Cranberry Christmas: Cranberry & Cumquat Glazed Ham

Not only have we survived the end of the working year, we have also survived the end of the world as the Mayans knew it! I for one am thrilled that I am still here to enjoy a Christmas ham with my family, my two favourite things of Christmas. Everyone has their own traditions, in our family we have our main meal on Christmas Eve, there is always a glorious glazed ham, golden roast turkey with stuffing on the side, a collection of colourful salads and at least three desserts, the selection of which is one of the most important decisions of Christmas. Then Christmas day we get up and head to the fridge for leftovers - salty ham slices, creamy potato salad with a dollop of chocolate mousse on the side (accompanied by a cup of good coffee), bliss. We then relax all day, nibbling at food, playing board games and opening presents...

 

This is my last post of the year as today we run around packing and cleaning then catch a plane home to spend time with my family. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and am looking forward to coming back next year full of ideas and recipes to try out here. Merry Christmas!

Ingredients:

• 1 cured ham leg, on the bone (5 kg)
• 4 tablespoons cranberry sauce
• 2 tablespoons cumquat marmalade
• 1/2 cup cranberry juice
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 20 whole cloves

Method:

1. in a saucepan combine cranberry sauce, marmalade, cranberry juice, mustard, red wine vinegar and ground cloves
2. cook over a medium heat until the glaze bubbles together and starts to thicken and get glossy, approximately 8 minutes
3. remove from heat and set aside until needed
4. preheat the oven to 170 C, the ham is cured so you are just caramelising the glaze and heating the meat to serve
5. using a small sharp knife cut around bone at the base of the ham, about 10 centimetres in from the end
6. carefully cut away the rind of the ham all the way to the incision you made at the bone, leaving about 1 cm of fat covering the ham
7. score the surface of the fat with a sharp knife into diamond patterns, don't go all the way through to the meat as the diamonds will drop off while cooking
8. at the corner of each diamond stud the ham with a whole clove
9. pour 1/4 cup of water into the base of a roasting pan large enough to fit the whole ham then place the ham in the pan
10. brush the ham with half the glaze and put in the oven on the lowest rack for 40 minutes
11. brush with the rest of the glaze then cook for another 40 minutes, if the glaze starts to get too brown loosely cover the ham with foil (this is for a 5 kg ham, adjust the cooking times accordingly for a larger or smaller ham)
12. remove from oven, allow to rest for 10 minutes then carve!