RUBBED WITH SPICES & GLAZED WITH RUM-SPIKED MARMALADE
These days, if I’m going to do a baked ham, it’s got to be this recipe. The contrast of gorgeous juicy ham with the outer crust of incredible jerk flavours and the sweet rummy marmalade glaze that finishes it off is just brilliant. Heaven.
SERVES 16-20
3 HOURS 40 MINUTES
1 x 4kg piece of higher-welfare middle-cut gammon, with knuckle
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 bouquet garni
1 onion
JERK
3 cloves of garlic
3 red shallots
3 fresh Scotch bonnet chillies
½ a bunch of fresh thyme (15g)
3 fresh bay leaves
½ a bunch of fresh chives (15g)
1 tablespoon runny honey
1 tablespoon each ground allspice, ground nutmeg, ground cloves
100ml golden rum
100ml malt vinegar
GLAZE
1 orange
150ml golden rum
3 tablespoons quality bitter orange marmalade
♥ Get the meat out of the fridge and up to room temperature before you cook it. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/gas 3. Place the gammon in a deep roasting tray with the peppercorns and bouquet garni. Peel the onion, cut into wedges and add to the tray. Pour in enough water to come halfway up the side of the tray, then cover it with tinfoil. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes, then remove from the oven and leave for 30 minutes, keeping it covered. Now, while it’s still warm, carefully remove the skin, keeping the fat attached to the ham. With a Stanley knife, score the ham by making lots of diagonal cuts across the leg.
♥ Turn the oven up to 180C/ 350F/gas 4. To make the jerk seasoning, peel the garlic and shallots, deseed the chillies and place them all in a food processor. Strip in the thyme leaves, tear the bay leaves off the stalks and add the leaves to the processor with all the other jerk ingredients and 1 tablespoon of sea salt. Blitz it up until smooth, then brush or rub (wearing gloves!) it all over the ham and scored fat. Bake the ham for 1 hour.
♥ For the glaze, squeeze the orange juice into a bowl and mix with the rum and marmalade. Remove the ham from the oven, pour over the glaze, then roast for another 30-40 minutes, basting with a brush every 10 minutes, or until cooked through, sticky and golden. Remove the ham to a board, ready to slice hot, cold or at room temperature. Pour all the spicy fat into a jar, cool and place in the fridge for tasty cooking another day.
LOVE YOUR LEFTOVERS
Use them in my Pea Soup, serve with my Bubble & Squeak (both recipes in the book), or at a party with pickles, condiments and nice bread.
NUTRITION PER SERVING
311 kcal; 15.4g fat (5.1g saturated); 35.6g protein; 5g carbs; 4.2g sugars; 5.5g salt; 0.5g fibre.