange, layered on five times during the bake.
The ham itself is the easy part. You buy a leg ham (free-range Australian, the better the bird), score it, glaze it, bake it. Forty minutes work for the centrepiece of Christmas day.
What to drink with it
Aussie pinot noir, a pre-dinner Coquito (our recipe), or a chilled riesling. Crusty bread and good mustard for sandwiches the next day.
Notes from the kitchen
Buy bone-in. The bone insulates the meat and the leftover bone makes the best pea-and-ham soup. Score in a diamond pattern. Cuts go just into the fat, not the meat. Each diamond catches glaze. Glaze five times during the bake. Every 15 minutes for the last 75 minutes.
The recipe
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 160°C fan-forced. Bring the ham to room temperature for an hour.
- Carefully remove the ham skin (leave the fat). Score the fat in a diamond pattern, just into the fat, not the meat. Stud each diamond intersection with a clove.
- Combine all glaze ingredients in a small saucepan. Simmer 3 minutes until thick and glossy.
- Place ham on a rack in a deep baking tray. Brush with the first coat of glaze. Bake 45 minutes.
- Brush with glaze. Bake 15 minutes. Repeat 4 more times until the ham is mahogany and sticky (total bake 1h 45-2h).
- Rest the ham 20 minutes before carving. Carve thin slices with a sharp knife.
- Serve with mustards, pickles, and a glass of riesling.
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Two things that go wrong
Burnt sugar crust
Too hot oven or too thick a glaze layer. 160 degrees fan, glaze five times in thin coats.
Greasy plate
You didn’t trim enough fat. Score the fat layer just deep enough to release rendered fat without cutting into the meat.
Variations worth knowing
Maple bourbon glaze
Replace honey with maple syrup, add 60mL bourbon to the glaze. Smokier, less floral.
Marmalade glaze
Replace honey with thick-cut orange marmalade. Brighter, more bitter.
Peach and ginger
Add 3 tablespoons of peach jam and 1 tablespoon of grated ginger to the glaze. Summer-picnic ham.
Leftovers and make ahead
Wrap in baking paper, then foil. Keeps two weeks in the fridge. Slice thin for sandwiches with mustard, dice for ham and pea soup, freeze the bone for stock.