Thursday, December 30, 2010

Boozy Glazed Baked Ham

Oh, I had great plans for making lots of delicious dinners over Christmas, so I did.  Then my best-laid plans were foiled, firstly by a nasty virus which hit both myself and The Hubs and then by having no water for almost 4 days.  When you've to boil kettles to fill the sink, you're not really inclined to cook your heart out...

So when the water returned yesterday, I did a little jig of joy because the fridge was packed full of ingredients all waiting to be turned into magnificent meals.  Top of the list was a lovely Horseshoe Ham which I had bought in Aldi the week before - at just over €8.50 for 1.5kg, it was a bargain and I had a plan for it which included three of my favourite things : mustard, honey & booze!

Doing a ham like this is a two-stage process.  Firstly it need to be simmered in a very large pot of water to cook it, then it goes into the oven covered in glaze, to bake it and make it all sticky and delicious.


Boozy Glazed Baked Ham

1 Horseshoe Ham, 1.5kg weight
1 Onion, peeled & quartered
2 Bay Leaves
1 tbsp Peppercorns, lightly cracked

200ml Cider
2 tbsp Mustard
2 tbsp Honey


Put the ham in your largest pot, cover with cold water, add the onion, bay & peppercorns and bring to the boil.


Reduce the heat & simmer for 70 minutes (20 mins per 500g & 10 minutes extra).  Remove from the cooking liquid & allow to cool.

Preheat your oven to 200c/Gas Mark 6

Remove the netting from the ham & trim off the rind, leaving a small amount of fat - which you can score with a knife.  Put the ham into a roasting tray.


Spread the mustard over the top of the ham, now drizzle over the honey and finally, pour the cider over the whole lot.



Bake the ham for about 30 minutes, basting frequently with the cider in the bottom of the tin, which will keep the ham really moist and sticky.


Remove from the oven & allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before carving & serving.

2 comments:

  1. I like the fact that it can be done at home. No more ordering from ham specialty stores for me. I would love to keep this recipe and try it for Christmas this year.

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  2. Peggy, we don't have ham specialty stores here in Ireland so we cook ours from scratch but as you can see, it's really simple

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