This honey and mustard glazed ham looks pretty impressive, right? It’s delicious too, but don’t be fooled: it’s really very easy to make if you have a little time on your hands.
We like to cook our own hams if we can, for two reasons: 1. they always end up much more delicious than the ham you can buy in supermarkets (and even delis) and you can flavour them exactly hoe you want and 2. it’s a much, much cheaper way of giving yourself a good supply of ham. A joint will usually cost between £5 and £10, and you can easily pay £4 for a few decent slices (and the stuff you buy often isn’t even very good).
It’s always a good idea to have one of these babies in the fridge if you have people coming to stay for a few days. Homemade ham makes epic sandwiches, but can also make a relatively simple meal by adding it to pasta with some mushrooms and creme fraiche, or even in thick slices as ham, eggs and chips. It’s simple, but it’s pretty unbeatable.
This one is finished off with a really simple honey and mustard glaze. It’s so much more straightforward than you think but it’s also delicious and well-balanced.
Let us know what you think!
Ingredients
- A gammon, joint, smoked or unsmoked
- 1 litre orange juice (the cheap stuff will do)
- A chicken stock cube
- 1 bay leaf
- cloves
- 4 tbsp runny honey
- 4 tbsp Dijon mustard
Instructions
- This ham is prepared in two stages. First, it is boiled, and then it is baked in the oven to set the glaze. The cooking time is dependent on the size of your gammon joint, and the label will usually tell you how long it needs, so don't panic! When boiling, I usually refer to the time on the label, which is usually about an hour and a half, and then knock off 10 minutes since it'll be going back in the oven for half an hour.
- Start with a large stock pot. Put the gammon into the pot and pour over the orange juice. Dissolve the stock cube in boiling water and then top up the water until the ham is covered. Add the bay leaf and turn to the hob a low to medium heat. Start timing it when the liquid hits simmering point but don't let it boil over.
- Preheat the oven to 200c.
- Once the time is up, turn the heat off and carefully fish out the ham and move it to a chopping board. You might want a friend to help with this if you don't have a carving fork.
- Carefully cut off the very top layer of skin, but leave plenty of fat behind. Score the fat diagonally in both directions so it criss crosses, and push a clove into each corner where the crosses intersect with the crisses.
- Now move it onto a foil lined baking tray.
- Get a bowl out and mix up the glaze. It really is as simple as mixing the honey and mustard together.
- Now spoon it on top of the ham. It'll start to drip off a little but don's worry too much about that. scoop as much as you can back over the top, and keep a little of the glaze back for a second coating once the first layer has set.
- Pop it into the oven for 10 minutes, take out and reglaze, and then put back in the oven for another 10 to 20 minutes, or until the glaze has set and is turning dark around the edges.
- And that's it! Slice it up carefully and enjoy!
If you liked this recipe, but you prefer your ham a little fruitier, why not try our Mango Glazed Ham or Cranberry Glazed Ham? And if you have leftovers, you can always cut it up into chunks and add it to a delicious pie like this Turkey and Ham Pie.
