making ham

Today I made ham and I thought I'd share the recipe.

I don't know where the recipe came from originally, or if it's just something my mother came up with, but it makes the most amazing ham.

(My ham is still cooling in the pan, later on I'll add a picture of the finished article here.)


Ingredients

Smoked Gammon Joint (any size)
8 Whole Black Peppercorns
6 Whole Cloves
1 Bay Leaf
1 Onion, peeled and quartered
1 Small Potato
1 Carrot
1 Stick of Celery

Method



#1 Remove packaging from gammon joint, including the papery thing they put over the skin (if you can't get this off, or suspect it doesn't have one I guess it doesn't matter too much - I've boiled a joint with the paper on before, thinking it didn't have one - it just floats off and you can remove it then) and place joint in a large saucepan.
Either rinse the joint a couple of times whilst in the pan, or leave to soak overnight in covered pan (if the joint is smoked you don't need to put it in the fridge, although you can if you're worried). Discard the water from the rinse/soak.



#2 Cover gammon with fresh water, nearly completely but not quite.



#3 Prepare the ingredients (peel and chop vegetables into large chunks) and add them to the water (NB: My pictures don't include celery because I forgot to buy some, oops.)



#4 Cover the pan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes per lb (500g-ish) - my joint is 750g so I simmered for about 45-50 minutes.

#5 Turn off gas and leave to cool in the liquor before removing.

The cooked ham keeps for around a week if you keep it covered in the fridge. The liquor can either be discarded, or used as stock in pea and ham soup.

The purpose of the potato is to control the salt content. If you use a larger joint, you may prefer to use a larger potato so it's not too salty.

Enjoy with eggs and chips, in salads, pies and sandwiches! Although we make it any time of the year, it is one of the things we always, always make in the run up to Christmas :)



Tonight I am baking finger cookies for hallowe'en. Tomorrow I'll be making the brainballs and eyeballs out of mini mozzarella balls and cherry tomatoes. I love hallowe'en food :)