Nothing says Christmas like a glistening, clove-jewelled joint of gammon. Here's the recipe I've been making for years, and despite the rather long instructions, is incredibly easy to make. It can also be done in stages, to fit around everything else you may have going on at a busy time of year. Do read the whole recipe before starting.

I generally do this with unsmoked gammon, but if you prefer a smoked gammon, then the instructions are the same. I do like smoked hams, but I sometimes find them a little salty and intense after so much feasting.

Ingredients:

1.     A joint of unsmoked gammon with a good covering of skin and fat

2.     Vegetables to go in the pot: Carrot, Celery, Onion, Leek

3.     12 Black peppercorns

4.     Many cloves – 3 or 4 for the pot and plenty to decorate

5.     2 bay leaves

6.     Sprig of thyme

7.     500ml of Cider or Apple juice

8.     Water

9.     Colmans English Mustard powder (quantity depends on size of ham)

10.  Dark brown or Muscovado sugar (same quantity as mustard powder)

Also: A very large pan, tin foil & a roasting pan to fit the meat

Here's how - but please read the whole recipe before starting!

Soak or simmer?

Before doing anything, I cover the joint with cold water and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for a few minutes then drain and rinse the ham. This will get rid of any excess salt. Others will recommend soaking it for many hours or overnight, and changing the water, but honestly I have enough to do at Christmas.

Size is important

Buy any size unsmoked gammon (the word for raw ham) and make a note of its weight. The meat will need 20 mins per 450g plus an added 20 minutes to cook, including the simmering and roasting stages. As a rough idea, a 2kg joint would therefore require around 1 hour at a simmer and another hour in the roasting tin. Cover your ham with a loose tent foil for roasting and remove 30 minutes before removing from the oven. 

The Food Standards Agency (GOV.UK) advises that gammon should reach 70°C for at least 2 minutes (or an equivalent combination like 75°C for 30 seconds) to ensure harmful bacteria are destroyed, so if you are unsure, use a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the joint to check the temperature.

Let the cooking begin!

1.     Put the ham back in the pan (do not cut any strings holding it together at this point – just leave them on). Add any combination of carrots, leeks, onions, a few black peppercorns, a bay leaf and 3 or 4 cloves.

2.     Add about 500ml of good quality dry cider or unsweetened apple juice and top up with water. 

3.     Bring to the boil, spoon off any scum that floats to the top, although there shouldn’t be much if you’ve pre simmered the ham. Simmer for the amount of time recommended above – ie half the total cooking time.

4.     Take the ham out of the stock and let it cool down. 

5.     When it is cool, cut off the tough outer layer of skin, leaving the layer of fat underneath it intact. 

6.     Cut across the fat layer in a diamond pattern. Stick a clove in the middle of each diamond. 

7.     Make a mix of English mustard powder and brown sugar – about half and half – with a drop of hot water or stock to make quite a thick paste and spread this all over the cooled ham. You may just have to eyeball the quantities – you can make more if your first batch is too sparse.

8.     Put the ham into a roasting tin, into which you have added 2 ladles full of the ham cooking stock. 

9.     Loosely cover the ham in a tent foil and cook at 170 °C for the time you have worked out from the notes above – half the total cooking time. 

10.  Baste the ham with all the juices at the bottom of the pan from time to time

11.  Remove the foil 30 minutes before removing from the oven to help it develop a golden crust. If you are cooking a very small joint, you don’t need to bother with the foil.

Serving tips

Warm Ham

Let the ham rest for at least 20 minutes, lightly covered in foil. Serve with the reserved vegetables from the simmering phase and some floury potatoes or puy lentils that you have cooked in the stock while the ham has been roasting. You can mash the soft vegetables into the potatoes with a good knob of butter and a sprinkle of grated nutmeg which is ridiculously moreish.

Other things to serve with warm ham

Some of my favourites are braised, spiced red cabbage, lightly steamed cabbage or frozen sweetcorn with loads of butter. 

Cold Ham

Let the ham cool completely before cutting and serving.

I’ve tried all sorts of knives to cut cold ham, but always fall back on a very long, thin, serrated one that I must have had for 40 years. I have nothing against big chunks, but I do think there’s something very satisfying about an almost cartoon like pink slice in a sandwich or surrounded by winter salads.

Leftover ham

I very often make a quiche with the leftover ham, chopped into squares or matchsticks, or a turkey (or chicken) and ham pie. But if after all that there is still some left and I can’t face another ham-based meal, I cut it into strips and freeze to chuck into pasta, pies or further quiches, later in the year.

Leftover stock

I never throw away the cooking stock of ham. Usually I only use about half to cook potatoes to go with hot ham and freeze the other half to cook lentils (or more potatoes) when comfort food is calling.