Irene Kappes

 

After years of struggling to steam gammon at Christmas, or roast it in the oven, I finally stumbled on this simple way of cooking it to perfection, which I have adapted to my own recipe over the years. A cooked gammon is great, not just at Christmas, but as a Sunday roast substitute that is so easy to do and guaranteed to please any lover of pork products – and believe me, in our house they would eat everything but the squeak! No need to soak the ham, no need to steam it first; it just all gets wrapped in foil and shoved in the oven. And the leftovers make great sandwiches or turkey/chicken and ham pie.

 

Ingredients (easily serves 4, plus left-overs)

1 boneless gammon ham joint around 1.25 kg (I prefer smoked)

100ml of clear apple juice plus 100ml water (or 40ml of calvados plus the rest in water)

4 or 5 cloves

Half a dozen whole black peppercorns

A dessertspoon of runny honey

 

Method

Pre-heat oven to 150C, fan (my oven runs hot in relation to most recipes, so you may wish to lower by 10 degrees) Calculate overall cooking time; 30 mins per 500g plus 30mins.

Take an oven-proof dish just big enough to hold the gammon. Line with a double layer of foil, so that there is enough to form a tent over the gammon . Pour in a little of the liquid, place the gammon on top and pour the rest of the liquid over the gammon. Drop in the cloves and peppercorns. Seal the foil on the top off the gammon, allowing plenty of room for steam to circulate, once the liquid heats up.

Place the gammon in the oven for the cooking time, minus 30 mins.

Take out the gammon, turn up the temperature to 160C fan, open up the foil and spread the honey over the surface of the gammon. Place the gammon back in the oven uncovered for the final 30 mins.

Internal temperature should be 160 – 168 degrees centigrade.

Leave to stand for fifteen minutes before carving into slices.

Serve with roast potatoes, roast swede and mushy peas.