Baked Leg Of Ham with a Maple Syrup Glaze Recipe

8-10 Portions

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 4 hours

Cooking Liquid:

• 4 bay leaves
• 4 juniper berries
• 3 star aniseed
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 onion, studded with cloves
• 8 peppercorns
• 500ml dry cider

Glaze:

• 1 1/2 tsp English mustard powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 150ml Maple Syrup
• 30ml balsamic or red wine vinegar
• 150g golden caster sugar

Ham:

• 4-5 kg leg of gammon, unsmoked

To Bake:

• cloves

Method
To Cook: Place the ham in a large saucepan and pour over the cider and enough cold water to cover the ham. Place the rest of the cooking ingredients in the pan. Bring the liquid to a strong simmer then reduce the temperature so that is at a low simmer (skim off any scum that rises to the top. Cook the ham for 20 minutes per 500g.

To Bake: Preheat an oven to 180°C. Remove the ham from the liquid and allow it to cool for for 15-20 minutes. Using a sharp knife remove the skin, leaving a thin layer of fat on the meat. Score the fat all over on an angle in a criss-cross fashion so that you are left with diamonds around 2-3cm.

Place the ham in a baking tray. Mix the ground ginger and mustard together so that they are well combined and rub the mixture into the ham well. Stud each corner of the diamonds with the cloves. Mix the maple syrup and vinegar togehter in a bowl until well combined. Brush the ham all over with the maple syrup and vinegar. finely sprinkle over the golden caster sugar.

Place the ham in the preheated oven on the centre shelf. Leave the ham to cook for 40-45 minutes basting it regularly.

Remove the ham from the oven an allow it to cool for 15-20 minutes before serving if serving hot or allow it cool totally (around 1 hour) and refigerate until ready to serve (can be prepared up to 2 days in advance).

• The ham can be boiled 2 days in advance, glazed and baked on the day if you wish to serve it hot.

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