Day 360-Christmas Ham!

I normally wouldn't put cooking on the blog as a "craft"

 but my christmas ham is the exception to the rule!

This coming from a girl who RARELY ever cooks! 

Its not that I can't cook (in fact I am quite good at it) I just (A) think it is a massive chore and can't be bothered and (B) have an amazing fiancee who enjoys cooking, is an amazing cook and tends to not let me in the kitchen (Hallelujah!) bar this one event... The christmas ham below...

Start with a leg of ham (from the butcher or supermarket) these ham's are already cooked, so essentially what we are doing is marinating it and "double" baking it

 first step is to peel the skin off (but you must keep the layer of fat on) you can use a knife to get this started, but best to then use your hands and slowly rub the fat as you peel the skin back (I know sounds disgusting! but well worth the end result!)

 once the skin is removed you need to score the fat with a sharp knife, the distance between cuts need to be quite wide (approx 5cm)

 next step, using whole dried cloves position these in the centre of each square

 now add your pineapple, evenly spaced with the cloves at the centre of each

use tooth picks to hold these in place for the cooking process

 right the ham is ready, next step the marinade...

I tend to throw the ingredients roughly together based on the size of the ham

-1 cup of brown sugar

-1 cup of honey

-pineapple juice left over from 2 tins of sliced pineapple

-dijorn mustard (3 heaped teaspoons)

heat all these ingredients in a saucepan (do not bring to the boil, just lightly simmer for a few minutes)

you will notice the mustard will separate (see the saucepan below) it doesn't look the best, but it is fine.

 pre-heat the oven to 200degrees, baste the ham with the marinade every 15-20 minutes
I tend to like the outside slightly overcooked/caramelised, so I tend to continue basting the ham and turning the tray around for about 2 hours.

 Voila! christmas ham complete!! 

It also leaves the whole house smelling amazing (and our bellies feeling very full!)

We tend to end up eating ham for the next week or so, using it in various meals such as 

quiche, omelette, sandwiches, pasta carbonara or pea and ham soup.

To keep the ham fresh during this time the trick is to use a "HAMBAG" if you do not have a specific "hambag" then a plain pillowcase (that you do not want to use again as a pillowcase) will do the trick.

You need to soak the pillow case in a bowl of cold water with 2 teaspoons of white vinegar.

You then place the ham inside the hambag (inside the fridge). You will need to re-soak the ham bag in water and vinegar every 2 days to keep the ham fresh.

Craft out

xxoo