Christmas ham.

[coffeebeanish]

Been tasked by the in-laws for the Christmas ham. The problem I've got is traditional Christmas ham has the fairly sweet glaze, I've done it previously and they've asked to tone down the sweetness.. 

 

Anyone have any suggestions for a good ham recipe?

[Smokin Monkey]

I think Wade has one.

[Liomer]

The way I do it, using my Slow ‘n’ Sear, but I imagine 2-zone’s fine.  I use maple syrup glaze, but not too heavy - it doesn’t come out over sweet.  This is Kelly’s recipe, slightly adapted for SnS

2 kilo gammon, skin off, as much fat as poss.  Soak in cold water all day, changing water every 3 - 4 hours. Then soak in milk overnight.  Drain off, and using kitchen paper make sure it’s as dry as poss.  Criss-cross fat with a sharp knife, and cover with maple syrup.  Most will run off, but some will stay.

Light around 14 good briquettes, and place in corner of charcoal reservoir when ashed over.  Add a chimney of unlit briquettes plus 2 cherry wood blocks, then 1.5 litres hot water to the water reservoir. Let heat come up to around 250F, place gammon on cool side and let cook to 160F IT. Cooking temp can vary from 225F to 300F without problem.

I now have to do this about every 2 - 3 weeks!

[sotv]

I have done this one several times, very simple and not too sweet. I just buy a joint of ready cured ham (never found a spiral ham. I use Gammon or Yorkshire ham) from Supermarket or Cash and Carry, I just find it much easier than using an uncured gammon joint and gives me a better result.

 

Holiday Ham

[Smokin Monkey]

Great link sotv, will try this one and possibly do a write up on it and place it in the Pork section!

[sotv]

Be interested to read what your thoughts are on it. 

[Wade]

It looks delicious. I see the recipe calls for a ready cured and cooked ham. It would not be a massive additional step to cure your own ham for this. You would then be able to precisely control the saltiness and sweetness and add additional "Christmas" flavours to the cure.

[Steve Harford]

I did this ham yesterday and it really is good!

[sotv]

Glad you enjoyed it Steve, I find it very simple to do, and tasty especially using next doors cherry wood from the tree they prune every year. Be nice to find a spiral ham, but a decent supermarket deli ham hasn't let me down yet.  i understand Wade's suggestion of curing it yourself. But time and space make the option I choose, much easier. 

[sotv]

I have this xmas ham recipe to fall back on, that I posted earlier. But would love to make one from raw this xmas. Plenty of recipes out there to try. What I have a problem is what sort of bucket size in litres would I need to brine say a 3kg pork leg in. Limited space in fridge so keeping it to a correct sized bucket rather than an oversized one would make it more practical for me. Even if I could find a deep rectangular one for the size would be even better. Anyone any ideas on size needed and where to get plastic bags and size suitable for the meat and brine also? If anyone has any practical experience of this.